2/10/2024
Owens ends Lucas Oil winless streak with $10,000 victory at East Bay Raceway Park
With the first night of action postponed due to rain showers, Koehler Motorsports and their driver Jimmy Owens invaded East Bay Raceway Park (Tampa, FL) on Tuesday afternoon to compete with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
With 75 Late Models in attendance for the final East Bay Winternationals, Owens made it into the first A-Main of the week after nabbing the final transfer spot in his heat race. Owens was an early retiree in the quick 30-lap feature and was scored 24th.
Hoping for a better outing on Wednesday, Jimmy laid down the third-quickest qualifying lap in his group and was victorious in his heat. Rolling off from the third-row, Owens placed just outside the Top-5 in sixth in the $7,000-to-win feature.
Owens earned a front-row starting spot in Thursday's A-Main after holding off Devin Moran in his heat race for the victory. With the first five figure payday of the week up for grabs, Jimmy battled for the top spot from the drop of the green flag and wrestled the lead away from Garrett Smith on lap 13. Dominating the remaining 27 laps, Owens rolled to the $10,000 victory over Jonathan Davenport and Garrett Alberson. The win marked his first victory at East Bay in over 10 years and ended his year-long LOLMDS winless streak.
Looking to keep up his momentum on Friday, Jimmy was once again victorious in his heat race and found himself on the third-row for the A-Main. With a $12,000 payday on the line, Owens ran as high as third but faded late to finish ninth.
For the final night of the Wieland Winternationals at East Bay, Owens locked in the third-quickest lap in time trials and handily won his heat race. Once again rolling off from the third-row, Jimmy slipped back to 12th around halfway but rallied to finish inside the Top-10 in seventh.
Full results from the final Winternationals at East Bay can be found at www.LucasDirt.com.
Article Credit: Heath Lawson Photo