With picture perfect weather in the area, 411 Motor Speedway paid tribute to a legend gone too soon. Buster Cardwell was on the minds of everyone as the fans were packed into Tennessee’s Action Track for his Memorial race.
Before that would be the 20 lap Sportsman feature. A strong field of 16 cars took time in qualifying the fastest of which was Jed Emert who turned in a 14.592 second lap time. The green waved and it was Emert who beat outside pole sitter Brad Seagle off turn two to take control of the race. The yellow was a regular theme of the night the first of which came for Brandon Starnes who looped it on the first lap of the race. Back under green and Seagle had his hands full with his point rival Clyde Stanton for the second spot. On lap 7 Stanton would slip by seagle and set his sights on Emert who had inched away. Rex Coffey was on the move with his #222 machine as he had caught Seagle for the third spot. A caution for Floyd Branham would slow the pace a couple laps later putting everyone back in the mix. Coffey continued his drive to the front on lap 9 as he powered past Stanton into the runner up position. Adam Mitchell had a strong top five run going but went for a spin in turn one. The green was back out and Rex Coffey made his move as he dove deep into turn one and slipped past Emert for the lead. The top three were putting some distance on the rest of the field and were cloing in on slower traffic ahead. Coffey got caught up behind one of them coming off turn four and ended up going around. Coffey would get his position back but appeared to have a broken shock and couldn’t keep the field behind him. Jed Emert would hold off Brad Seagle to pick up the win in the final laps.
1: #98 Jed Emert
2: #31 Brad Seagle
3: #7 Heath Alvey
4: #C11 Clyde Stanton
5: #32 Cody Gloyne
6: #50 Adam Mitchell
7: #01 Wayne Rader
8: #87 Scott Gardner
9: #34 Philip Shockley
10: #53 Floyd Branham
11: #58 Cody Brake
12: #79 Joshua Sneed
13: #222 Rex Coffey
14: #15 Mike Ledford
15:#68 Brandon Starned
DNS: #9 Zach Sise
2: #31 Brad Seagle
3: #7 Heath Alvey
4: #C11 Clyde Stanton
5: #32 Cody Gloyne
6: #50 Adam Mitchell
7: #01 Wayne Rader
8: #87 Scott Gardner
9: #34 Philip Shockley
10: #53 Floyd Branham
11: #58 Cody Brake
12: #79 Joshua Sneed
13: #222 Rex Coffey
14: #15 Mike Ledford
15:#68 Brandon Starned
DNS: #9 Zach Sise
Up next was the 20 lap Classic Car feature. Adam Pressley and John Stevens would start row #1 via winning their heat races earlier in the day. The green waved and Pressley got a great run off turn two putting himself in control of the 10 car field ahead of Stevens, Lee Merritt and Steve Hillard. As the top four drivers pulled away from the field the night came to an early end for Rusty Welch who had been battling mechanical issues all day. Pressley has finished runner up several times so far in 2016 but had the car to beat as he began to pull away from Stevens who held down second. Pressley would find himself in some lap traffic late in the race but was never really challenged and cruised to the win.
1: #22 Adam Pressley
2: #7 John Stevens
3: #8 Eli Keck
4: #9 Lee Merritt
5: #78 Steve Hillard
6: #24 Scott Lacy
7: #1 Mac Lockhart
8: #88 Ritchie Overholser
9: #18 Rusty Welch
10: #52 Kevin Crane
DNS: #96 Adam Engel
DNS: #0 Chris Nix
3: #8 Eli Keck
4: #9 Lee Merritt
5: #78 Steve Hillard
6: #24 Scott Lacy
7: #1 Mac Lockhart
8: #88 Ritchie Overholser
9: #18 Rusty Welch
10: #52 Kevin Crane
DNS: #96 Adam Engel
DNS: #0 Chris Nix
Mini Stock points leader Thomas Clark would start row one of the mini stock feature alongside John Byers in his #83 machine. Byers would take the lead on the start ahead of Clark, Justin Taylor and Kevin Tullis in his #3 machine. Trouble would find #69 of Jesse Hickman who slowed just a couple laps in with heavy smoke trailing him. Tullis had a very strong car proven by his moving past Taylor and into the third spot. Seven laps in and Byers had pulled away looking to add to his already huge win total in 2016. Justin Taylor found himself in trouble in the second half of the race. First a spin on his own in turn two and then the caution was called on him after contact with Thomas Clark. Byers would hit his marks and pick up another win.
