Long Records Second Straight Win At Kingsport Speedway

Adam Long was able to out run the rain and the competition to score the Late Model victory at Kingsport Speedway.  Photo courtesy Kingsport Speedway Media

Adam Long was able to out run the rain and the competition to score the Late Model victory at Kingsport Speedway. Photo courtesy Kingsport Speedway Media

With the threat of rain all around the region Friday evening, Adam Long of Pounding Mill, Va., outran Mother Nature and a strong field of “Dalton Direct Carpets” Late Model Stock competitors to capture his second straight feature win on O’Reilly Auto Parts Night at the Races at Kingsport Speedway in Kingsport, TN.

After setting a new track record last week, Lee Tissot once again stood atop the scoreboard in P1 following time trials again this week after posting a quick lap of 15.142-seconds. Following the invert of the top five from qualifying, Long and Kres VanDyke led the 20-car field to green from row one.

On the start and with a light drizzle falling from the skies, Long and VanDyke battled door-to-door around the .375-mile banked concrete oval with neither giving an inch over the opening four circuits, each wanting the lead, before Long moved ahead of VanDyke, Hayden Woods, Zeke Shell and Tissot. Shell got around Woods for third on lap six, and one lap later VanDyke slipped exiting the fourth turn.  Shell sped past into the second spot.

Racing off turn two on lap nine, Tissot got around Woods for fourth.  With the door open and Woods stuck on the outside, point leader Chad Finchum pulled under to challenge Woods for fifth. Lap 13 proved to be unlucky for Woods, as he had nowhere to go but into the lapped car of Bruce Blessing in the fourth turn who was sitting sideways in the racing groove. Woods’ night was over with a badly damaged ride parked in the pits, an innocent victim of circumstances.

The double-file restart had Long and Shell on the front row. Back under green, Shell got loose exiting the fourth turn to allow VanDyke to slide past into second place. Before Shell could fully recover he had lost real estate to both Finchum and Tissot, settling into the fifth spot.

Meanwhile out front Long began to increase his advantage to lead VanDyke by a half-straightaway at the midpoint of the 60-lapper.

Finchum had a tough break on lap 36, when lapping Mike Potter between turns three and four contact was made which resulted in a cut tire for Finchum. Shell ran over sheet metal from Potter’s car to also sustained a flat tire, with the yellow flag waving for debris on the track. After attention from their pit crews, both Finchum and Shell rejoined the race at rear of the field.

Long and VanDyke once again brought the field back up to speed from the front row, with VanDyke giving it his best effort to grab the lead for three laps before Long moved ahead. Just behind Long and VanDyke, Ronnie McCarty was having his best Late Model Stock run ever at “The Concrete Jungle” in battling door-to-door with Tissot for third, with Daniel Pope II just behind them running fifth.

R.J. Stanley spun entering the first turn on lap 46 and slid high up the track to bring the caution out. On the ensuing attempt to restart, following contact with another car Austin Peters was turned hard into the outside wall along the front straightaway and the yellow waved once again. Peters slowly maneuvered his damaged car into the pits and thus ended a run inside the top 10.

VanDyke had one more chance to try and secure the lead from Long with the green flag waving for a 14-lap sprint to the finish. But Long proved to be up for the challenge, powering back ahead of VanDyke and going on to record his second consecutive feature win and division-leading third victory on the season. Long was chased to the checkers by VanDyke, Tissot, McCarty and Pope.

Paul Nogradi Jr., Finchum, Shell, Tyler Goodwin and Joey Trent completed the top-10 at the finish.

Nick Cole laid down a quick lap of 16.269 to set fast-time in Street Stock qualifying, but following an invert-five John Harrell and Royce Peters brought the field to the green flag from the front row.

Harrell and Peters ran side-by-side battling for the lead over the first three circuits before Harrell moved to the point racing off turn two. Cole got around Peters for second on lap five and set his sights ahead on leader Harrell. Caution waved on lap seven, when Chris Tunnell cut down a tire and slowed on the track.

