Kyle Courtney
Holds Off Mike Marlar for Thanksgiving Thunder Win
(November
22, 2025) The second annual Thanksgiving Thunder saw
182 cars make their way to Smoky Mountain Speedway and were greeted
with beautiful weather. Kyle Courtney held off Mike Marlar in
the closing laps in taking the late model win. (MRM
Racing Photos)
Courtney started on the outside front row with Bobby Giffin
starting from the pole position. Courtney grabbed the lead and
began to put some distance on Giffin. As the leaders encountered
slower traffic, Giffin closed to Courtney’s rear bumper.
Marlar took over third and began to chase down the lead duo. A
late race caution allowed Marlar to shoot by on the outside to
take second from Giffin. Marlar chased down Courtney and looked
for a way to take the lead. Courtney held on to win and collect
$2,500 for his efforts.
Jesse Lowe lead from flag-to-flag to win the sportsman late
model feature. Lowe took the lead over Colby Horner on the start
and never looked back. Jed Emert finished third.
Kirk Turner held off Colton Proffitt to win the Cumberland Plateau
Open Wheel Modified Series race. Proffitt got by Corey Gordon
for second and ran down Turner. Proffitt could not find a way
around Turner who took the win. Gordon held off Jacob Hall to
finish third.
Michael Courtney went unchallenged in winning the Cumberland
Plateau Modified Mini feature. Courtney maintained a comfortable
margin as Andy Standridge and Hayston Collett battled for second.
Standridge took second over Collett.
Ronnie Choate came from second place to win the Tennessee Mod
Lite race. Choate grabbed the lead from Shane McCarron and never
looked back. Jaedon McDowell came from 11th to finish third.
Eric Hughes kept it in the family by winning the street stock
feature over Johnny Hughes. The top 5 cars spent most of the race
using different lines to have some intense battles. Colby Long
used the low line to finish third.
Dustin Duncan picked up another win in the front wheel drive
division. Jacob Sharp stayed close with Duncan through most of
the race but hand nothing to mount a serious bid for the lead.
Jason Ketron finish third.
Joseph McGill took the lead from pole sitter Scott Randolph
to win the Crown Vic feature. Josh Brogdon avoided calamity to
finish second. Amber Kilpatrick came from 14th to finish third.
This concludes the 2025 race season at Smoky Mountain Speedway.
The next scheduled event will be Saturday, March 14 with the World
of Outlaws Late Model Series returns. Details for the race and
the complete schedule will be coming soon.
(MRM Racing Photos)
Late Models:
1. 171-Kyle Courtney[2]; 2. 9-Mike Marlar[6]; 3. 31-Bobby Giffin[1];
4. 51-Jed Emert[5]; 5. 1G-Jesse Lowe[4]; 6. 44O-John Ownbey[10];
7. 116-Cameron Weaver[11]; 8. 18-Hayden Ownbey[8]; 9. 01-Jason
Welshan[3]; 10. 07B-Baily Cardwell[18]; 11. 00J-Hunter Jenkins[9];
12. 44-Chase King[15]; 13. 102-Reed Hatchett[23]; 14. 73-Trevor
Sise[17]; 15. 18O-Eric Orr[7]; 16. 257-Skylar Marlar[12]; 17.
51M-Mack McCarter[21]; 18. 84-Ryan Tims[13]; 19. 7-Tyler Price[20];
20. 3-Addison Cardwell[22]; 21. C4-Cameron Hawkins[16]; 22. 6-Eddie
King Jr[19]; 23. (DQ) 32-Jason Manley[14]
(MRM Racing Photos)
Sportsman Late Models:
1. 5J-Jesse Lowe[1]; 2. 5-Colby Horner[2]; 3. 98-Jed Emert[4];
4. 6C-Chandler Hickman[3]; 5. 94-Holden Allen[6]; 6. Z1-Zach Shannon[9];
7. 31-Brady Lee[5]; 8. 2-Mitchell Childress[8]; 9. 28-Jesse Helton[11];
10. 92-Cory Cate[10]; 11. D22-DJ Shannon[13]; 12. 11-Tim Bounds[14];
13. 15-Billy Branch[16]; 14. 85-Travis Weeks[18]; 15. 22-Jonathan
McKenzie[20]; 16. 50-Adam Mitchell[15]; 17. C44-Corey Lawless[19];
18. 20-Ryan LaRue[17]; 19. J2-Larry James[21]; 20. 417A-Alex Galevz[24];
21. 57-Ronnie Romines[22]; 22. 56-Joey Standridge[12]; 23. 07A-Addison
Cardwell[7]; 24. 03-Robert Russell[23]
(MRM Racing Photos)
Cumberland Plateau Open
Wheels:
1. 49-Kirk Turner[1]; 2. 56P-Colton Profitt[3]; 3. 89-Corey Gordon[2];
4. 43-Jacob Hall[6]; 5. 26-Adam Ogle[5]; 6. 1H-Ben Harmon[7];
7. 2H-Josh Hampton[9]; 8. 66-Adam Wright[10]; 9. 11-Reece Ogle[8];
10. 15-Clayton Miller[11]; 11. 29C-Joey Cotterman[17]; 12. 36-Billy
Palmer[15]; 13. 13-David Clark[14]; 14. 36R-Chris Rickett[16];
15. 71-Pierce McCarter[13]; 16. 777-Jacob McConnell[19]; 17. 69-Tim
Patrick[18]; 18. 721-Jimbo Hollars[21]; 19. 56-Chris Wilson[4];
20. 17-Gabriel Wilson[12]; 21. 2R-Jeffrey Rogers[20]
(MRM Racing Photos)
Cumberland Plateau Modified
Minis:
1. C11-Michael Courtney[1]; 2. D3-Andy Standridge[2]; 3. 21-Hayston
Collett[3]; 4. D1-Nathan Davis[4]; 5. 27-Shane Workman[6]; 6.
