Lowe, Emert, Hamby, Woods, Engel, Owens, Adams visit victory lane at 411 Motor Speedway; longtime track official Dunlap remembered

Lowe, Emert, Hamby, Woods, Engel, Owens, Adams visit victory lane at 411 Motor Speedway; longtime track official Dunlap remembered

SEYMOUR, Tenn. (April 27, 2019) — There’s one thing you can say about grassroots weekly short-track racing, all involved are “family.”

411 Motor Speedway and the East Tennessee racing community lost a cherished family member this past week, as longtime track official Paul Dunlap Sr. lost a long but courageously fought battle with cancer and passed away. He may be gone, but he definitely wasn’t forgotten Saturday night as Paul was remembered with a special tribute prior to the start of racing at 411 Motor Speedway. While fans and track officials stood showing respect, over 40 drivers took their cars onto the track and slowly circled while holding up three fingers in remembrance of Paul, who was the turn three official.

Jesse Lowe of Crossville captured the Crate Late Model victory, while Jed Emert of Maryville recorded the Sportsman Late Model win, with Jeff Hamby of Lancing bringing home the Open Wheel Modified victory.

Michael Woods of White Pine captured the Modified Street victory, while Adam Engel of Knoxville recorded the Classic win. Steve Owens of Knoxville got the Street Stock victory, and Nathan Adams of Crossville won the Front Wheel Drive feature.

Jesse Lowe was fastest in Crate Late Model qualifying at 14.512 seconds, but on the start of the 25-lap feature Cory Hedgecock rocketed out into the lead from his outside front-row starting position. Hedgecock quickly put right at a half-straightaway gap between himself and Lowe, who was trailed by Rusty Ballenger, Heath Alvey and Jason Cardwell.

But on the move and picking off positions in a major way was Trevor Sise, who worked his way around Cardwell, Alvey and Ballenger to advance into the third spot in the opening three laps. Caution waved on lap 7 when Jerry Green spun in the fourth turn.

Off the ensuing double-file restart, Hedgecock once again showed the way out front. But Sise drove past Lowe racing off the second corner to close in behind Hedgecock. While challenging Hedgecock for the lead, it was all heartbreak for Sise as he dropped out of the race with ignition issues on lap 9.

Lowe began chopping into Hedgecock’s lead and on lap 15 as they raced into the first turn, Lowe drove to the inside of Hedgecock to move out front. From that point on and with a clear track ahead of him, there was no looking back for Lowe as he proceeded to outrun Hedgecock to record his division-leading fourth victory of the season. Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were Ballenger, Cardwell and Pierce McCarter.

Don’t call him “Jed Clampett,” call Jed Emert “Mr. Smooth” because he was riding out front in style as he cruised to his first Sportsman Late Model victory with ease. Emert jumped out to the lead on the start and never looked back en route to winning over Clyde Stanton, Adam Mitchell, Quincy Adams and Adam Pressley.

Blake Brown was fastest in Open Wheel Modified qualifying over a strong 16-car field of competitors at 15.458 seconds, with Jeff Hamby timing-in second quickest at 15.461. Hamby powered into the lead on the start over Brown and Amos Bunch, but behind them Matthew Hopper, Dustin Diden, Robert Reagan, Jimmy Dalton, Ricky Tinch, Jamie Mosley and Billy Palmer jockeyed for real estate around Tennessee’s Action Track. With Hamby in command out front and riding a strong mount, basically the race was his to lose. But he would not be denied as he rolled to a flag-to-flag victory over Brown, Bunch, Mosley and Diden.

There’s a saying that “all good things must come to an end.” Well, the end for Lee Merritt meant his four-race Classic winning streak was stopped. Even though Merritt was fastest in qualifying, according to track rules due to his four straight victories, he was forced to start at rear of the field. … Richie Overholser grabbed the lead at start over Adam Engel and Eli Keck. But coming, and coming quickly from the back was Merritt. However, Merritt’s night ended on lap 3 when he got collected when Keck spun in the fourth turn to bring out the caution. … Back under green a good three-car battle waged up front for position between Overholser, Engel and Mac Lockhart. With the trio taking the white flag, Engel drove to the inside of Overholser entering the first turn. They raced side-by-side down the backstretch into the third turn, and exiting the fourth turn onto the front straightaway Engel nosed ahead of Overholser to barely nip him at the flag stand for the victory. Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were Lockhart, Will Carey and Keck.

Nathan Adams outran Nate Presley, Josh Detwiler, Dylan Turner and Bryan Williams to capture his second Front Wheel Drive feature win.

Steve Owens held off a hard-charging Shawn Henry to collect his first Street Stock win on the season. Finishing behind Owens and Henry were Brandon Johnson and Wendell Williams.

411 MOTOR SPEEDWAY – SEYMOUR, TN – APRIL 27, 2019 – OFFICIAL RESULTS

CRATE LATE MODEL (25 laps)

1. Jesse Lowe #5J
2. Cory Hedgecock #23
3. Rusty Ballenger #29
4. Jason Cardwell #07
5. Pierce McCarter #51
6. Heath Alvey #7
7. Layne Clifton #23
8. Sonny Huskey #6
9. Chris Wilson #10
10. Jerry Green #14
11. Colton Proffitt #617
12. Bradley Strong #08
13. Trevor Sise #73

Did Not Start: Andy Ogle #68

SPORTSMAN LATE MODEL (20 laps)

1. Jed Emert #98
2. Clyde Stanton #C11
3. Adam Mitchell #50
4. Quincy Adams #32
5. Adam Pressley #1
6. Justin Talley #23
7. Josh Beal #51

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED (20 laps)

1. Jeff Hamby #15
2. Blake Brown #99
3. Amos Bunch #50
4. Jamie Mosley #89
5. Dustin Diden #112
6. Robert Reagan #77
7. Billy Palmer #36
8. Wayne James #4
9. Matthew Hopper #92
10. Kirk Turner #1
11. Andy Standridge #10
12. Tyler James #J4
13. Scott Lacy #2
14. Jimmy Dalton #2
15. Ricky Tinch #327

Did Not Start: Tyler Strickland #7

MODIFIED STREET (20 laps)

1. Michael Woods #66
2. Dwayne Fox #27
3. Lance Creasman #C8
4. Dalton King #74
5. Rocky Ogle #9

CLASSIC (20 laps)

1. Adam Engel #J16
2. Richie Overholser #88
3. Mac Lockhart #00
4. Will Carey #16
5. Eli Keck #8
6. Chris Worsham #78
7. Hunter Graybeal #1
8. Lee Merritt #14
9. Todd Beeler #J23
10. Chris Nix #18
11. Joshua Chesney #5
12. Adam Ogle #8
13. Tim Bounds #11
14. Shaun Sise #59

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE (15 laps)

1. Nathan Adams #A93
2. Nate Presley #N99
3. Josh Detwiler #38D
4. Dylan Turner #18
5. Bryan Williams #38
6. Wesley Teffeteller #27

STREET STOCK (15 laps)

1. Steve Owens #17
2. Shawn Henry #25
3. Brandon Johnson #B01
4. Wendell Williams #71

CONTACT INFO

411 Motor Speedway: 865-257-7223 www.411MotorSpeedway.net
Joe Byrd (Tech Official): 865-776-1798