Cardwell, White, Sise, Woods, Trent visit victory lane on ‘Championship Night’ at Volunteer Speedway

Cardwell, White, Sise, Woods, Trent visit victory lane on ‘Championship Night’ at Volunteer Speedway

BULLS GAP, Tenn. (Oct. 21, 2017) — Jason Cardwell of Knoxville captured the Steel Head Late Model feature win Saturday night at Volunteer Speedway, while Ross White also from Knoxville recorded the Crate Late Model victory.

Zach Sise of Knoxville captured the Sportsman Late Model win, with Michael Woods of Morristown getting the Modified Street victory, while Tony Trent of Bean Station recorded the Classic win.

Championship Night at Volunteer Speedway is always a special event because it’s the culmination of hard-fought battles among competitors’ all throughout the season to see who will earn track titles.

Jason Cardwell entered the night holding a slim one-point advantage over Chase King in the Steel Head Late Model division, knowing if he finished ahead of King he would win the title. Cardwell wrapped the championship up in style, as he led the 30-lap feature flag-to-flag for his second victory of the season.

The scenarios for Ross White and Heath Alvey of Dandridge were different, as both drivers had already secured their respective championships due to holding insurmountable points leads. White won the Crate Late Model title, and Alvey captured the Sportsman Late Model crown.

Chris Rickett of Morristown also entered the night with having wrapped up the Modified Street championship, his second straight at “The Gap.” Eli Keck of Corryton won the Classic championship.

Cardwell set fast-time at 12.756 seconds to earn pole position for the Steel Head Late Model feature. Cardwell powered into the lead at drop of the green over Cory Hedgecock, Trevor Sise, Chase King and Ryan King.

With the race running clean-and-green and Cardwell out front controlling his own destiny in the battle for the championship, he was just hoping for no bad luck in his attempt to not only win the race but stay ahead of Chase King. But lurking behind Cardwell was Hedgecock, and for Cardwell to be able and maintain the lead would be quite a task.

Chase King worked his way around Sise with just under 10 laps remaining, and ahead he could see Hedgecock working on Cardwell. Hedgecock was right behind Cardwell as they received the white flag, and entering the first turn with Cardwell running down low – Hedgecock decided he hadn’t come to finish second. He sailed his rocket off deep on the high side in an attempt to roll around the outside of Cardwell and take the lead, but instead he made hard contact with the outside guardrail.

Cardwell took the win over Chase King, Sise, Ryan King and Hedgecock.

Gary Crittenden jumped out into the lead at start of the Crate Late Model feature over Jensen Ford, Ross White, Josh Henry and Tim Byrd. Crittenden had picked up a win earlier in the season and after starting from the pole position he looked to be dialed-in and the car to beat.

White passed Ford for second place on lap 5 and one circuit later Henry got around Ford to move into third in the running order. But tough luck for Henry on lap 14, when caution waved as he slowed with what appeared to be suspension damage.

Crittenden led the field back up to speed on the restart with White, Ford, Byrd and Mack McCarter trailing. Just outside of the top five Bobby Mays, Cruz Skinner, Taran Hurst, Kenny Ford, Eli Beets, Keith Helton, Jordon Horton and Chris Long were battling for position.

Crittenden held an eight car-length advantage over White with five laps remaining, but working lapped traffic quickly saw that margin shrink as White closed to Crittenden’s rear bumper. Racing into the first turn with only three laps to go, Crittenden got trapped behind a slower car and White capitalized to seize the lead.

White went on to capture his division-leading fifth win on the season over Crittenden, Ford, McCarter and Byrd.

Zach Sise and Heath Alvey battled for the lead at start of the Sportsman Late Model feature before Sise grabbed the position. Behind Sise and Alvey, Andy Ogle, Jed Emert, Adam Mitchell, Chris Coffey, Preston Whitehead and Warren McMahan jockeyed for real estate.

Sise began to put some distance between himself and Alvey just past the halfway distance, while Ogle began pressuring Alvey for second place. The 17-year-old Sise easily cruised to his second straight win and division-best fourth victory of the season, while Ogle pulled off a last-lap pass on Alvey to finish in the runner-up position. Emert finished fourth and apparent fifth-place finisher Preston Whitehead was disqualified in post-race technical inspection due to improper shocks, thus moving Coffey into the fifth spot.

With Austin Atkins and Chris Rickett on the front row for the 20-lap Modified Street feature, you knew the start would be interesting with the hard-chargers racing wide-open into the first turn on opening lap trying to get the advantage. Atkins got sideways between turns one and two and spun at front of the field to bring the caution out, with his night ended prematurely due to damaged race car.

The second attempt at green saw Wayne Rader jump out into the lead over Michael Woods and Shannon Emery. But on the move quickly from back of the field were both Kurt Owens and Rickett. Rickett got around Owens for position as they moved forward into the top five, with Rickett also overtaking Emery for the third spot just past halfway.

The outlook of the race took on a different view over the final eight laps, as first Rickett and then Emery and leader Rader all dropped out, thus moving Woods out front. Woods held off Kurt Owens to record his first win of the season, with Lance Creasman, Jonathan Whitt and Tracy Wolfe rounding out the top five finishers.

Tony Trent grabbed the early lead in the Classic feature and never looked back en route to capturing his first-ever victory over Eli Keck, Richie Overholser, Chris Worsham and Charles Bates.

STEEL HEAD LATE MODEL (30 laps)

1. Jason Cardwell #07
2. Chase King #44
3. Trevor Sise #73
4. Ryan King #30
5. Cory Hedgecock #9
6. Kevin Lewis #15
7. John Llewellyn #2
8. Dale Reed #52
9. Josh Henry #70

CRATE LATE MODEL (30 laps)

1. Ross White #0
2. Gary Crittenden #18
3. Jensen Ford #83
4. Mack McCarter #51
5. Tim Byrd #24
6. Cruz Skinner #1
7. Taran Hurst #22
8. Kenny Ford #61
9. Eli Beets #109
10. Keith Helton #52
11. Chris Long #75
12. Jordon Horton #56
13. Michael Jenkins #31
14. Bobby Mays #25
15. Josh Henry #25
16. Jordan Graves #10
17. Tim Maupin #3
18. Chris Chandler #88

SPORTSMAN LATE MODEL (20 laps)

1. Zach Sise #9
2. Andy Ogle #68
3. Heath Alvey #7
4. Jed Emert #98
5. Chris Coffey #97
6. Adam Mitchell #50
7. Warren McMahan #33
8. Brian Cooper #15
9. Tyler Smith #32
10. Nicholas Shelton #9
11. Terry Stone #34
12. Floyd Self #3
13. David Bullington #20

Did Not Pass Post-Race Technical Inspection (Shock Infraction): Preston Whitehead #81
Did Not Start: Brad Seagle #31, Richard Adkins #73

MODIFIED STREET (20 laps)

1. Michael Woods #66
2. Kurt Owens #14
3. Lance Creasman #C8
4. Jonathan Whitt #18
5. Tracy Wolfe #11
6. R.J. Mayes #6M
7. Landon Steele #18
8. McKenlee Hall #44     
9. Wayne Rader #01
10. Jason Rollins #01R
11. Shannon Emery #M2
12. Chris Rickett #36
13. David Clark #1
14. Jeff Ferguson #24
15. Austin Atkins #14
16. Nick Presley #69

CLASSIC (20 laps)

1. Tony Trent #501
2. Eli Keck #8
3. Richie Overholser #18
4. Chris Worsham #78
5. Charles Bates #77
6. Clyde Mincey #14

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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