Cruz Skinner’s midrace pass earned him the win
Smoky Mountain Speedway staged racing in the Limited Late Model division on Saturday night as part of its ‘Big Daddy 60’ event that also featured the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. A field of 25 cars signed in for competition and in the end it was Cruz Skinner who came away with the victory and the $1,200 prize that went with it after making a midrace pass to secure the lead before driving on to the win.
Cory Hedgecock would start from the pole position after leading the way in qualifying with Skinner, Chase King, Austin Neely, Matt Henderson, David Crabtree, Jason Cardwell, Drew Kennedy, Justin Owens and Jason Trammell rounding out the top-10 on the starting grid.
At the start of the 20-lap feature it was Hedgecock who bolted to the early lead with Skinner, King, Neely and Henderson in tow. Crabtree made an early move forward as he took fifth away from Henderson on the second circuit before grabbing the fourth position away from Neely two laps later.
The lead duo of Hedgecock and Skinner put some distance between themselves and the field but encountered slower traffic on lap 5. That traffic would continue to play a factor in the race as the two cars battled for the lead of the race.
Eventually on lap 9 with Hedgecock pinned behind a slower machine, Skinner’s No. 85 machine sped around the outside on the frontstretch and went to the top of the leader board.
A lap 10 caution for a spin by Tod Hernandez bunched the field. On the ensuing retart, King passed by Hedgecock to take the runner-up position. However, Hedgecock would regain second three laps later as he moved back around King.
A final caution on lap 15 for the slowing car of Trammell set up a dash to the checkered flag.
Skinner maintained the lead on the restart and drove on to the checkered flag.
Cruz Skinner scored the win followed to the finish line by Cory Hedgecock, Chase King, David Crabtree, Austin Neely, Drew Kennedy, Matt Henderson, Hunter Best and Jason Cardwell.
