CONCORD, NC — Oct. 28, 2018 — “Dark Horse” Dale Timms played the waiting game en route to his 602 Thunder Late Model victory on Sunday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, capitalizing on others’ mistakes on a rubbered racing surface to take the checkered flag.
Timms qualified fourth fastest in Group B time trials on Thursday evening, putting him in position to win the fourth and final heat race on Saturday night. Those strong showings in the qualifiers put him on the outside of the second row for Sunday evening’s 25-lap feature event, where Timms would pick off the fifth-through-first spots very carefully to bag the W.
“It means the world,” a hyped Timms said in Victory Lane. “It’s another crown jewel for us 602 guys. We won the state race at Alabama, then the national and now here, so this is awesome!”
At one point, Timms fell all the way back to the seventh spot, before leading a charge through a few restarts and picking up one spot about every three-to-four laps. Finally, Timms got to fourth on lap 15 and the spots seemed to come to him, as he passed three cars in the next three laps on their slip-ups to grab the lead, and the win. Patience seemed to be the key in his passes for position.
“We finally got to the bottom, I knew I had a good racecar,” Timms said. “Just had to bide my time there and get by everybody.”
David Smith crossed the line in second, a student of Timms’ passing strategy in the 25-lap event, as he followed the winner right through traffic in the closing laps to go from fifth to second in four laps, right behind Timms.
Jeff Robinson ran inside the top three for each and every lap of the 602 feature, grabbing the lead briefly at two points, but slipped way up the racetrack and over the cushion with eight laps remaining to hand the lead over to Timms. He would recover, but lost two spots before the checkered flew to complete the podium.
HIGHLIGHTS:
RESULTS:
Feature (25 Laps) – 1. O7-Dale Timms [4]; 2. 11-David Smith [5]; 3. 14r-Jeff Robinson [2]; 4. 49-Jeremy Mayfield [10]; 5. 44-Rod Roberts [1]; 6. 21g-Mario Gresham [16]; 7. 11g-Lee Gray [8]; 8. 6-Mark Wilbanks [15]; 9. 97-Cody Overton [9]; 10. P8-Chris Patterson [23]; 11. P2-Martin Patterson [20]; 12. 37-Michael Barnett [21]; 13. 85-Logan Stinchcomb [19]; 14. 35-Dillion Davis [24]; 15. 87-Lance Chitwood [6]; 16. 215-Jamison McBride [7]; 17. 29-Keith Baker [12]; 18. 14-Baron McDowell [25]; 19. 83h-Clint Hodges [18]; 20. 41-Brad Abercrombie [26]; 21. 22B-Chase McCormick [3]; 22. 56-Randy Ring [17]; 23. 17-Billy Rushton [22]; 24. 20-Bryson Harper [14]; 25. 27-Michael Davidson [11]; 26. C5-Justin Sims [13]; KSE Hard Charger Award: P8-Chris Patterson[+13]
Qualifying Flight-A – 1. 22B-Chase McCormick, 17.797; 2. 87-Lance Chitwood, 17.865; 3. 11-David Smith, 17.899; 4. 99-Shun Thomas, 17.911; 5. 97-Cody Overton, 18.203; 6. 49-Jeremy Mayfield, 18.242; 7. 37-Michael Barnett, 18.277; 8. 44-Rod Roberts, 18.293; 9. 56-Randy Ring, 18.351; 10. 20-Bryson Harper, 18.457; 11. C5-Justin Sims, 18.76; 12. 83h-Clint Hodges, 18.765; 13. 3-Kevin Tullis, 19.338; 14. A1-Jimmy Watson, 19.339; 15. 17-Billy Rushton, 19.432; 16. 20H-Mark Handy, 19.532
Qualifying Flight-B – 1. 14r-Jeff Robinson, 17.418; 2. 11g-Lee Gray, 17.44; 3. 215-Jamison McBride, 17.58; 4. O7-Dale Timms, 17.733; 5. 27-Michael Davidson, 17.841; 6. 21g-Mario Gresham, 17.95; 7. 85-Logan Stinchcomb, 17.966; 8. 29-Keith Baker, 18.049; 9. 6-Mark Wilbanks, 18.191; 10. P2-Martin Patterson, 18.409; 11. 41-Brad Abercrombie, 18.515; 12. 14-Baron McDowell, 19; 13. 4-Lucas Motte, 19.013; 14. P8-Chris Patterson, 19.058; 15. 72-David Stone, 19.358; 16. 35-Dillion Davis, 19.637
Heat #1 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 22B-Chase McCormick [1]; 2. 11-David Smith [2]; 3. 97-Cody Overton [3]; 4. C5-Justin Sims [6]; 5. 56-Randy Ring [5]; 6. 17-Billy Rushton [8]; 7. 3-Kevin Tullis [7]; 8. 37-Michael Barnett [4]
Heat #2 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 87-Lance Chitwood [1]; 2. 44-Rod Roberts [4]; 3. 49-Jeremy Mayfield [3]; 4. 20-Bryson Harper [5]; 5. 83h-Clint Hodges [6]; 6. 20H-Mark Handy [8]; 7. 99-Shun Thomas [2]; 8. A1-Jimmy Watson [7]
Heat #3 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. 14r-Jeff Robinson [1]; 2. 215-Jamison McBride [2]; 3. 27-Michael Davidson [3]; 4. 6-Mark Wilbanks [5]; 5. 85-Logan Stinchcomb [4]; 6. 41-Brad Abercrombie [6]; 7. 72-David Stone [8]; 8. 4-Lucas Motte [7]
Heat #4 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer – 1. O7-Dale Timms [2]; 2. 11g-Lee Gray [1]; 3. 29-Keith Baker [4]; 4. 21g-Mario Gresham [3]; 5. P2-Martin Patterson [5]; 6. P8-Chris Patterson [7]; 7. 14-Baron McDowell [6]; 8. 35-Dillion Davis [8]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer – 1. 37-Michael Barnett [9]; 2. 17-Billy Rushton [1]; 3. P8-Chris Patterson [4]; 4. 72-David Stone [7]; 5. 35-Dillion Davis [12]; 6. 14-Baron McDowell [8]; 7. 4-Lucas Motte [11]; 8. 41-Brad Abercrombie [3]; 9. 20H-Mark Handy [2]; 10. 3-Kevin Tullis [5]; 11. 99-Shun Thomas [6]; 12. A1-Jimmy Watson [10]
