As part of their Ir0n-Man Classic event, Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. hosted racing in the Open Wheel Modified class along with the Sportsman Late Model class in $1,500-to-win and $1,000-to-win features respectively. Shon Flanary emerged as the Modified victor with Michael Courtney taking the honors in the Sportsman division.
Shon Flanary cruised to the Modified win
Flanary was the fastest among the 10 entrants in Modified qualifying as he posted a lap of 18.225 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval. Following the pole sitter on the starting grid would be Jeff Hamby, Mikah Reams, Blake Brown, Amos Bunch and Billy Palmer.
Flanary went to the lead immediately when the green flag waved over the 20-lap feature race with Hamby following. Those two separated themselves from a three-wide battle between Reams, Brown and Bunch for the remaining spots within the top-5 with Reams ultimately emerging from that fight with the third position.
Flanary pulled out to a sizable lead in the early going with Hamby also pulling away from Reams in the process. By the halfway mark in a race that would run caution free Flanary had built a lead of almost a full straightaway over his pursuers.
In the end, Flanary would not be denied as he cruised to the checkered flag ahead of Hamby, Reams, Brown and Bunch to collect the winner’s trophy and the big payday.
Michael Courtney won the Sportsman feature
Zach Shannon earned the pole position in the Sportsman class when he bested the field of 14 cars with a lap of 16.976 seconds. That placed the No. Z1 machine ahead of Michael Courtney, Kyle Courtney, Jaylon Shannon and Jed Emert on the starting grid for the feature race.
Michael Courtney bolted to the early lead of the 20-lap feature when the green flag waved with Zach Shannon, Kyle Courtney, Emert and Jaylon Shannon following.
After a caution following the completion of lap 1, Jaylon Shannon attempted a move on Emert in hopes of taking the fourth position but Emert’s No. 98 maintained its spot. Meanwhile, Kyle Courtney closed right to the rear spoiler of his uncle’s car and made multiple attempts to drive under the No. c11 to no avail.
Eventually, the top-3 of Michael and Kyle Courtney along with Emert would break away from the rest of the field during the race’s first half. However, a lap 12 caution for fluid on the track would slow the pace again.
During that caution period, Kyle Courtney spun in turn two to avoid Michael Courtney’s slowing car. The younger Courtney’s No. 171 sat idle for several moments until track workers arrived to push him off. Upon rejoining the field, Courtney was allowed to re-take the second position in the running order.
In the closing laps, the tightest battles were among Kyle Courtney and Emert for second as Emert try unsuccessfully to complete a pass that would have given him second while Warren McMahan and Andy Ogle fought over the fifth position.
At the checkered flag, it was Michael Courtney taking the win ahead of Kyle Courtney, Jed Emert, Jaylon Shannon, Andy Ogle and Warren McMahan.