27X-Dylan Baus[13]; 7. 02-Brian Hale[12]; 8. 321-Brandon Knight[11];
9. 12-Dustin Stephens[15]; 10. 27T-Troy Finley[14]; 11. 1-Dusty
Lay[16]; 12. 9H-Jonathan Hudson[17]; 13. 14-Landon Fitzgerald[23];
14. 25G-Derik Duggan[9]; 15. 3-Justin Farless[10]; 16. B7-Brandon
Phillips[8]; 17. 26-Kyle Todd[5]; 18. 47G-JJ Garrett[22]; 19.
9-Skylar Pittman[19]; 20. (DNS) 5-Donnie Turpin; 21. (DNS) 47-Hayden
Webb; 22. (DNS) 99-David Finley; 23. (DNS) 39-Chris Muncey
(MRM Racing Photos)
Tennessee Mod Lites:
1. LR8-Ronnie Choate[2]; 2. 302-Shane McCarron[1]; 3. 722-Jaedon
McDowell[11]; 4. X50-Joel Huggins[3]; 5. 64-Micah Collins[4];
6. B7-Layton Bennett[5]; 7. 11-Joseph Dunlap[6]; 8. T25-Troy Turner[9];
9. 34-Chris Pinkston[7]; 10. TM99-Todd Minner[10]; 11. 33-Damon
Warren[8]
(MRM Racing Photos)
Street Stocks:
1. 10H-Eric Hughes[2]; 2. 20-Johnny Hughes[1]; 3. 10-Colby Long[4];
4. 23-Austin Maples[6]; 5. A13-Austin Byrd[7]; 6. C12-Chase Hoffman[3];
7. 14H-Greg Huskey[12]; 8. 5-Duke Lowe[9]; 9. 23B-Sam Burgess[11];
10. 31-Orion Mount[13]; 11. 01-Jason Welshan[15]; 12. 206-Allen
Vaughn[18]; 13. 21-Johnny Lay[8]; 14. J3-Jeff McLemore[19]; 15.
19-Austin Helton[10]; 16. 11-Ryan Watson[14]; 17. 44-McKenlee
Hall[5]; 18. B01-Will Littrell[17]; 19. 21XP-Bobbie Petty[16];
20. 18-Dale Brummett[21]; 21. 09-Nick Baker[20]
(MRM Racing Photos)
Crown Vics:
1. J1-Joseph McGill[2]; 2. R1-Josh Brogdon[4]; 3. 13-Amber Gilpatrick[14];
4. 23W-Justin Walton[5]; 5. 603-Daryl Whitney[8]; 6. M1-Justin
Murray[7]; 7. 717-Amelia Rector[6]; 8. C4-Eddie Brown[15]; 9.
51-Chase Berg[12]; 10. 17-James Shelton[13]; 11. 13N-Lenna Morgan[17];
12. 777-Scottie Atkins[16]; 13. 3-Colton Profitt[3]; 14. 11-Joshua
Sexton[11]; 15. 2-Scott Randolph[1]; 16. (DNS) 98-Jason Griffith;
17. (DNS) 15-Jason Long
Front Wheel Drive:
1. 88-Dustin Duncan[1]; 2. 1-Jacob Sharp[2]; 3. 28-Jason Ketron[4];
4. 32-Jeff Bloch[3]; 5. 171-Justin McClain[9]; 6. A93-Nathan Adams[6];
7. B21-Dusty Branstetter[14]; 8. 12-Trent Lee[10]; 9. 72-Daryl
Teefeteller[11]; 10. 14-Caleb Manning[20]; 11. J1-Jake Bumgarner[12];
12. C69-Joseph Brown[15]; 13. 96-Nicholas Mills[16]; 14. 55-Zachary
Rains[17]; 15. 20-Preston Atkins[19]; 16. 77-Jimmy Calloway[21];
17. 10-Dan Sandiford[13]; 18. 117-Rick Beales[5]; 19. 21T-Travis
Taylor[8]; 20. 21H-Shayne Hawkins[18]; 21. 44-Logan Thomas[22];
22. 45-Colton Keasler[7]; 23. (DNS) J4-Jacob Anderson; 24. (DNS)
L13-Andy Lee
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