Woods, Peters, Crumbley, Canter, Sykes, Mullins visit victory lane at Kingsport Speedway

By Robert Walden
Kingsport Speedway – Media/Public Relations

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (June 30, 2018) — There are milestone dates in people’s lives, and Hayden Woods of Piney Flats will never forget the date of June 30, 2018. Making just his fourth start of the season, the 22-year-old Woods wrote his name in the Kingsport Speedway record book Friday night as he captured his first-ever NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Car feature win, his first-ever victory in a stock car.

Woods was fastest in Late Model Stock Car qualifying at 15.062 seconds, but following roll of the dice the top four from time trials were inverted. Joey Trent and Zeke Shell started from the front row, with Kres VanDyke and Woods in row two.

Shell jumped out to the lead at the start of the 60-lap feature over Trent, Woods, VanDyke and Robbie Ferguson. Woods passed Trent for second on lap 5 racing off the fourth turn, which in turn opened the door for VanDyke to slide past Trent and take the third spot. With Wayne Hale and Trey Bayne racing side-by-side for sixth, on lap 21 contact between turns one and two saw Bayne spin to bring out the event’s first caution.

It’s said in racing that cautions breed cautions, and on a full-moon night in the Model City it turned out to be a case of yellow fever.

On the ensuing double-file restart, Shell and Woods brought the field back up to speed from the front row, with VanDyke and Trent behind them in the second row. Coming up through the gears Trent appeared to miss a shift, which in turn created chaos jamming cars up on the front straightaway resulting in body damage to Dillon Hodge, Derek Lane and Bryson Dennis, with Allen Hawkins spinning in turn one to quickly bring the caution back out.

Back under green Shell was leading Woods, VanDyke and Ferguson, while a good three-car battle behind them involved Trent, Dennis and Bayne. Racing down the front straightaway into the first turn on lap 30, Trent and Dennis spun to produce a caution.

Only one lap back up to speed, with Shell once again leading Woods and VanDyke, between turns one and two VanDyke looked to the inside of Woods trying to take the position and contact sent Woods spinning to bring the caution out. Woods was forced to restart at rear of the field, while VanDyke was also relegated to the back for getting into Woods.

When racing resumed Shell was showing the way out front over Ferguson, Bayne, Trey Lane and Hodge. Between laps 31-40, there were two additional cautions for spins by Trey Lane and Kyle Lockrow.

Following the lap 31 incident between Woods and VanDyke, both drivers were working their way back to the front, and the cautions brought out by Trey Lane and Lockrow aided them in advancing forward. Woods made a bold move going three-wide with Bayne and Trent on lap 36 between turns one and two as he moved into third in the running order behind Shell and Ferguson.

Woods began working on Ferguson for second and barely held the advantage at the start-finish line the lap before Lockrow spun on lap 40, thus giving him the position through scoring. Off the restart Shell and Woods raced each other hard, but clean side-by-side for two laps before Shell moved ahead. The final caution waved on lap 44 when Hodge slowed to a stop high between turns three and four.

With Shell and Woods on the front row for the double-file restart, back under green and racing into the first turn Woods got the advantage. Racing up off (turn) two, Woods powered into a lead he would not relinquish.

Woods went on to capture the victory over Shell, VanDyke, Ferguson and Bayne. Completing the top 10 finishers were Trent, Dennis, Hale, Derek Laneand Lockrow.

Royce Peters of Kingsport, defending Modified Street track champion, grabbed the lead from Rusty Clendenin on lap 5 and remained out front to the finish in capturing his third win of the season. Clendenin and Kevin Wolfe got together on lap 23 between turns three and four while battling for second place and wrecked, ending the race for Clendenin. … Peters captured his third win of the season over 15-year-old Chase Dixon (who earned his third fast-time award in qualifying at 16.023 seconds), Alex Miller, Joey Sykes and Wolfe.

