From STAFF REPORTS
CORDELE – Watermelon Capital Speedway officials have released results of their regular racing divisions from this past Saturday night’s card that featured Racing Electronics “Vintage Thunder” Racing Series.
Comprising the top four in the bandoleros class were Joey Padgett of Tallahassee,
Brandon Stewart of Cordele and Chase Knight and Marlee Graham, both of Leesburg.
It was an all Tift County night in the go-kart ranks with the top five finishers all coming from there. They were, in order, Lance Harrell of Omega, Michael Cerfus of Tifton, Kyle Lawton of Omega, Charles Smith of Omega and Chris Lomameek of Ty Ty.
In the mini-stock division, Jimmy Chancy of Kathleen was the first to cross the finish line. He was followed by Zeb Johnston of Sylvester, Mark Rowley of Perry and Cordele drivers Banks Perdue and Wesley Burke.
The legends field was paced by Eric Simpson of Fitzgerald. Then came Steven Bloodworth of McIntyre, Cindy Anderson of Concord and Joe Parker of Vienna.
John Burke of Cordele took top honors in the claimers class where Brian Belcher of Ellaville ran second, Justin Butterworth of Cordele came in third, Ben Massingille of Centerville took fourth and Travis Harper of Cordele rounded out the top five.
Pure Stock
Josh Taylor of Ellaville was the winner of the pure stock feature that saw Leon Childs of Sylvester come in second, Justin Bridges of Unadilla finish third, Cody Hale of Americus place fourth and Tony Knight of Leesburg wind up fifth.
In the vintage car ranks, 21 entries from Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina showed up to show off the mounts that ran years ago. Among those on hand to support the field were short track legends Buck Simmons and Eddie MacDonald Sr. who both can stake claim to 1,000-plus career wins.
Martin Sapp of Quitman posted his third modified sportsman feature win in his #8 “skeeter” car, holding off Bonaire’s Woody Callaway, Allen Wheeler and Morven’s Irvin Lawson.
A 39 Chevrolet couple piloted by Allen Cantrell of Commerce was first to take the checkers in the limited sportsman feature where his father, Robert, placed fifth in a ’36 Chevy.
Jerry Williams of Cornelia drove the Buck Simmons tribute 32 Ford sedan to a second place finish in that feature. David Greenwood of Cleveland and Joe Evans of Anderson, S.C., placed third and fourth in a 34 Ford and 57 Chevy, respectively.
Hawkinsville’s Woody Moore picked up a third late model modified feature victory, using his 66 Chevy Nova to pull away from runner-up Bonaire’s Jason Bowen. The rest of the top five included Ricky Joyner of Grovetown, David Adams of Tucker and Rusty Russell of Cochran.
John Knowles of Grovetown preserved his undefeated status in the late model sportsman feature where he was hard pushed to told off Bryan Cantrell of Flowery Branch.
Bruce Griffin of Lincoln, Ala., also stayed unbeaten in the modified open ranks where he notched a fourth straight triumph in his 1940 Chevrolet. Sam Odom of Ft. Valley was second and Al Smith of Jeffersonville was third. Completing the top five were Ruben Frady of Cartersville and David Owens of Lizella.
The next race in the vintage car series is scheduled for July 18 at Lanier National Speedway. The local track’s next card is set for this Saturday when the return of the super street guys to the program will result in a seven-feature evening starting at 7:30. A candy dash for kids also is on tap at intermission.
