Jaylon Shannon led all 20 laps of the Sportsman feature
Along with the World of Outlaws Late Models Series, Smoky Mountain Speedway hosted racing in the Sportsman class on Saturday night. Jaylon Shannon proved to be the big winner as he claimed the $1,200 first prize at the Maryville, Tenn. facility.
Zach Sise was the fastest in qualifying for this division as he toured the 4/10 mile clay oval in 17.053 seconds to bear out Shannon, Michael Courtney, Warren McMahan, Jed Emert and John Llewellyn.
There were no heat races for the 11 car field.
Shannon used his outside front row starting position to seize the early lead when the 20-lap feature took the green flag. Sise, Courtney, McMahan and emert were left to battle for the remaining top-5 spots in the leader’s wake. However, a caution for an issue on the car of Chris Johnston slowed the action just after the completion of the first circuit.
On the ensuing restart, Courtney maneuvered his way around Sise to take the runner-up positions while McMahan and Emert exchanged the fourth spot no less than twice on that same lap. In the mean time, Shannon pulled away from the pack with all the battles behind him playing out.
The top-5 of Shannon, Courtney, Sise, McMahan and Emert spaced out during the middle stages of the race until the lead car found slower traffic on lap 12. As Shannon was being held up by a machine running near the tail of the pack, Courtney closed in and briefly looked to the outside in an attempt to take the lead of the race.
Slower traffic also allowed Sise to reel in the lead duo as he closed to the rear spoiler of Courtney’s car. Moments late, disaster struck for fourth running Emert on lap 15 as he pulled off track and ended his night early.
Jaylon Shannon ultimately cruised to the win over Michael Courtney, Zach Sise, Warren McMahan and Rex Coffey.