Bruce Crumbley of Kingsport grabbed lead at start of the Pure 4 feature over Brandon Sutherland and William Hale. But Keith Helton was up-on-the-wheel racing his way to the front after starting from back of the field. The trio ran nose-to-tail over the final 5 laps, with Crumbley holding on to capture his third win on the season over Sutherland, Helton, Hale and Craig Phelps.

Brad Ball and Kevin Canter of Abingdon, Va., got together on lap 18 racing off the fourth turn while battling for the lead in the Mod 4 feature and spun coming to a stop against the inside wall along the front straightaway to bring out the caution. Both were forced to restart at rear of the field, but each quickly worked their way back toward the front with Canter coming on strong to record his seventh win of the season. Canter was chased to the checkered flag by his 74-year-old grandfather Hershell Robinette, followed by Billy Duty, Ball and Zack Fritz.

Joey Sykes of Dante, Virginia, captured his fourth Pure Street feature win by outrunning Rob Austin, Dave Strong, Jay Swecker and Kevin Darnell.

Jeremy Mullins of Clintwood, Va., captured his second Vintage win on the season over William Jones, Tim Austin and Calvin Crabtree.

KINGSPORT SPEEDWAY – FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2018 – NASCAR WHELEN ALL AMERICAN SERIES

LATE MODEL STOCK CAR (60 laps)

1. Hayden Woods #87-Piney Flats, TN
2. Zeke Shell #1-Johnson City,TN
3. Kres VanDyke #15-Abingdon, VA
4. Robbie Ferguson #7-Jonesborough, TN
5. Trey Bayne #21-Knoxville,TN
6. Joey Trent #26-Gray, TN
7. Bryson Dennis #15-Greeneville, TN
8. Wayne Hale #19-Bluff City,TN
9. Derek Lane#28-Kingsport,TN
10. Kyle Lockrow #7-La Plata, MD
11. Rick Pannell #33-Kingsport, TN
12. Trey Lane#4-Kingsport,TN
13. Dillon Hodge #5-Kingsport, TN
14. Allen Hawkins #14-Kingsport, TN

Did Not Start:

Mardy Roberts #55-Kingsport, TN
Jerry Broyles #72-Jonesborough, TN
Greg Bohanon Jr. #17-Leicester, NC

MODIFIED STREET (30 laps)

1. Royce Peters #42
2. Chase Dixon #07
3. Alex Miller #37
4. Joey Sykes #22
5. Kevin Wolfe #17
6. Dennis Deese #24
7. Hannah Seal #55
8. Rusty Clendenin #27
9. Daniel McMurray #0?
10. Jason Yates #8
11. Paul Shull #48

PURE 4 (30 laps)

1. Bruce Crumbley #33
2. Brandon Sutherland #48
3. Keith Helton #9
4. William Hale #47
5. Craig Phelps #00
6. Tim Jennings #1
7. David Trent #57
8. Chris Stine #00
9. Josh Collins #77
10. Josh Detwiler #38
11. Dennis Stanley #21
12. Alexcia Ray #99
13. Richard Isaac #7
14. Joey Amburgey #53
15. Paul Stanley #40
16. Bucky Smith #X

MOD 4 (30 laps)

1. Kevin Canter #3
2. Hershell Robinette #9
3. Billy Duty #2
4. Brad Ball #17
5. Zack Fritz #33
6. Brent Compton #49
7. Chris Amburgey #17
8. Dan Conn #73
9. John Fox #94
10. Jessie Amburgey #7
11. Dennis Arnold #71
12. Chucky Williams #55

PURE STREET (25 laps)

1. Joey Sykes #23
2. Rob Austin #18
3. Dave Strong #53
4. Jay Swecker #77
5. Kevin Darnell #4
6. Jon Cook #17
7. Michael Blair #84
8. Jessica Payne #12
9. Penny Hurd #11
10. Ricky Payne #1
11. Nasty Jones #13
12. Brian Eggers #74

    VINTAGE (20 laps)

    1. Jeremy Mullins #60
    2. William Jones #8
    3. Tim Austin #11
    4. Calvin Crabtree #16

    Did Not Start: Wayne Mullins #60