Cameron Weaver picked up $10,000 for his win in the J.T. Kerr Memorial
The 10th annual J.T. Kerr Memorial played out on Friday and Saturday evenings at 411 Motor Speedway with the 604 Crate Late Model cars taking center stage for one of the most lucrative feature for that class in the southeastern region. At the end of the night on Saturday, it was Cameron Weaver who emerged from a battle with his father and came away from the Seymour, TN facility as the victor. The Crossville, Tennessee driver earned $10,000 for his efforts.
A total of 35 cars were signed in for competition with qualifying and heat races being held on Friday night prior to Saturday’s feature action.
Cameron Weaver was fastest in Group 1 qualifying with a time of 14.701 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval to beat out Matt Henderson and Mack McCarter while Group 2 time-trials were led by Bradley Lewelling who posted a lap of 14.587 seconds to beat out Greg Martin and Zach Sise.
Booger Brooks was quickest in Group 3 qualifying with an effort of 14.502 seconds besting Pierce McCarter and Cory Hedgecock then Rusty Ballenger topped Group 4 time-trials when he toured the track in 14.697 seconds to outperform Aaron Guinn and Clay Coghlan.
Cameron Weaver was the victor in the first heat race ahead of Randy Weaver and Mack McCarter just before Greg Martin claimed the second heat by beating Bradley Lewelling and Jake Teague.
Booger Brooks topped Pierce McCarter and Cory Hedgecock in the third heat with Rusty Ballenger taking the checkered flag in the fourth and final heat race ahead of Clay Coghlan and Aaron Guinn.
Making the feature out of the first B-main race was Ronnie Johnson, Kyle Courtney, Josh Henry, Wil Herrington and Matt Henderson.
Zach Sise, Trevor Bayne, Mike Bargo, Jason Cardwell, and Tyler Hoy earned starting positions in the main event through the second B-main race.
At the start of the 71-lap feature it was Martin who went to the early lead ahead of Cameron Weaver, Ballenger, Randy Weaver, and Brooks. The battle for position was joined on lap 3 as Pierce McCarter moved in to challenge Brooks for fifth and eventually take the position.
On lap 6, Cameron Weaver commenced a fight with Martin for the race lead while Randy Weaver issued a challenge to Ballenger for third. Two laps later, Randy Weaver grabbed third and set off in pursuit of Martin and his son.
On lap 11 the top-3 of Martin and the two Weavers were engaged in a fierce battle for positions 1-3. At the same time, Ballenger was busy wrestling brothers Pierce and Mack McCarter for positions 4-6.
The Weavers kept applying pressure to Martin until Cameron was able to move his car to the top spot on lap 21 just before the first yellow flag of the night waved one lap later.
On the lap 22 restart, Randy Weaver, Martin, and Pierce McCarter found themselves locked in a three-wide battle for the second position with Weaver finally emerging with the position. Another caution would quickly follow on lap 25 which allowed Hedgecock to jump all the way to fourth on the restart.
During the race’s middle stages, Cameron and Randy Weaver began to slip away from the competition as Martin and Hedgecock tussled over third in a battle that would rage for several laps.
With 20 lap remaining, Hedgecock managed to break away from then fourth and fifth running Pierce McCarter and Brooks as he set off in pursuit of the lead duo. With traffic coming into play 10 laps later there was a four-way fight at the front as the Weavers led Hedgecock and McCarter while Brooks fell back into the clutches of Mack McCarter.
But over the closing laps, it would be Cameron Weaver who would hold back his father to claim the biggest win of his career.
Feature Finish: 1. Cameron Weaver, 2. Randy Weaver, 3. Cory Hedgecock, 4. Pierce McCarter, 5. Booger Brooks, 6. Mack McCarter, 7. Jake Teague, 8. Rusty Ballenger, 9. Zach Sise, 10. Bradley Lewelling, 11. Matt Henderson, 12. Kyle Courtney, 13. Ronnie Johnson, 14. Josh Henry, 15. Trevor Bayne, 16. Greg Martin, 17. Mike Bargo, 18. Wil Herrington, 19. Tyler Hoy, 20. Clay Coghlan, 21. Jason Cardwell, 22. Aaron Guinn
