*Story submitted by Daniel Watkins
In the cool and dark of the night after Halloween, I-75 Raceway scared up some good competition in its Crate Late Model and Steelhead Late Model classes on Saturday night. In the end, it was Jordon Horton and Heath Hindman who would take home the top honors from the Sweetwater, Tenn. facility.
In the Crate Late Model class, Horton and David Doss earned front row starting spots in the feature by winning their respective heat races.
Once the feature got underway, Horton immediately began to flex his muscle as he put his Warrior Race Car out front and drove to an advantage of nearly half the 3/8 mile track while tight battles raged for the other top-5 positions. However, a red flag would halt the action when William Overbey went for a wild ride when his car flipped multiple times in turn two.
Overbey walked away from the incident.
That brief stoppage as well as another caution were not enough to deter Horton’s dominance. However, good racing did take place behind the race leader throughout the event.
At the finish, it was Jordon Horton, Barry Goodman, Drew Kennedy, Jeremy Holtzclaw and Jeremy Hicks.
Jordon Horton celebrates his victory at I-75(Mike Nuchols photo)
In the Steelhead Late Model division, Jesse Lowe and Heath Hindman each won their respective heat races to garner front row starting spots and set up a battle that would ultimately determine the feature winner.
The main event ran caution free for the first 19 laps with Lowe leading the way. But the front running car made contact with Sammie Russell as he attempted to lap that driver to bring out a yellow flag.
Following the lap 19 restart, Benjy Shaw and Jason Manley engaged in a hard fought battle within the top-5 over the next three laps. When those cars entered turn three on lap 22, they tangled. The contact sent Shaw’s car flipping multiple times.
Shaw was transported from the accident scene to a local hospital to be checked out.
Once the race resumed, Hindman tagged the left rear of Lowe’s machine which resulted in a flat tire for the leader. Lowe’s team changed the tire and sent him back to the track, but he was unable to move forward over the closing laps.
At the finish, it was Heath Hindman, Jason Manley, Ruben Mayfield, Sammie Russell and Jesse Lowe.
Heath Hindman
