Cory Hedgecock’s B1 Late Model
Along with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Smoky Mountain Speedway hosted racing in the Limited Late Model and Street Stock classes on Saturday night. Familiar winners made their way to Victory Lane after each of those races.
Cory Hedgecock has been almost unstoppable in the Limited Late Model and Crate Late Model divisions at Smoky Mountain this season and Saturday night was no exception. The Loudon, Tenn. driver took the lead from the outset and never looked back on his way to his fourth total victory on the Maryville, Tenn. track.
Dakotah Knuckles began the night by setting fast time in qualifying among the 15 cars signed in for competition for the Limited Late Models with a lap of 16.186 seconds. Rounding out the top-5 in time-trials were Hedgecock, Jason Manley, Drew Kennedy and Chris Wilson.
There were no heat races for this division as the field was set entirely by qualifying results.
Hedgecock bolted to the early lead from his outside front row starting position as soon as the green flag waved with Knuckles, Manley, Kennedy and Wilson in his tire tracks. And as has been the case all season at SMS, the No. 23 car proved difficult to catch once it got out front.
The top-3 of Hedgecock, Knuckles and Manley separated themselves from the rest of the field by the fifth lap while Wilson hounded Kennedy for fourth place.
After 10 laps were in the books it looked like Knuckles was poised to make a move for the lead as he closed to the rear spoiler of Hedgecock’s car and began to apply pressure. However, the No. 21 machine slipped too high in turn one on lap 12 and made significant contact with the outside wall to end any chance of a win.
From that point, Hedgecock dominated the remainder of the 25-lap feature to claim the victory. He earned $1,500 for his efforts. It was the driver’s second victory of the weekend after having claimed the Limited Late Model feature at 411 Motor Speedway on Friday night.
Feature Finish: 1. Cory Hedgecock, 2. Jason Manley, 3. Drew Kennedy, 4. Chris Wilson, 5. David Crabtree, 6. Bobby Giffin
In other racing action at the track, Kurt Owens won the Street Stock feature over Chris Rickett and Brad Davis. It was Owens second consecutive win after he also won on Friday night at 411 Motor Speedway.
