Dale McDowell led all 50 laps at Volunteer
Coinciding with the NASCAR weekend at nearby Bristol Motor Speedway, the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap hosted its 13th annual Scorcher event on Thursday evening. Dale McDowell picked up $10,000 for his victory by going flag-to-flag in the Ultimate Super Late Model Series sanctioned feature race.
But just because the winner led every lap pf the feature does not mean there wasn’t some very intense racing going on.
Brandon Overton led the way in Group A qualifying and overall with a lap of 12.098 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval while Casey Roberts was fastest in Group B as he toured the high-banked facility in 12.336 seconds.
Vic Hill proved to be fastest in Group C time-trials when he posted a lap of 12.271 while Ross Bailes(debuting in the Barry Wright house car) led the way in the final qualifying group with a lap of 12.107 seconds.
Dale McDowell won a thrilling lead swapping affair in heat one over Overton, Chicky Barton and Dustin Mitchell while Casey Roberts scored the victory in the second preliminary over Dakotah Knuckles, Dennis Franklin and Joey Coulter.
Shanon Buckingham was the victor in the third heat ahead of Hill, Jimmy Owens and Riley Hickman. Bailes and Mike Marlar exchanged slide jobs early on in the fourth and final heat before Bailes emerged as the winner over Marlar, Forrest Trent and Brandon Kinzer.
Jonathan Davenport and Carder Miller won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting lineup.
McDowell chose to start the 50-lap feature from the outside of the front row, which proved to be a good move for the veteran driver as he parlayed that starting position into the early lead of the race when the green flag waved. Bailes led Roberts, Buckingham, Knuckles and Marlar in the attempt to unseat McDowell from the top spot.
Marlar looked fast early on as he swept by Knuckles to claim fifth on lap 2 which also opened the door for Overton to move in on Knuckles for sixth place. After moving into the top-5, Marlar quickly went to work on Buckingham for fourth.
Mike Marlar(157) works inside of Dakotah Knuckles
McDowell found himself fighting with slower traffic after only nine laps of the feature had been completed. However, he managed to keep Bailes and the other pursuers behind him as he put cars a lap down one-by-one.
Meanwhile, Buckingham, Marlar and Overton were engaged in a fierce battle for positions 4-6. On lap 12 they went three-wide out of turn four and bounced off of one another while managing to keep going at full speed. Ultimately, Marlar would gain the fourth position with Overton also moving around Buckingham.
Overton would grab fourth away from Marlar on lap 18.
The first caution flag of the night waved on lap 20. On the ensuing restart, McDowell was able to get away from an intense fight for the positions behind him involving Roberts, Bailes and Overton.
Another yellow flag appeared on lap 22. Bailes took advantage of the restart to take second away from Roberts while Marlar and Overton resumed their battle as they disputed the fourth spot.
A hard charging Donald McIntosh, who started from the rear of the field moved forward during the race’s first half and pulled himself into a battle for sixth with Hill and Owens.
Overton found trouble on lap 31 as his fourth running machine banged off of the turn four wall causing the right rear tire to go flat. The No. 116 car was then retired for the night.
Vic Hill(1) and Dennis Franklin race side-by-side on the Bulls gap high banks
McIntosh and Owens brought the event’s final caution of the night on lap 37 when they tangled while racing for sixth. McIntosh was able to continue while Owens retired from the race.
Over the final laps, McDowell remained in control and won the race to the checkered flag to collect the $10,000 first prize.
Feature Finish: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Ross Bailes, 3. Vic Hill, 4. Casey Roberts, 5. Dennis Franklin, 6. Dakotah Knuckles, 7. Joey Coulter, 8. Tyler Millwood, 9. Forrest Trent, 10. Carder Miller, 11. Jason Welshan, 12. Donald McIntosh, 13. Mike Marlar, 14. Jimmy Owens, 15. Shanon Buckingham, 16. Brandon Overton, 17. Jonathan Davenport, 18. Chicky Barton, 19. Dustin Mitchell, 20. Eric Webber, 21. Brandon Kinzer, 22. Jeremy Hines, 23. Riley Hickman, 24. Jared Bailey
