Atwell, Allman Victorious in Summer Sizzler Twin 75s at Cordele

While a rain delay sent racing at Cordele Motor Speedway from Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning, fans who stuck out the rain were treated to an exciting night of Pro Late Model competition in the Summer Sizzler Twin 75s.

Michael Atwell dominated the first 75-lap feature of the evening. After starting on the pole, Atwell led every lap for a convincing victory, crossing the finish line nearly seven seconds ahead of Cole Denton.

"Mike Garvey brought me a good car. We worked on it all weekend and got it better. I think we can still make it a little better, but I can't thank everybody standing behind me enough for all they do for me, helping me get to the track and allowing me to do this."

"It doesn't come like this very often, so you have to cherish these days. Hopefully, we can keep building it."

While Atwell cruised to the win in the first race, Denton worked his way from eighth to second, passing Daniel Webster for the runner-up spot

"It's our second time here in the Pro Late Model and second Pro Late Model race. This is a great race. Thank you to Ty King Motorsports for this opportunity, and Mr. Doug Stevens, my crew chief, and everybody in the shop, here at the track, crew. They gave us an awesome race car this weekend."

"We had some good race pace in this race. We're starting 11th on the grid next race, so I've got to work even harder."

The second Pro Late Model race of the evening proved more eventful, straight from the jump. Contact on lap two between Atwell and Jake Finch triggered a stackup leading to a multi-car incident, ending the race for Daniel Webster, Garrett Gumm and Zack Dixon.

Atwell and Finch carried on, with Atwell once again in the fight for the win near the halfway mark of the race. However, contact between those two drivers led to a race-ending issue for Atwell, bringing out the caution with 30 laps to go. Gunter also suffered a flat left-rear tire, bringing his car to pit road under the caution and turning the lead to Colin Allman.

Allman chose the high side for the ensuing restart, fending off Finch for the top spot. While a handful of cautions in the closing laps erased Allman's advantage, he held serve on every challenge and secured the race two win.

"I can't thank everybody at Emma Britt Racing enough, Ben, Ralph, Kurt, Emma and Charlie," said Allman. "We worked our butts off on this thing to get it right. We still lacked just a little bit to compete with the 14 [of Atwell] and 01 [of Gunter] straight-up. Lady Luck was on our side tonight, finally, after I don't know how many second-places here."

Those previous close calls while battling for wins at Cordele influenced Allman's decision to choose the outside on the late-race restarts.

"I've lost too many races here choosing the bottom. I was going to live and die by the top. I lost two races here last year by choosing the bottom, so I wasn't going to do it this time. If I lost it on the top, I'd take my medicine."

Despite being collected in the lap two melee, Denton battled his way through the field to score another runner-up finish in race two.

"Two seconds in a row," Denton said. "That was a wild race for me, getting involed in that incident on lap two and having to come from the rear. That was such a fun race. Thank you to all the fans coming out and staying with us all night long."

The doubleheader provided valuable track time and experience for the young Denton, who cut his teeth at Cordele in Bandoleros and Legends.

"Definitely learning a. lot from all of these very experienced drivers. They've been racing in Cordele for a long time. I have, too, just not in a Late Model. It's really great to be able to battle them and pass them. You learn so much from racing against them."

The ASA Southern Super Series visits Cordele Motor Speedway on Saturday, August 1 for the third round of SuperFest. They'll be joined by the Modifieds of Mayhem Tour as well as Legends, Bandoleros, Pro Trucks, Enduros, Outlaws and Pure Stocks.

-Photo credit: Cordele Motor Speedway

Summer Sizzler Twin 75 Unofficial Results

Race One

Race Two