Cory Hedgecock claimed the American Pro Late Model win at SMS
The Summer Showdown held on Saturday evening at the Smoky Mountain Speedway featured the American Pro Late Model All-Star Series for a big event. At the end of an intense a night of racing, it was Cory Hedgecock who claimed victory at the Maryville, Tennessee facility. The Loudon, Tennessee driver earned a hefty $10,000 payday for his efforts.
A total of 32 cars were signed in for competition.
Matt Henderson was fastest in qualifying with a lap of 16.956 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval to top Ben Watkins, Eli Beets, Cory Hedgecock, Zach Sise, Mack McCarter, Dillon Brown, Trevor Sise, Justin Smith and Ricky Greene.
The top-6 were locked into a dash race that would determine the first three rows on the feature starting grid.
Dillon Brown was victorious in the first heat race of the night ahead of Rusty Ballenger, Brandon Miller and Randy Weaver.
Trevor Sise took the second heat by besting Chris Chandler, Jake Teague and Josh Henry.
Logan Roberson outran Jesse Lowe, Michael Bland and Justin Smith in the third and final heat race.
Ricky Greene, Parker Miller, Layton Sullivan and Kyle Courtney transferred to the feature out of the lone B-main race.
Cory Hedgecock earned the pole position for the main event by winning the dash race ahead of Matt Henderson, Mack McCarter, Zach Sise, Eli Beets and Ben Watkins.
Hedgecock grabbed the lead when the 60-lap feature went green with Henderson, McCarter, Sise and Beets following behind. Henderson moved inside to challenge Hedgecock’s lead on the second circuit but the No. 23 was able to hold the position. The top-3 of Hedgecock, Henderson and McCarter then began to slip away from the field.
Henderson again offered a challenge on lap 7 and again Hedgecock held the top spot as the leaders began to encounter slower traffic.
A caution on lap 18 for the slowing machine of Courtney briefly slowed the action. On the restart, Beets jumped around Sise to claim 4th. Shortly after, the top-5 of Hedgecock, Henderson, McCarter, Beets and Sise ran in single-file formation around the high side of the track.
The leaders remained tight as they fought with heavy traffic just before a caution flag waved when the car of Brandon Miller bounced off the backstretch wall. On the restart, the third running car of McCarter tagged the outside wall to bring out another yellow flag as he raced for position. That mishap elevated the cars of Beets, Sise and Brown within the top-5.
A caution for debris on lap 43 again regrouped the field. Hedgecock broke away from Henderson and Beets on the restart as Brown and Sise wrestled for fourth with Side ultimately holding the position.
Henderson closed in and made repeated attempts to take the lead over the closing laps but Hedgecock would ultimately hold on for the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Cory Hedgecock, 2. Matt Henderson, 3. Eli Beets, 4. Zach Sise, 5. Dillon Brown, 6. Randy Weaver, 7. Jake Teague, 8. Logan Roberson, 9. Josh Henry, 10. Rusty Ballenger, 11. Ben Watkins, 12. Chris Chandler, 13. Ricky Greene, 14. Layton Sullivan, 15. Parker Martin, 16. Michael Bland, 17. Mack McCarter, 18. Brandon Miller, 19. Jesse Lowe, 20. Trevor Sise, 21. William Blankenship, 22. Kyle Courtney, 23. Justin Smith, 24. Tyler Arrington
