Owens captures ‘Scott Sexton Memorial’ Spring Nationals Series victory at 411 Motor Speedway

Owens captures ‘Scott Sexton Memorial’ Spring Nationals Series victory at 411 Motor Speedway

SEYMOUR, Tenn. (May 27, 2019) — We all know freedom isn’t free! The Memorial Day holiday weekend is the traditional kick-off into summer. But more importantly, it’s a time we all stop and pause to remember and honor the men and women who lost their lives or are missing in action from defending our country.

411 Motor Speedway hosted the Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals Series presented by Sunoco Race Fuels / Iron-Man Championship Series presented by DirtOnDirt.com on Monday night for running of the $10,052-to-win seventh annual Scott Sexton Memorial.

The event is held in memory of the late Scott Sexton, from Pigeon Forge, a dirt-track racing legend who passed away at age 46 on Jan. 10, 2013 after battling health issues for seven years. Sexton left his mark in East Tennessee racing history during a distinguished 30-year racing career in go-karts (over 300 wins) and dirt late models (164 wins), which saw him earn the nickname “Superman” from his fans.

Previous Scott Sexton Memorial winners include Chris Madden (2013), Brad Neat (2014), Ray Cook (2015), Ricky Weiss (2016), Mike Marlar (2017), and Dale McDowell (2018).

East Tennessee driver Jimmy Owens of Newport who has gone on to become a national star by capturing Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championships and also winning crown jewel events around the country, got his start racing locally around the region and competed against Sexton on many occasions. Owens powered into the lead passing Brandon Overton on lap 34, and once out front never looked back en route to capturing an impressive victory and writing his name in the record book as a Scott Sexton Memorial event winner.

Owens was fastest in Group A qualifying as he turned a lap of 14.198 seconds, while Brandon Overton was fastest in Group B and overall with a lap of 14.189 seconds.

Four heat races each transferred the top four finishers into the main event, with Owens winning the first heat over Tanner English, Robby Moses and Ryan King. Ross Bailes of Clover, S.C., took the win in heat two over Ricky Weiss, Jason Welshan and Chris Ferguson.

Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., earned the victory in the third head over Hudson O’Neal, Shanon Buckingham and Cory Hedgecock. Kyle Strickler of Mooresville, N.C., won the fourth heat over Kyle Bronson, Jason Cardwell and Walker Arthur.

Four drivers advanced out of the last chance B-main which was won by Donald McIntosh of Dawsonville, Ga., over Dale McDowell, Tim McCreadie and David Crabtree.

Overton rocketed out into the lead on the start of the 52-lap feature over Owens, Strickler, O’Neal and Bailes in pursuit. Overton quickly stretched his advantage to almost at full straightaway by lap 5. With Overton closing in on rear of the field to start working lapped traffic 10 circuits in to the race, Owens began to cut into Overton’s lead. Caution waved on lap 11 when English slowed.

Off the double-file restart Overton pulled back ahead over Owens, Strickler, O’Neal and Bailes. While Overton had Owens riding on his tail up front, behind them the action was heated between Strickler, O’Neal, Bailes, Weiss and Bronson all battling. Bailes put a slide-job on O’Neal to briefly move into the fourth spot, but that didn’t last long as O’Neal roared back to reclaim the position. Weiss got around Bailes for fifth on lap 19, and after racing hard with O’Neal over the next two laps he made the pass to move into fourth in the running order.

With Overton and Owens beginning to work traffic at rear of the field, Owens used the slower cars to his advantage racing down the backstretch into turn three to get inside of Overton. With traffic ahead of them Overton and Owens raced side-by-side down the front straightaway into the first turn on lap 32, and that’s where the “Newport Nightmare” wrestled the lead from Overton when he was held up by a slower car.

Behind Owens and Overton, Weiss disposed of Strickler on lap 38 to move into third place and he set out trying to chase Owens and Overton down. With the race running clean-and-green, Weiss managed to close the gap while in pursuit and got within five car lengths behind Overton.

