Dale McDowell took the lead early then dominated
The Southern All-Star Dirt Racing Series returned to action on Saturday night for the first time in almost a month as part of the ‘King of the Mountain’ event at Smoky Mountain Speedway. After a dominating night of racing, it was Dale McDowell who claimed the victory at the Maryville, Tennessee. The Team Zero Race Cars driver from Chickamauga, Georgia earned $7,500 for his efforts.
A total of 22 cars were signed in for competition.
Ricky Weiss led Group A qualifying with a lap of 15.745 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval topping Dale McDowell, Dalton Cook, Sam Seawright, Forrest Trent, David Crabtree, Stacy Boles and Mack McCarter.
Payton Freeman was quickest in Group B time-trials after the toured the track in 15.703 seconds to beat out Eli Beets, Zack Mitchell, Robby Moses, Tommy Kerr, Dusty Carver, John Llewellyn and Gary McPherson.
With 22 cars on hand, track and series officials decided to set the feature starting lineup based solely on time-trials with those drivers from Group A making up the inside of each row on the starting grid and those from Group B taking the outside positions.
At the start of the 50-lap main event it was Freeman who jetted out to the early lead with McDowell, Weiss, Cook and Beets rounding out the top-5. Mitchell moved forward on the second circuit as he swept by Beets to enter the top-5.
McDowell moved in to challenge Freeman for the lead on lap 4 while just behind it was Cook and Weiss who would fight over the third position. McDowell claimed the lead of the race on lap 5 and immediately began to pull away from the pack.
In a race that would go caution free until lap 40, the top-5 of McDowell, Freeman, Weiss, Cook and Mitchell would maintain their positions as the laps clicked away. Mitchell passed by both Cook and Weiss to take third just before the halfway mark.
Weiss would pull off the track from his top-5 running position on lap 26 while Seawright climbed into fifth.
At one point, McDowell had built a lead of half the track as he lapped well into the top-10. However, a caution on lap 40 erased that advantage. Just after the restart, McDowell continued to show the way as Beets re-entered the top-5. The No. 109 would eventually move around Mitchell to take third.
Cook lost a possible top-5 finishing position on lap 46 when his car tagged the outside wall to bring out the second and final yellow flag of the night. McDowell pulled away from the pack and sailed under the checkered flag to claim the win.
Feature Finish: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Payton Freeman, 3. Eli Beets, 4. Zack Mitchell, 5. Sam Seawright, 6. Robby Moses, 7. Forrest Trent, 8. Dusty Carver, 9. Dalton Cook, 10. Donald McIntosh, 11. David Crabtree, 12. John Llewellyn, 13. Gary McPherson, 14. Ricky Weiss, 15. Stacy Boles, 16. Mack McCarter, 17. Mark Dodson, 18. Steve Smith, 19. Craig Greer, 20. Tommy Kerr
Please consider also reading “Jimmy Owens just nips Devin Moran for Jackson 100 victory“
The Shane McDowell Racing team in victory lane
