Ray Cook may have collected the big $5,000 prize on Saturday night at the Tazewell Speedway, but there was racing in other classes as well.
Justin Beeler was the Sportsman winner on Saturday at Tazewell.
Sportsman: Jordan Horton set the fast time in qualifying among the 11 cars on hand with a lap of 12.787 seconds around “The World’s Fastest 1/3 Mile” track. However, the three car invert placed Justin Beeler and Thursday night winner Josh Fields on the front row for the 20-lap feature event.
Beeler immediately went to the front when the green flag waved with Horton following right in his tire tracks. The race experienced four caution periods, and each of those gave Horton a shot at grabbing the lead on the restart. But Beeler was up to the challenge on every occasion as the #25 car drove on to take the checkered flag.
At the finish, it was Justin Beeler, Jordan Horton, Josh Fields and Clyde Overholt.
Logan Dukes claimed victory in the Classics feature.
Classics: Philip Thompson followed up on his Thursday night win by setting fast time in qualifying with a lap of 14.494 seconds to beat out 11 other competitors. With no invert, Thompson would start from the pole position alongside Joe Keck.
After one failed attempt to start the 20-lap feature, the field was realigned for a another try. Unfortunately, disaster struck almost immediately after the green flag waved for the second time.
As the cars raced into turn one, apparent contact between the front row starters set off a massive and scary looking crash. Virtually the entire field piled in with two cars rolling over in the melee. Fortunately, all drivers were reported to be uninjured.
After the wreck was cleared, only six cars remained. Track officials opted to cut the race down to 15 laps due to the length of time required to clear the track following the big crash.
Original third starter Logan Dukes had come through the craziness of lap 1 unscathed and took the early lead after being moved up to the pole position following Thompson’s retirement from the event. Keck followed the leader closely during the early going with Joel Wolfenbarger and Robbie Sands battling for 3rd.
Dukes was ultimately able to drive away for the win ahead of Keck and Sands.
Modified Street: Only three cars were on hand for this class.
2014 Mid-season points leader Brad Davis grabbed the pole with a lap of 13.747 seconds. But it was Robbie Buchanan who assumed the lead at the start of the feature. Thursday night’s winner would lead all the way to claim another victory ahead of Davis and Mitchell Burke in a caution free event.
Four Cylinders: Five cars signed in for competition in this class.
Jeromy Collins took the lead early with Chuck McMahan shadowing his every move. The two drivers staged a good battle for the top spot with McMahan emerging with the lead on the tenth of 15 laps.
McMahan drove on to capture his seventh feature win of the season.
