Post by LMR on 08/21/11 at 12:42am
Tazewell Speedway
August 20, 2011
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Estes claims first ever Late Model feature win at Tazewell Speedway
by Allen Earl
TAZEWELL, Tenn. (August 20) - Tazewell Speedway filled up with fans, crews and drivers ready for another fast regular weekly racing program with the added attraction of the open wheels getting in some action in preparation of next Friday's open wheel race. Weather, as has been the case nearly every Saturday was once again an issue to consider and had everyone secretly watching the skies. Still the track surface was packed in and the cars took to it for hot laps and qualification runs.
Top qualifiers in each class were:
Tazewell Late Model- (7) Brian Smith 11.917
Modified Street- (56H) Jordon Horton 13.262
Classics- (17) Robbie Sands 14.151
Pure Street- (2) Steve Smith 14.316
The Tazewell Late Models were up with Brian Smith leading the field to green. Last weeks winner Steve Smith would be coming out of the fields second spot. On the start Brian Smith had trouble and the damage forced him pit side. He was done for the night. Greg Estes moved into second alongside Steve Smith on the restart. Three cars; Rex Coffey, Jimmy Calloway and Lynn Leach got tangled up in turn two bringing out a lap 3 caution. At the front it was Smith, Estes and Mark Leach the top three. Travis Fultz and Anthony Arnwine rounded out the top five on the restart. On lap five Leach slid up the track just when Estes had reached the rear quarter of the leader. It was two wide racing everywhere as the fans enjoyed watching Trammell blast to the front using the low side. On lap 14 a caution was displayed for Arnwine who found trouble in turn two. Now at the front was Smith, Estes, Leach, Trammell and Fultz. The race resumed and Smith again was able to put Estes behind him. Trammell had third cleared on lap 17. By lap 21 Steve Carr had moved into fourth while Smith was still holding off Estes at the front. A lap four crash left several of the front runners with some damage including the leader Smith. Thankfully all five at the front returned for some more side by side racing. On the restart Estes made a strong move into turn one and made some contact with Smith but went on to take the win. It was his first late model win ever. This feature was what racing at the Taz is all about. This was the most exciting race this season as the drivers found several grooves to race in and were two and three wide on many occasions. Trammell finished second and Carr third. Rounding out the top five were Travis Fultz and Jody Horton had a great run and finished fifth.
1 31 Greg Estes
2 97 Jason Trammel
3 77 Steve Carr
4 T0 Travis Fultz
5 56J Jody Horton
6 111 J. Allan
7 3 Steve Smith
8 G7 Billy Gordon
9 75 Chris Long
10 24 Allen Holt
11 66 Mark Leach
12 3 Rex Coffey
13 51 David Guy
14 11 Anthony Arnwine
15 11 Andy Wilder
16 22 Lynn Leach
17 07 Jimmy Calloway
18 7 Brain Smith
19 22 Matthew Holt
20 21 Brain Howerton
21 54 Tony Reed
22 14 Nick Knight
23 90J Keith Chapman DNS
The first feature of the night was the 4-cylinder class with Bubby Braden and Allen Holloway leading the field into turn one. Once again tagging on at the end of the field was Kurt Owens in the kid-favorite, green 7-UP machine. Bruce Caylor dropped the green flag and Allen Holloway grabbed the top spot. By lap 5 Owens had the lead leaving Braden and Holloway to fuss about second. Lap after lap, Braden stayed on the rear of Holloway’s A27 but could not get around him. Owens took the win, Holloway finished second and Braden third. Mark Wallace and Jeromy Collins rounded out the top five.
1 7Up Kurt Owens
2 A27 Allen Holloway
3 B7 Bubby Braden
4 1 Mark Wallace
5 44 Jeromy Collins
6 007 Hayston Collett
7 10 David Creech
8 22 Ethan Hansard
Next was a last chance race for six of the Tazewell Late Models with six quickly becoming four. David Guy tried to reel in Allen Holt but could not get it done and Holt won the heat race. David Guy also transferred to the feature.
The Modified Street feature was next with Jordon Horton and Warren McMahan leading the field to the green from the front row. Clyde Overholt and Chris Collinsworth made up row two as the field was allowed to push the go pedal. Horton came away with the early lead over McMahan and Collinsworth. Horton looked to be uncatchable on this night as he put nearly a half a straight on McMahan by lap 13. Collinsworth got a battle from Cylde Overholt but in the end the top five never changed. An emotional Horton grabbed some photos with his friends and family and perhaps his biggest fan Brady Stewart stood with him in victory lane.
1 56H Jordan Horton
2 33 Warren McMahan
3 77 Chris Collinsworth
4 4 Clyde Overholt
5 5 Gary Blanken
6 56 Tony Horton
7 88 Brad Davis
8 54 Larry Burke
9 3 Tim Hatfield
10 69 Nick Barnard
11 20 Scottie Atkins
12 P21 Donnie Petty
13 9 David Smith
14 44 Phillip Nichols
Next to take the track were the Classic cars and Robbie Sands simpy had the field covered. Bart Baxter was running in second with Jim Yeary coming to the front in a hurry. A lap 6 caution bunched up the field and forced a restart. The race resumed until Eli Keck went high in turn one bringing out another yellow. On this restart Sands again drove out to a nice lead and Yeary began working on second. Yeary lost traction in turn two and gave up third to Keck but it was Yeary's best run to date. Sands was able take his second win in row. Baxter, Keck, Tharp and Ron Rudder rounded out the top five.
1 17 Robbie Sands
2 7 Bart Baxter
3 8 Joe Keck
4 59 Charlie Tharp
5 2 Ron Rudder
6 7 Jim Yeary
7 18 Eli Keck
8 20 Logan Dukes DNS
The last feature of the night was the Pure Street class and Steve Smith led the field to the green and into turn one. A caution was displayed when Jason Whitaker and Tim Stevens came together in turn two on the end of the first lap. The race quickly resumed but only for another lap as the caution flag flew again this time for another turn two spin. Once the race found its groove Smith began driving away from Jason Long and Appaches Quinton with Dustin Eldridge and Jonathan Miracle rounding out the top five. Smith once again with his hood waving at the crowd survived the caution plagued race to take the win over Long and Eldridge. Austin Atkins and Justin James survived late spins to finish fifth and seventh. Miracle finished fourth.
1 2 Steve Smith
2 15 Jason Long
3 94 Dustin Eldrige
4 41 Johnathan Miracle
5 14 Austin Atkins
6 97 Aaron Guinn
7 28 Justin James
8 5 Jason Saylor
9 O7 Tony Spoon
10 3 Michael Boyd
11 15 Apaches Quinton
12 33 Johnny Simpson
13 11 David Middleton
14 C5 Daniel Carpenter
15 26 Jason Whitaker
16 17 Tim Stevens
17 12 J.J. Green DNS
Next Friday night August 26th, the American Modified Series comes into town and will bring along with them auto racing star Kenny Schrader back to Tazewell Speedway for competition. Schrader raced at the Taz in 2006 in dirt late model action and finished second. He has won 14 races this year alone while driving his dirt open wheel modified race car. On September 4th the super late models and NASRA will return to the Taz for the Buddy Rogers Memorial 44.
As always Tazewell Speedway thanks its loyal fans for their support.