Donald McIntosh scored his first career Southern Nationals win at 411
The Southern Nationals Series made the second stop of its two week journey on Tuesday night at the 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. for a $3,500-to-win event. When all was said and done, Donald McIntosh of Dawsonville, GA emerged as the race winner and established himself as a serious title contender.
Hometown hero Mack McCarter set the pace in qualifying as he beat out a field of 19 cars with a fast lap of 13.816 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval. Also making their way into the dash race that would set the first two rows on the feature starting grid was Chad Ogle, Vic Hill and McIntosh.
McIntosh earned the pole for the main event by winning the dash race over McCarter, Hill and Ogle.
Austin Smith and Mike Marlar won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the field for feature.
McIntosh bolted to the early lead in the 35-lap main event with Ogle, McCarter, Hill and Marlar following. Quickly, however, both McCarter and Hill made their way around Ogle to move into second and third respectively while Cory Hedgecock took fifth away from Marlar further back.
A lap 4 caution bunched the pack after McIntosh had built a relatively sizable advantage over his pursuers. On the ensuing restart, Marlar began trying to make the bottom groove work as he pressured Hedgecock for a top-5 position.
At the same time, Hill went to work on McCarter for the runner-up spot as both held pace with McIntosh. Just a few car lengths back, Ogle, Hedgecock and Marlar continued to wage war for third through fifth.
Marlar looked as if he would emerge from that battle to contend for an even higher position in the running order after he passed Hedgecock to take fifth on lap 17 then moved by Ogle on lap 19 to garner the fourth spot. However, it would be Marlar who would bring out the race’s second caution on lap 21 when he slowed on the speedway with mechanical issues.
On the following restart, Billy Ogle, Jr.(Monday night’s winner at Wythe Raceway) began to move forward as he made a three-wide pass to get around Casey Roberts and Austin Smith for the sixth spot.
Billy Ogle, Jr.(201) makes a three-wide move to gain spots on the track.
Further ahead of that sixth place battle, Hill made his move around McCarter lap 21 to secure second and set off in pursuit of McIntosh.
The final caution of the night came with just three laps remaining when Hedgecock slowed on track. Billy Ogle, Jr. was able to get by Chad Ogle for fourth over the closing laps but no one effectively challenged McIntosh as the Blount Motorsports No. 7 cruised under the checkered flag.
Feature Finish: 1. Donald McIntosh, 2. Vic Hill, 3. Mack McCarter, 4. Billy Ogle, Jr., 5. Chad Ogle, 6. Austin Smith, 7. Casey Roberts, 8. Mark Dodson, 9. Craig Vosbergen, 10. Stacy Boles, 11. Jason Welshan, 12. Forrest Trent, 13. Cory Hedgecock, 14. Mike Marlar, 15. Ronnie Johnson, 16. Brett Miller, 17. Kenneth Howell, 18. Ross White
McIntosh in Victory Lane
