Chad Ogle scored the win on Saturday night at Volunteer Speedway.
The Volunteer Speedway opened its 2015 season with a Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series event and it was Chad Ogle who walked away with the top prize of $4,000 at the end of an action packed night of racing. The Sevierville, Tenn. driver had to beat out a solid field of cars that featured a few surprise entrants who made a quick detour to the Bulls Gap, Tenn. track when a race at the Florence(KY) Speedway was cancelled.
Ogle got things off to a fast start on the evening when he set quick time in qualifying among the 20 cars on hand with a lap of 13.435 seconds around the third-mile clay oval. The entire lineup for the feature was set through time-trials so Vic Hill, Chris Madden, Mark Douglas, Jensen Ford, Mack McCarter, Riley Hickman, Mark Vineyard, Bobby Mays and Donald McIntosh joined the pole sitter in earning top positions on the starting grid.
At the start of the feature, Ogle bolted to the front of the pack with Hill, Madden, Douglas and McCarter left to do battle in his wake. The leader got out to a sizable early advantage in his Rocket Chassis while Madden locked in on Hill for the runner-up spot and others battled throughout the top-10.
A lap 13 caution for a spin by Mays allowed the field to close in on Ogle and set the stage for some heated battles for position to take place. On the ensuing restart, Madden jumped to 2nd place and looked as if he might threaten Ogle for the top spot. At the same time, McCarter, Douglas and Hickman waged an epic fight for the 4th spot in the running order that saw the trio go three-wide on multiple occasions before Hickman finally emerged with the position.
As the laps clicked toward and just passed the halfway mark of the 40-lap affair, Madden began to challenge Ogle the top spot on the leader board as he looked under the front runner several times, even going three-wide with Ogle and a slower car on one occasion, but was never able complete the pass. At the same time, McIntosh moved up from his tenth starting position and began to close in on a top-5 spot in the order.
A lap 28 caution proved pivotal as two top contenders would be eliminated. First, 5th running Douglas had his car slow to a stop at the exit of turn two to bring out the yellow. Then as the cars circulated around the track at reduced speed, Madden pulled his 2nd running machine into the pit area to end his night prematurely.
Hickman seized 2nd from Hill on the following restart in hopes of applying pressure to the lead car. However, a spin by the 5th running McIntosh brought out another caution flag just one lap later.
From that point, it was Ogle’s race to win and he did just that as he pulled away from the field for the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Chad Ogle, 2. Riley Hickman, 3. Vic Hill, 4. Mack McCarter, 5. Mark Vineyard, 6. Jensen Ford, 7. Austin Smith, 8. Joey Coulter, 9. Donald McIntosh, 10. Kyle Pierce, 11. Ben Watkins, 12. Forrest Trent, 13. Bobby Mays, 14. Doug Sanders, 15. Kevin Wilson, 16. Chris Madden, 17. Mark Douglas, 18. Roger Best, 19. Travis Greer, 20. Walker Arthur
