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Allen Earl
TAZEWELL, Tenn. (August 14) - With only five scheduled races remaining on the calendar Tazewell Speedway opened the gates for another exciting night of racing. On this night the fans were treated to the chest-pounding Super Late Models as well as the regular weekly racing action. This late in the season it begins to be all about the points. In the Tazewell Speedway Late model division, Travis Fultz holds a nice lead over Greg Estes. In the Modified Street Class, Tony Horton holds the first spot over Larry Burke. Jason Long and Mike Daniels are fighting for the top spot in Pure Street and Joe Keck holds the lead over Phillip Shockley in the Classics. In the Four-Cylinder Class Joey Allen is looking to keep Bubby Braden at bay.
Qualifying first tonight was the Classics and Logan Dukes set the fast time with a lap of 14.582 seconds. Taking to the track next was the Tazewell Late Models and even with a bounty hanging over their heads, Jason Trammell and Travis Fultz were the two fastest with Trammell grabbing the pole at a time of 11.707. The Supers hit the high banks next with Rick Rogers setting a blistering time to beat at 11.220 seconds. Jeff Maupin ran an 11.243 and fell just short of Roger's pole setting time. In the Modified Street Class Rick Welch set fast time with a 13.622 second lap around the Taz. The Pure Street Class was led by Kevin Smith with a pole winning lap of 14.941 seconds.
The Supers took to the track with Rick Rogers setting the pace. Rogers, Jeff Maupin and Vic Hill began pulling away from the field until a lap 17 caution flag was displayed for Bryan Hendrix. His machine encountered problems while fighting with Terry Wolfenbarger for sixth place. On the restart Maupin tried Rogers on the low side but Rogers could keep it wound up and slid off once again to a two-car length lead. On lap 24 Maupin could hear Hill close in but managed to stay ahead of him to secure second. Rogers rolled his BKW, Goddard performance parts Warrior into victory lane after taking a win over Maupin, Hill, Chad Ogle and Steve Smith.
1 44 Rick Rogers
2 0 Jeff Maupin
3 5 Vic Hill
4 10 Chad Ogle
5 3 Steve Smith
6 14 Terry Wolfenbarger
7 7 Marty Calloway
8 5 Bryan Hendrix
Next on the high banks were the Tazewell Late Models. Jason Trammell hit the loud pedal and took the field into turn one. The opening laps had side by side racing between Trammell and Fultz. A lap 8 caution flag was thrown after contact between Josh Henry and Andy Wilder left the 24 of Wilder stopped on the back stretch. The top three were Trammell, Fultz and Steve Carr. Phillip Nichols and Greg Estes rounded out the top five. Wilder rejoined at the rear of the field for the restart. Carr began to put the heat on Fultz in the middle laps with Trammell having to struggle to get around lap traffic. Carr got close on a couple of attempts but Fultz's Dodge was strong enough to keep Carr behind and secure second. Trammell at times had trouble clearing the lapped machines and even took the nose to one or two to get around. Trammell nevertheless took home his fourth win in a row. Fultz once again did what he had to do to stay firmly in the lead for the points championship.
1 90J Jason Trammel
2 T0 Travis Fultz
3 77 Steve Carr
4 33 Philip Nichols
5 31 Greg Estes
6 56J Jody Horton
7 97 Keith Chapman
8 24 Andy Wilder
9 1 Jimmy Calloway
10 G7 Billy Gordon
11 B00 Josh Henry
The Classics. Logan Dukes raced quickly to the front with Scott Russell in second. On lap 5 Drew Kennedy went around for second place. On lap 6 Russell got pushed high and contacted the outside wall coming to a stop on the back stretch. The top three on the restart was Logan Dukes, Kennedy and Joe Keck. A three way battle for third occured when the race was restarted but Joe Keck got away and was fighting hard for second when another caution flag fell. Last week's winner Phillip Shockley had to leave the surface with mechanical issues but later rejoined at the rear. Dukes pulled away again on the restart with a three way battle for second place again in his mirrors. After the dust cleared it was Dukes, Jay Eubanks and now Adam Hicks the top three. Adam Hicks while running in third had to retire on lap 18 and Logan Dukes rolled on to the win.
1 6 Logan Dukes
2 3 J Eubanks
3 4 Tom Conaway
4 31 Robert Estes
5 8 Joe Keck
6 2 Ron Rudder
7 34 Phillip Shockley
8 88 Scottie Atkins
9 13 Adam Hicks
10 57 Drew Kennedy
11 28 Adam Engel
12 9 Scott Russell
Up next was the fan favorite Modified Street class with Rick Welch taking the field to green. The experienced Welch had to hold off the youthful Jordon Horton and did just that on the first attempted start. On the second start Welch took control but a caution flag fell for Gary Blanken when he crossed up in front of Allen Holt. The meeting created another start attempt. A crash in turn one left four cars badly damaged and the 9 of Darrell Saylor on its side after rolling over. Mike Simpson, Robbie Buchanon, Nick Barnard and Darrell Saylor had significant damage. Only one lap had been recorded on the score board. When the race resumed Welch began to pull away from J. Horton with his father Tony behind him. Just as Gary Blanken had caught the two Hortons his car swapped ends in turn four causing a restart. Welch grabbed his second checkers in a row but was protested making the results unofficial for the time being.
1 1 Rick Welch
2 56H Jody Horton
3 56 Tony Horton
4 5 Gary Blanken
5 17 Leonard Bray
6 P21 Robbie Buchanan
7 20 Scott Adkins
8 24 Allen Holt
9 33 Warren McMahan
10 3 Tim Hatfield
11 69 Nick Barnard
12 M7 Mike Simpson
13 9 Darrell Saylor
The Pure Street class was up next and it became a race to beat the weather as well as a race to the checkered flag. Kevin Smith led the field to grteen and simply pulled away to a comfortable lead until a lap nine caution flag was displayed when Justin James hit the outside wall while trying to miss a car that had spun down low. The two Smiths would fight to the end with Kevin crossing the finish line first.
1 58 Kevin Smith
2 2 Steve Smith
3 8 Mike Kelly
4 15 Jason Long
5 41 Johnathan Miracle
6 12 Michael Daniels
7 12H Travis Helton
8 77 John Stevens
9 10 Tony Spoon
10 28 Justin James
11 R2 Brian Osban
The last race of the night was the Four-Cylinders and it was a great race. Up front Joey Allen and Chuck McMahan put on a show while several cars mixed it up throughout the field. In the end Allen outlasted the McMahan onslaught to hold yet another checkered flag.
1 A00 Joey Allen
2 99 Chuck McMahan
3 7Up Kurt Owens
4 A27 Allen Holloway
5 97 Steve Lee
6 B7 Bubby Braden
7 17 Jason Bowers
8 28 Anthony Guy
9 2A Austin Fincher
The racing program finished at 11:51 and somehow beat the rain that threatened to ruin the night twice. The Speedway will be idle next week to give race fans the chance to take in the Bristol events but on the 28th the Speedway will again play host to the Hobby Stocks and the fans will have the chance to enjoy dollar hot dogs. In the near future Tazewell Speedway will release information on a special food drive to benefit a local food bank. Thanks once again to the fans for all their support.
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