Dakotah Knuckles made a last lap pass for the win
After racing at Boyd’s Speedway on Friday night, the Valvoline Iron-Man Late Model Series moved on to the Tazewell Speedway on Saturday night for the second leg of its three-race Independence Day weekend swing. Following a hotly contested last lap it was Dakotah Knuckles who emerged from the upper east Tennessee track as the winner. The Ewing, Virginia driver earned $5,000 for his efforts.
A total of 18 cars were signed in for competition.
Dakotah Knuckles was fastest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 11.380 seconds around the high-banked third-mile clay oval topping Vic Hill, Jamison McBride, Jonathan Rowan and Ryan Winchester.
Jensen Ford led Group B qualifying by touring the track in 11.262 seconds to beat out Pierce McCarter, Jason Trammell, Donald McIntosh and Brian Shockley.
There were no heat races.
At the start of the 40-lap feature it was Ford who bolted to the early lead with Knuckles, Hill, McCarter and Trammell trailing. However, a caution flag was shown to the field just after the completion of the first circuit to briefly slow the action.
On the ensuing restart, McCarter got ahead of Hill to grab third while McIntosh wrested fifth away from Trammell just before a second yellow flag was displayed one lap later. During the second caution period, Hill was forced to give up a top-5 position when he had to come tot he pit area to have a flat left rear tire changed.
Rowan moved to fifth on that restart while Ford and Knuckles looked to separate themselves from their pursuers. Slower traffic would begin to play a role by lap 7 as the top-3 of Ford, Knuckles and McCarter tightened as the pace slowed due to the slower cars.
Lynn Leach spun at the exit of turn two on lap 10 then was struck by the top-10 running machine of Jamison McBride. Both drivers were uninjured but their had to be retired from the event.
When green flag racing resume, McIntosh and Rowan engaged in a fierce fight for fourth until a caution for the slowing car of Matt Tharp broke that battle up on lap 17. On this restart, Ryan King was jump to fifth spot by passing Rowan.
The race ran its second half without a caution with Ford, Knuckles, McCarter and McIntosh running in tight formation as they worked through traffic. On lap 32, McIntosh made his way around McCarter for third as each of the four front runners began to jockey for position with the checkered flag fast approaching.
Ford took the white flag leading with Knuckles right on his rear spoiler followed closely McIntosh and McCarter with each waiting for an opportunity to pounce. With slower traffic ahead, both Knuckles and McIntosh made moves going into the third turn creating a near three-wide situation. Contact was made as Ford was forced high on the track with Knuckles emerging from the fight and Ford bouncing off the turn four wall. McIntosh slipped by Ford in the late race madness.
Feature Finish: 1. Dakotah Knuckles, 2. Donald McIntosh, 3. Jensen Ford, 4. Pierce McCarter, 5. Ryan King, 6. Jonathan Rowan, 7. John Llewellyn, 8. Vic Hill, 9. Ryan Winchester, 10. Jeff Neubert, 11. Mitchell Burke, 12. Troy Eads, 13. Brian Shockley, 14. Phil Helton, 15. Jamison McBride, 16. Matt Tharp, 17. Lynn Leach, 18. Jason Trammell
