Riley Hickman set fast time in qualifying for the Deep Fried 75.
*Story composed from Race Monitor and various social media reports, including Daniel Watkins(@RacingWithJDW on Twitter).
Riley Hickman was very fast during qualifying at the 3rd Annual Deep Fried 75 at Duck River Raceway Park but the weather proved to be the ultimate winner on Friday night at the Wheel, Tenn. facility. The feature race for this $11,000-to-win event will be held on Saturday evening but much of the starting lineup was set on this night.
A total of 33 Super Late Models with drivers hailing from twelve different states were signed in for competition in this Southern Nationals Bonus sanctioned race.
Dennis Erb, Jr. led the way in Group A qualifying with a lap of 13.535 seconds around the tight quarter-mile track. The Illinois driver was followed by 2013 Deep Fried 75 champion Josh Putnam and Ray Cook.
Riley Hickman was fastest in Group B qualifying and overall with a time of 13.158 seconds. Dale McDowell and Steve Casebolt were 2nd and 3rd respectively in that round.
After time-trials, track and series officials made the decision to move heat races originally scheduled for Friday night to Saturday afternoon as the below freezing temperatures had resulted in dangerous track conditions for the racers.
Here are Saturday’s Heat Race Lineups:
The top-4 from each of the preliminary races will transfer to the feature.
Heat #1- 1. Dennis Erb, Jr., 2. Ray Cook, 3. Bub McCool, 4. Greg Johnson, 5. Allen Murray, 6. Mark Haddon, 7. David Seibers, 8. Mark Fields, 9. Mark Rose
Heat #2- 1. Josh Putnam, 2. Anthony Burroughs, 3. Matthew Summers, 4. Clint Nichols, 5. Daniel Miller, 6. Michael Chilton, 7. Richard Frost, 8. Howard Means
Heat #3- 1. Riley Hickman, 2. Steve Casebolt, 3. Austin Smith, 4. Tanner English, 5. Donald McIntosh, 6. Gary Christian, 7. David Gentry, 8. Donald Johns
Heat #4- 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Scott Cook, 3. Kenny Collins, 4. Brad Skinner, 5. Wesley Shelton, 6. Joe Denby, 7. Brian Divley, 8. Dickey Michael
