Mike Marlar led all the way to claim the Spring Nationals win at Boyd’s
Last weekend Mike Marlar lost out in a Southern Nationals Bonus Series race at the Crossville(TN) Speedway after an epic battle with Donald McIntosh. On Friday night at the Boyd’s Speedway in Ringgold, GA the veteran driver turned the tables and bested McIntosh and a full field of competitors to claim the $4,000 first prize for taking the checkered flag in the Spring Nationals sanctioned event.
Marlar led the way in Group A qualifying when he posted a lap of 13.709 seconds around the third-mile clay oval. Also earning a spot out of this group in the dash race that would ultimately set the starting lineup for the first two rows in the feature was Florida’s Ivedent Lloyd, Jr.
Chris Madden ran the fastest lap in Group B qualifying and overall when he clocked in with a time of 13.597 seconds. Skylar Marlar made his way into the dash race by laying down the second fastest lap in that group.
Noteworthy from Group B time-trials was the fact that after posting his speed on his first lap, Madden crashed into the turn one wall on his second circuit after an apparent brake failure. The car suffered significant right side damage that would take the crew much of the time between that preliminary and the feature to repair.
Mike Marlar won the dash race over Skylar Marlar, which then set up a front row of brothers for the feature. Lloyd finished third in the dash with Madden being relegated to fourth after failing to make the call for this race as his car was being repaired.
Donald McIntosh, Riley Hickman, Dale McDowell and Jason Hiett won the four heat races used to set the remainder of the starting grid for the main event.
Marlar immediately went to the lead of the 40-lap feature when the green flag waved. Madden made a bold move to go outside of one competitor and dart to the inside of another so that he might grab the second spot by the end of the first circuit.
Hickman also began to move forward as he bolted from his seventh starting spot to capture fifth away from Lloyd in the early going. At the same time, Marlar built a relatively comfortable lead over Madden, Skylar Marlar and Lloyd. Meanwhile Hickman began to peek underneath of McIntosh in the hopes of wresting that position.
The race’s only caution flag waved on lap 8 when the car of Jason Croft came to a stop in turn one. Marlar continued to maintain a firm grip on the top while other competitors would mix it up for. The restart from that yellow flag provided an opportunity for advancement by McIntosh and Dale McDowell as those two drivers passed by Skylar Marlar for the second and third positions in the running order.
Madden pulled off track during this caution with apparent mechanical issues.
After that caution, Marlar was able to build and maintain a relatively comfortable advantage over the pack then pick his way through slower traffic to further tighten his grip as the finish line was literally in sight. Ultimately, Marlar would claim the win and the the first prize in this race that sets off a run of three consecutive nights of Spring Nationals competition as the series move to Georgia’s Dixie and Rome Speedways to conclude the schedule for that mini-series.
Feature Finish: 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Donald McIntosh, 3. Dale McDowell, 4. Riley Hickman, 5. Jason Hiett, 6. Derek Ellis, 7. Ivedent Lloyd, Jr., 8. Jake Knowles, 9. Skylar Marlar, 10. David Payne, 11. Casey Roberts, 12. Brandon Kinzer, 13. Stacy Boles, 14. Austin Smith, 15. Dillon Wood, 16. Vic Hill, 17. Robby Moses, 18. Jason Manley, 19. Shanon Buckingham, 20. Chris Madden, 21. Jason Croft, 22. Austin Horton
