Twin features for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car division highlighted the “Fast Friday at The Concrete Jungle” racing program at Kingsport Speedway, with Kres VanDyke of Abingdon, Virginia, and Zeke Shell of Johnson City, each visiting victory lane.
VanDyke was fastest in Late Model Stock Car qualifying at 15.177 seconds to earn the pole starting position for the first 35-lap feature. VanDyke grabbed the lead at start over Shell, Ronnie McCarty, Wayne Hale and Robbie Ferguson. Racing incidents early in the race parked three good competitors in Nik Williams, Austin Peters and Adam Gray.
During a long green flag stretch of racing, VanDyke was in command riding on the point leading Shell. With five laps remaining, Shell was right behind VanDyke hoping he might make the slightest mistake to open the door to get around him.
An interesting set of circumstances over the final three laps involved Ferguson and Joey Trent, who were running in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Racing into the first turn on lap 33, with Ferguson on the inside and Trent on the outside, Trent was forced up into the “loose stuff” and spun to bring the caution out and thus setting up a double-file restart with VanDyke and Shell alongside one another on the front row.
Back under green racing conditions, VanDyke took the lead over Shell. Behind them Ferguson and Hale were battling for real estate, with Derek Lane, Joshua Gobble, McCarty and Trent following. On the white flag lap between turns one and two Ferguson began to spin, and with nowhere to go Hale and Trent got collected in the three-car tangle.
With the caution flag waving the field was frozen, and VanDyke recorded his division-leading sixth feature win this season over Shell, Lane, Gobble and McCarty.
The top eight finishers from the first race were inverted for start of the second twin feature. Both Ferguson and Trent were running backup cars due to damage from the wreck, with each having to start at rear of the field.
The first attempt to go green was short-lived, with the opening lap not being completed. Trent was obviously displeased with Ferguson and the outcome in the first race, and between turns three and four contact was made with Ferguson’s car coming to stop high in the banking against the outside wall to bring the caution out.
The next try to start the race saw Hale surge into the lead over McCarty and Williams. Shell was on the move early in getting around Williams for the third spot on lap 4 racing up off (turn) two, and with the door open VanDyke got alongside Williams to overtake him for position.
McCarty made his move in getting past Hale for the lead on lap 6 racing off the fourth turn. Over the next lap and a half both Shell and VanDyke also worked their way around Hale and into second and third in the running order.
Shell began pressuring McCarty for the lead, but the two-time defending track champion McCarty was not going to give the position up without a valiant fight. Shell finally maneuvered his way past McCarty for the lead racing off the fourth turn on lap 12.
VanDyke moved behind McCarty and tried repeatedly lap-after-lap to get underneath him racing off the corners, but McCarty slammed the door shut on each occasion and wasn’t about to give the second spot up. While McCarty and VanDyke were battling, that allowed Shell to pull away from them and he cruised to a little over a half-straightaway margin of victory for his second win on the season.
Shell won over McCarty, VanDyke, Hale and Williams.
David Brown led Trey Lane and Royce Peters back around at the stripe on opening lap of the Modified Street feature. Racing into the first turn on lap 5, Brown got off into the corner carrying too much speed and drifted up the banking, allowing Lane to move into the lead over Peters and Rick Utsman.
But the strong run for Lane, who was making his first-ever Modified Street start, ended quickly on lap 8 when he suddenly slowed and entered the pits with a broken header. With Peters, of Kingsport, moving into the lead and the race running clean-and-green, behind him there was good racing involving Utsman, Brown, Jared Broadbent, Paul Shull, Kevin Wolfe and Jason Leatherwood.
Utsman stayed within striking distance should Peters make a mistake while leading, but Peters clicked off perfect laps to the finish without making any mistakes and captured his division-leading fifth victory. Peters was chased to the checkers by Utsman, Leatherwood (who charged his way forward for a third-place run after being relegated to starting at rear of the field), Brown and Broadbent.
Keith Helton grabbed lead over John Ketron and Billy Byington at start of the “Toyota of Kingsport” Pure 4 feature. Ketron passed Helton to move out front on the second lap as they raced off the fourth turn, which also opened the door for Byington to get past Helton for position.
Behind the front-running trio you had Kenny Absher, Brandon Sutherland, Jason Ketron, Chris Neeley, Billy Ketron and Bucky Smith in pursuit. Caution waved on lap 10 when Sutherland slowed to a stop high in turn four with smoke coming from under his car.
Off the double-file restart Ketron and Byington battled side-by-side for the lead, with Absher closely eyeing the situation. At end of the front straightaway racing into the first turn, Byington moved ahead of Ketron to show the way out front. A three-car tangle between turns one and two on lap 17 involving Kevin Darnell, Craig Phelps and Dustin Kester brought the race’s second caution out.
Once again back up to speed off the double-file restart, Byington and Ketron were battling for supremacy. Things got quite interesting when the duo got together racing off the second corner, with both cars getting sideways directly in front of the field. After Byington and Ketron reeled their mounts in, the fight for position resumed with Ketron taking the lead on lap 20. Just a couple of circuits later Byington slowed and entered the pits.
John Ketron of Kingsport claimed his fourth “Toyota of Kingsport” Pure 4 victory of the season over Absher, Helton, Jason Ketron and Neeley.
Billy Duty jumped out to lead over Kevin Canter and David Brown at start of the 30-lap Mod 4 feature, and paced the field the first six circuits before being passed by both Canter and Brown racing up off (turn) two down the backstretch. Brown, from Abingdon, Virginia, took the lead from Canter on lap 10 racing off the fourth turn and once out front never looked back en route to capturing his fourth straight victory, trailed to the checkered flag by Dennis Arnold, Duty, Chris Amburgey and Canter.
Jamie Meadows of Castlewood, Virginia, captured his second Pure Street feature win on the season, but the road to victory was no leisurely Friday night cruise in the Model City. Meadows held off a last-lap charge from Doug Austin as they raced off the fourth turn to the checkered flag to record the win, with Stacey Castle, Jay Swecker and Peter Alley rounding out the top five finishers.
KPS PR
