Adam Long is all smiles in victory lane after winning the Late Model feature at Kingsport Speedway Friday night. Photo by Randall Perry Photos.net / Courtesy Kingsport Speedway
After being denied a trip to victory lane in the first two races to open the season at Kingsport Speedway in Kingsport, TN, Adam Long of Pounding Mill, VA, brought the heat on a very chilly Friday night in East Tennessee by dominating the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series “Dalton Direct Carpets” Late Model Stock main event. The 28-year-old Long led flag-to-flag en route to capturing his first win of 2013 and fourth career victory at “The Concrete Jungle.”
Hayden Woods toured the .375-mile banked concrete oval at 15.061 seconds in qualifying, narrowly missing lowering Paul Nogradi Jr.’s track record of 15.060, which was set back on March 9 at the season-opener.
With the top-four from qualifying inverted for start of the 60-lap main event, Long and Nogradi led the 20-car field to green from the front row.
Long grabbed the lead on the opening lap racing off turn two, with Zeke Shell getting past Nogradi to move into second place, followed by Nogradi, Woods and Kres VanDyke in the running order. The first of only two cautions to slow the event waved on lap six, when Dean Barrett and Jamie Harrison got together between turns one and two, with Harrison being sent spinning.
On the double-file restart, Long chose the inside of the front row while Shell elected to drop in behind the leader in third, with Nogradi moving to the outside of Long. Back under green Long once again began to quickly flex his muscles and put real estate between his Chevrolet Impala, and his closest challengers.
With the race reaching halfway, Long was in command riding out front with the cruise control set. But behind him from second back to 12th in the running order, cars were either running nose-to-tail or side-by-side battling for position, all on the same straightaway. At conclusion of lap 30, the event’s final caution waved for Barrett.
Another double-file restart, with Long choosing the inside of row one and Shell once again deciding to drop in behind the leader and start third. Kres VanDyke made the move up to outside of Long.
Ready to get up on the wheel and see if he had anything for Long, back under green VanDyke held his ground racing down the front straightaway into the first turn and was door-to-door with Long. But about halfway down the backstretch Long pulled ahead. Shell tucked in behind Long and began to battle with VanDyke for the runner-up spot.
Behind the front-running trio of Long, VanDyke and Shell, Nogradi’s slide backwards continued as both Woods and Lee Tissot got around him to move into fourth and fifth. The veteran Tissot got around 17-year-old Woods on lap 40 as they raced off the fourth turn and pulled to Shell’s rear bumper.
Racing down the front straightaway into the first turn on lap 46, Shell gently nudged the rear of VanDyke sending him up the banking. Both Shell and Tissot got past VanDyke before he regained complete control of his mount.
But out front it was all Long, as he continued to drive a flawless race to the checkered flag to easily pick up his first win of the season over Shell, Tissot, VanDyke and Woods. With the victory, Long moves to the Late Model Stock points lead by two points over Woods.
Completing the top-10 finishers were Chad Finchum, Blake Jones, Daniel Pope II, rookie Tyler Goodwin and Nogradi.
Chris Tunnell and Rob Austin battled door-to-door for the opening two circuits of the Street Stock feature before Tunnell moved to the point. But on the move early was Surgoinsville’s John Harrell, as he got around Austin for second on the third lap.
You could throw a blanket over the front-running four cars 10 laps into the 30-lap event. But Harrell passed Tunnell for a lead he would never relinquish on lap 14 racing off turn two down the backstretch.
Once out front there would be no denying the 47-year-old racing veteran Harrell from recording his second victory of the season, and thus firmly entrenching himself atop the division’s points leaderboard. Harrell was chased to the checkers by Austin, Nick Cole, Tunnell and Jeff Counts.
Keith Helton of Kingsport roared from his fifth starting position to take the lead on lap two of the Pure 4 feature. Helton paced the field until being passed by John Ketron for the lead on lap 10 racing into the first turn.
The patriarch of the Ketron racing family showed the way out front leading Helton and his son, Jason Ketron, and appeared headed to his second consecutive victory. But lapped traffic allowed Helton to get to the leader’s rear bumper racing into the third turn on the white flag lap.
It’s called classic short-track racing, the bump-and-run. And Helton delivered it with perfection, moving John up the track to capture his first win on the season. Jason Ketron finished second, with Chris Neeley, John Ketron and Dan Hall rounding out the top five finishers.
The Mod 4 division made its first appearance of the season at the track and Rocky Yates of Abingdon, VA, rolled to victory over Billy Duty, Mike Brooks, Ryan Turner and Dennis Arnold.
Call it a sibling rivalry in Rookie Pure 4, as Brandon Byington of Kingsport held off his hard-charging brother, Billy Byington, to record his first victory of the season. Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were Billy Taylor, Brandon Sutherland and Chris Steadman.
Kingsport Speedway returns to action on March 29. Visit newkingsportspeedway.com for more info.
Kingsport Speedway – Kingsport, TN
Race Results – March 22, 2013
Late Models
1. (1) Adam Long
2. (3) Zeke Shell
3. (7) Lee Tissot
4. (5) Kres VanDyke
5. (4) Hayden Woods
6. (9) Chad Finchum
7. (11) Blake Jones
8. (6) Daniel Pope II
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10. (2) Paul Nogradi, Jr.
11. (8) Ryan Stiltner
12. (12) Austin Peters
13. (14) Kyle Barnes
14. (13) Joey Trent
15. (15) Rick Pannell
16. (16) Erika Schmidt
17. (18) Jamie Harrison
18. (17) Bruce Blessing
19. (19) Dean Barrett
20. (20) Keith Stiltner
Street Stocks
1. John Harrell
2. Rob Austin
3. Nick Cole
4. Chris Tunnell
5. Jeff Counts
6. Tony Vance
7. Paul Shull
8. Sam Hurd
9. Roger Neece
10. Tony Ward
Pure 4
1. Keith Helton
2. Jason Ketron
3. Chris Neeley
4. John Ketron
5. Dan Hall
Full-field official results pending
Mod 4
1. Rocky Yates
2. Billy Duty
3. Mike Brooks
4. Ryan Turner
5. Dennis Arnold
6. Ron Hensley
7. Joshua Gobble
Rookie Pure 4
1. Brandon Byington
2. Billy Byington
3. Billy Taylor
4. Brandon Sutherland
5. Chris Steadman
6. Mook Jeter
7. Jon Pittman
8. Bruce Crumbley
9. Arthur Guess
10. Tammy Cross
11. Brandon Crumbley
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