Vic Hill led all the way at the Taz
The Southern Nationals Bonus Series and the Iron-Man Late Model Series converged on the Tazewell Speedway on Sunday night to contest a co-sanctioned race that had been rained out the night before. Local hero Vic Hill came away the winner of the $5,000 feature race as he led from flag-to-flag despite having issues with his brakes throughout the main event.
Dakotah Knuckles, who had won two consecutive Tazewell Late Model features coming into this event, led the way in Group A qualifying by turning a lap of 12.081 seconds around the third-mile clay oval. East Tennessee veteran racer Steve Smith was second fastest in Group A and joined Knuckles in being locked into the feature starting lineup.
Hill proved to be the quickest around the super high-banked facility in Group B time-trials and overall as he posted a time of 12.047 seconds. Billy Ogle, Jr. would also be guaranteed a starting spot in the main event out of this group.
Donald McIntosh and Jason Welshan won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the 20-car starting lineup for the feature.
Hill used the outside of the front to his advantage at the start of the 40-lap feature as he beat Knuckles and the rest of the field through turns 1 & 2 on the initial circuit of the race. Smith, McIntosh and Ogle were left to fight over the spots that would round out the top-5 as the cars completed their first lap.
McIntosh and Ogle began to battle immediately with Ogle ultimately emerging from that tussle with the fourth position on the track. Meanwhile, Hill seized control of the race as he inched his way further out of the reach of Knuckles and all other pursuers as the laps clicked off.
By lap 10, however, Knuckles began to close back in on the race leader and Hill’s advantage decreased even further when the lead duo found themselves in the midst of slower traffic on lap 12. Eventually, Smith, Ogle, McIntosh and Welshan would join the battle as slower cars held up the leader’s progress on a track that was giving up very little in the way pf passing.
Hill methodically worked his way past one slower car then another, always careful to never give up the bottom groove. That strategy prevented Knuckles and the other followers from making a move around the lead car. McIntosh continued to harass Ogle over the second half of the race just as Welshan would attempt to maneuver his car around that of McIntosh. But it was all to no avail as the track’s lower groove was simply too fast for anyone to make a move elsewhere.
Mitchell Burke(54) and Chicky Barton battle on Tazewell’s high banks
Hill eventually won the race to the checkered flag in a race that ran caution free. In his post-race interview, Hill told of his brake issues and how he was able to keep the lead despite those troubles by simply slowing his pace and never giving up the bottom line.
Feature Finish: 1. Vic Hill, 2. Dakotah Knuckles, 3. Steve Smith, 4. Billy Ogle Jr., 5. Donald McIntosh, 6. Jason Welshan, 7. Austin Neely, 8. Jeff Neubert, 9. Carder Miller, 10. Chad Ogle, 11. David Payne, 12. Clyde Overholt, 13. Brian Smith, 14. Joey Standridge, 15. Tommy Bailey, 16. Levi Ashby, 17. Chicky Barton, 18. Mack McCarter, 19. Mitchell Burke, 20. Forrest Trent
Hill and crew in victory lane
