Cory Hedgecock
The Brucebilt Iron-Man Modified Series made its way to the 411 Motor Speedway on Saturday night but the track also played host to action in the Steelhead Late Model division. At the end of that feature it was Cory Hedgecock of Loudon, Tenn. who made his way to victory lane after a bold move on a restart took him from third to first in the distance of one set of turns.
Chase King set fast time in qualifying for the Limited Late Model class when he posted a time of 15.022 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval. Jason Cardwell, Hedgecock, Trevor Sise and Bobby Giffin rounded out the top-5 in time-trials for the division.
There were no heat races as the starting grid for the main event was established entirely through qualifying.
King and Cardwell drove side-by-side for more than a lap at the start of the 30-lap feature before Cardwell seized the top spot with King, Hedgecock, Sise and Mack McCarter trailing. King quickly went to work as he attempted to wrest the top spot away from Cardwell by looking to the low side of the No. 07 machine each time they went through turn one and two. At the same time, Hedgecock used the high line around the speedway to gain on the two leaders.
Just outside the top-5, Eddie King, Jr. and Ellery Leake battled for sixth.
A yellow flag waved on lap 7 when Jeff Day spun in turn two. That set up the pivotal move of the race on the ensuing restart.
With the track employing the Dixie Double-file restarts, Cardwell took the green flag as the leader with King choosing to start on the outside with Hedgecock on the low side of the track. When the green flag waved, Hedgecock bolted ahead of King to take second then roared under Cardwell as the cars ran through turn one. With momentum in his favor, Hedgecock slid up the track toward Cardwell, with his right rear making contact with Cardwell’s left front at the exit of turn two.
From there, Hedgecock pulled away as the pack raced down the backstretch. The No. 23 then began to pull away from Cardwell as Sise took third away from King.
Another yellow flag waved on lap 12 when Cameron Skinner went for a spin. On that restart, Sise moved by Cardwell to take the runner-up position. Cardwell regained the spot from Sise one lap later while Hedgecock again pulled away.
Sise was left to defend third from King as Michael Courtney moved into the top-5 from his 8th starting spot. King would eventually take third with three laps remaining in the feature.
Cory Hedgecock then led the way to the checkered flag beating out Jason Cardwell, Chase King, Trevor Sise, Michael Courtney, Mack McCarter, Ellery Leake and Bobby Giffin.
