NIOTA, Tenn. (April 20) — Based on the past two seasons, Jake Knowles of Rome, Ga., will occupy an unfamiliar spot as the Rogers-Dabbs Performance Parts Crate Racin’ USA Dirt Late Model Series heads to I-75 Raceway in Niota, Tenn., for the touring circuit’s third event of the ‘24 season Saturday night.
Two races into the season and courtesy of a pair of decent finishes in his first two appearances—including a 19th-to-11th performance in the inaugural Southern Heritage Classic March 30 at Needmore Speedway in Norman Park, Ga., and a sixth-place showing in a 50-lapper held April 13 at Cochran (Ga.) Motor Speedway, Knowles suddenly finds himself leading the early-season points standings on the Adam Stewart-managed traveling series.
Asked about that turn of events while preparing for the night’s activities at I-75, Knowles chuckled and threw both his hands up in the air as if to question had the world suddenly turned upside down. He laughed, and then he shrugged. Then he spent the next five minutes trying to explain that he honestly can’t explain it.
“I don’t really know,” he said, reiterating his questioning gestures and adding a shake of his head. “I mean, what can you possibly say? I was just horrible at the last race at Cochran [Motor Speedway in Georgia], and just kept persevering and we finished sixth. I don’t know how that happened, to be honest. I mean…we’ll take it, but it makes you wonder.”
Although he’s rarely not a contender in the points battle at some point over the course of a full season, it’s been over two years since the second-generation competitor has been the man at the top of the heap in the championship chase, which this year pays $15,000 to the overall titlist.
Yet he’s no stranger to a points chase during his racing career, and actually claimed the overall series title in 2019 on a circuit that has had 14 different champions over the years, and is currently in its 20th annual season.
Knowles actually participated in the organization’s first-ever series event held two decades ago at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Ga., so while much younger and less experienced in those days, he’s now got at least a few laps under his belt. This isn’t a guy who lucks into whatever comes his way, and he’s raced long enough to know the sport’s rollercoaster goes both up and down.
Knowles currently has only a slender four-point edge over 2021 series champion Jimmy Thomas of Phenix City, Ala., at this point, and he’s well aware that two races doesn’t make a full season. At the same time, points are always precious whenever you can gain a few, and Knowles has been grabbing them in decent-sized bunches as the early races in a long season have started to unfold.
"It’s definitely a spot we’ve not been in much the last couple years,” he said. “All you can do is just ride the wave the best you can while you’re riding it, and often when that’s happening it seems like no matter what you do, it’s like nothing can go wrong. Once you fall off the wave, it’ll seem like nothing can go right. We feel a little better and more positive, and all you can do is keep doing what you’re doing, and see what happens.”