Driver Jed Emert and car owner Steve Richey in 411 victory lane
The $700-to-win Sportsman feature held this past Saturday night at 411 Motor Speedway provided a popular victory by a very excited driver. Jed Emert of Maryville, Tenn. scored his first ever win in a full bodied stock car when he led the Late Model support class from the drop of the green flag to waving of the checkered. In doing so, the 22-year-old pilot held off a very determined late race effort from another young up-and-comer in the sport of dirt racing.
Emert had already established himself as one of the top go-kart racers in the country. However, success in a Late Model was something the young driver coveted. After campaigning for nearly two years in his Steve Richey owned ride, that success has finally come.
“It feels awesome,” Emert declared of his win in a post-race interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “When I took the white flag I had a tear in my eye because it had been so long since I had been in a real victory lane. I raced go-karts for a long time and won a lot of races, some big national races. But you kind of start to wonder ‘Am I the problem?’ and you begin to think ‘Can I do this?’, but I’m just so happy for me and I’m really happy for Steve Richey because he’s been racing for 33 years and the paycheck we got for second place last week at Smoky Mountain was the biggest paycheck he had ever gotten. To get him his first win in over four years was something special.”
The 411 crowd greeted Emert with a loud and long ovation when he stopped his car on the front stretch to receive the accolades of a race winner. That ovation did not go unnoticed and was much appreciated by the emerging star.
“It did make me feel good,” Emert said of the cheers. “Probably the loudest bunch was my family so it made it sound louder than it actually was. It made me feel good to know that people think enough of us to pull for us. That makes me happy. If I had choose between being the villain or the hero, I’d want to be the hero.”
Emert’s No. 98 machine
Throughout the caution-free 20-lap affair, the outside front row starting Emert had to hold back a constant challenge from young Kyle Courtney. On the final circuit, Courtney drove his car to the inside of Emert as the two roared around the final set of turns. However, Emert was able to outrun his rival to the checkered flag and secure the triumph.
“I knew he was down there, I could hear him,” Emert said of Courtney. “I told myself when we were rolling out for the start with me on the outside that I was either going to put them in a new gate out by those water towers or I was going to take the lead off of turn two. Thankfully, the Sportsman race went caution free. I knew he was down there and I was prepared for anything. I was just trying to race my race and be smart and I felt like if I stayed up top he was going to have to wreck me, slide me pretty hard, or I was going to have to make a big mistake for him to get around me.”