But out front there would be no denying the 47-year-old Owens, driving the Ramirez Motorsports/Boomtest Well Service/Reece Monument Co./Redbone Fishing & Rental/Power Rig/Redline Oil/Tommy Pope Construction/Rhino Ag/Keyser Manufacturing-sponsored Andy Durham Racing Engines-powered Rocket Chassis to a crowd-pleasing win over Overton, Weiss, O’Neal and Strickler. Completing the top 10 finishers were McDowell, Bronson, Ferguson, Bailes and Buckingham. … With McDowell’s sixth place finish and McIntosh coming home 15th, McDowell wrapped up the 2019 Ray Cook-promoted Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals Series championship worth $10,000, his first touring championship since 1999 when he was a champion on the former Hav-A-Tampa Racing Series.

Bradley Lewelling of Knoxville was quickest in Sportsman Late Model qualifying with a fast-lap at 15.346 seconds to earn the pole starting position for the 20-lap feature. Lewelling jumped out into the lead at drop of the green over Jed Emert, Adam Mitchell, Jake Whitehead and David Miley. Two early cautions slowed the race when Justin Talley got into the outside wall around turns one and two on lap 4, and then just one circuit later Brad Seagle slammed the turn four wall.

Back under green Lewelling showed the way out front over Emert, with Whitehead working his way around Mitchell for the third spot. Lewelling had his hands full with the hard-charging Emert, while Whitehead was right on Emert’s back bumper. With five laps remaining, the front-running trio raced off the fourth turn three-wide down the front straightaway. Lewelling managed hang on to the lead with Emert and Whitehead side-by-side between turns one and two.

On the final lap Emert tried to get underneath Lewelling between turns one and two and that move didn’t work. Getting a strong run off the second corner down the backstretch into the third turn, Emert drove off hard on the bottom executing a slide-job to momentarily pass Lewelling for the lead.

But Lewelling wasn’t going down without a fight, and he dove back underneath Emert and they raced toward the flag stand with Lewelling barely edging Emert for the win. Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were Whitehead, Mitchell and Miley. … The top 10 finishers crossed the start-finish line on the same straightaway

Defending Classic track champion Lee Merritt of Knoxville and Michael Millsap battled for the lead at start of the 20-lap feature, with a host of chauffeurs including Richie Overholser, Mac Lockhart, Shaun Sise, Will Carey, Eli Keck and Shane Taylor jockeying for real estate.

Sise was on the move in getting around Millsap for second on lap 10, and just one circuit later while trying to pass Merritt for the lead he spun to bring the caution out. With the race back under green Sise’s luck was about to go from bad to worse, as on lap 16 Adam Engel spun and Sise had nowhere to go but slam into Engel.

Over the final laps Merritt held on to capture his sixth win on the season over Millsap, Keck, Taylor and Carey.

411 MOTOR SPEEDWAY – MONDAY, MAY 27, 2019 – RACE RESULTS

SCHAEFFER’S OIL SPRING NATIONALS SERIES / IRON-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES – SEVENTH ANNUAL SCOTT SEXTON MEMORIAL ($10,052-TO-WIN)

SPORTSMAN LATE MODEL

1. Bradley Lewelling #10B
2. Jed Emert #98
3. Jake Whitehead #117
4. Adam Mitchell #50
5. David Miley #71
6. Terry Poore #2
7. Zach Shannon #Z1
8. Scott Gardner #26
9. DJ Shannon #D22
10. Warren McMahan #33
11. Floyd Self #3
12. Quincy Adams #32
13. Jason Berrong #56
14. Kip Sawyer #44
15. Adam Pressley #1
16. Clyde Stanton #C11
17. Cody Brake #58
18. Justin Talley #23
19. Brad Seagle #31

CLASSIC

1. Lee Merritt #14
2. Michael Millsap #515
3. Eli Keck #8
4. Shane Taylor #42
5. Will Carey #16
6. Richie Overholser #88
7. Mac Lockhart #00
8. Chris McKinney #113
9. Adam Engel #J16
10. Rusty Welch #15
11. Shaun Sise #59
12. Tim Bounds #11
13. Joshua Chesney #18
14. Quincy Arnwine #17A
15. Luke Ellis #17
16. Clyde Mincey #14M
17. Lee Beeler #J23

CONTACT INFO

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