Shell, Lane, Byington, Ball, Sykes visit victory lane at Kingsport Speedway

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With sun brightly shining around Northeast Tennessee on Friday and temperature in mid-80s, a great crowd came out for NASCAR Whelen All-American Series racing in the Model City at Kingsport Speedway.

Zeke Shell of Johnson City captured his second straight Late Model Stock Car win, while Trey Lane of Kingsport recorded the Modified Street win.

Billy Byington of Kingsport won the Pure 4 feature, while Brad Ball of Abingdon, Va., recorded the Mod 4 victory, with Joey Sykes of Dante, Va., taking home the Pure Street win.

Zeke Shell set fast-time in Late Model Stock Car qualifying at 15.063, with Kres VanDyke close behind at 15.089. With the roll of the dice producing an invert of the top four from time trials, Jeff Maupin and Nik Williams led the 14-car field to green from the front row.

Williams jumped out to the lead over Maupin, Shell, VanDyke and Robbie Ferguson. Shell quickly got around Maupin for second on lap 2 racing off the fourth turn. Besides the action inside the top five, from sixth back to 11th the racing was intense involving Joey Trent, Wayne Hale, Derek Lane, Dillon Hodge, Bryson Dennis and Darin Silver.

VanDyke was pressuring Maupin for the third spot and on lap 8 racing up off (turn) two they made contact with each getting out of shape before reeling their mounts back in, with both maintaining their position. VanDyke got alongside Maupin on lap 16 and over the next couple of circuits they raced side-by-side before VanDyke moved into third.

After riding on leader Williams’ back bumper since early in the race, Shell turned up the heat wanting to move ahead. Racing down the front straightaway into the first turn on lap 21, Shell got to the inside of Williams to challenge for the lead. Over the next lap-and-a-half they raced side-by-side before Shell would power into a lead he would never relinquish on lap 23.

The event’s only caution waved on lap 32 when Trent spun between turns one and two following contact racing hard with Hale, Maupin and Lane for position, which erased an almost full-straightaway advantage Shell and Williams held over VanDyke and Ferguson.

Off the ensuing double-file restart Shell moved back out into the lead, while behind him VanDyke passed Williams to move into second place. With the race running clean-and-green and leader Shell and VanDyke setting a blistering pace out front, as they worked some slower traffic with five laps remaining VanDyke closed to within a car length of Shell.

But Shell would not be denied his second straight win as he held off the hard-charging VanDyke, Williams, Ferguson and Hale for the trip to victory lane. … Completing the top 10 finishers were Lane, Hodge, Silver, Trent and Maupin.

Trey Lane and Joshua Gobble started from the front row in the 30-lap Modified Street feature and battled for lead throughout the race in an event that saw the caution flag wave on several occasions.

Each time off the double-file restarts Lane and Gobble ran multiple laps door-to-door, while Lane eventually would move to the point. The final caution waved on lap 26 when Alex Miller and Joey Sykes wrecked in turn two.

Lane quickly grabbed the lead over Gobble going back green and held on to capture his first win of the season. Lane was chased to the checkered flag by Gobble, Paul Shull, Chase Dixon and Kirby Gobble.

Kenny Absher and his teammate Billy Byington were in command running one-two battling for the Pure 4 victory. Absher crossed the start-finish line taking the checkered flag over Byington, but during post-race technical inspection Absher was disqualified for being light at the scales. Making just his first start of the season, Byington recorded the win over Bruce Crumbley, Brandon Sutherland, William Hale and Dennis Stanley.

David Brown grabbed lead at start of the 30-lap Mod 4 feature over Kevin Canter and Brad Ball. Canter rolled around Brown to take lead on lap 8. A strong outing for Brown ended on lap 22 when he spun in turn two bringing out the caution.

Another late-race yellow set up a classic green-white-checkered shootout for the cherished trip to victory lane, but also bragging rights. Canter and Ball raced side-by-side on the final lap into the third turn, and in racing it’s said “rubbin’ is racin’” and the duo brought fans to their feet as Ball narrowly edged Canter for his second win on the season. Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were Zack Fritz, Billy Duty and Mitch Gibson.

Joey Sykes cruised to his second consecutive Pure Street win over David Strong, Jay Swecker, Jason Herron and Ricky Payne.

KINGSPORT SPEEDWAY – FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018

NASCAR WHELEN ALL-AMERICAN SERIES – LATE MODEL STOCK CAR (60 laps)

1. Zeke Shell #1-Johnson City, TN
2. Kres VanDyke #15-Abingdon, VA
3. Nik Williams #32-Greeneville, TN
4. Robbie Ferguson #7-Jonesborough, TN
5. Wayne Hale #19-Bluff City, TN
6. Derek Lane #28-Kingsport, TN
7. Dillon Hodge #5-Kingsport, TN
8. Darin Silver #12-Spruce Pine, NC
9. Joey Trent #26-Gray, TN
10. Jeff Maupin #0-Greeneville, TN
11. Billy Light #8-Bluff City, TN
12. Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
13. Bryson Dennis #15-Greeneville, TN
14 Allen Hawkins #14-Kingsport, TN

MODIFIED STREET (30 laps)

1. Trey Lane #9
2. Joshua Gobble #88
3. Paul Shull #48
4. Chase Dixon #07
5. Kirby Gobble #63
6. Chris Tunnell #6
7. Hannah Seal #55
8. Gene Griffey #1
9. Joey Sykes #22
10. Rusty Clendenin #27
11. Alex Miller #37
12. Steven Roark #27
13. Dennis Deese #24
14. Royce Peters #42
15. T.J. O’Quinn #00
16. Sam Hurd #44

PURE 4 (30 laps)

1. Billy Byington #11
2. Bruce Crumbley #33
3. Brandon Sutherland #48
4. William Hale #47
5. Dennis Stanley #21
6. Paul Stanley #40
7. Chad Jeffers #38
8. Jimmy Thomas #20
9. Craig Phelps #00
10. David Trent #57
11. Josh Collins #77
12. Josh Detwiler #38
13. Richard Isaacs #7
14. Nasty Jones #13
15. Larry Stapleton #15
16. Anthony Watson #91
17. Todd Duff #16
18. Hannah Ottinger #7

Did Not Pass Post-Race Technical Inspection: Kenny Absher #11

MOD 4 (30 laps)

1. Brad Ball #17
2. Kevin Canter #3
3. Zack Fritz #22
4. Billy Duty #1
5. Mitch Gibson #06
6. Chris Coleman #20
7. Dennis Arnold #7
8. Larry Bowens #18
9. James Deese #14
10. Greg Clevenger #12
11. Jessie Amburgey #7
12. David Brown #13
13. Chris Amburgey #17
14. Dalton Thomas #22

PURE STREET (25 laps)

1. Joey Sykes #23
2. David Strong #53
3. Jay Swecker #77
4. Jason Herron #7
5. Ricky Payne #1
6. Jessica Payne #12
7. Anitra Little #74
8. Penny Hurd #11
9. Chris Neeley #2

KPS PR

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