Austin Neely of Tazewell set a blistering lap in Five Star Properties qualifying with an 11.297 second lap with an average speed of 119.5 mph at Tazewell Speedway on Saturday night. With wenty Limited Late Models checked in, officials elected to forgo heat racing or b-main action due to a threat of rain throughout the region.
Neely started on the pole of the 40-lap main event and never relinquished the lead with multiple track champion Jason Trammell of Knoxville, Tenn. alongside with his fast lap of 11.526 seconds. Clinton, Tennessee’s Jeff Wolfenbarger, sporting the fallen Nascar star Davey Allison Havoline scheme, was third in time trials, followed by Chase King of Seymour, Tenn. Jordon Horton of Sneedville, Tenn. rounded out the top five.
The safest place was definitely out front as Neely and Trammel quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field. It seemed like every position from third on back was hotly contested with multiple position changes and multiple near spins from contact. The first caution waved on lap two with a lone-spinning Bill Norwood of Knoxville. Unfortunately it was during this caution that second running Trammel retired due to mechanical issues.
Caution #2 waved on the next lap with a smoking and slowing Joshua Chesney of Maynardville, Tenn. With Neely, Wolfenbarger, Horton and King running single file in the top-four, the major battle was for fifth between Kyle Courtney of Knoxville, defending series champion Ronnie Johnson of Chattanooga, Tenn. And Jason Manly of Loudon, Tenn. As the trio were battling three-wide, Manley got the short end of the stick as heavy contact caused a flat right front tire and brought out the third caution on lap seven. Manley attempted to re-start but discovered suspension damage as well relegating him to a sixteenth place finish. Caution #4 waived just after the re-start for a slowing Matt Shockley of Knoxville.
With Neely safely out front, the battle for the second spot intensified between Wolfenbarger and Horton with King running fourth. Johnson and Brad Lowe of Knoxville were tangled in a trading-paint battle for fifth. Drew Kennedy of Pilot Mountain, Tenn. after starting seventeenth, had made several gains with teammate Mike Weeks of Friendsville, Tenn. In tow after he started nineteenth. Heavy contact between Lowe and Johnson opened up a gap for Kennedy to try and slip through to take both spots, however the gap quickly closed resulting in wheel to wheel contact causing Kennedy to briefly go airborne down the back stretch and ultimately causing him to loop it up in turn three brining out caution number-five on lap thirteen.
During the ensuing restart the battle for second between Horton and Wolfenbarger came to an unfortunate demise for Horton as the two made heavy contact resulting in Horton slamming the turn-one wall and ending his night prematurely. It would only get worse for Horton as he exited his battered race car to express his anger with Wolfenbarger, resulting in a disqualification for getting out of his race car on the track. This caused a red flag condition on lap fourteen and would be the final pause in the action.
King, after dropping back to as far as fourth, got by Wolfenbarger and gave chase to Neely and was able to show his nose a couple times during battles with lapped traffic but it would be Neely’s night as he led the final twenty-six circuits to claim the win, followed by King, Wolfenbarger, Courtney and Johnson. Weeks earned hard-charger honors after starting nineteenth and finishing sixth with Lowe, Chad Alley of Clinton, Matthew Holt of Washburn, Tenn. And David Bullington of Whitesburg, Tenn. rounding out the top ten.
A very exuberant Neely exited his ride in victory lane, pounding on the roof and exclaiming “Man I give all the credit to my crew for working their butts off and making multiple changes in set-up and giving me an awesome handling, fast race car tonight.” Neely’s #3 Team Zero, DJ’s Performance mount is sponsored by Reece Monument, Giles Industries, First Century Bank, Five-Star Properties, MRC Transportation, Four-Seasons Boat & RV Storage, Mary’s Home Furnishings, Clayton Homes of Middlesboro, Tim Fletcher Heating & Cooling, Oakwood Surplus Barn, Thompson Insurance Company, XS Power Batteries, Rayce Technologies and Fast Lane Graphics.
Topless Outlaws Dirt Racing Series
1. 3 Austin Neely
2. 44 Chase King
3. 28 Jeff Wolfenbarger
4. 18 Kyle Courtney
5. 5 Ronnie Johnson
6. 22 Mike Weeks
7. 16 Brad Lowe
8. 16C Chad Alley
9. 22 Matthew Holt
10. 20 David Bullington
11. 116 Jake Whitehead
12. K37 Drew Kennedy
13. Z1 Zach Shannon
14. 12 Matt Shockley
15. 2 Mitchell Childress
16. 32 Jason Manley
17. 90J Jason Trammell
18. 7 Bill Norwood
19. 5C Joshua Chesney
DQ’d 56H Jordon Horton
Twenty Sportsman drivers signed in for a $900 to win feature. Tazewell’s Troy Eads was quickest in time trials with a lap opf 11.942 seconds with fellow Tazewellian Robbie Buchanan only a tick behind with a lap of 11.956 seconds. Drawing the two on the invert would put Eads on the outside pole position for the twenty lap ferature. With the flash of the green Eads muscled his way into the lead down the back chute as Buchanan and Dandridge’s Warren McMahan fought side by side for second. Disaster would strike om lap five as the car of Billy Woods was in the middle groove just as the leaders were storming into turn three. Eads would slam on the binders, make contact with the back of Woods car which sent his car sideways. With nowhere to go the cars of Buchanan, McMahan, Mitchell Burke and Odie Overholt would pile up and suffer race ending damage. The car of Burke would end up under the back of Eads’ machine.
