Cory Hedgecock continued his recent run of success
Apart from the Ultimate Super Late Models Series on Friday night, Smoky Mountain Speedway played host to racing action in the Limited Late Model, Sportsman and Street Stock classes. Along with Randy Weaver’s victory in the main event of the evening, the Limited Late Model division also saw a pre-race favorite go to Victory Lane at the end of the show.
Cory Hedgecock unveiled his new Brucebilt B1 car recently and had tallied two wins in only three starts in that new ride. On Friday night, the B1 made it three wins in four tries after taking the Limited Late Model checkered flag on the Maryville, Tenn. facility.
Dakotah Knuckles proved to be the fastest out of the fourteen car field in qualifying when he posted a lap of 16.354 seconds around the 4/10 mile speedway. Hedgecock, Brad Hall, Jason Manley and Bobby Giffin rounded out the top-5 in time-trials.
The starting lineup for the $1200-to-win feature was set entirely by qualifying so there were no heat races in this class.
At the start of the 25-lap feature, Hedgecock bolted to the early lead from his outside front row starting spot. Knuckles, Manley, Hall and Drew Kennedy pursued the leader throughout the early stages of the race.
Caution flags on laps 12 and 15 provided the field with opportunities to close the gap on Hedgecock, but each time the green flag waved, the No. 23 darted right back out to a comfortable advantage over the competition.
Troubles following the lap 15 caution sidelined two contenders. Hall bounced off the turn one wall on the restart from that yellow and then Manley was forced to park his ride due to mechanical issues as the cars drove around under the caution.
Over the final laps, Hedgecock pulled away for the win with the closest battle on the track being between Kennedy and Dan Tipton for the third spot.
Feature Finish: 1. Cory Hedgecock, 2. Dakotah Knuckles, 3. Drew Kennedy, 4. Dan Tipton, 5. Bobby Giffin, 6. Brad Seagle, 7. Brandon Gardner, 8. Bradley Lewelling
Hedgecock in victory lane with his crew following the Limited Late Model feature
In other racing action, Terry Poore led all the way from the pole to capture the Sportsman feature ahead of Rex Coffey, Cody Gloyne and David Clark.
Terry Poore celebrating his Sportsman victory
Kurt Owens was the winner in the Street Stock division.
Kurt Owens
