King, Hedgecock, Fultz, Rader, Keck capture ‘Fast Friday’ victories at Volunteer Speedway

King, Hedgecock, Fultz, Rader, Keck capture ‘Fast Friday’ victories at Volunteer Speedway

BULLS GAP, Tenn. (July 21, 2017) — The East Tennessee region has been sweltering under scorching hot heat this week with temperatures in the mid-90s, but all who came out to Volunteer Speedway for “Fast Friday at The Gap” were treated to great racing action on the high banks.

Chase King of Seymour captured the Steel Head Late Model victory, while Cory Hedgecock of Loudon recorded the Crate Late Model win.

Travis Fultz of Harrogate captured the Sportsman Late Model win, with Wayne Rader of Parrottsville getting the Modified Street victory, while Eli Keck of Corryton recorded the Classic win.

Jason Cardwell (fast-time at 13.069 seconds for the pole) and Chase King led the field to green from front-row for the 30-lap Steel Head Late Model feature. Cardwell grabbed the lead as they raced off the second corner on opening lap, while behind them Jason Trammell, Cory Hedgecock and Trevor Sise were battling for real estate. King was up-on-the-wheel hustling his way around the high-side, and racing off the fourth turn on second circuit he drove past Cardwell into a lead he would never relinquish.

King was setting sail out front as he pulled out to a half-straightaway advantage over Cardwell and Hedgecock at lap 10, with the distance another eight car lengths behind them back to Sise, Trammell, Bobby Mays and Josh Henry. Hedgecock got around Cardwell for second place on lap 14 racing off turn two down the backstretch and zeroed in ahead on leader King.

With five laps remaining King closed in to lap Greg Estes and John Tweed, but with both those cars battling for position neither wanted to give ground to the encroaching King and that allowed Hedgecock to quickly narrow the gap on the leader. Hedgecock was within striking distance on the white flag lap racing down the backstretch into the third turn and he drove off hard into the corner on the bottom, hoping to be able to throw a slide-job on King for the lead.

But the 24-year-old King would not be denied his third trip to victory lane this season as he held Hedgecock off for the win, with Cardwell, Sise and Trammell rounding out the top five at the checkered flag.

Cory Hedgecock started from the pole position in the 30-lap Crate Late Model feature and rocketed out into the lead at drop of the green flag over Kyle Courtney and Rusty Ballenger, with Ross White, Forrest Trent, Adam Tolliver, Gary Crittenden and Tim Maupin behind them battling for position. But quickly working his way into the mix was Mack McCarter, who had to start at rear of the field after getting into the wall during qualifying.

With White getting around Ballenger for third, he began working on Courtney for second in the running order. White passed Courtney for the spot on lap 8 racing off the second corner, while Trent dropped Courtney out of third on lap 15 with a pass at end of the backstretch entering the third turn.

While there were battles taking place back through the field over the final 10 laps, out front Hedgecock was on cruise control as he easily recorded the victory by a full-straightaway over White, Trent, Courtney and McCarter.

Travis Fultz immediately launched into the lead at start of the 20-lap Sportsman Late Model feature while Andy Ogle and Heath Alvey battled for second. After racing side-by-side for a couple of laps Ogle grabbed the spot over Alvey, with Brad Seagle, Steve Carr, Floyd Self, Tyler Smith, Bradley Lewelling and Rex Coffey mixing it up.

Coffey was on a mission after not qualifying well and was quickly working his way forward from his 12th starting position. A strong run for Ogle suddenly ended when he slowed between turns one and two on lap 9 and made his way into the pits.

Fultz was in command out front in pulling ahead for a comfortable advantage over the field. Meanwhile, Coffey was coming and coming hard as he worked his way past Self, Carr and Seagle to close behind Alvey. Fultz rolled to his first win of the season over Alvey, Coffey, Seagle and Carr.

Wayne Rader moved into lead over Shannon Emery at start of the 20-lap Modified Street feature, with Austin Atkins, Chris Rickett and Michael Woods in pursuit in the early going. Rickett dropped out of the race just past the halfway distance to put Jeff Ferguson in the fifth spot, with Charles Bates, Tracy Wolfe, Jon Cook, Parker Estes and Nick Presley also in the hunt.

Over the final five laps, Emery was lurking hoping Rader would make a mistake to open the door to overtake him. But Rader hit his marks and stayed out front to capture his third win of the season over Emery, Atkins, Woods and Ferguson.

John Stevens jumped out into lead at start of the 20-lap Classic feature and appeared headed to another win on the season, but Eli Keck wasn’t going to just lay back and be satisfied with a runner-up finish. The 22-year-old Keck closed in right on Stevens’ back bumper with five laps remaining and began sizing the situation up.

On the white flag lap racing down the backstretch into the third turn, Keck dove to inside of Stevens to challenge for the lead. Racing up off the fourth turn Keck powered his was past Stevens and held on to capture his first-ever victory at “The Gap.” Keck was trailed at the finish by Stevens, Tony Trent, Tom Juhl and Chad Manning.

VOLUNTEER SPEEDWAY – BULLS GAP, TN – FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017 – “FAST FRIDAY @ THE GAP!”

STEEL HEAD LATE MODEL (30 laps)

1. Chase King #44
2. Cory Hedgecock #23
3. Jason Cardwell #07
4. Trevor Sise #73
5. Jason Trammell #90J
6. Bobby Mays #25
7. Josh Henry #B00
8. John Tweed #5
9. Greg Estes #31
10. Chris Chandler #8
11. Chris Long #75
12. Dale Reed #52
13. Phillip Nichols #33

Did Not Start: Layne Clifton #23

CRATE LATE MODEL (30 laps)

1. Cory Hedgecock #23
2. Ross White #0
3. Forrest Trent #101
4. Kyle Courtney #171
5. Mack McCarter #71
6. Rusty Ballenger #29
7. Greg Martin #24
8. Tim Maupin #3
9. Adam Tolliver #28
10. John Llewellyn #2
11. Tim Byrd #24
12. Vic Chandler #88
13. Stephen Martin #46
14. Logan Hickey #52
15. Brett Miller #00
16. Gary Crittenden #18

SPORTSMAN LATE MODEL (20 laps)

1. Travis Fultz #T0
2. Heath Alvey #7
3. Rex Coffey #2
4. Brad Seagle #31
5. Steve Carr #77
6. Floyd Self #3
7. Tyler Smith #32
8. Bradley Lewelling #10B
9. Brandon Starnes #1
10. David Bullington #20
11. Cody Brake #58
12. Terry Stone #34
13. Nicholas Shelton #9
14. Andy Ogle #68
15. Kyle Manis #25K
16. Warren McMahan #33

MODIFIED STREET (20 laps)

1. Wayne Rader #01
2. Shannon Emery #M2
3. Austin Atkins #14
4. Michael Woods #66
5. Jeff Ferguson #24
6. Charles Bates #27
7. Tracy Wolfe #11
8. Parker Estes #31
9. Nick Presley #69
10. Blake Kelley #K5
11. Jon Cook #0z
12. Chris Rickett #36
13. Logan Cobb #4
14. Kaleb Trent #3
15. Brandon Johnson #J5
16. R.J. Mayes #6M

Did Not Pass Post-Race Technical Inspection: Kurt Owens #14

CLASSIC (20 laps)

1. Eli Keck #78
2. John Stevens #7
3. Tony Trent #501
4. Tom Juhl #17
5. Chad Manning #77
6. Chris Worsham #3
7. Jason Hartsock #21
8. Lee Merritt #14
9. Chris Nix #18
10. Chase Lawson #1

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