SMITH REPEATS WITH WIN

April 14, 2012 - Tazewell Speedway kicked off the 2012 regular points season in a big way with a stellar night of action in five classes and $1 hotdog night to boot! Weather was perfect for racing and track conditions played very favorable into making the track fast and racy.

The night’s action started off with the Modified Street division displaying some strange events at the end of the feature. Five cars took the green flag, with Wayne Overholt retiring on lap 14. Entering turn three on the white flag lap, contact from the 56H of Jordan Horton sent the caution-free race long leader Jason Sizemore in the 44C spinning. Horton crossed the stripe taking the checkered first; however, he was penalized to finishing as the last car on the lead lap for rough driving. This gave the 44C the win, but not for long. A protest was declared on the 44C of Sizemore, and the team decided not to tear the motor down in post-race inspection, handing the win to the 2nd place finishing Robbie Buchanan in the Petty Enterprises’ P21.

Modified Street Results
1. P21 – Robbie Buchanan
2. 20S – James Weaver
3. 56H – Jordan Horton
4. 14 – Wayne Overholt
DNS
4 – Clyde Overholt
1 – Scott Johnson
56 – Tony Horton
DQ
44C – Jason Sizemore (Fast Time: 13.216)

The 4-Cylinder class came into action next. Kurt Owens in the 7UP showed up late, putting him starting on the tail end of the field. At the end of lap one, Kurt Owens was in the lead. However, tragedy struck on lap 9 when something went amiss under the hood of the 7UP costing him the race. He drew the event’s only caution on lap 9. Bubby Braden in the B7 restarted as the leader and led the final 6 laps to take the win.

Four Cylinder Results
1. B7 – Bubby Braden
2. 44J – Jeromy Collins
3. 7UP – Kurt Owens
4. 13 – John Collett
5. 1 – Mark Wallace
DNS
D17 – Daris Braden
A27 – Allen Holloway

The headlining Tazewell Late Models ran third on the night’s slate. Steve Smith began the night by destroying the track’s TLM track record turning 11.609 in qualifying. The event covered the track with multiple battles between the leaders and lapped cars. The event was slowed by three cautions, all for single car spins, coming on laps 7, 8, and the final on 11. In the closing laps, it appeared that Jason Trammell had a good shot at the lead, but was unable to get by the pole sitter as Steve Smith picked up the flag-to-flag victory.

Tazewell Late Model Results
1. 3 – Steve Smith (Fast Time: 11.609)
2. 90J – Jason Trammell
3. 33 – Phillip Nichols
4. 56J – Jody Horton
5. 97 – Keith Chapman
6. 24 – Allen Holt
7. 31 – Greg Estes
8. 34V – Jason Varner
9. 75 – Chris Long
10. 22 – Matthew Long
11. 1 – Kevin Gentry
12. 24 – Andy Wilder
13. J11 – Tony Horton
DQ
T0 – Travis Fultz

Up next was the Classic feature. Robbie Sands took the early lead in the event slowed by three cautions, all for single car incidents. A lap 16 caution set up a 4 lap dash giving Joe Keck in the 8 one more shot at the 17, but it was to no avail. Robbie Sands took the victory leading flag-to-flag.

Classic Car Results
1. 17 – Robbie Sands (Fast Time: 13.962)
2. 8 – Joe Keck
3. 28 – Adam Engel
4. 1 – Shane Lockhart
5. 18 – Eli Keck
6. 3 – Jason Beeler
7. 59 – Shawn Walton
DNS
20 – Charlie Tharp

Pure Street wrapped the night up with arguably the best racing action of the night. Dustin Eldridge, J.J. Green, and Jason Long ran all 20 laps of the feature under a blanket. Side by side, bumper to bumper action displayed some nail biting racing between the three drivers. The event was only slowed by two caution for debris, with the last being lap 6. Although 3 cars showed possibilities of winning, Dustin Eldridge was able to hold off Green and Long for the victory.

Pure Street Results
1. 94 – Dustin Eldridge
2. 12 – J.J. Green
3. 15 – Jason Long
4. 39 – Johnny Miller
5. 17 – Tim Stevens

Tazewell Speedway will return to action next Saturday night, April 21st, with round two of regular points racing programs. Come out and join Tazewell Speedway next Saturday for another exciting action-packed night of racing!