Jimmy Elliott in Victory Lane at Smoky Mountain.
NDRL Super Late Models weren’t the only cars racing at the Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday night. The Maryville, Tenn. track also hosted Crate Late Models and Sportsman classes.
Jimmy Elliott was able to hold off a determined challenge by Chris Wilson for the win in the Crate LM class while Heath Alvey got by early leader Brian Hooks to claim victory in the Sportsman division.
Friday night’s Limited Late Model winner Cory Hedgecock was the fastest among the 22 cars to make an attempt at qualifying for the Crate LM event. His time around the 4/10 mile clay oval was 17.053 seconds. Elliott joined Hedgecock on the front row for the 20-lap feature race.
At the beginning of the main event, Elliott bolted to a big early lead only to have that erased by a lap 6 caution. On the restart for that yellow flag, Wilson was able to move around Hedgecock to claim the 2nd position.
At the race’s halfway point, Wilson began to apply pressure to Elliott, which he would do for the remainder of the event. Meanwhile, Adam Beeler, Jason Welshan, Craig Reese and Pierce McCarter mixed it up for top-10 positions.
In the race’s final circuits, Wilson tried to make the move around Elliott but was unable to pass. At the finish, it was Jimmy Elliott claiming the $1,000 first prize with Chris Wilson, Cory Hedgecock, Adam Beeler, Jason Welshan, Craig Reese, Pierce McCarter, Brett Wyatt and Matt Henderson following.
Brian Hooks started from the pole of the Sportsman race and got out to an early lead. However, Heath Alvey had begun to track him down by lap 9. Suddenly, Hooks’ car faltered and Alvey darted by for the lead, which he would hold the rest of the way in the 15 lap race.
At the finish, it was Heath Alvey winning over Drew Kennedy, Justin Beeler, Kip Sawyer and Tim Cooper.
Heath Alvey drove to victory in the Sportsman class.
