Zach Sise was the Scott Sexton Memorial Crate Late Model winner
The Scott Sexton Memorial held on Monday night at 411 Motor Speedway not only featured a $10,052-to-win Schaeffer’s Oil Iron-Man Late Model Series race but also offered up competition in the 604 Crate Late Model division as well as the Open Wheel Modified class. Zach Sise came away from the Seymour, Tenn. track as the Crate Late Model winner while Blake Brown took Modified honors.
Zach Sise led the way in Crate Late Model qualifying with a lap of 14.312 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval to beat out Bradley Lewelling, Jed Emert, Mack McCarter, Ross White, Jason Cardwell, Clay Coghlan. Jake Whitehead and Eli Beets.
Sise went to the early lead at the start of the 25-lap feature with Lewelling, McCarter and Emert close behind. Lewelling briefly nosed ahead of Sise for the lead on the second lap but the No. 9 machine quickly regained the advantage.
Emert and McCarter engaged in a fight for third just behind the lead duo while White moved in to challenge Cardwell for the fifth position. Just one lap later, Cardwell broke free from his battle with white and took fourth away from Emert in the process.
A pivotal moment occurred on lap 9 as McCarter moved to the outside of Lewelling in turns three and four as the two drivers contested the second spot. Contact between them as they roared down the front stretch sent Lewelling into the outside wall while McCarter spun wildly, slamming into a uke tire placed at the entrance of turn three. Both drivers appeared to be uninjured in the crash but both cars were eliminated from the race.
Following the restart, Sise pulled away from the second running Cardwell while he, in turn, pulled away from the battle between Emert, Beets and White for positions three through five.
Sise would eventually sail under the checkered flag to earn the $1,500 winner’s check.
Feature Finish: 1. Zach Sise, 2. Jason Cardwell, 3. Jed Emert, 4. Eli Beets, 5. Ross White, 6. Shannon Emery, 7. Logan Roberson, 8. Clay Coghlan, 9. Brad Lowe, 10. Rusty Ballenger, 11. Jake Whitehead, 12. Addison Cardwell, 13. Jerry Green, 14. Josh Collins, 15. Kenny Ford, 16. Jeremy Holdsclaw, 17. Heath Alvey, 18. Junior Whitener, 19. Bradley Lewelling, 20. Mack McCarter
Blake Brown was the Scott Sexton Memorial Modified winner
Jimmy Payne proved to be the fastest in Modified qualifying with a lap of 14.564 seconds which placed him ahead of Blake Brown, Jeff Hamby, Jamie Mosley, Joey Cotterman, Brian Skaggs, Jody Puckett, Ricky Tinch, Brandon Kinzer and Chris Wilson.
Brown used his outside front row starting position to his advantage at the start of the 20-lap feature as he placed his No. 99 machine in the lead ahead of Payne, Hamby, Mosley and Skaggs.
On a lap 2 restart, contact between Hamby and Payne as they raced for second caused both to slow which allowed Skaggs to move from fourth to second. Cotterman was also able to take fourth away from Payne in the shuffle.
Payne returned the favor, getting back around Cotterman for fourth on lap 4. All the while, Brown pulled away from his pursuers to build a relatively comfortable advantage over the fight between Skaggs, Hamby and Payne for positions 2-4.
Later, Payne and Hamby would engage in a position swapping fight for second after Skaggs dropped out of the race. But in the end, it was a dominating performance by Brown as he claimed the $1,000 first prize.
Feature Finish: 1. Blake Brown, 2. Jimmy Payne, 3. Jeff Hamby, 4. Jamie Mosley, 5. Joey Cotterman, 6. Brandon Hutchinson, 7. Chris Wilson, 8. Brandon Kinzer, 9. Wayne James, 10. Jimmy Dalton, 11. Dustin Diden, 12. Clayton Turner, 13. Austin Atkins, 14. Travis Sitsama, 15. Brian Nantz, 16. Brian Skaggs, 17. Ricky Tinch, 18. Terry James, 19. Billy Palmer, 20. Larry James, 21. Todd Beeler, 22. Kirk Turner, 23. Jody Puckett
