Jimmy Owens picked up a home state win on Friday at SMS
Jimmy Owens has always raced well when close to home and that trend continued on Friday night when he claimed the second of two Mountain Moonshine Classic preliminary races at Smoky Mountain Speedway. The two preliminaries held on Friday were used to set up Saturday’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned $50,000-to-win main event.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Newport, TN earned $5,000 for his efforts at the Maryville, Tennessee track.
A total of 45 cars were signed in for competition in the A & B Groups combined.
Results from the Group A and Group B features will be used to set the heat race lineups for Saturday’s $50,000 main event.
Qualifying Results: 1. Ross Bailes(15.601), 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Jimmy Owens, 4. Zack Mitchell, 5. Vic Hill, 6. Garrett Alberson, 7. Tim McCreadie, 8. Jensen Ford, 9. Carson Ferguson, 10. Kyle Strickler
Heat 1 Results: 1. Ross Bailes, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Vic Hill, 4. Tim McCreadie, 5. Carson Ferguson, 6. Trent Ivey, 7. Ben Watkins, 8. Tyler Erb, 9. Ross Robinson, 10. Matt Henderson, 11. Lynn Leach
Heat 2 Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Zack Mitchell, 3. Kyle Strickler, 4. Sam Seawright, 5. Garrett Alberson, 6. Scott Bloomquist, 7. Daulton Wilson, 8. Jensen Ford, 9. Garrett Smith, 10. Dusty Carver, 11. Cory Hedgecock
Feature Re-cap: When the 30-lap feature took the green flag, Owens went to the lead with Davenport, McCreadie, Ferguson and Mitchell in his wake. Ferguson moved in to challenge McCreadie for third on the second lap but their battle would continue for much of the race.
Owens began to pull away during the early laps while the battles continued further back. Ferguson got around McCreadie to take third on lap 8.
A caution on lap 11 for a tangle involving Seawright and Alberson briefly slowed the action. On the ensuing restart, Ferguson jumped around Davenport to take second then pulled alongside Owens to wrestle for the race lead. However, Davenport would retake the runner-up spot one lap later.
Ferguson got back to second and once more moved in on Owens to fight for the lead. A lap 19 caution for the slowing Cory Hedgecock opened the door for another restart. This time, Davenport would go back to second while Owens continued to lead.
A battle for second that featured exchanges of slide job passes ensued between Ferguson and Davenport took place with just under ten laps remaining. That fight would eventually be won by Davenport.
But in the end, it was Owens who would beat the field to the finish line to claim victory.
Feature Results: 1. Jimmy Owens, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Chris Ferguson, 4. Vic Hill, 5. Zack Mitchell, 6. Ross Bailes, 7. Tim McCreadie, 8. Scott Bloomquist, 9. Garrett Alberson, 10. Kyle Strickler, 11. Ben Watkins, 12. Tyler Erb, 13. Daulton Wilson, 14. Trent Ivey, 15. Jensen Ford, 16. Garrett Smith, 17. Dusty Carver, 18. Matt Henderson, 19. Sam Seawright, 20. Cory Hedgecock, 21. Ross Robinson, 22. Lynn Leach
Please consider also reading:
Chris Madden dominates Lucas Oil A Group feature at Smoky Mountain
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