LUCAMA, NC – Clay Jones is normally used to winning when he races his iconic light blue Late Model, but after a dismal start to the season in Super Late Model competition, he was satisfied with a runner-up finish.
The Goldsboro, North Carolina racer, who has become an icon in Eastern North Carolina, stepped back from Late Model racing last season to compete regularly in Super Late Models. He teamed up with Curtis Venable and competed in the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Super Late Model Tour last season and has continued to do so in 2016.
Jones planned to race at Carteret County Speedway this past weekend but, after the race was cancelled due to Tropical Storm Bonnie, Jones headed north to race at Southern National Motorsports Park where he scored a pair of podium finishes.
“We were a little off,” Jones said after a second place finish in the second twin at Southern National. “We were looking forward to going to Carteret. We had a big weekend planned and all that but, we came to Southern National. We unloaded the car from the Thanksgiving Classic. The tires were flat, the motor was still taken apart from where they tore us down.”
Jones knew the car he unloaded was a good car. The last time he raced in it, he scored a victory in the Limited Late Model portion of the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic. That same car had scored wins at Wake County Speedway and in the inaugural race at Carteret County Speedway earlier in the 2015 season as well. But, Jones still had a lot to overcome.
“We unloaded it, pumped the tires up, put the motor together and came,” Jones explained. “In fact all day, we hardly got any practice. Had a miss all day, spitting and sputtering through all the practices. We finally got it all figured out right before qualifying and went out and qualified not too bad. We missed the setup a little bit trying to find the miss.”
Despite not coming away with a win, the race was simply about having fun for Jones. Following his runner-up finish, he was surrounded by friends and family with a smile on his face.
“I had a great time,” Jones remarked. “It’s been a long time since I had a lot of fun. Had a lot of friends and family at the race. It’s where it’s all at. As long as you’re having fun and come back to your roots, it’s always a blast.”
Jones’ primary focus has been on the Super Late Model side. Last season, he scored two fourth place finishes in the CARS Super Late Model Tour which remains his career best finish to date. This season, Jones has struggled. In three races this season, he only has one top-10 finish – an eighth place finish he scored at Hickory Motor Speedway on May 7th.
“We’ve had some bad luck,” Jones commented. “Really, horrible luck. Came out here at the beginning of the year with the Super and blew a motor in our new car and had to run the backup car the past couple of races. We finally got our other motor back so we’ll hopefully have that thing ready to go at Tri-County in two weeks.”
