Kids night a huge and fun success on Saturday night
By Markus Hankins
June 23rd, 2014
Seymour, TN – The first kids night of the 2014 season was chalked up as a huge success on Saturday Night. More than 50 kids came down onto the front straightaway to participate in foot and bike races, as well as a coin toss. There was also a tire roll contest with several of our NeSmith Late Model drivers agreeing to participate. In that race, Ryan King almost took a tumble as his tire went careening into the infield. After the dust settled and the banging took place, it was Chad Beeler taking the tire roll win. Feature racing was up next with Sportsman being the first feature. Terry Poore would take the checkered flag, but 2nd-place finisher Kip Sawyer lodged a complete teardown protest against Poore. Poore would refuse to tear down, so Sawyer was named the winner. Mini Stock was next, where Jason Gregory picked up the win. Gary Blanken took the win in Street Stock, and Rusty Ballenger held off Ryan King for the NeSmith win.
Join us this Saturday June 28th as we welcome the Limited Late Model division back to the speedway for a special $1,000-to-win feature. Also in action will be NeSmith Late Model, Sportsman, Street Stock, and Mini Stock. Admission prices will still only be $10 for adults in the grandstand, as always kids 12 & under are free with paid adult. Adult pit passes are $25 with kids 12 & under $15 with signed minor release.
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Sportsman
The front row for the first feature of the night was Heath Alvey starting on the pole, with Rex Coffey joining him on the outside. Immediately at the drop of the green off turn 4, contact between both drivers would seem to set tempers flaring, when, in turn 1, heavy contact was made between Alvey and Coffey, resulting in Coffey having severe damage on the left side of his machine, and Alvey with heavy damage on the right side and front nose. Both cars would continue. Alvey however would restart on the tail as he hit the hotpit area for service. When the race would get under the green flag, Coffey would take the race lead and show the way. However, he would suffer what appeared to be a broken right-front shock on lap 12, handing the race lead over to Terry Poore. Poore would lead the final 7 circuits en-route to his 3rd win of the season. But, the race was lost on the scales as 2nd place finisher Kip Sawyer lodged a complete teardown protest against Poore. Poore would refuse teardown and be disqualified. Your new winner was Kip Sawyer, with Wayne Rader coming home in 2nd and Alvey rallying to 3rd.
Cautions: 3 (Laps 0, 0, 15)
Leaders: 329-Coffey (1-12); 2-Poore (13-20)
Mini Stock
Kyle Courtney and Sam Burgess would lead the field to green for this feature, with Kyle Courtney quickly taking the lead off 2. He would lead through 2 cautions, where on lap 11, mechanical failure would cause his machine to run a little slower, allowing Jason Gregory to pull to the inside and steal the race lead. He would lead the final 8 circuits to claim his 2nd win of the season. Michael Courtney would finish in the 2nd spot, with Tommy Metler rounding out the top 3.
Cautions: 4 (Laps 1, 10, 13, 15)
Leaders: 171-K. Courtney (1-11); 21-Gregory (12-20)
Street Stock
Gary Blanken and Brandon Jarnigan made up the front row for Street Stock. At the drop of the green flag, Blanken flexed his muscle through turns 1 and 2 taking the lead. He would stretch his lead until caution flew on lap 13. With the field bunched up, Blanken again powered away with the lead but caution quickly flew once again. The 3rd and final green flag flew, where Blanken easily took the win, leading all 20 laps. Coming home in 2nd was Lynn Phillips, with Jarnigan rounding out the top 3.
Cautions: 2 (Laps 13, 13)
Leaders: 5-Blanken (1-20)
NeSmith Late Model
The final feature was up next, where the starting lineup was set in qualifying, with Rusty Ballenger taking fast qualifier honors with his lap of 14.214. Joining him on the outside front row was current points leader Adam Beeler. At the drop of the green flag, Ballenger would take the race lead with Beeler running in the 2nd spot. A few laps later, Ryan King was muscle his way into the 2nd spot where he looked to chase down Ballenger. The only caution slowed the pace on lap 12. After that, the battle raged for the 4th spot where Matt Henderson and Brian Courtney put on a show for the fans. They would remain virtually side-by-side for the last 15 laps of the feature. In the closing laps, King would reel in Ballenger and give him a run for his money. When the white flag flew off turn 4, King had pulled to the inside of Ballenger, but in turn 1, the lapped machine of Chad Beeler tried to get out of the way, but nowhere was safe and King had to back off the throttle to not run over Chad Beeler. King would make one final charge into 3 but could only close to the spoiler. Ballenger held on to take the win, with King coming home 2nd, 3rd went to Adam Beeler. 4th was Brian Courtney and Matt Henderson finished up in 5th.
Cautions: 1 (Lap 12)
Leaders: 29-Ballenger (1-30)