After two weeks off the hills of Cave Springs roared back to life with one the best nights of racing this season at The World’s Fastest 1/3 Mile Dirt track. The large crowd on hand witnessed possibly the closest finish in the 50 year history of Tazewell Speedway.
Brad Hall of Knoxville turned the fastest lap in Limited Late Model qualifying with a time of 11.686 seconds with Dakotah Knuckles of Ewing, VA and Josh Collins of Powell qualifying second and third. Hall would draw the two on the invert which gave Knuckles the pole position of the thirty lap feature.
With the drop of the green it was a free for all for the lead between Knuckles and Hall with Greg Estest of Jonesville, VA and Josh Collins of Powell and Brian Shockley fighting for the top five spots. Knuckles, who recorded his first Limited late Model win back on June 14th, would lead the first lap but Hall would pull up alongside and take the lead away on the next circuit. In the ensuing laps it looked like Hall was going to cruise to his second win of the season. The bad luck bug would strike Hall on the tenth lap as he slowed on the front stretch with a broken rear end.
With Hall dropping out Knuckles would take over the lead with Estes moving into the second spot. By lap sixteen the duo began catching the tail end of the field. As Estes was working on getting past the lap traffic Collins would go to the outside lane to take over second. Three circuits later as Knuckles was looking for a path to get by the lap cars Collins seized the opportunity and shoved his way into the lead.
With the laps winding down Collins was hoping to cruise for the win yet Knuckles had other plans. On lap twenty-three Knuckles caught back up with Collins and on the next lap Knuckles dove low in turn two to race door-to-door with Collins. With the crowd rising to it’s feet Collins and Knuckles put on a show racing hard with no contact. With the white flag displyed Knuckles knew he had one last chance. As the duo stormed out of turn four Knuckles dove to the inside and the drag race was on. At the line it was Collins taking his second win in a row by mere inches in the P&P Cole, Stealth Racing Carburetors, Wallace Auto Sales, Permanent Cosmetics by Brandi sponsored Warrior Race Car with power from a B&B Race Engine. In a great display of sportsmanship Knuckles congtaulated Collins in Victory Lane.
Limited Late Models
1. 63 Josh Collins
2. 21K Dakotah Knuckles
3. 31 Greg Estes
4. 17 Brian Shockley
5. 56J Jody Horton
6. 33 Warren McMahan
7. 22 Mathhew Holt
8. 02 Michael Hawk
9. 56H Jordon Horton
10. 54 Mitchell Burke
11. 3 Steve Smith
12. 47 Brad Hall
13. 111 J Allen
14. 1 Nick Barnard
Sportsman points leader Clyde Overholt of Tazewell was itching to get back into Victory Lane. The second generation driver’s last win came all the back on May 3rd with bad luck taking him out of contention in the last few features. Overholt turned the fastest lap among seventeen entries with a lap of 12.179 seconds. Drawing a three on the invert Overholt was slated to start on the inside of the second row and giving the pole position to Wade Howerton of Tazewell. During a pre race inspection Howerton’s car was found to have illegal brake rotors and was disqualified from the feature. This would move Overholt back to the front row alongside Steve Carr of Rogersville.
Overholt would take charge on the first lap as Jesse Helton of Rogersville, Carr, Jonathan Miracle of Tazewell and Josh Chesney of Maynardville jousted for the top five. On lap eight Carr started working on the low side to try and take away second from Helton. The yellow flag would fly on lap ten as Anthony Burchett slowed on the front stretch with front suspension damage.
On the restart Helton would slide high in turn two allowing Carr to take over second and Helton slipping all the way back to fifth. As Overholt was extending his lead the battle was on for the third spot between Chesney, Miracle and Helton. On lap fifteen Helton would move into fourth and and the next lap took third away from Chesney.
Up front Overholt would lead every lap of the feature for his third win of the season in the Petty’s Wrecker Service, Noah’s Wholesale, Baker’s Tree Service, Eagle Race Engines powered Rayburn Race Car.
Sportsman
1. Clyde Overholt
2. 77 Steve Carr
3. 57 Jesse Helton
4. 50M Jonathan Miracle
5. XXX Josh Chesney
6. 1 David Clark
7. J2 Randy Davis
8. 21 Brian Howerton
9. 25 Eric Webber
10. 24 Andy Wilder
11. 46 Steven Martin
12. 111 Anthony Arnwine
13. 18 Anthony Burchett
14. 29 Chris Raines
15. 28 Justin James
DQ 15 Wade Howerton
Every race car driver has a bucket list of goals they want to accomplish in their careers. For some it’s making their way to the Super Late Model ranks or winning a big money race at their home. At the top of Morristown’s Chris Rickett list it was notching a Super Stock win at the high banks of Tazewell Speedway.
Kurt Owens of Newport set fast time in qualifying with a lap of 13.264 seconds. Owens would draw the pole on the invert draw with Rickett starting on the outside of the front row. Using the outside line to his advanatage Rickett shot into the lead as the field went down the back stretch. Owens would settle into second trailed by Shannon Emery of Morristown, Brad Davis of Tazewell and Jamie Whitt of Wise, VA.
While Emery and Davis battled for third Owens was on Rickett’s back bumper looking for a way to take over the lead. By lap eight the pair had caught up with the cars at the tail of the field. Owens would look to the inside of Rickett several times in the waning laps. Rickett was able to hold off the challenge for his first win at Tazewell Speedway in the Rickett Sheet Metal, Blistered Chicken Saloon, WJDT, Lakeway Door and Glass, Sonny’s Collision sponsored Super Stock.
Super Stock
1. 36 Chris Rickett
2. 14 Kurt Owens
3. M2 Shannon Emery
4. 88 Brad Davis
5. 56 Tony Horton
6. 1 Jamie Whitt
7. 01 Jerry Hux
8. P21 Donnie Petty
9. 3 Austin Neely
10. 30 Mike Mays
11. 33 Phillip Nichols
12. 12 JJ Green
13. 66 Michael Woods
DNS 55 Brad Sturgill
DNS 38 Cody Thompson
DNS 5 Jason Saylor
Chuck McMahan of Dandridge led every lap of the the 4 Cylinder feature for his fifth win of the season in the Original Mr. Freezo, Lowes Auto Parts, Round Boy Motorsports Ford Mustang.
4 Cylinder
1. 99 Chuck McMahan
2. 44J Jeromy Collins
3. 111 Randy Dyke
4. 1 Mark Wallace
5. 44 Tommy Mettler
6. 11 Tyler Haynes
DNS 7 Bubby Braden
DNS 15 Michael Branham
DNS 17 John Haynes
John Stevens of Wallins Creek, KY was looking to score his second Classic Car win. After winning the heat race and starting on the front row of the feature his chances looked good. Logan Dukes of Knoxville would take the early lead with points leader Philip Thompson also of Knoxville moving into second. Thompson would take the lead away from Dukes on lap four and led the rest of the way for his tenth Tazewell Speedway win and twelvth overall win in the Skyline Transportation ,Vyve Broadband Crockett Creek Beef Jerky, Hooker Harness Filmax Filtration, Eagle Race Engine powered Radioactive Race Car .
Classic Car
1. 24 Philip Thompson
2. 5 Logan Dukes
3. 7 John Stevens
4. XXX Josh Chesney
5. 2 Sawyer Walton
DNS 28 Denver Tharp
Next Saturday night July 25th will be our annual Kid’s Nickel Night. 20,000 free nickels will be spread out on the front stretch for kids 14 and under. Super Stocks will once again race for $500 to win. Also in action will be our Tazewell Late Models, Sportsman, Classic Cars and 4 Cylinders.
