WAR WIZARD CRUSHES COMPETITION TO WIN THIRD STRAIGHT MONSTER MANIA
Senoia, GA – After blowing a tire during the racing portion of the Monster Truck competition at Saturday’s Monster Mania 2020, Virginia’s War Wizard and driver RJ Turner turned it up a notch and destroyed his competition in the wild Freestyle competition. The massive monster truck sporting a 1941 Willy’s body dazzled the crowd as he jumped the inside track wall towards the grandstand and then did a perfect doughnut stopping just inches from the fence protecting the large crowd of enthusiastic fans.
We had to throw everything we had it at Freestyle,” said Turner afterwards. “The blown tire set us back and that School Bus had all the kids cheering for him. We had to pull out a few tricks to win it in the end.”
Turner and War Wizard won the crowd over with his crazy move in Freestyle. The crowd roared their approval and his victory in the final event moved him one point past the world’s only Monster School Bus ‘Higher Education’ to claim his third straight Monster Mania title at Senoia Raceway.
The track also entertained one of their largest crowds in history with some great racing action. Winning the Crate Late Model feature was Alabama’s Dylan Knowles while Locust Grove’s Morgan Alexander topped the Late Model Sportsman main event. Franklin’s Mike Weed won his second consecutive Chargers race and splitting the Side by Sides action was Lawrenceville’s Tommy Clark and Romeno Loyal of Cleveland.
It was a youth movement in the Late Model Sportsman feature as several of Senoia Raceway’s young guns contingent flexed their racing muscle. Early on, Locust Grove teenager Payton Stevenson moved into the lead position while fellow tweeners Bailey Williams of Fayetteville, Trae Kirk of Monror, Braxtin Barber from Alabama and Connor Younginer of Locust Grove battled for top five running positions. Barber was able to wrestle away the lead on lap seven, but was caught up a couple laps later with the result a crumpled race car against the concrete wall. Williams also dropped out during the caution for Barber with what appeared to be a flat tire.
Thirteen-year-old Trae Kirk inherited the lead and held off several challenges until lap 13 when the elder Brandon McDaniel moved past into the number one position. The Macon driver held that spot until a late race restart when Morgan Alexander raced past to become the fourth different leader. It would be a spot he would not relinquish winning his second race of the year and padding his points lead going into the final month of the points racing season. McDaniel would come across the finish line in second ahead of Stevenson, Kirk and Jamie Nicholson, Jr. of Locust Grove.
Dylan Knowles ran flag to flag in the Crate Late Model feature winning his forty-seventh career feature at Senoia Raceway. The third winningest driver in the history of the 3/8th mile track since 2010 ran out front never seriously challenged until the final few laps.
Forsyth’s Jamie Maurice had worked his way to the front of the pack snagging second place from LaGrange’s Jake Traylor with only four laps remaining when a late caution would bunch the field up for one final run to the checkers.
Knowles moved away quickly while Traylor retook second place from Maurice. That is how they would finish with Sharpsburg’s Wayne Harbin celebrating a birthday with a fourth place run and Winston’s Marty Massey completing the first five finishers. Massey was sporting a retro graphics package and the #77 on his racer Saturday night. The two-time track points champion changed the look of his race car to honor his racing hero Leon ‘Slick’ Sells who passed away earlier this week.
Mike Weed was successful on an early race restart in the Chargers race to steal away the lead from Tallapoosa’s Evan Lancaster. It was a couple laps later when Lancaster tangled with another driver before slamming the outside wall in turn two. Weed went on to win his second race of the year while Oxford teenager Dawson Martin made a last lap pass to gain second ahead of Carrollton’s Jamie Godbee.
Senoia Raceway will entertain fans for the second straight day on Sunday, August 9th with Monster Mania Sunday Smash. All of Saturday night’s Monster Trucks will be back in action along with the Crate Late Models and Side by Sides. The gates open at 4pm with the show starting at 7pm.
