Michael Courtney collected $1200 for his Sportsman victory
Along with the Southern Nationals Bonus Series event held at Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday night, the Maryville, Tenn. facility also hosted competition in the Sportsman class with a significant payday on the line for those competitors. In all, 32 drivers signed in to race for what was originally announced as a $1,000 first prize but was upped to $1,200 when the division met the track’s request to produce a full field of cars.
Michael Courtney began the night by setting fast time in qualifying when he posted a lap of 16.855 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval. With the track facing the possibility of violating its midnight curfew due to a late afternoon rain shower that caused a delay in getting the action started, 20 cars were locked into the starting lineup via time-trials. As a result, Courtney was joined in the top-10 on the starting grid by Zach Shannon, Jed Emert, Kyle Courtney, Heath Alvey, Levi Hicks, Jaylon Shannon, Joe Freels, Christian Hanger and Brad Seagle.
The main event had trouble getting going as multiple attempts at a start had to be waved off due to spins and other mishaps.
Once the feature got rolling, Michael Courtney fired out into the lead with Zach Shannon, Emert, Kyle Courtney, Hicks and Alvey following. Almost immediately, Courtney and Shannon began to pull away from the pack as those two drivers looked to settle the issue among themselves.
However, a lap 5 caution broke up and intense fight for the lead between those two drivers and brought the field back up the rear spoilers of the lead duo. But once again, Courtney and Shannon distanced themselves from their pursuers once full speed action resumed.
Behind the leaders, there were battles within the top-10 as Kyle Courtney applied heavy pressure to Emert as those two drivers contested the third spot while Alvey worked on Hicks relentlessly in an attempt to wrest the 6th position away.
Another yellow flag waved on lap 10 for a spin by the top-10 running Joe Freels. That incident, combined with the earlier difficulties in the race, caused the time limit on the event to expire and forced track officials to wave the checkered flag with the curfew looming and two other features yet to run.
Michael Courtney was the winner over Zach Shannon, Jed emert, Kyle Courtney, Jaylon Shannon, Levi Hicks, Heath Alvey and Philip Thompson.
