Byrd, Guinn, Hickey, Henry, Stevens, Sharp capture victories at Volunteer Speedway
Logan Hickey of Morristown captured the Modified Street win, while Josh Henry of Newport got the Street Stock victory.
John Stevens of Wallins Creek, Kentucky, recorded the Classic victory, and Jacob Sharp of Crossville won the Front Wheel Drive feature.
Tim Maupin and Tim Byrd entered the night of racing with Maupin holding a slim two-point advantage over Byrd in the chase for the Crate Late Model championship. Byrd set fast-time at 13.344 seconds in qualifying to earn the pole starting position over Jensen Ford who was second quickest at 13.537.
Byrd and Ford led the 20-car field to green from the front row and battled for the lead over the first few laps, while behind them Zach Sise, Heath Alvey, Trevor Sise, Maupin, Rusty Webb, Adam Tolliver, Cameron Skinner, Rusty Ballenger and Bryson Dennis all jockeyed for real estate. With Byrd leading Ford, Zach Sise was right in the mix as the trio ran three-wide on occasion through the high-banked corners.
Zach Sise got around Ford for the second spot and set his sights ahead on Byrd, but Ford wasn’t about to roll over and not try to reclaim the position. The action got heated involving Trevor Sise and Alvey on lap 24 as they tangled in the fourth turn, which also collected Tolliver, Dennis, Tim Sant, Jackie Hughes and David Robins.
Off the ensuing restart with only six laps remaining, Byrd maintained the lead while Ford passed Zach Sise for second. Just behind them Skinner, Maupin, Ballenger and Bradley Lewelling were battling for position, with Maupin getting around Skinner for the fourth spot with two laps to go.
But out front it was Byrd capturing his division-leading fifth feature win on the season worth $1,500 over Ford, Zach Sise, Maupin and Skinner. With the victory by Byrd, he moved one-point ahead of Maupin in the battle for the Crate Late Model championship.
Completing the top 10 finishers were Ballenger, Lewelling, Webb, Trevor Sise and Cody Sisson. … The top 12 cars finished on the lead lap.
Aaron Guinn kept his perfect record intact by cruising to his fourth Sportsman Late Model feature win in four starts this season. In the early going Guinn was pursued by Adam Mitchell and Rex Coffey, but the duo got together in the fourth turn on lap 9 to bring the caution out and end the race for Mitchell, while Coffey had to restart at rear of the field. … Back under green Guinn quickly began to distance himself from his closest challengers, and easily went on to capture the victory over Gary Blanken, Clyde Stanton, divisional points leader Chris Coffey and Rex Coffey, who got around Kris Pauley for position a lap and a half from the finish.
Logan Hickey, Shannon Emery, Kurt Owens and Chris Rickett battled up front throughout the 20-lap Modified Street feature. But the racing for position behind them was hotly contested among Jeffrey Melton, Kaleb Trent, Dustin Ratliff, David Clark, Wayne Rader, Tracy Wolfe and Ryan Watson. … With Hickey leading from the start, he had his hands full trying to hold Owens back. On lap 17 between turns three and four, Owens pulled alongside Hickey and looked like he was going to take the lead – until back end of his car suddenly broke loose and he almost spun after making contact with side of Hickey’s car. Hickey held onto the lead with Emery right on his back bumper, while Owens began to slow with a flat tire. Hickey went on to record his fourth Modified Street win over Emery, Rickett, Ratliff and divisional points leader Rader.
Josh Henry has only made three Street Stock starts this season, and the third generation racer is a perfect three-for-three as he rolled to his third feature win by leading all 20 laps to beat Tony Trent, Austin Atkins, Jamie Whitt and Brandon Johnson.
John Stevens has dominated the Classic division this season, and once again he parked in victory lane after capturing his 12th feature win in 15 starts. Stevens was trailed at the finish by Shane Taylor, Michael Millsap, Shaun Sise and Chuck Kilian.
The Front Wheel Drive “Shootout at The Gap” attracted a stellar field of 31 entries from around East and Middle Tennessee, along with from Southwest Virginia, and the track was not about to send any car away without getting to compete on the legendary high banks. Thirty-one compact four-cylinder cars put on a show as they ran at times two- and three-wide. But from drop of the green flag Jacob Sharp served notice that unless mechanical issues sidelined him, he was the favorite to win after having set fast-time in qualifying. … Sharp led flag-to-flag to get the victory over Nathan Adams, Josh Detwiler, Keven Sexton and Chris Robinson.
Volunteer Speedway will take next week (Oct. 5) off, but will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 12 with Coca-Cola Night at The Gap.
