Riley Hickman drove this CVR Race Car to the win at Duck River
Along with the Deep Fried 75 Super Late Model feature held at Duck River Raceway Park on Saturday night, the United Crate Racing Alliance contested an event for Crate Late Model racers as well. At the end of that race, it was Riley Hickman who emerged with the trophy and the $2,500 first prize.
Hickman led the way in Group A qualifying by posting a lap of 13.429 seconds around the quarter-mile clay oval. He was followed by UCRA points leader Jake Teague in that time-trial session.
John Ownbey was fastest in Group B qualifying and overall when he turned a lap of 13.133 seconds. He beat out Jordon Horton in that session.
Ownbey, Horton, Hickman and Teague each won heat races in preparation for the feature race while Jay Brinkley and Todd Morrow captured B-main victories.
A big pileup at mid-pack in turn three on the initial start of the race delayed the action. But once the 40-lap feature got rolling, it was Horton who shot to the early lead with Ownbey, Teague and Hickman following in his tire tracks. Just behind the leaders, cars were battling high and low all over the track.
Ownbey pressured Horton early until he was able to get by for the top spot on lap 7. Shortly afterward, Teague and Hickman also moved around Horton to seize the third and fourth positions on the track.
Just behind the top-4 cars, Justin Owens was fighting an intense battle with Anthony White and Rusty Ballenger for fifth place. All the while, those top-4 cars were edging away from the rest of the pack as the first half of the race ran caution free.
Traffic often plays a role in races at Duck River and this event would be no different as the lead cars caught up to the rear of the field on lap 14. Just two laps later, the lead car of Ownbey found himself pinched under and ultimately tangled up with one of those slower machines. Hickman seized the opportunity and forced his No. 1V car under the No. 44.
Hickman emerged from that battle in turn two with the lead as Ownbey retired from the race shortly thereafter.
From that point, Hickman pulled away to a relatively comfortable working margin and set about the task of knifing his way through the field all the way up to 6th place. He would go on to claim the win over Teague, Owens, White and Ethan Hunter.
