John Ownbey drove to the NeSmith win at Tri-County
The NeSmith Dirt Late Model Series staged the first race of a doubleheader weekend at Tri-County Race Track in Brasstown, NC on Friday night and John Ownbey came away the winner in the Bill Hendren Memorial. The Cleveland, Tenn. driver earned $2,000 for his victory on the Ray Cook promoted track.
Matt Henderson began the night in a fast way on the quarter-mile banked speedway when he posted a lap of 13.367 seconds to lead the field of twenty cars in qualifying. With the feature lineup being set entirely through time-trials, Henderson would be followed to the green flag by Paydon Shook, Ryan King, John Ownbey, Jason Deal and Ronnie Johnson.
Henderson went to the early lead in the 40-lap main event with Shook, King, Ownbey and Johnson close behind. The shuffling for position began almost immediately during some intense racing among the front runners in the early going. King grabbed the runner-up spot away from Shook on the second circuit.
Over the next three laps, Ownbey and Johnson would force Shook to an even lower spot in the running order as those two drivers seized the third and fourth positions. Meanwhile, Ownbey continued to show off strength in the early stages as he moved around King to grab second on lap 5.
The race would run caution free from lap 5 to lap 23. During that stretch of green flag racing, the two leaders put on a show as Ownbey continually steered his machine to the low side through turns 1 & 2, and each time, Henderson was able to fight off the challenges. And while those two battled, King and Johnson were able to close in and keep the lead duo within their sights.
At one point, the racing was so intense that Henderson had significant contact with a slower car, but both were able to continue on without a caution.
Finally, the race winning move would be made after 31 laps were in the books. Henderson took his customary high line through turns 1 & 2 while Ownbey went to the low side as he had done on most of the previous laps. As the two cars exited turn 2 and headed down the backstretch there was contact and Ownbey emerged with the race lead.
From that point, Henderson began to fade with apparent damage to the left front of his ride.
A spin by Johnson on lap 33 brought out the final caution of the event and provided one last opportunity for the field to take a shot at Ownbey. However, it was not to be as the No. 44 Longhorn led the way to the checkered flag.
Feature Finish: 1. John Ownbey, 2. Ryan King, 3. Jason Deal, 4. Ricky smith, 5. Jimmy Elliott, 6. Ryan Crane, 7. Cody Martin, 8. Chase Edge, 9. Ray Cook, 10. Ronnie Johnson, 11. Matt Henderson, 12. Marcus Minga, 13. William Overbey, 14. Mario Gresham, 15. Kenny Collins, 16. Will Roland, 17. Paydon Shook, 18. Nick Lyons, 19. Sylvan Schuette, 20. Drew Deaver
The NeSmith Dirt Late Model Series will head to 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. on Saturday night for the $4,000-to-win J.T. Kerr Memorial.
