Jake Teague led all the way but had to survive a late race challenge to win
Along with the Southern All Stars event for Super Late Model cars, Smoky Mountain Speedway hosted a $2,500-to-win race for the United Crate Racing Alliance on Saturday night that attracted a field of 34 cars to the Maryville, Tenn. facility. After the dust had settled and the drama-filled final lap had ended, it was Jake Teague of Petros, Tenn. who collected the accolades for the victory.
Cory Hedgecock began the night by setting fast time in qualifying when he roared around the 4/10 mile track in 17.284 seconds. Teague, William Thomas and John Ownbey also earned pole positions for their respective heat races by posting top-4 efforts in time-trials.
Hedgecock beat out Anthony White to win the first heat and earn the pole for the main event while Teague bested Jesse Lowe in the second preliminary. Thomas won the third heat ahead of Chase King and Riley Hickman took the honors in the fourth race over Ownbey.
Teague used his outside front row starting spot to grab the lead when the green flag waved over the 40-lap feature. Thomas, Hickman, King and Ownbey followed suit in the early going as the field attempted to sort itself out.
A caution flag on the second lap for an incident involving Kenny Kizzar and Jimmy Elliott set up a restart that would provide Hickman with the opportunity to move around Thomas to grab the third position and set off in pursuit of Teague and Hedgecock. Those top-3 runners were able to distance themselves from the pack as they conducted their own battle.
Hickman attempted to use a slide job pass on Hedgecock to take second on lap 5 but could not maintain his speed through turn four and Hedgecock was able to regain the spot as Teague pulled away slightly from the two combatants. Meanwhile, Ownbey moved around King a bit further back to seize the fourth spot during the early laps.
A caution flag on lap 32 set up the final drama-filled circuits in this feature race.
On the lap 32 restart, Hickman immediately went after Hedgecock to once again try to capture second place. Just after losing the spot as a result of some intense racing at the exit of turn two, Hedgecock lost control of his car going into turn three and banged off the outside wall to bring out another yellow flag.
On the ensuing restart, Hickman had to beat back a challenge from Thomas for the runner-up position before he could set off in pursuit of Teague for the win. As the cars took the white flag, Hickman made his move. His No. R1 machine moved to the outside of Teague’s No. 117 through turns one and two and the cars drew even down the back stretch. As the two drivers battle through turns three and four, there was contact between them and both slid toward the outside wall. Hickman bounced hard off the barrier and Teague bounced off of Hickman.
Teague was able to stay in the gas and drove on to the checkered flag while Hickman was forced to limp to the finish line.
By starting the race, Rusty Ballenger secured the 2016 UCRA season championship.
Feature Finish: 1. Jake Teague, 2. William Thomas, 3. Tanner Works, 4. Riley Hickman, 5. John Ownbey, 6. Chase King, 7. Chip Brindle, 8. Anthony White, 9. Josh Fields, 10. Jesse Lowe, 11. Heath Hindman, 12. Robert Gant, 13. Oakley Johns, 14. Cory Hedgecock, 15. Brett Wyatt, 16. Jed Emert, 17. Evan Taylor, 18. Brandon Williams, 19. Forrest Trent, 20. Kenny Kizzar, 21. Greg Martin, 22. Jimmy Elliott, 23. Drew Kennedy, 24. Rusty Ballenger
