Hickman led all the way for the UCRA win
The United Crate Racing Alliance joined the Ultimate Super Late Model Series for a pair of Late Model features at the Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. on Saturday night. As has often been the case, Riley Hickman turned in a dominating performance in the UCRA portion of the event to take home the $2,500 first prize and the winner’s trophy.
Hickman set fast time in Group A qualifying when he turned a lap in 17.245 seconds around the 4/10 mile facility. Defending series champion Jake Teague was quickest in Group B time-trials after he posted a time of 17.392 seconds around the clay oval.
Hickman beat out Forrest Trent and Greg Martin to win the first heat race of the night while Teague took the second preliminary ahead of Josh Fields and Rusty Ballenger. Jensen Ford beat out Cory Hedgecock and Greg Huskey in the third heat.
Hickman blasted to the lead at the start of the 40-lap feature ahead of Teague, Ford, Trent and Hedgecock. Soon, however, Ford moved around Teague to take the runner-up spot behind Hickman. At the same time, Fields went to work on Hedgecock for the fifth position, but the No. 23 car held the spot.
Hedgecock then found himself in a fight for fourth that saw he and Trent exchange the position multiple times during the race’s middle stages. At the same time, Teague regained the second position from Ford as the race continued under green.
Ford(83) and Teague(117) exchanged the second position multiple times
Hickman built a significant lead over the pack as the race ran caution free over the first 26 laps. However, the slowing car of Ronnie Cooper brought out the race’s only yellow flag and bunched the field.
Once the race went back to green, Hickman again drove away to a big lead while Ford again moved around Teague to move into second. But Hickman would go unchallenged for the remainder of the distance to win over Ford, Teague, Trent, Hedgecock, Martin, Ballenger, Fields, Wyatt and Huskey.
Hickman and crew celebrate their victory
