Golden Isles Speedway
Opener at Golden Isles reset for Friday morning
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
A soggy Golden Isles Speedway. (thesportswire.net)
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (Feb. 6) — Lingering Thursday afternoon rain postponed Golden Isles Speedway's weekend opener for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Georgia Boot Super Bowl of Racing.
The $5,000-to-win non-points race was rescheduled for Friday morning. Grandstand gates will open at 8 a.m. with the drivers’ meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday’s tickets and wristbands will be honored Friday morning for Friday evening’s show, a $10,000-to-win points event that will run as scheduled, weather permitting.
The series-opening weekend will be capped by another $10,000-to-win points event on Saturday at the high-speed 4/10-mile oval.
Thirty-one Super Late Model drivers entered Thursday’s event, including three-time and defending Lucas Oil Series champion Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn.
Friday morning’s program will including Super Late Model time trials, heat races, consolations and a 25-lap main event. Crate Late Models (sanctioned by the NeSmith Dirt Late Model Series) and the track’s Limited Late Models also running full programs.
Pre-race notes
It’s unclear if Thursday’s time trial order will be redrawn for Friday morning’s event. … Friday morning’s race is the first of 19 Georgia-Florida Speedweeks events for Super Late Models. … Earl Pearson Jr. won the last Lucas Oil Series event at Brunswick in 2008 with a last-lap pass of Scott Bloomquist. … A track that’s been frequently reconfigured over the past five seasons has seen the backstretch drawn in 100 feet and the track entrance between turns one and two covered with guardrail. … Several drivers were under the track record in time trials with Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., quickest on the clock. … Gregg Satterlee and Brady Smith are among drivers on hand who had planned on racing at Sylvania, Ga.’s Screven Motor Speedway, which cancelled it’s Feb. 7-8 Winter Freeze action earlier in the week because of weather. … Steve Shaver of Vienna, W.Va., who split with car owners Lee Roy and Kevin Rumley in the off-season, is piloting a Troy Baird-owned No. 5 at Golden Isles. … Jason Fitzgerald is piloting the GRT Race Cars house car and Ray Cook is making his debut in the Indiana-based MasterSbilt house car; both are also competing in lower divisions. ... Among potential Lucas Oil rookie candidates on hand include Ricky Weiss, Randy Weaver, Jason Papich and Jason Hughes. ... Drivers beginning the 2014 season in a chassis different than they ran most of 2013 include Jonathan Davenport (now in a Longhorn), Tim McCreadie (Rocket), Brady Smith (Rocket), Don O'Neal (Barry Wright), Brian Shirley (Rocket), Billy Moyer Jr. (Longhorn) and Jared Landers (Rocket).
