Cardwell grabs another win

Over 100 cars packed into Tennessee’s action track to see the best drivers around do battle in front of a packed crowd. Morristown’s Shannon Emery put his #m2 machine on the pole with a 15.846 lap time and was the only car under the 16 second mark. Keeping him company on the front row would be last week’s winner Jerry Hux. The race got off to a sluggish pace with Austin Lawson bringing out the caution before a lap was complete. The chaos wasn’t over as a multiple car accident involving Tony Horton, Tim Kilby, and Lee Merritt slowed the pace again. Finally once the race got underway, Shannon Emery took the point with Rickett and Hux in chase. The two had an incredible battle a few weeks ago with Emery wrestling the win away on the last lap and it looked to be no different this week as the two quickly ran away from the pack. Jeff McLemore began working his way up from his 8th place starting position by passing Glen Hounshell. More Trouble for Kilby who spun slowing the pace again. Back under green and Rickett was all over the back of the #m2 machine for the lead and on lap 5 made his move and took the top spot away. Pete Wright started in the 7th spot but moved into the top 5 past Wolfe just past the halfway mark. A caution on lap 16 allowed everyone to catch their breath as the top two were literally beating and banging for the lead. Emery would have one last show on the restart but but had to watch as Rickett inched away in the closing laps to pick up the win.

1: #36 Chris Rickett
2: #M2 Shannon Emery
3: #01 Jerry Hux
4: #11 Tracy Wolfe
5: #44 Jamie Lackey
6: #J3 Jeff McLemore
7: #20 Glen Hounshell
8: #56 Tony Horton
9: #14 Lee Merritt
10: #16 Nate Mullins
11: #119 Mike Williams
12: #T11 Tim Kilby
13: #35 Jason West
14: #18 Scott Short
15: #03 Gary Terry
16: #51 Pete Wright
17: #69 Nick Pressley
18: #32 Stephen Fox
19: #Nathan Adams
20: #07A Audie Wyrick
21: #45 Austin Lawson
22: #127 Nick Jones
23: #2 Chris Friss
DNS: #99 Dale Jackson
DNS: #R13 Johnny King

Fireball Roberts JR set sail when the green flag waved for the 20 lap Mini Stock feature but a caution on lap 1 negated his great start. Back under green and he again took the top spot ahead of Byers and Raley. The newly crowned Tazelwell Speedway Mini Stock Champion Chuck McMahan showed his muscle early as he moved himself into the 4th spot. Just two laps in and McMahan was up one more spot into third. Cindy Poore made her first start in 2015 and it was a good one as she was in the top 5 early on. On lap 8 Byers was eating up the lead that Roberts had accumulated. One lap short of halfway and he made his move taking the top spot away. The top 3 had built up a pretty large gap over the 4th place car of Tullock but Roberts and Byers made contact sending the soon to be crowned Mini Stock champion spinning. Roberts would be sent to the rear of the pace with the #j7 machine going back to the top of scoring chart and would hold off Raley to pick up another win in his already incredible season.

1: #J7 John Byers
2: #88 Shannon Raley
3: #77 Danny Tullock
4: #322 Fireball Roberts JR
5: #T6 Cindy Poore
6: #90 Nick Adams
7: #25 Joe Myers
8: #31 David Darden
9: #54 Samuel Fox
10: #99 Chuck McMahan
11: #123 Brandon Creech
12: #3 Matthew Sullivan
13: #c8 Chris Griffin
DNS: #44 Tommy Metler

Adam Pressley took the lead at the start of the 20 lap Classic Car feature just ahead of Justin Overton and Joe Keck. Trouble would find Michael Maiden as he had some sort of mechanical issue and dumped a ton of fluid on the track. With the fluid cleaned up after a lengthy yellow, Pressley jumped back out with the lead again looking to pick up his first win of the season. Overton kept the pressure on the lead as the two inched away from Joe Keck. After knocking on the door all race long, on lap 7 Overton was able to take the lead away with a great run off turn 4. Pressley would try and stay on the back bumper but Overton would inch away in the closing laps to pick up another win.

1: #98 Justin Overton
2: #07 Adam Pressley
3: #7 John Stevens
4: #8 Eli Keck
5: #88 Joe Keck
6: #18 Rusty Welch
7: #65 Michael Maiden
DNS: J13 Joel Wolfenbarger

The Open Wheel Modified made their first appearance of 2015 with a strong 19 car field as they were set to do battle for 20 laps. The race got off to a slow start with multiple cautions before the event could get going. Steven Eversole made hard contact with the outside wall going into turn three and rode the wall all the way off turn four ending his night early. Delane Browning took the top spot as the action was intense from the front to the rear of the pack. MiKah Reams worked his way into the runner up spot in the early laps. Just three laps and the #19 was growing bigger in the mirror of the leader as the laps ticked off. After a quick cation Reams took the lead away from Browning on the restart. Browing wasn’t going away however as he looked low off turn two every lap trying to get the top spot back. Another caution on lap six for Ben Petrey Don Adams wanted to put his name in the mix for the lead as he was working his way up into the top 5. Just past halfway and Browning wasn’t about to give up and he kept working the low line trying to get the lead back. Lap 11 the Webb went for a spin in turn 4 and collected Blake Terry. A cuation filled race resulted in the event being cut short do to time restraints with Reams holding on to pick up the big win.

