Breaking News: SGMP Sold. NHRA event moves to Gainesville

As of 2:00 PM Eastern time, Ozzy Moya of Orlando Speed World took ownership of the South Georgia Motorsports facility.

Immediately after taken ownership, promoter Donald Long signed a 5-year lease with the facility for his events.

The ManCup Motorcycle event should go forward per David Schnitz. Donald Long went on to say that all other events planned for this season will also go on as planned.

Sources tell DragCoverage.com that the facility was sold to Larry Dean last Tuesday in Adel, GA. Rumor is that Ozzy, owner of Orlando, is looking at the facility.

NHRA officials announced today that the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event previously scheduled for Valdosta, Ga., March 6-8, has been moved to Auto Plus Raceway at Gainesville, Gainesville, Fla.

The event takes place the week before the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, giving racers in the Lucas Oil Series back to back events in Gainesville, Fla., and three races in four weeks at the facility, which also plays host to the second event in the 2015 NHRA Southeast Division, Feb. 20-22. The Summit Racing Series event scheduled for Feb. 28 at Auto Plus Raceway has been cancelled to help accommodate this schedule change.

“Our goal is to always provide NHRA racers with the best possible venue for the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and there is a very short timeframe for the Valdosta track to transition into a new management team,” said Rich Schaefer, NHRA Southeast Division Director. “We believe it is best to relocate this event to Auto-Plus Raceway for 2015. We look forward to returning to Valdosta with a Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in the future.”

Qualifying and time trials for the event will begin on Friday and continue into Saturday. A detailed schedule will be posted on the NHRA Southeast Division website soon.

From Gainesville, the NHRA Southeast Division Lucas Oil Series will make stops at two new facilities as it heads to Montgomery Motorsports Park, Montgomery, Ala., April 17-19, and Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, N.C., May 29-31. Their 2015 season concludes with stops at Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway in September and Georgia’s Silver Dollar Raceway in October.