Team Owner Billy Martin celebrating the "sweep" of the Motor Mile Speedway twin fifty lap races by driver Mike Looney on September 7, 2019
Motor Mile Season Finale
Motor Mile Speedway lowered the curtain on the 2019 season on Saturday night, September 7.
with a familiar ending. Again, as he has done 3 other times, Mike Looney won both of the 50 lap
races. Mike and the Billy Martin Racing Team enjoyed their best regular season ever when they won twelve of the sixteen races run at Motor Mile Speedway in 2019. The team is near the top of the standings for the National Championship as well as the Virginia State Championship. The next races will be Saturday night at Langley Speedway and on Sunday at Southern Motorsport Park in Kenly, North Carolina.
The Race Is On
On Saturday, August 31, the three Virginia drivers in the hunt for the National Late Model Championship, Mike Looney, Peyton Sellars and Philip Morris, entered the twin 60 lap races at Old Dominion Raceway.
The races did not disappoint as the trio ran at or near the front the entire night. In the first 60 lap event, Philip Morris came out on top with Peyton Sellars running second and Mike Looney coming in a close third.
In the nightcap the three Virginia drivers swapped the lead several times before Peyton Sellars took the top spot near the end of the race and won with Philip Morris and Mike Looney finishing second and third respectively.
Now it is on to Motor Mile Speedway on Saturday night, September 7, for the track's season finale.
Season winding down
August has been and "up and down" month for Mike Looney and the Billy Martin Race Team. The month began on a high note with Mike winning both 50 lap races on August 3rd, scoring his second Motor Mile "sweep" of the year.
Things did not go as well when the team ran at Kingsport Speedway on August 10. Mike finished 10th in the first race but was unable to start the second race due to brake issues.
The team ran four races the next weekend at Southern Motorsport Park in Kenly, NC. On August 17, Mike drove to an 8th place finish in the first 40 lap race and improved his position by two spots when he finished 6th in the second race.
On August 18, the team entered the first 40 lap race with high expectations. On lap 26, things took a downhill turn when Mike and Philip Morris were involved in an accident. Mike finished 15th in the first race but was unable to start the second race.
The luck changed on August 24 when Mike captured both 50 lap races at Motor Mile Speedway for his third sweep of the year.
As the result of the August events, Mike finds himself in 4th place in the National Late Model Standings at 546 points, just 14 points out of first place.
With the Motor Mile Speedway season finale scheduled for September 7th, Mike is leading the track championship at 1,070 points, 245 points ahead of 2nd place Kyle Dudley and 250 points ahead of Philip Morris.
Expanded Schedule
The team has decided to expand their schedule for the remainder of the year while still focusing on the run for the track championship at Motor Mile Speedway. Along with the Motor Mile events, here are the 6 races planned over the next 8 weeks.
July 20 Langley 200 Laps
July 27 Motor Mile 100 Laps
August 3 Motor Mile Twin 50 Laps
August 10 South Boston Twin 75 laps
August 24 Motor Mile Twin 50 Laps
September 7 Motor Mile Twin 50 Laps (Motor Mile Season Finale)
MIKE LOONEY SWEEPS ETHOS TECHNOLOGIES TWIN 50s AT MOTOR MILE!!
The dream season continues. For the first time in his long racing career, Mike Looney pulled off a rare feat in sweeping both of the 50 laps late model races on Saturday night, July 13, 2019 at Motor Mile Speedway.
First he captured the Price's Body Shop Pole Award but started the first race in tenth place following the post qualifying redraw.
He then roared through the field from his 10th place start and found himself in 5th position before the first caution came out on lap 7. The second and final caution flew on lap 30 and Mike started on the outside of the front row beside Max McLaughlin led a race high 21 laps in his first ever Motor Mile start. In a few short laps, Mike powered around McLaughlin to take the lead and win by .537 seconds over Kres Van Dyke.
In the second 50 lap race, Mike again started in 10th position. Derrick Lancaster started on the outside of the front row and grabbed the lead from pole winner Kyle Barnes on lap one. Lancaster led 23 laps before giving up the lead to Mike and the 87 Va entry.
Mike's now leads the Motor Mile track standings by 110 points. The team also is now fourth in the Nascar Whelen All-American Series National Standings.
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The Team had a great start to the 2019 racing season. While the plans are to run the entire season at Motor Mile Speedway in the very competitive Late Model Series, the decision was made to run a few other tracks as time and sponsorship permitted.
During the off-season a new car was built and the team planned to run it at the beginning of the season but after testing, Mike was not satisfied with the handling of the new car. While testing continued on the new car, the team brought back the older car since it was a proven winner (same car driven by Mike in winning the 2016 Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway).
Billy and Mike began the season on April 27 with a thrilling win over Philip Morris in the first 50 lap late model event. Mike pulled his car alongside Morris with a few laps to go. The pair raced side by side for several laps before Mike pulled ahead to move into the lead and went on to win with Morris a close second. In the second 50 lap event, Morris came out the winner with Mike running second, reversing the finishing order of the first race.
On June 1 the team would capture their second Motor Mile win of the season by finishing first in the second 50 lap event of the night.
The team ran a couple of events with the old car and then parked it and brought out the newly built racer.
After winning the 100 lap event on June 15 for the third Motor Mile win of the season, Billy and Mike decided to try their hand at running twin 70 lap late model events at Langley Speedway on June 22, a track on which neither of them had ever raced.
The night could not have started off any better. Mike was fastest in qualifying, started from the pole and won the first 70 lap event in his first start at Langley. This was the first Langley win for both driver and car owner.
Mike started 8th in the second race and by lap 26 he had made his way to the front in the 87 entry. Things were looking good and Mike appeared to be in position to win his second race of the night. In racing sometimes fate has a way of stepping in and changing the expected outcome of the race. With only 19 laps to go, caution came out on lap 51 and changed the eventual finishing order. On the restart, a car clipped the left rear quarter panel of the 87 and the tire, forcing Mike to pit. Through no fault of his own, Mike finished 14th and the team knew the car ran great and would be in contention to win for the rest of the season.
On June 29th, the 87 team went to South Boston Speedway to run the 200 lap event. Out of 34 cars entered, Mike qualified 2nd and finished the race in 4th place. Great run.
After the South Boston event, the team is 8th in the national points.
GO TEAM!!!
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