Skip Arp
and Justin Smith Take $3,000 Mayhem Wins
(May
28, 2022) Smoky Mountain Speedway held the 4th annual
Memorial Day weekend event featuring the American All-Stars Series
and the Topless Outlaw Late Model Series. Justin Smith was the
surprise winner of the American All-Stars 40-lap race. Surprising
because Smith had failed to make the field for his previous AASS
attempts. The Kentucky driver served notice early he was the man
to beat. After pacing the field in hot laps, Smith backed it up
by setting fast time among the 22 entrants. Smith won the fast
car dash to win the pole for the race. (MRM
Racing Photo)
Smith wasted no time in jumping to the lead as the green flag
waved over the field. Rusty Ballenger and Matt Henderson battled
for second. Following a quick caution at the end of lap 1, the
battle for second resumed between Ballenger and Henderson. As
Trevor Sise held the fourth spot, Zach Sise and Brandon Miller
spent a number of laps racing for fifth. Henderson grabbed second
from Ballenger just before another caution waved on lap 6. Henderson
had no luck in challenging Smith once the race resumed.
Another caution came out on lap 17. On the restart, Henderson
was able to pull beside Smith for the lead. Henderson was unable
to take the lead, but stalked Smith for several laps before Smith
pulled away once again. As the laps wound down, Trevor Sise took
second from Henderson. A few laps later, brother Zach Sise also
passed Henderson to love up to third place. Smith easily wins
the race as the Sise brothers finished second and third.
1. Justin Smith (7S), 2. Trevor Sise (73), 3. Zach Sise (9S),
4. Matt Henderson (17), 5. Rusty Ballenger (29B), 6. Matt Shannon
(15), 7. Hayden Cardwell(r) (22), 8. Josh Henry (B00), 9. Benji
Hicks (55H), 10. Henry Hornsby Iii (39), 11. Terry Poore (2P),
12. Chris Chandler (8), 13. Ricky Greene(r) (18G), 14. Aaron Kirby
(91), 15. Brandon Miller (89), 16. Chris Coffey (97), 17. Bradley
Lewelling (10B), 18. Tyler Price (7T), 19. William Blankenship
(32), 20. Jordan Hedger (94), 21. Logan Walls(r) (14W), 22. Dakota
James Smith (3D)
The
Topless Outlaws took to the track for their own 40-lap feature.
Hall of fame driver Skip Arp set fast time among the 16 cars signed
in to earn the pole position over Cameron Weaver. As the race
started, Arp shot to the lead as Weaver and Chase King battled
for second. Weaver took second and settled in several car lengths
behind Arp. Jason Manley briefly moved into third and challenged
Weaver for second. Weaver held on and King passed Manley to retake
third. (MRM
Racing Photo)
As the top four remained unchanged, the first caution waved on
lap 22 as Kyle Courtney got into Manley in a battle for fourth.
Courtney was charged with the caution and Manley maintained fourth.
On the restart, another caution came out as several cars made
contact on the front stretch. After a brief red flag, the field
was lined up and restarted. Weaver made a dive to the bottom in
turns 1 and 2 to move beside Arp. Weaver challenged Arp for the
lead for the next three laps before Arp finally pulled away from
Weaver. Arp cruised to the win over Weaver and King.
1. 31-Skip Arp[1]; 2. 116W-Cameron Weaver[2]; 3. 44-Chase King[3];
4. 32-Jason Manley[4]; 5. 116-Jake Whitehead[5]; 6. 171-Kyle Courtney[10];
7. 27-Brad Berry[9]; 8. 28-Jeff Wolfenbarger[6]; 9. 17-Trey Miller[14];
10. 16-Brad Lowe[8]; 11. 34-Ellery Leake[16]; 12. (DNF) 00-Ruben
Mayfield[12]; 13. (DNF) 00W-Kelvin White[13]; 14. (DNF) 7-Bill
Norwood[15]; 15. (DNF) 51-Jed Emert[7]; 16. (DQ) C11-Cody Courtney[11]
Brad Seagle picked up the win in the sportsman late model feature.
Seagle set fast time in qualifying over Kip Sawyer. Seagle got
the early lead over Sawyer as Jed Emert moved into third. Emert
battled Sawyer for second, but Sawyer was able to hold off the
challenge. Dustin Ratliff took third from Emert and moved close
to Sawyer in a bid for second. As Seagle took the checkered flag,
Sawyer held off Rattliff for second.
1. 31-Brad Seagle[1]; 2. 44-Kip Sawyer[2]; 3. 10-Dustin Ratliff[4];
4. 40H-Hunter Kerr[5]; 5. 98-Jed Emert[3]; 6. 9-Dustin Bunch[7];
7. (DNF) 78-Chris Webb[9]; 8. (DNF) 5C-Joshua Chesney[8]; 9. (DNF)
15-Bryan Cooper[6]
Cody Rector dominated the front wheel drive feature after Dustin
Duncan dropped out a couple of laps into the 15-lap feature. Travis
Weeks finished second and Daniel Hunt came from 6th starting spot
to finish third.
The next race for Smoky Mountain Speedway is June 17-18 when
the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series visits for the Mountain Moonshine
Classic. A pair of $5,000 to win features take place on June 17
and the $50,000 to win main event takes place on June 18.
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