Donald McIntosh emerged as the winner in Crossville after a fierce battle with Mike Marlar
The Southern Nationals Bonus Series made its way onto the Cumberland Plateau on Saturday night to contest the first Super Late Model race held at the Crossville Speedway in over seven years. At the end of the night, it was Donald McIntosh who came away with the $5,000 first prize after a race that feature some of the best racing action in this area so far in this young season.
McIntosh set the early pace in Group A qualifying when he posted a lap of 13.098 seconds around the high banked 3/8 mile clay oval. Cory Hedgecock would also earn a spot in the dash race used to determine the starting order of the first two rows in the feature.
Robby Moses was the fastest in Group B time-trials as he turned a lap around the track in 13.280 seconds. He was joined by Mike Marlar from that group in the Dash race.
McIntosh earned the pole position for the main event by winning the dash race over Marlar, Hedgecock and Moses.
Skylar Marlar, Ryan King, Brandon Kinzer and Billy Ogle, Jr. each won the heat races used to set the remaining starting positions for the feature event.
At the start of the 50-lap feature, McIntosh shot to the early lead ahead of Hedgecock, Marlar, Moses, and King. The Dawsonville, GA native then set about the task of building a lead while those behind him battled for spots within the top-5 during the early stages of the affair.
King applied pressure to Moses in the opening laps as he attempted to wrest the 4th spot away while Marlar and Hedgecock engaged in a battle of their own a bit further ahead. And each of these drivers would draw closer to McIntosh when the race leader caught slower traffic on lap 10.
Marlar would eventually take the runner-up spot on lap 11 and immediately close in on leader McIntosh as traffic proved to be a factor early on.
Disaster struck one of the front runners on lap 19 when the fourth running machine of Moses suffered a mechanical failure and slowed to a stop on track. That restart would allow Mike Marlar to take a look on the outside of McIntosh for the race lead while younger brother Skylar Marlar moved by King to nab fourth.
On lap 26, Marlar again put the high groove to use as he swept by McIntosh of the top spot. However, McIntosh would fight back and retake the lead just two laps later. On multiple occasions over the next few circuits Marlar would look either the low or high side of McIntosh but he was never able to recapture the lead.
On a lap 38 restart, Hedgecock interjected himself into the lead battle as he knifed his way between McIntoch and Marlar with a bold three-wide maneuver that briefly placed him second in the running order. On lap 41, Marlar regained the second spot but was never able to mount another serious challenge of McIntosh.
McIntosh in Crossville’s victory lane
