Jake Knowles had never seen Southern Raceway before this weekend. Despite his lack of experience at the tricky oval, he streaked to the $10,000 win in Saturday night’s 11th annual Southern 100. The victory came aboard his Knowles Race Parts & Bodies #66 Josh Roberts Trucking/ Coosa Heating & Cooling/ Longhorn Chassis Late Model.
The win was his eighth of the season and allowed him to close within 10 markers of the top spot in the Durrence Layne National Late Model standings heading into the finale.
“The race track was great. I’ve never been down here, and this really isn’t my cup of tea. It was my first time to race in the sand, but we made it work,” Knowles said. “I started seeing Pennington’s tire go down when he was leading, so I just paced myself. Once I got to the lead I knew I just had to do my job, and we would get the win. Heading into the winter this $10,000 really helps. I want to thank all of the fans that came out on this chilly weekend, and I want to thank my team, my sponsors, and my family for their great support.”
Durrence Layne Dirt Late Model Series competition took Jake Knowles to Southern Raceway (Milton, Florida) on Friday evening, where he was competing against a field of 26 racers in the opening round of the 11th annual Southern 100.
Qualifying second fastest in his qualifying group behind Ashton Winger, Knowles earned the fourth-starting position for the A-Main on Saturday night. Overtaking the top spot on lap-25 when the leader – Travis Pennington – suffered a flat-tire, Jake built nearly a 2.5 second margin over second-place finisher in the remaining 75 circuits to capture his eighth win of the season and a $10,000 payday. Andy Picklesimer, Joseph Joyner, Clint Smith, and Bryant Marsh completed the Top-5 finishers in the 100-lap affair.
The $10,000 victory matched the richest of Knowles career with his previous five-figure payday coming in Crate Late Model competition back in 2006.
Jake is second in the latest Durrence Layne Chevrolet Series point standings, just 10 points out of the lead. For full results from this event, please visit
www.DurrenceLayneRacing.com.
The team will now focus on the annual Possum Town Grand Prix, which will be held on November 23-24 at Johnny Stokes Magnolia Motor Speedway. The event posts a $10,000 payday and will serve as the final Durrence Layne Dirt Late Model Series event of 2018.
“I don’t have just a ton of experience at Magnolia, but we are going to go there and try and have a good run and win a championship,” Knowles noted.
For more information on the event, please visit
www.MagnoliaDirt.com.
