The Crate Late Models made their much anticipated return to Tennessee’s action track bringing with them a strong field of cars to do battle for the $1,000 payday. Before that was the Sportsman feature which saw Michael Courtney put his #c11 machine on pole with a 14.546 second lap time. After a false start Courtney would take command of the 20 car field with Zach Sise, Heath Alvey and Philip Thompson rounding out the top four. Clyde Stanton wasn’t gonna wait around as he and David Kerr were locked in a battle for position as soon as the green waved but a caution for Kyle Cole would slow the pace quickly as only two laps were completed. With the green back in the air Heath Alvey was all over Sise for the runner up spot. The battles in the top five were intense as Philip Thompson was also in the mix for the runner up spot early on. Seven laps in and the top four drivers had put a little real estate between themselves and Jed Emert who held down fifth. The laps ticked off and Courtney found himself in some heavy lap traffic which saw the younger of the Sise brothers close the gap. Trouble would find Jesse Helton who looked to have lost an engine and made hard contact with the outside wall. The driver would be okay but he was done for the night. Sise would keep the pressure on but Courtney would find his way to victory lane once again.
1: #C11 Michael Courtney
2: #9 Zach Sise
3: #7 Heath Alvey
4: #98 Jed Emert
5: #24 Philip Thompson
6: #C11 Clyde Stanton
7: #14 David Kerr
8: #31 Brad Seagle
9: #171 Kyle Courtney
10: #79 Josh Sneed
11: #55 Brandon Taylor
12: #50 Adam Mitchell
13: #26 Brandon Gardner
14: #77 Jimmy Calloway
15: #3 Floyd Self
16: #57 Jesse Lowe
17: #01 Wayne Rader
18: #18 Kyle Cole
19: #25k Kyle Manis
DNS: #32 Cody Galone
Up next would be the 20 lap Mini Stock feature. John Byers would lead us to green and take command on the start. After finishing second in a photo finish last week, Thomas Clark was ready to go as he put his #41 machine into the lead early on moving ahead of Byers and Chris Kennedy. Ryan Wade clearly had a great car as he was all over Kennedy for the third spot in the opening laps but lost control of his machine in turn four sending him to the rear and bringing out the caution. The green waved again and Kennedy saw his chance and pounced on the leaders taking over the top spot. After spinning just a couple laps earlier Wade was a man on a mission as he had already moved back into the top six. Kennedy was running away with the lead but the fight for second was on with Byers all over Clark. It’d been a mostly trouble free season for Byers but everyone has issues eventually and this was the case for the six time winner as he spun on lap 11. Back under green and Wade had managed to drive his way back up into third but ran out of laps as Chris Kennedy would take the victory. However Kennedy would refuse teardown after the race resulting in his disqualification from the event. Thomas Clark would be awarded the win.
1: #41 Thomas Clark
2: #27 Ryan Wade
3: #44 Tommy Metler
4: #17 Steve Owens
5: #2 Bryant Idles
6: #3` David Darden
7: #T6 Cindy Poore
8: #5 Mitchell Fox
9: #69 Jesse Hickman
10: #83 John Byers
11: #01 Anthony Dixon
12: #13 Jamie James
DQ: #171 Chris Kennedy
Up next was the 25 lap Late Model feature. After scoring the win last week, Jason Cardwell picked up where he left off picking up the pole with a 14.140 lap time. The green was waving and Cardwell put his #07 machine on point ahead of Bobby Mays, Josh Henry and point leader Trevor Sise. Henry and Mays would battle early on for the runner up spot with Henry eventually prevailing moving Mays back to third. Henry would quickly run the leader down as the two looked to settle it between themselves. Sise seemed to struggle a little early but his #73 machine got faster as the race went on. Ten laps in and Sise had caught Mays for the third spot behind Cardwell and Henry who had pulled away to a full straight away lead. After picking up his first career Late Model win last weekend at Tazewell Speedway, Chris Barton wouldn’t be so successful this time as he retired early from the event. After several laps of working him over Sise was finally able to slip by and take the spot away from Bobby Mays who began to have engine issues afterwards. Henry would keep the leader in his sights but was never able to figure out a way around.
1: #07 Jason Cardwell
2: #B00 Josh Henry
3: #73 Trevor Sise
4: #23 Layne Clifton
5: #25 Bobby Mays
6: #2 Mitchell Childress
7: #144 Chris Barton
8: #20 Shannon Smith
2: #98 Justin Overton
3: #33x Cameron Skinner
4: #9 Ritchie Overholser
5: #96 Lee Merritt
6: #18 Rusty Welch
7: #0 Chris Nix
8: #00 Michael Branham
9: #65 Michael Maiden
10: #8 Eli Keck
It had been awhile since we saw the Crate Late Models at the 4-1-1 and what a strong field of cars they brought. A 14.287 would earn Josh Fields pole position for the 25 lap $1,000 to win feature. Fields may have won the pole but it would be outside pole sitter Greg Martin who took the lead on the start ahead of Fields, Ross White and Jason Cardwell. The battle to watch early on was between Ryan King and Josh Henry for the fifth spot. Martin looked to be running away but a caution on lap 6 for Brandon Miller would change all that. Jason Cardwell’s bid for two wins on the same night would come to an early end as he spun and pulled off the track shortly after. On the restart something happened to Martin as his car pushed big time up the track almost into the outside wall. He wouldn’t have any damage but would fall from the lead all the way outside the top five. With Fields now the leader he would have his hands full with Ross White who was all over him for the spot. Lap traffic would come into play in the closing laps allowing King and Henry to close in as well. Fields would pick his way through the traffic and pick up the big payday.
1: #11 Josh Fields
2: #0 Ross White
3: #30 Ryan King
4: #B00 Josh Henry
5: #A-1 Jesse Lowe
6: #39 Eddie King Jr
7: #24 Greg Martin
8: #7 Marty Calloway
9: #35 Todd Coffman
10: #71 Pierce McCarter
11: #15 Bryson Dennis
12: #3D Jake Henry
13: #89 Brandon Miller
14: #19 Chris Fair
15: #17 Steven Eversole
16: #23 Barry Anderson
17: #5 James Cole
18: #11 Jason Cardwell
DNS: #7 William Overby
Skimp Henry would set fast time in Street Stock qualifying with a 15.340 lap just one tenth off his track record. Henry put his #25 machine into the very familiar spot of the lead with Jerry Hux and Dale Watson hot on his heels. The battle was on from the start between Hux and Watson as the fought it out for the runner up spot. Trouble for Lee Merritt would end his night just three laps into the 20 lap event. After working him over several laps Watson was able to power past Hux into the runner up spot behind Henry. A caution on lap 5 for Dalton King would slow the pace putting everyone back into the mix. The fight between Watson and Hux wasn’t over as Hux was again working the low line trying to get back around the former Street Stock track champion. All this would be behind Henry would pulled away in the closing laps picking up another win.
1: #25 Skimp Henry
2: #11 Dale Watson
3: #01 Wayne Rader
4: #13 MJ Collier
5: #T11 Tim Kilby
6: #99 Dale Jackson
7: #51 Dalton King
8: #14 Lee Merritt