1: #19 Mikah Reams
2: #1 Delanie Browning
3: #99 Blake Brown
4: #90 Don Adams
5: #36 Billy Palmer
6: #29 Joey Cotterman
7: #48 Keith Denny
8: #43 Ben Petrey
9: #3 Jared Reams
10: #27 Shawn Hubbard
11: #92 Matthew Hopper
12: #89 Blake Terry
13: #13 David Webb
14: #t92 Ricky Tinch
15: #26 Joe Husband
16: #15 Jeff Hamby Jr
17: #21 Dustin Duncan
18: #17 Steven Eversole
19: #4 Tyler James

Trevor Sise earned the pole for the 30 lap Late Model feature with a 13.994 lap time and he was the only car under the 14 second mark. The field of 20 cars screamed into turn number one with point leader Jason Cardwell coming out of two with the lead ahead of Sise and last weeks winner Ross White. White was hungry for another win and he immediately began working over Sise for the runner up spot just ahead of Chase King who held down 4th. As Whjte and Sise fought for second, Cardwell began to inch away from them with the lead. That lead would be erased on lap 10 with a caution brought out by Chris Beeler who spun around in turn two. Jason Manley started back in the 8th spot but had moved his way up into the top five after just a handful of laps. With 11 laps in the books. Mitchell Childress slowed with mechanical issues and had to head pitside for attention from his crew. Trevor Sise started on the pole but seemed to have missed the setup a little on his #73 machne as he lost another spot to Chase King moving him back to 4th. 16 laps in the books and Cardwell was running away by a full straight with White and Ruben Mayfield still fighting for second position. A terrible crash brought out the red flag as the #54 of Perry Barnhardt got up on the front stretch wall and flipped upside down. Thankfully the driver was okay but he was done for the night. Cardwell would hold on to pick up the win and stretch his point lead out with only two point races left in the 2015 season.

1: #07 Jason Cardwell
2: #0 Ross White
3: #00 Ruben Mayfield
4: #32 Jason Manley
5: #44 Chase King
6: #73 Trevor Sise
7: #5 Jesse Lowe
8: #23 Layne Clifton
9: #39 Eddie King Jr
10: #18 Gary Crittenden
11: #23 Tim Damron
12: #27 AJ Russell
13: #37 Tommy Eastridge
14: #54 Perry Barnhardt
15: #18 Jim Johnson
16: #24 Chris Beeler
17: #2 Mitchell Childress
18: #7 William Overbey
19: #97 Bobby Giffin
DNS: #18 Michael Rutherford

The final race of the night would be the 20 lap Sportsman feature. Youngster Zach Sise set quick time in qualifying with a 14.744 lap time. Sise would take the top spot ahead of Brad Seagle and Bradley Lewelling who held down the third spot. A caution on lap number three for Jeremy Howard slowed the pace. Shannon Reece had a great run going and had moved up into the third spot but spun the very next lap sending him to the tail end of the field. Brian Courtney made his return after being missing in action the past few races and he looked stout again as he moved into the third spot after just three laps. The moment of the race came on lap number nine as Brian Courtney dove under Sise for the lead and the two tangled. The two cars looked to get stuck together resulting in Sise and Brad Seagle making contact afterwards. Courtney would be charged for the caution and sent to the rear with Sise and Seagle getting their positions back. Courtney may have been in the back but the fight wasn’t over for Sise who had to deal with Seagle knocking on his back door. Clearly upset Courtney drove his way back through the pack trying to regain as many positions as possible after the penalty. Seagle would hold tight on the back bumper of the #9 but Sise held him off to pick up his first career win.

1: #9 Zach Sise
2: #31 Brad Seagle
3: #98 Jed Emmert
4: #01 Wayne Rader
5: #c11 Clyde Stanton
6: #50 Adam Mitchell
7: #22 Michael Millsap
8: #71 Brian Courtney
9: #310 Jeremy Howard
10: #68 Shannon Reece
11: #12 Kurt Owens
12: #18 Corey Summers
13: #4 Nick Boling
14: #07 Bradley Lewelling
15: #1 David Clark

There are just two more point races remaining before ending the season with a number of special events. Race times will move up one hour with cooler temperatures taking over.