We will be providing live updates from the Southern Nationals race and the support classes from the Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, TN for Friday night, August 1, 2014. Tonight’s updates are being provided by Richard Allen( @RichardAllenIDR on Twitter).
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To follow along, simply scroll down and look under each heading for that particular class. Also, refresh the page frequently as new information will be added often.
Classes in action:
Southern Nationals Super Late Models for $5,300-to-win(53 laps).
Limited Late Models for $1,200-to-win.
Crate Late Models for $1,000-to-win.
Classics
Time:
Drivers meeting is slated for 6:30 with cars scheduled to hit the track shortly thereafter.
Weather:
Weather forecast calls for daytime temperatures in the 80s with a slight chance for isolated showers.
General Information:
This is the ninth of ten races in the Ray Cook promoted Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals presented by Old Man’s Garage.
Chris Madden leads the Southern Nationals standings coming into this race over Eric Jacobsen, Billy Ogle, Jr., Vic Hill and Donald McIntosh.
6:40- Drivers meeting underway.
There was a moving ceremony in honor of 3 year old Izzi Leach, who died earlier in the week. Her father, racer Mark Leach, gave an excellent speech to the crowd.
Photos:
I often post pictures on my @RichardAllenIDR Twitter account if you would like to take a look.
Live Updates:
Super Late Models
Drivers here- 27 cars
Group 1
C5- David Crabtree, 157- Mike Marlar, 1h- Vic Hill, 44m- Chris Madden, 91- Mark Douglas, R1- Riley Hickman, 212- Josh Putnam, 7- Donald McIntosh, 1- Anthony Burroughs, 29w- Jason Welshan, 10- Chad Ogle, 11b- Stacy Boles, 71c- Mack McCarter, 34- Ellery Leake.
Group 2
7m- Robby Moses, 01- Tommy Kerr, 31- Skip Arp, 201- Billy Ogle, Jr., 4- Mark Vineyard, 8- Craig Vosbergen, 30- Ryan King, 116- Randy Weaver, 10w- Chris Wilson, 11s- Austin Smith, 5- Eric Jacobsen, 7w- Ross White, 3x- Bo Eaton.
The Southern Nationals breaks the field into two qualifying groups. The top-2 qualifiers from each group go to a dash race to set the first two rows for the feature. Everyone else will go to a B-main.
Chris Madden was fastest in hot laps with a time of 15.427 seconds.
8:00- Qualifying about begin.
Qualifying Results:
Group 1- 1. Madden(15.799), 2. Marlar(15.880).
Group 2- 1. Weaver(15.394), 2. B Ogle(15.989).
9:15- Dash race about to start.
Dash results: 1. Madden, 2. Weaver, 3. Marlar, 4. B Ogle.
9:20- B-mains about to start. Top-8 transfer.
B-main 1 results: 1. Hill, 2. Welshan, 3. McCarter, 4. McIntosh, 5. Burroughs, 6. Douglas, 7. Crabtree, 8. Putnam.
Riley Hickman was running well within the top-8 but spun.
B-main 2 results: 1. Arp, 2. A Smith, 3. Kerr, 4. King, 5. Jacobsen, 6. Vineyard, 7. Vosbergen, 8. Wilson.
10:00- SLM feature rolling out.
Crew working on Tommy Kerr’s car in the pit area prior to driver intro. Kerr goes off track and to the outside pit area. He had been scheduled to start 10th.
Now Vic Hill is having trouble during the pace laps. He is scheduled to start 5th and is 4th in series points. Marlar has a bent right rear quarter panel. Not sure but they may have had contact on the pace lap. Both have rejoined the field in their proper starting spots.
10:20- Four wide!
10:22- Green flag!
Just prior to the green Hill stops on track again.
Hill spins in turn 2 on the start.
Lap 3- Boles pulls off. Madden leads Marlar and Weaver.
Lap 13 caution as Bo Eaton has trouble and collects Kerr. Kerr had returned to the track during all the issues with Vic Hill.
Madden, Marlar and Weaver had separated from the pack and were having a good race in traffic. B Ogle is 4th followed by Welshan, Hill and McCarter.
Lap 35- Madden has built a bit of a cushion over Marlar, Weaver, Welshan, Ogle and Hill.
Feature finish: 1. Madden, 2. Marlar, 3. Weaver, 4. B Ogle, 5. Hill, 6. McCarter, 7. Jacobsen, 8. McIntosh, 9. Burroughs, 10. King.
Madden pulled away in traffic over the final laps.
This was Madden’s first SoNats victory of 2014 but the 24th of his career.
Limited Late Models
Drivers here- 19 cars
23- Cory Hedgecock, f4- Sammie Russell, 16- Brad Lowe, k37- Drew Kennedy, B00- Josh Henry, 14- Weston Gantte, 21k- Dakotah Knuckles, 00- Hunter Best, 2- Mitchell Childress, 22- Jaylon Shannon, 14- David Kerr, B2- Butch Bayless, 00- Ruben Mayfield, 17- Matt Henderson, 35- Tony Martin, 27- Charlie Parker, 97- Bobby Giffin, 45- Doug Smith, 9- Heath Hindman.
Qualifying results: 1. Hedgecock (16.565), 2. Henry, 3. Giffin, 4. Kennedy, 5. Henderson, 6. Knuckles, 7. Lowe, 8. Shannon, 9. Martin, 10. Gantte
11:00- LLM feature is on track.
Knuckles and Kennedy eliminated in early crash.
Lap 8- Hedgecock leads Henry, Giffin and Henderson.
Finish: 1. Hedgecock, 2. Henry, 3. Giffin, 4. Henderson, 5. Shannon, 6. Lowe
Crate Late Model
Drivers here- 12 cars
39- Jimmy Elliott, 17- Brett Wyatt, 88- David Crabtree, 29- Jason Welshan, 33- Warren McMahan, 3r- Robert Edwards, 16- Jacob Grizzle, 50- Adam Mitchell, 57- Chris Mullinax, 007- Hunter Best, 99- Justin Summers, 79- Dwayne Powell
Crate LM qualifying results: 1. Welshan(16.620), 2. Elliott, 3. Wyatt, 4. Grizzle, 5. Summers, 6. Crabtree, 7. Best
9:40- Crate LM feature rolling out.
9:45- Green flag!
Lap 6 caution for spin by Mitchell. Welshan leads Elliott and Wyatt.
Crash by Powell on the restart. It got pretty intense between Welshan and Elliott on lap 1 as they ran most of that lap side by side. Once Welshan cleared he was able to pull away.
Feature finish: 1. Welshan, 2. Elliott, 3. Grizzle, 4. Best, 5. Wyatt, 6. Summers, 7. Crabtree
After the first lap, Welshan was never really challenged.
Welshan has won all 4 Crate LM races he has entered this year at SMS.
There are also 8 Classics here.
Cameron Skinner won Classic feature over Ritchie Overholser and Charles Tharp.
