Volunteer Speedway opened its weekly points racing schedule on Saturday afternoon. Among those competing points during the lid lifter feature races were the Crate Late Model class and the Sportsman Late Model division. At the end of the day, Trevor Sise came home from the Bulls Gap, Tenn. track as the Crate Late Model victor while Jed Emert beat the field to the finish line in the Sportsman main event.
Trevor Sise won the Crate Late Model feature
Sise proved to be fastest in Crate Late Model qualifying when he posted a lap of 13.520 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval to beat out Ross White, Rusty Ballenger, Tim Byrd, Anthony White, Rusty Ballenger and Josh Henry.
Sise took the lead at the start of the 30-lap feature with Ross White, Anthony White, Ballenger and Tyler Arrington trailing close behind. Anthony White and Ballenger bolted around Ross White to take second and third respectively. Ballenger then began pressuring White for second while Sise slipped away from the pack until a caution slowed the pace on lap 6.
Two separate mishaps foiled attempts to return to green flag racing on successive restarts until the third attempt succeeded. Henry moved into fourth and immediately joined the battle between Anthony White and Ballenger for positions 2-4 as Sise again broke away.
With the race running several consecutive laps without a yellow flag interruption, Sise and the other lead machines found themselves dealing with slower traffic. Sise maintained a relatively comfortable advantage while Ballenger harassed White for the runner-up spot lap after lap.
On the 28th circuit, Ballenger finally made his move as he drag raced White down the front straightaway then executed a slide job pass as the cars moved through turns one and two. As Ballenger’s No. 29 moved up in front of White’s No. 2x, the cars locked front and rear bumpers which ultimately sent Ballenger for a spin.
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Track officials decided to give Ballenger the second spot back in the running order and send White to the tail as the instigator. White opted to pull off track at that moment.
When the green flag waved for the final time, Sise beat Ballenger, Henry, Kyle Courtney, Ross White and Gary Crittenden to the finish line.
Jed Emert was the Sportsman winner
Jed Emert was quickest in Sportsman qualifying with a lap of 13.801 seconds allowing him to beat out Heath Alvey, Zach Sise, Travis Fultz and Brad Seagle.
Alvey used his outside front row starting position to grab the early lead ahead of Emert, Fultz, Sise and Seagle at the start of the 20-lap feature. The battle was joined immediately as Sise and Fultz contested the third position in the early laps while Alvey pulled away.
Soon, Fultz and Sise tracked down Emert and commenced a fight for positions 2-4. With the race going the first 17 laps caution-free, slower traffic became a factor. With Alvey working to get by cars he was attempting to lap, Emert began to close the gap that had once been almost a full straightaway.
On lap 17, Alvey found himself tangled with lapped traffic. After contact, the cars of Floyd Self, Josh Sneed and James Kelso crashed hard with each sustaining significant damage. Track officials deemed Alvey as the instigator and sent him to the tail of the field(he opted to pull off track), handing the lead to Emert.
Over the final three laps, Emert pulled away to score the win ahead of Fultz, Sise, Seagle, Brandon Miller and Vic Chandler.