Harrell moved back into the lead over Cole and Rob Austin once green flag racing resumed. While Cole appeared to have a car to challenge Harrell for the lead, while lapping the slower running ride of Brian Russell on lap 14 at end of the backstretch entering the third turn, Russell got into Cole to send him spinning to bring out the caution.

With Cole and Austin locked in a tight points battle, it looked like Cole might possibly take a big points hit after having to restart from the rear after spinning. But, in a quirky sequence of events, Austin also spun following contact just a lap back under green to also force him to the back of the field for another restart.

Over the last half of the 30-lapper, Harrell easily rolled to his division-leading fourth feature win of the season over Jared Broadbent, Tunnell, who rebounded nicely for a solid top-three finish, Peters and Austin – with Cole finishing sixth.

Following a full-field (10 cars) invert after qualifying for the 20-lap Pure 4 feature, point leader John Ketron was relegated to the back row for the start and had his work cut out to visit victory lane. But the father of sons, Jason and Billy, is a hard laborer and quickly began working his way towards the front.

Derek Penley and David Trent started from the front row and in the early going the duo led Dylan Bates and Jimmy Hillard. But the elder Ketron (John) finally moved into the lead and went on to record his third victory. John led a Ketron family sweep of the top three finishing positions, with Jason and Billy coming home in second and third, respectively, with Chris Neeley and Bates rounding out the top five at the checkered flag.

Brad Ball of Abingdon, VA, passed Billy Duty for the lead on lap three of the Mod 4 feature and never looked back en route to capturing his first win of the season over Joshua Gobble, Rocky Yates, Duty and Dennis Arnold.

Bruce Crumbley looked like he was headed to his first-ever Rookie Pure 4 feature win, but Kingsport’s Billy Byington got around Crumbley on the white flag lap to record his second win of the season. Finishing behind Byington and Crumbley were Chris Steadman, Brandon Sutherland and Mook Jeter.

Action returns to Kingsport Speedway on Friday, May 17, as the track plays hosts to the X-1R Pro Cup Series.  Visit www.newkinsportspeedway.com for more info.

Kingsport Speedway – Kingsport, TN
Race Results – May 10, 2013

Late Models
1. Adam Long
2. Kres VanDyke
3. Lee Tissot
4. Ronnie McCarty
5. Daniel Pope II
6. Paul Nogradi Jr.
7. Chad Finchum
8. Zeke Shell
9. Tyler Goodwin
10. Joey Trent
11. Mike Potter
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13. Justin Wright
14. Ryan Stiltner
15. Erika Schmidt
16. Dean Barrett
17. Austin Peters
18. R.J. Stanley
19. Hayden Woods
20. Bruce Blessing

Street Stock
1. John Harrell
2. Jared Broadbent
3. Chris Tunnell
4. Royce Peters
5. Rob Austin
6. Nick Cole
7. Jason Leatherwood
8. Kirby Gobble
9. Sam Hurd
10. Tony Ward
11. Brian Russell
12. Rick Smith
13. Tony Mullinex
14. Allen Rich

Pure 4
1. John Ketron
2. Jason Ketron
3. Billy Ketron
4. Chris Neeley
5. Dylan Bates
6. Derek Penley
7. David Trent
8. Tim Abelseth
9. Jimmy Hillard
10. Todd Cross
11. Kenny Absher

Mod 4
1. Brad Ball
2. Joshua Gobble
3. Rocky Yates
4. Billy Duty
5. Dennis Arnold
6. Luke Fox
7. Mike Brooks

Rookie Pure 4
1. Billy Byington
2. Bruce Crumbley
3. Chris Steadman
4. Brandon Sutherland
5. Mook Jeter
6. Jon Pittman
7. Billy Taylor
8. Allen Qualls
9. A. Dennis
10. Tammy Cross

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