Chris Madden led all the way to claim $5300 at Smoky Mountain
The Southern Nationals Bonus Series made its way to the Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday night and had to wait out a rain delay before staging an event that saw Chris Madden control the night and claim the victory. The Gray Court, SC driver bested the 29 cars that signed in to race to claim the $5,300 first prize in front of a crowd that waited out the elements at the historic Maryville, Tenn. track.
Billy Ogle, Jr. earned the pole position for the feature by posting the fastest time in Group A qualifying when he clocked in at 15.337 seconds around the 4/10 mile facility. Joining Ogle in being locked into the feature from that group were Ryan King, TJ Reaid, Derek Ellis and Ray Cook.
Madden claimed a front row starting position in the main event by setting fast time in Group B and overall with a lap of 15.267 seconds. Donald McIntosh, Ricky Weiss, Mike Marlar and Jordon Horton also earned their way into the feature via time-trials in this group.
Stacy Boles and Chad Ogle won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the feature starting grid.
Due to time constraints brought about by the earlier rain shower and the track’s curfew, the feature was shortened from its scheduled 50 lap distance to 40 circuits.
At the drop of the green flag, Madden immediately went to the front of the pack with Billy Ogle, McIntosh, King and Weiss trailing. However, disaster struck quickly for one of the front runners when King spun in turn two just after the completion of the first full lap of the race. That mishap sent the driver of the Warrior house car to the tail of the field for the ensuing restart.
Madden again bolted to the lead when the green flag resumed high-speed action while Weiss moved around McIntosh to claim the runner-up position.
A second caution flag flew on lap 4 when top-10 running TJ Reaid spun. That once again allowed the field to have a shot at challenging Madden, but once again, the driver known as ‘Smokey’ drove away from those who hoped to unseat him from the top of the leader board. Meanwhile, the fight for position continued behind the leader as McIntosh challenged and ultimately passed Ogle for third.
Donald McIntosh and Billy Ogle, Jr. do battle at Smoky Mountain
Madden continued to cruise, even when confronted with slower traffic, throughout the middle stages of the feature. However, the challengers would get one last shot at the leader after Mark Vineyard slowed on track to bring out a lap 37 caution. But again, Madden proved to be too strong as he drove away and took the checkered flag ahead of the pack.
Feature Finish: 1. Chris Madden, 2. Donald McIntosh, 3. Ricky Weiss, 4. Billy Ogle, Jr., 5. Derek Ellis, 6. Mike Marlar, 7. Ray Cook, 8. David Payne, 9. Stacy Boles, 10. Shanon Buckingham, 11. Chad Ogle, 12. Ryan King, 13. Cory Hedgecock, 14. Jason Croft, 15. Mark Vineyard, 16. Jordon Horton, 17. TJ Reaid, 18. Tommy Kerr, 19. Kenny Cobble, 20. Bobby Giffin, 21. Craig Greer, 22. Doug Smith
Madden and crew celebrate in victory lane
