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Patience helps Clanton to Senoia triumph with Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series

SENOIA, Ga. (Aug. 18) – Winning the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series Independence Shootout at Senoia Raceway took patience.

First, drivers had to wait 42 days between the originally scheduled July 6 date to its Aug. 17 reset thanks to Mother Nature. Then, when rain swept through the area during the fourth and final heat race on Saturday, the $15,000-to-win event was pushed back yet another day, forcing competitors to return on Sunday to wrap up things up.

Finally, veteran Shane Clanton of nearby Zebulon, Ga., had to withstand a bevy of midrace cautions en route to his first career Hunt the Front Series victory and richest win since a $20,000 Duel in the Desert prelim at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway on Nov. 10, 2022. The 2015 World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series champion took the lead from Sam Seawright on lap 31 and led the remaining 20 circuits to park his Clements-powered Capital Race Car in victory lane and claim the $15,000 payday, his second overall victory of the season.

Clanton, who started fourth, finished 2.386 seconds ahead of third-starting Ashton Winger of Hampton, Ga. Joseph Joiner of Milton, Fla., started ninth and finished third, while series points leader Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., rallied from 14th to finish fourth. Austin Horton of Whitesburg, Ga., improved 12 positions to complete the top five after starting 17th.

Of the 42 drivers who signed in on Saturday, only 23 returned for Sunday’s 50-lap main event. Seventeen of the 23 starters finished the race, all on the lead lap. While the feature got off to a good start – Sam Seawright and Payton Freeman led to the field to the green – the middle of the race was bogged by eight cautions.

Seawright, of Fort Payne, Ala., led for 30 laps, including 23 consecutive green flag circuits to begin the afternoon affair. But eighth-running Derrick Stewart’s spin on lap 24, triggered a string of eight yellows over the next 12 laps. The Ainsworth, Iowa, native bounced back to finish ninth, but not before a horde of slowdowns, including three for frontrunners Clanton, Seawright and reigning series champion Josh Putnam of Florence, Ala.

Just after Clanton used a slider in turn two to grab the lead from Seawright on lap 31, Milton, Fla.’s Bo Slay slowed from 20th to draw the fourth caution. The fifth yellow appeared on the restart when someone jumped the start. The next restart was unsatisfactory as well when a cluster involving Seawright, Putnam and Joiner led to contact between Putnam and Seawright and yet another yellow. A lap later, the seventh caution appeared when Putnam spun in turn two after contact from Seawright. Both drivers were sent to the rear because of their extracurricular activities.

On the ensuing lap-35 restart, Clanton swung high up the track in turn four, leaving the bottom open for both Winger and Joiner as they took the green. Clanton slammed the door at the end of the front stretch as all three drivers prepared to enter turn one. The contact sent Winger sailing toward the turn two wall in a trail of dust as Joiner pursued Clanton in second and Freeman and Overton took a look under Winger. They each survived the incidental contact and Winger quickly regained the runner-up spot, where he settled in and chased Clanton to no avail over the final 14 laps.

With his run from 14th to fourth, combined with Seawright’s struggles, Overton stretched his series points lead from 62 to 84 points over the Alabama driver. Winger, meanwhile, is 108 markers back. The second-year tour returns to action Friday, Aug. 23 at Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, Ky., with a $5,000-to-win weekend opener before closing out the weekend on Saturday, Aug. 24 at Lake Cumberland with a $15,000-to-win finale. It marks the series’ first-ever visit to the Bluegrass State.

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