Hedgecock, Sise, Alvey, Davis, Flanary, Merritt capture Volunteer Speedway victories

Hedgecock, Sise, Alvey, Davis, Flanary, Merritt capture Volunteer Speedway victories

BULLS GAP, Tenn. (May 5, 2018) — With heavy rain falling late Saturday afternoon and into the evening hours in locations around East Tennessee, only brief light drizzle fell at Volunteer Speedway and never delayed the racing program. Fans that didn’t let the threat of rain keep them home were treated to an exciting six division Championship Points Racing program.

Cory Hedgecock of Loudon captured the Steel Head Late Model victory, while Trevor Sise of Knoxville recorded the Crate Late Model win, with Heath Alvey of Dandridge bringing home the Sportsman Late Model victory.

Brad Davis of Tazewell captured the Modified Street victory, while Lee Merritt of Knoxville recorded the Classic win, with Shon Flanary of Surgoinsville taking the Open Wheel Modified victory

Cory Hedgecock set fast-time in Steel Head Late Model qualifying at 13.026 seconds, with David Crabtree second quickest at 13.250. Hedgecock powered out into the lead at drop of the green and never looked back on his way to leading the 25-lap feature flag-to-flag in capturing his first win of the season, but also in just his first Steel Head Late Model start.

With Hedgecock setting a blistering pace out front, behind him the racing action was good between Crabtree, Barrett Lowe, Jason Trammell, Jordon Horton, Gary Crittenden and divisional points leader Austin Neely. Hedgecock claimed the win over Crabtree, Lowe, Trammell and Horton.

Trevor Sise was quickest in Crate Late Model qualifying at 13.397 seconds, and grabbed the lead at start of the 25-lap feature over Cory Hedgecock, Jason Welshan, Tim Byrd and Rusty Ballenger. Both Hedgecock and Ballenger unfortunately dropped out early in the race.

With Sise riding on the point, the hard-charging Welshan was right on his rear bumper applying pressure. Making his way forward after starting eighth, Josh Henry got around Gary Crittenden, Greg Martin and Bobby Mays to settle briefly in fourth position directly behind Byrd. Henry passed Byrd on lap 17 and set his sights ahead on leader Sise and Welshan.

But there would be no catching Sise as he captured his second win on the season over Welshan, Henry, Byrd and Crittenden.

Heath Alvey captured the Sportsman Late Model track championship last year on strength of three wins along with 13 overall top-five finishes in 16 point races. To date this season Alvey hadn’t contended for a victory, but it all changed in a big way as he began the night by setting fast-time in qualifying at 13.536 seconds.

Alvey shot out into the lead at start of the 20-lap feature over Travis Fultz, Zach Sise, Vic Chandler and Terry Poore. Sise hoped to celebrate his 18th birthday with a trip to victory lane, as he drove around Fultz to take away the second spot on lap 3.

With Alvey in command out front, on the final lap disaster struck Sise as he spun in the fourth turn. Alvey recorded his first win of the season over Fultz, Chandler, Clay Coghlan and Austin Atkins.

David Clark set fast-time in Modified Street qualifying at 15.500 to Brad Davis at 15.508. But it was Davis taking the lead at the start of the 20-lap feature over Clark, Gary Blanken, Kurt Owens and Dustin Ratliff. While Davis was showing the way out front, just a couple of laps from the finish both Blanken and Owens dropped out of the race. … Davis got his first win of the season over Clark, Robbie Buchanan, Shannon Emery and Ratliff.

Shon Flanary jumped out into the lead when the green flag waved and never looked back en route to leading wire-to-wire in capturing the Open Wheel Modified feature win over Jeff Hamby, Wayne James, Josh Chesney and Scott Lacy. … The victory was Flanary’s career win No. 100.

John Stevens grabbed lead at start of the Classic feature and paced the field until lap 13 when distributor wire came lose to end his race, handing the lead over to divisional points leader Lee Merritt. Merritt went on to record his third win of the season over Tom Juhl Jr., Shaun Sise, Chris Worsham and Jesse Hickman.

VOLUNTEER SPEEDWAY – BULLS GAP, TN – SATURDAY, MAY 5, 2018 – OFFICIAL RESULTS

STEEL HEAD LATE MODEL (25 laps)

1. Cory Hedgecock #23
2. David Crabtree #C5
3. Barrett Lowe #72
4. Jason Trammell #90
5. Jordon Horton #56H
6. Gary Crittenden #18
7. Austin Neely #3
8. Phil Helton #24H
9. Mitchell Burke #54
10. Michael Smith #4
11. Lynn Leach #22

CRATE LATE MODEL (25 laps)

1. Trevor Sise #73
2. Jason Welshan #29W
3. Josh Henry #B00
4. Tim Byrd #24
5. Gary Crittenden #18
6. Greg Martin #24M
7. Bobby Mays #25
8. Greg Huskey #32
9. Chris Chandler #8
10. Josh Fields #11
11. Tim Maupin #3
12. Tyler Smith #32
13. Chris Long #75
14. Dale Reed #52
15. Adam Tolliver #28
16. Andy Ogle #68
17. Jonathan Miracle #52M
18. Michael Jenkins #31
19. Cory Hedgecock #14
20. Rusty Ballenger #29
21. Kyle Courtney #171

SPORTSMAN LATE MODEL (20 laps)

1. Heath Alvey #7
2. Travis Fultz #T0
3. Vic Chandler #88
4. Clay Coghlan #6
5. Austin Atkins #14
6. Terry Poore #2
7. Mike Kelley #8
8. Bryan Cooper #15
9. Zach Sise #9
10. Justin James #28
11. David Bullington #20
12. Aaron Jones #7
13. Tracy Wolfe #11
14. Brandon James #J1
15. David Kerr #1

MODIFIED STREET (20 laps)

1. Brad Davis #88
2. David Clark #13
3. Robbie Buchanan #P21
4. Shannon Emery #M2
5. Dustin Ratliff #10
6. Nick Presley #69
7. Dale Watson #11
8. Bubba Long #10
9. Landon Steele #18
10. Gary Blanken #05
11. Kurt Owens #14
12. McKenlee Hall #44
13. Lance Creasman #C8

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED (20 laps)

1. Shon Flanary #98
2. Jeff Hamby #15
3. Wayne James #4
4. Josh Chesney #X
5. Scott Lacy #2
6. Jeff Akard #00
7. Tyler Strickland #7
8. Michael Woods #66
9. Tyler James #J4
10. Terry James #J1

CLASSIC (20 laps)

1. Lee Merritt #14
2. Tom Juhl Jr. #17
3. Shaun Sise #59
4. Chris Worsham #3
5. Jesse Hickman #69
6. Eli Keck #9
7. Josh Chesney #XXX
8. Quincy Arnwine #1A
9. Shane Taylor #37
10. Nicholas King #66
11. John Stevens #7
12. Charles Gwin #18
13. Brandon Crawford #00

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Volunteer Speedway (Recording Only): 423-235-5020  www.VolunteerSpeedway.com
Volunteer Speedway (General Manager): 865-257-7223
Joe Byrd (Tech Official): 865-776-1798

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Volunteer Speedway victory lane images from Saturday, May 5 courtesy of Chad Wells – Wells Racing Photography. We encourage you to visit www.WellsRacingPhotos.com or www.Facebook.com/WellsRacingPhotography to support Chad by purchasing his outstanding racing images.