1: #83 John Byers
2: #3 Kevin Tullis
3: #41 Thomas Clark
4: #17 Shal Ritenour
5: #5 Mitchell Fox
6: #0 Justin Taylor
7: #69 Jesse Hickman
DNS: #5 Travis Fox
DQ: #25 Shawn Henry
DQ: #21 Greg Morton
2: #3 Kevin Tullis
3: #41 Thomas Clark
4: #17 Shal Ritenour
5: #5 Mitchell Fox
6: #0 Justin Taylor
7: #69 Jesse Hickman
DNS: #5 Travis Fox
DQ: #25 Shawn Henry
DQ: #21 Greg Morton
Next up was the 30 lap Buster Cardwell Memorial. Once again it was Trevor Sise who set fast time in qualifying with a 13.994 second lap. Sise would be the only car under the 14 second mark. With the green in the air Sise would take the lead of the 14 car field ahead of Jason Trammell and Bobby Giffin. Josh Henry wasn’t waiting around as he quickly moved himself into the third spot behind Sise and Trammell. Johnny Ridings started back in the 8th spot but was on go from the start as he and Jason Cardwell fought it out for the 7th spot early on. Chase King qualified fifth but was a rocket as he moved himself past Jason Trammell into second. Sise had built up a small cushion but lap traffic would slow the point leader down bringing Chase King right up to his rear bumper. John Adams would bring out the caution as he went for a spin slowing the pace. Johnny Ridings and Chris Barton would make contact on the front sending Ridings spinning down into the infield. The caution would be called on Barton with Ridings getting his position back. King had closed in on Trevor Sise for the lead as King had found something on the low line. Just one lap left as the two crossed under the flag stand. King drove in deep into turn one, Trevor Sise ended up spinning his #73 machine around. King would hold off Josh Henry on a GWC finish to pick up the win.
1: #44 Chase King
2: #B00 Josh Henry
3: #31 Johnny Ridings
4: #07 Jason Cardwell
5: #144 Chris Barton
6: #70 Jesse Helton
7: #90J Jason Trammell
8: #73 Trevor Sise
9: #1 David Clark
10: #97 Bobby Giffin
11: #44 Kip Sawyer
12: #22 Lynn Leach
13: #97 Keith Chapman
14: #32 John Adams
The final event of the night was the 20 lap Street Stock feature. Chris Rickett earned the pole with a 15.642 second lap time. A very stout 12 car field took the green but chaos struck early as Chris Rickett slid up the track and spun collecting several cars in the process. Austin Neely, Freddy Hillary, Caleb Trent were among the cars involved. Rickett wouldn’t be able to continue as he pulled his #36 machine off track and retired for the night. After the cleanup it was Henry who took the lead ahead of Rocky Ogle, Austin Neely and Dale Watson. Neely had a very strong car the entire race as he moved past Ogle into the runner up spot. Rocky Ogle would have some sort of mechanical issues as he pulled off track early. Another caution would wave for Jason West who dumped fluid on the track. Watson and Neely had a great battle for the runner up spot but made contact resulting in Watson pulling off track. Despite smoke trailing from his #3, Neely had closed in on the back of Henry for the race lead. Neely was clearly the better car and looked to end Henry’s domination of the Street Stock at 411 but dove in a little too deep in turn one and spun. Henry would hold off Freddy Hillard the final couple laps to pick up another win.
1: #25 Skimp Henry
2: #74 Freddy Hillard
3: #51 Dalton King
4: #34 Tracy McPeak
5: #3 Austin Neely
6: #3 Caleb Trent
7: #11 Dale Watson
8: #13 MJ Collier
9: #35 Jason West
10: #59 Bryan McDaniel
11: #9 Rocky Ogle
12: #36 Chris Rickett
2: #74 Freddy Hillard
3: #51 Dalton King
4: #34 Tracy McPeak
5: #3 Austin Neely
6: #3 Caleb Trent
7: #11 Dale Watson
8: #13 MJ Collier
9: #35 Jason West
10: #59 Bryan McDaniel
11: #9 Rocky Ogle
12: #36 Chris Rickett
