Along with the Southern Nationals Bonus Series/Iron-Man Challenge Series event for Super Late Model cars Tazewell Speedway also staged racing in other classes as part of the 9th Annual Buddy Rogers Memorial. The Brucebilt Performance Iron-Man Modified Series raced around the high banks on Sunday night along with the track’s regular Sportsman and Super Stock classes.
Jimmy Payne was the Modified winner on Sunday
Jimmy Payne led Open Wheel Modified qualifying when he bested the field of 21 cars by posting a lap of 12.567 seconds around the third-mile clay oval. Joey Kramer, Shon Flanary, Blake Brown and Brad Hall followed the pole sitter in time-trials.
On the initial start of the 20-lap feature Payne spun at the exit of turn two. Although his No. 68 machine didn’t suffer significant damage, the cars of Flanary and Hall came in contact with each other as they attempted to avoid the prone racer. Hall was eliminated from the race as a result and Flanary was damaged enough to require attention from his crew and thus be sent to the tail of the field for the restart.
On the next attempt to start the feature, Kramer used his outside front row starting spot to his advantage and shot to the early lead ahead of Payne, Brown, Jeff Hamby and Billy Palmer. However, the action was slowed again after just one lap when Tommy Bailey went for a spin.
The race again restarted with Kramer continuing to lead ahead of a battle for the runner-up spot involving Payne and Brown.
A lap 6 caution flag waved when the lead machine of Kramer suffered a mechanical issue and came to a stop at the exit of turn two. That turned the lead over to Payne with Brown, Hamby, Palmer and David Adams following.
During the race’s second half, Brown applied constant pressure to Payne, making numerous inside pass attempts in turns one and two. However, Payne was able to hold back the challenges and sail on to victory as he collected $1,000 for his efforts.
Feature Finish: 1. Jimmy Payne, 2. Blake Brown, 3. Jeff Hamby, 4. David Adams, 5. Billy Palmer, 6. Dustin Duncan, 7. Jimmy Dalton, 8. Josh Chesney, 9. Tommy Bailey, 10. Shon Flanary, 11. Zach Powers, 12. Jeff Akard, 13. Chris Kirk, 14. Tyler James, 15. Joey Kramer, 16. Josh Lee, 17. Michel Phillips, 18. Brad Hall, 19. Jamie Mosley
Travis Fultz cruised to victory in the Sportsman class
Travis Fultz was fastest in Sportsman Late Model qualifying as he bested the field of 23 cars by laying down a lap of 12.213 seconds around the high-banked facility. Aaron Guinn, Matt Tharp and Jonathan Miracle followed the pole winner.
Fultz chose to start the 20-lap feature from the outside of the front row and used that starting spot to his advantage as he took the lead at the start of the when the green flag waved with Guinn, Miracle, Tharp, Anthony Arnwine and Andy Ogle trailing.
Fultz quickly began to pull away from Guinn as Tharp fought to hold off Miracle in their battle for third during the race’s early stages.
As the feature moved into its latter half, Fultz was able to maintain his lead while working through slower traffic as Guinn worked to stay within striking distance. But the Sportsman division’s points leader would not be seriously challenged as he drove under the checkered flag to earn the $1,044 victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Travis Fultz, 2. Aaron Guinn, 3. Matt Tharp, 4. Anthony Arnwine, 5. Andy Ogle, 6. Gary Blanken, 7. Andy Wilder, 8. Randy Davis, 9. Bradley Lewelling, 10. Phillip Nichols, 11. Chris Raines, 12. Logan Seal, 13. Kenny Ford, 14. Bryan Howerton, 15. Mark Sexton, 16. Nicholas Shelton, 17. Justin James, 18. Jonathan Miracle, 19. Jimmy Calloway, 20. Jason Sizemore, 21. Paul Whitley
Chris Rickett won the Super Stock feature
Kurt Owens started the Super Stock feature from the pole position after he beat out Chris Rickett and Robbie Buchanan in qualifying by posting a lap of 13.025 seconds.
Owens took the lead immediately at the start of the 20-lap main event with Rickett, Austin Atkins, Buchanan, Michael Woods, Cody Thompson and Brad Davis following. Davis, who has won numerous features in this division so far this season, began moving forward quickly as the race began to play out.
Owens led the first half of the feature with Rickett staying close behind. Meanwhile Davis continued his climb as he moved into the top-5.
Rickett moved around Owens in what proved to be the winning move on lap 14 as the two raced among slower traffic. Davis got to second on lap 17 and chased Rickett over the closing laps but was never able to mount a serious challenge as the No. 36 car crossed the finish line to earn the $744 payout.
Feature Finish: 1. Chris Rickett, 2. Brad Davis, 3. Kurt Owens, 4. Robbie Buchanan, 5. Austin Atkins, 6. Cody Thompson, 7. Logan Cobb, 8. Thomas Hoch, 9. Scott Atkins, 10. Trae Soper, 11. Eddie Stewart, 12. Michael Woods, 13. Ken Hall