After the melee was cleared Sneedville’s Jody Horton would inherit the lead with Bryan Howerton, Greg Goins, Tyler Haynes and Andy Wilder the new top five. Taking advantage of the good luck Horton smashed the loud pedal on the restart and soon after began distancing his hot rod from the rest of the field. Horton would lead the rest of the way for his first win of the season in the Presley’s Sawmill, G&T Transport, Presley’s Farms, Clinch River Market and Deli, Greasy Rock Auto Shop, Discount Auto Parts, Sneedville Motor Company, Ahlsome Design Concepts, Warrior 1G Shock Service sponsored Warrior Race Car.
Sportsman
1. 56J Jody Horton
2. 21 Bryan Howerton
3. 21H Tyler Haynes
4. 000 Greg Goins
5. 5 Jerry Boling
6. 24 Andy Wilder
7. 122 Jeremy Shannon
8. 11 Tim Bounds
9. 25 Justin Beeler
10. 28 Richard Cox
11. 51R Richard Wilson
12. 28J Justin James
13. 10 Dustin Ratliff
14. 72 Billy Woods
15. 52 Troy Eads
16. 13 Robbie Buchanan
17. 33 Warren McMahan
18. 54 Mitchell Burke
19. 14 Odie Overholt
DNS 43 Harve Gregory
In Classic Car action Knoxville’s Will Carey turned in the quickest lap in time trials of 14.885 seconds with Maynardville’s Josh Chesney only .003 seconds behind. Chesney would start on the pole for the $600 to win fetaure after the invert draw was a two. With the wave of the green flag Chesney would slide in front of Carey as the field went into turn two. Behind them Jason Saylor, Hayston Collett (doing double duty driving for the night) amd Richie Overholser fought for the top five. In the early going Carey peeked down low trying to find a away past Chesney for the lead. On lap eleven Carey would dive low in turn four, upsetting his car, which caused him to slip back to fourth. Josh “Ned” Chesney would lead from flag to flag for his second win of the season piloting the Union Equipment Rental, Bronzed Tanning Brilliance sponsored XXX Classic Car sedan.
Classic Car
1. XXX Josh Chesney
2. 5S Jason Saylor
3. 16 Will Carey
4. 88 Richie Overholser
5. 86 Hayston Collett
6. 52 Kevin Crane
7. 2 Michael Branham
8. 18 Chris Nix
9. 22 Hunter Graybeal
10. 28 Lukas Shelton
11. 21 Danny Hutchins
12. 15 Chris Griffin
DNS 69 Jesse Hickman
A stout field of Street Stocks were on hand to battle for $600 in their twenty lap feature. Coming into the night with three straight wins, Morristown’s Tony Trent could not start better than third in the feature. Austin Lefevers would earn the pole position with Mohawk’s Logan Cobb Starting on the outside pole. Lefevers would take the lead on the opening lap on the back stretch as Cobb filed in line with David Clark and Scottie Atkins battling for third. On lap three Clark shove dhis way past Cobb for second and set his sights on Lefevers. Just past the halfway mark, Clark made his move and took the lead away in turn two. Leading the rest of the way Clark would pick up the victory driving the DMC Motorsports,Muffin Motorsports, Slim & Trim Weight Loss Center, Gatos Tacos, Dynamic Machine, Shorty’s Shock Service, Earl Heating & Air, Pro Cut Lawn Care, Clyde Overholt Racing, Kiddieland Daycare Center, Dyer Machine, Century Farm Meats, Whitt’s Place sponosored, Ramey Race Engine powered Chevy Camaro Street Stock.
Street Stock
1. 13 David Clark
2. 90 Austin Lefevers
3. 17 John Stevens
4. 20 Scottie Atkins
5. 18 Tony Trent
6. 38 James Collett Jr
7. 26 Zach Campbell
8. 33 Chris Hickman
9. 31 Brandon Muncey
10. C4 Logan Cobb
11. 10 Colby Long
12. C3 Nathan Cobb
13. 14 Lee Merritt
14. 15T Michael Branham
Hayston Collett of Coldiron, KY scored his second win of the season in the Haynes & Son Construction, Marcum Oil, Boone’s BP sponsored Ford Mustang after taking the lead away from Danien Holt on the third lap of the feature.
4 Cylinder
1. 21 Hayston Collett
2. 18 Damien Holt
3. 1 Mitchell Fox
4. 04 Jake Callebs
5. 22 Samuel Fox
DNS 70 Greg Everhart