Next weekend, Saturday, August 15th, Senoia Raceway will welcome the United Sprint Car Series and winged outlaw sprint cars in to the Bull Ring for the Summer Nationals XI special event. The 700 horsepower, alcohol burning sprint cars are expected to reach speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour on the straightaways. Drivers from as many as fourteen states are ready for competition including defending Summer Nationals champion Eric Riggins, Jr., from North Carolina.
“It is one of the best shows we host each year,” said promoter Mayes Massey. “They are winged, wild and wicked fast.”
Also added to the show is the ‘Gray Gumbo Classic’ for the Limited Late Models. The class will run by the National Late Model Sportsman Series rules package and will compete for the special title along with a top prize of $2000. The Late Model Sportsman, Chargers and Hobby Stock will also be on the schedule for Saturday, August 15th.
For more information on these race events and more, visit the track website at www.senoiaraceway.com. Information is also available on the track’s Facebook page, their Twitter feed and Instagram shares. You can also call the speedway at 770.599.6161.
Official Results – Saturday, August 8, 2020
Crate Late Models (Feature): 1-Dylan Knowles, Lannett, AL 2-Jake Traylor, LaGrange 3-Jamie Maurice, Forsyth 4-Wayne Harbin, Sharpsburg 5-Marty Massey, Winston 6-Colby Darda, LaGrange 7-McKenna Nelms, Newnan 8-Glenn Morris, Fayetteville 9-Dow Kirkland, Lake Spivey 10-Lance Finn, Flowery Branch 11-Dusty Jones, LaGrange 12-Tracy Jorgeson, Blackshear 13-Michael Turner, Hiram Fast Qualifier: Knowles (14.144 seconds / 95.5 mph)
Late Model Sportsman (Feature): 1-Morgan Alexander, Locust Grove 2-Brandon McDaniel, Macon 3-Payton Stevenson, Locust Grove 4-Trae Kirk, Monroe 5-Jamie Nicholson, Jr., Locust Grove 6-Connor Younginer, Locust Grove 7-Matthew Knight, Villa Rica 8-Jason Turner, McDonough 9-Jack Mills, Griffin 10-Will McConnel, Dallas 11-Lark Haskins, Gray 12-Shane Payton, Newnan 13-John Strickland, Jackson 14-Andy Dixon, Blackshear 15-Bobby Arnold, Newnan 16-Braxtin Barber, Valley, AL 17-Bailey Williams, Fayetteville 18-Craig Scott, Newnan 19-Chris McKeehan, Winder 20-Todd Brewster, Villa Rica 21-Parrish Duncan, Newnan Fast Qualifier: McDaniel (14.781 seconds / 91.3 mph)
Chargers (Feature): 1-Mike Weed, Franklin 2-Dawson Martin, Oxford 3-Jamie Godbee, Carrollton 4-Cody Lively, Locust Grove 5-Brant Hardin, McDonough 6-Jimmy Baxter, Jr., Newnan 7-Johnny Stinchcomb, Newnan 8-Jack Smith, McDonough 9-Brennen Shirley, Gadsden, AL 10-Ted Willingham, McDonough 11-Evan Lancaster, Tallapoosa 12-Nathan Pierson, Sharpsburg 13-Joshua Till, McDonough 14-Justin Clark, Monticello 15-Peter Petropolis, Jefferson 16-Josh Scott, Jackson DNS: Chad Atha, Monroe Fast Qualifier: Hardin (15.219 seconds / 88.7 mph)
Side by Side (Oval Feature): 1-Tommy Clark, Lawrenceville 2-Eddie Freshwater, Stockbridge 3-Michael Ashmore, Senoia 4-Jacob Gerken, Kennesaw 5-Michael New, Senoia 6-Blake Gresham, Marietta 7-Michael Herring, Conyers 8-Romeno Loyal, Cleveland
Side by Side (Rally Feature): 1-Loyal 2-Gerkin 3-Freshwater 4-Gresham 5-New 6-Ashmore 7-Clark DNS: Herring
Monster Mania 2020: Wheelie Contest Winner-Higher Education; Doughnut Contest Winner: Iron Warrior; Racing Winner-Overkill Evolution; Freestyle-War Wizard; Overall Champion-War Wizard
