Along with the Southern Nationals Bonus Series on Sunday night, Tazewell Speedway played host to races in the Modified, Sportsman and Super Street classes. Shon Flanary, Gary Blanken and Eddy Stewart were the winners in each of the respective classes as part of the Buddy Rogers Memorial event.
Shon Flannary(98) drove to the Modified win.
The Modified race was part of the Iron Man Speedweek mini-series along with the Super Late Model class. A total of 13 cars were on hand to compete for the $1,000 first prize as well as championship points in this finale event.
Flanary and Don Adams earned front row starting spots for the feature by winning the two heat races for the Modifieds.
At the start of the 20-lap feature, Flanary went immediately to the front of the field followed by Adams, Dennis Roberson, Joey Cotterman and Billy Palmer. The top-3 among those drivers proved to be the class of the field as they separated from the pack to settle the affair among themselves.
At the same time, however, the competition was intense for the fourth spot as Palmer fought to hold back the advances of Jeff Cotterman and others.
Over the course of the closing laps, Flanary maintained his lead in traffic and drove on to the win ahead of Roberson, Joey Cotterman, and Jeff Cotterman.
Roberson was named the champion of the four race Iron Man Speedweek series.
Gary Blanken was the Sportsman winner
In the Sportsman class, Gary Blanken grabbed the pole for the feature when he turned in a lap of 12.258 seconds in qualifying to beat out the field of 23 cars that were on hand at the high banked, third-mile facility. Steve Carr and Matt Tharp followed Blanken in time-trials.
The 20-lap feature proved to be one filled with cautions as multiple spins slowed the action. Blanked took the lead early and maintained his advantage as others battle for positions behind him.
Carr and Tharp were joined by Heath Alvey in an intense battle within the top-5 throughout much of the show. On lap 13, Carr looked under Blanken in an attempt to wrest the lead away from the front runner. However, Carr’s move caused him to lose momentum and allowed Alvey to get a run. After contact between those two cars, Alvey emerged with the runner-up spot and set off in pursuit of Blanken.
In the end, Blanken held off all challengers for his first Sportsman win at Tazewell. He was followed by Alvey, Carr, Tharp and David Clark.
In other action, Eddy Stewart dominated the Super Stock class to take the win.
