Dale McDowell on his way to victory at Smoky Mountain
Smoky Mountain Speedway played host to a special event on Saturday night with a $7,500-to-win unsanctioned Super Late Model race serving as the main attraction. It proved to be a somewhat historic night as Shane McDowell Racing picked up its first victory since the ownership change from Team Dillon Racing took place during the most recent off season. Dale McDowell drove to a dominating win on a track that proved to be very fast and demanding.
McDowell opened the night by setting fast time in Group A qualifying when he turned a lap of 15.048 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval. Skip Arp was also locked into the feature race from this group by virtue of his second quickest run in time-trials.
Mike Marlar was fastest in Group B qualifying and overall after he toured the track in 14.899 seconds. He was joined by Chris Ferguson in being locked into the main event from this group.
Michael Chilton won the first heat race of the night over Shanon Buckingham, Skylar Marlar and Brandon Overton while Donald McIntosh scored the win in the second preliminary ahead of Casey Roberts, Ricky Weiss and Brian Ligon.
Chris ferguson(22) and Donald McIntosh do battle
McDowell roared to the early lead when the green flag waved over the 50-lap main event with Marlar, Ferguson, McIntosh and Arp in his tire tracks. On the second circuit, McIntosh moved forward as he passed by Ferguson for the third position on lap 2. However, Ferguson would retake the spot just one lap later.
McDowell and Marlar broke away from the pack by the fifth lap while Chilton hounded Arp for the fifth spot in the running order. At the same time, Roberts, Overton and Weiss contested the positions just outside of the top-5 in a tight three car battle
A pivotal moment in the event occurred on lap 10 when the car of Brad Skinner banged the outside wall in turn one right in front of the second running machine of Marlar. Unable to avoid, Marlar’s No. 157 suffered extensive right side damage as a result of the contact and had to be retired. The contact also resulted in Skinner’s machine rolling over and coming to rest on its top.
Skinner was uninjured in the accident but the red flag had to be displayed to the field so that safety crews could clear the wreckage.
Brandon Overton(116) and Casey Roberts were part of the battle behind the leader
With Marlar gone from the race, McDowell would dominate the remaining 40 caution-free laps. However, the fight was an intense one behind the leader as the likes of McIntosh, Ferguson, Chilton, Overton and Roberts ran in tight formation on the high speed track and exchanged positions numerous times over the closing laps.
But in the end, McDowell would prove to be unstoppable as he cruised to the checkered flag.
Feature Finish: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Donald McIntosh, 3. Chris Ferguson, 4. Brandon Overton, 5. Michael Chilton, 6. Casey Roberts, 7. Tripp Gerald, 8. Shanon Buckingham, 9. Brian Ligon, 10. Robby Moses, 11. Billy Ogle, Jr., 12. David Breazeale, 13. Bobby Giffin, 14. Tommy Kerr, 15. Ricky Weiss, 16. Mike Marlar, 17. Skip Arp, 18. Brad Skinner, 19. Tommy Taylor, 20. Skylar Marlar, 21. Mark Fields, 22. Mark Douglas
McDowell displaying an InsideDirtRacing.com shirt in victory lane
