Cory Hedgecock drove to the Topless Outlaws feature win at SMS
The Vision Wheel Topless Outlaw Dirt Racing Series joined the ‘King of the Mountain’ event at Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday night. Cory Hedgecock came away as the winner after taking the lead just past the halfway mark then driving on to the win. The Black Diamond Race Cars driver from Loudon, Tennessee earned $3,000 for his efforts.
In the end, National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member Ronnie Johnson was crowned as the Topless Outlaw Dirt Racing Series champion for 2021.
A total of 20 cars were signed in for competition.
Brad Lowe led Group A qualifying by turning a lap in 16.395 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval to beat out Cory Hedgecock, Jordon Horton, Roger Best, Layne Clifton and Jason Manley.
Ronnie Johnson set the fast time in Group B time-trials with a time of 16.326 seconds topping Karl Tipton, Austin Neely, Bobby Giffin, Kyle Courtney and Skip Arp.
Series and track officials made the decision to set the starting grid entirely by qualifying results.
Johnson took the early lead of the 40-lap feature with Lowe, Hedgecock, Tipton, Neely and Courtney in his tire tracks. A lap 7 restart provided Hedgecock with the opportunity to jump into second behind Johnson. However, Lowe fought back to offer a challenge for the runner-up position.
Neely came to third following a lap 11 restart. At that point, the top-4 of Johnson, Hedgecock, Neely and Lowe separated themselves from the rest of the field during the middle stretches of the race. Lowe was able to retake third from Neely on lap 14 but Neely would again take that position by lap 24.
In the meantime, Hedgecock pulled forward to apply pressure to Johnson. Eventually, that pressure would pay off as Hedgecock took the lead on lap 25.
Johnson slowed with a flat tire with just two laps remaining. But on the restart, Hedgecock would not be denied as he sailed under the checkered flag to score his third series win of the 2021 season.
Ronnie Johnson is the 2021 Topless Outlaws champion
Feature Finish: 1. Cory Hedgecock, 2. Austin Neely, 3. Jordon Horton, 4. Bobby Giffin, 5. Brad Lowe, 6. Karl Tipton, 7. Ronnie Johnson, 8. Layne Clifton, 9. Roger Best, 10. Jason Manley, 11. Jake Whitehead, 12. Daniel Richards, 13. Chandler Hickman, 14. Kyle Courtney, 15. Skip Arp, 16. Sammie Russell, 17. Jonathan Ingram, 18. Brad Berry, 19. Kelvin White
