This year’s “Battle On The Bay” saw Flat Out Dewayne Johnson survive fire and rain, along with rising and falling tides to capture the victory in the 75 lap National Late Model Series Event held this past weekend at the famed East Bay Raceway Park.
Chesley Dixon and Dewayne Johnson battle for the lead at East Bay
Not only did Johnson capture the race win, he also set fast time during Jameson Inn’s “A Perfect Lap – Deserves a Perfect Stay” qualifying on Friday night.
Friday night was full of action as the NLMS road warriors took to the track by the bay one last time before the upcoming chassis change. Flat Out Johnson was the class of the field in his green machine. Rising superstar Chesley Dixon continued his impressive sophomore season in the Central Fence sponsored machine as he set second fast time of the evening. The real surprise came from #22 Darrell Padgett. Padgett put the M & M refrigeration machine solidly into the third qualifying spot in his first ever visit to the East Bay track. Darrell was looking forward to a much needed good weekend of racing.
The heat races saw Dewayne Johnson and Chesley Dixon walk away with their respective races. The third heat race was red flagged before the field made it to turn one. Darrell Padgett’s night came to an abrupt end when he ended up on his roof just feet past the flag stand. The wreck was truly a racing accident and all the drivers involved were ok. The same could not be said for two of the race cars involved. The outside pole sitter Mike Parkerson along with Darrell Padgett both lost their cars to a fire that broke out while the safety crew was attempting to turn Padgett’s car right side up.
This incident was extremely hazardous because we had fuel coming from both race cars. The fire was believed to have been ignited when the battery in Padgett’s car came loose from its mount and arced on the frame. The resulting fire ball briefly engulfed both race cars. The heat was so intense that the coating on the electrical system on Parkerson’s car began burning and did not stop until it reached the MSD box. The safety crew at East Bay is one of the better crews in the country and they still had a time putting this fire out. Lonnie Roberts would go on to capture the victory in this heat race.
03 Bo Allen & 7 Richard Ferry battle for position
Mother Nature came to the races on Saturday and she brought rain with her. At about 5:30 p.m. it did not look promising for anyone to get out on the track. Finally the rain showers moved on and the racers all pitched in and we got the track in a raceable condition. I have to give credit to the local racers there at East Bay Raceway Park as they did not grumble at all when asked to go out on a track that was pretty slick and start their feature events – my hat is off to all of you – thanks!
When it was time for the boys with the big toys to come out and play the track was beginning to look pretty good. It was still a little slick on the very top, but it was good in the bottom two grooves. Dewayne Johnson took off like he was shot from a cannon only to hauled in and passed by Chesley Dixon. This was not the only close racing happening on the track. There were battles shaping up all over the track. #03 Bo Allen was having a good weekend in his Ernie Palmer Toyota / Willard’s BBQ sponsored machine. Bo moved up a few spots in the early going and would go on to claim a well deserved ninth place finishing position on his first trip to East Bay Raceway Park.
The real story was that of Mike Parkerson, yes that Mike Parkerson. The crew on the 22P machine had stayed up most of the night rebuilding the car. They actually had pieces of sheet metal on their car that the Padgett crew had left behind. This entire crew is simply unbelievable. The crew had Mike’s machine looking pretty racy for the first half of the event before mechanical issues finally put him behind the wall. Why did they do it, because they could! Parkerson is an old school driver that had not driven 7 hours for nothing. He had come to race! It is teams like this that make it fun to come to the track on any given Saturday night when the NLMS is in town!
The lead would be swapped between Johnson, Dixon and Ivedent Lloyd several times before this 75 lap slug fest was over. Lloyd and Johnson would get caught up in an accident when all the leaders were attempting to pass a back marker.
The crash would damage the front end of Johnson’s car, but not bother Lloyd’s or Dixon’s machines. Rare mental mistakes would cost first Dixon then Lloyd the lead. Flat Out Johnson would assume the lead again with around twenty laps to go. He was pushed hard by the Cave Man Lonnie Roberts.
Roberts got up to the door panel on two separate occasions but could not complete the pass. Johnson would go on to take his second straight National Late Model Series sponsored by Corteco feature event of the season.
Dewayne Johnson
The #81 Roberts team is showing people that they are for real when it comes to challenging for the NLMS title this season. This was Lonnie’s second straight second place finish.
The Roberts crew sits in fourth place 20 points behind current point’s leader Ivedent Lloyd. Chesley Dixon and Dewayne Johnson are tied for second in the points going into the next event at the Screven Motor Speedway.
POS DRIVER 1 45--DeWayne Johnson 2 81--Lonnie Roberts 3 21--Ivedent Lloyd 4 100--Steve Lade 5 3--Chesley Dixon 6 22--Brett Carlton 7 27--Bruce Harvey 8 79--Jason Davis 9 03--Bo Allen 10 20--Aaron McQuaig 11 00--Russell Brown, Jr. 12 54--Tuck Trentham 13 48--Bill Howard 14 7--Richard Ferry 15 34--Chad Wallace 16 5--Bob McQuaig 17 007--J.R. Prather, Jr. 18 22P--Mike Parkerson 19 1N--Jordy Nipper 20 19--Tom Evanosky 21 99--Gary Spivey 22 27--Jeff Fortner 23 28--Henry Carter
