T.J. Reaid scored a $5,000 victory at Smoky Mountain
The Southern Nationals Bonus Series and the Iron-Man Late Models Series co-sanctioned Saturday night’s feature race at Smoky Mountain Speedway which meant that driver T.J. Reaid came away his first career win from each of those sanctioning bodies. The Georgia racer collected $5,000 for his efforts after he dramatically passed one of his heroes in the closing laps to secure a trip to victory lane.
Reaid proved to be fastest in Group A qualifying and overall when he toured the 4/10 clay oval in 15.876 seconds. With the top-2 from each qualifying group being locked into the feature, Reaid was joined by local hero Tommy Kerr on the starting grid for the main event.
Donald McIntosh was quickest in Group B time-trials after he posted a lap of 16.106 seconds to beat out Ray Cook, who also earned his way into the feature lineup through qualifying.
Stacy Boles bested Brad Skinner and Steve Smith to earn the win in the night’s first heat race while Billy Ogle, Jr. topped Kenny Collins and Skylar Marlar in the second preliminary of the evening.
Drama took place even before the 22-car starting field rolled away from the front straightaway to make their pace laps around the track. Outside front row qualifier McIntosh had to have his car pushed into the hot pit area. The Blount Motorsports crew worked feverishly under the hood of their machine but the field took the green flag before their work could be completed.
However, a caution flag waved as the lead cars entered turn one just after completing the first circuit when Ryan King spun and then bounced off the outside wall and back into traffic. David Crabtree, Steve Smith, Kenny Collins and James Roulette were among those to receive damage as a result of the incident.
Series officials determined that the lap had not counted, which spared McIntosh. Although he would not be placed on the front row, the Southern Nationals Bonus Series points leader was allowed to start at the tail of the field on the same lap with everyone else.
When the race officially got underway, Cook used his newly acquired outside front row starting position to grab the early lead with Reaid, Ogle, Kerr and Marlar following. Just behind the top-5 runners, Carder Miller, Boles and Skinner found themselves three-wide in a battle for sixth.
There was intense racing early on
Reaid immediately began to apply pressure to the race leader as he looked inside of Cook on lap 4. Meanwhile, Kerr moved forward as he took third from Ogle. One lap later, Marlar would move around Ogle to wrest the fifth spot away.
Cook and Reaid broke away from the rest of the field to do battle among themselves until a lap 12 yellow flag for the slowing car of Smith would bunch the pack back together. On the ensuing restart, McIntosh began his march forward from the rear as he pulled into seventh. On lap 14, Skinner and McIntosh both passed by Ogle to take fifth and sixth respectively.
Donald McIntosh(7m) and Billy Ogle, Jr. battle
McIntosh moved into the top-5 on lap 20 when he drove by Skinner.
With the race running caution free after lap 12, the leaders found themselves in traffic during much of the race’s second half. Reaid continued to hound Cook lap-by-lap as the two cars worked their way through and around slower machines. That traffic also allowed Kerr, Marlar and McIntosh to close in on the lead duo.
Reaid took the lead away from Cook on lap 36
Finally on lap 36, Reaid got the break he was looking for as Cook battled with a lapped car. Diving to the low side, the No. 41 shot to the lead of the race. One lap later, Kerr would also pass by Cook. From that point, Reaid would not be denied as he sailed under the checkered flag to take the win.
Feature Finish: 1. TJ Reaid, 2. Tommy Kerr, 3. Ray Cook, 4. Donald McIntosh, 5. Skylar Marlar, 6. Brad Skinner, 7. Billy Ogle, Jr., 8. Stacy Boles, 9. Carder Miller, 10. David Payne, 11. Brian Ligon, 12. Bobby Giffin, 13. Levi Ashby, 14. Joey Standridge, 15. Jeff Neubert, 16. Steve Smith, 17. Kayne Hickman, 18. Kenny Collins, 19. Ryan King, 20. James Roulette, 21. David Crabtree, 22. Craig Greer
TJ Reaid in Smoky Mountain victory lane
