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Allen Champ banks Tazewell Speedway "Crate Late Model Special" victory
Justin HowardTazewell, Tenn. (April 29)- Allen Champ of Morristown, TN and Brad Hall of Knoxville kept
Tazewell Speedway fans on their feet during the thirty-five lap ‘Crate Late Model Special’ feature as the two battled for
the lead during the last five laps with Champ overtaking the lead on lap thirty-one and going on to hold off a hard
charging Brad Hall to take home the win during his first visit to Tazewell Speedway.
Allen Champ and Kelly Glass paced the Crate Late Model field to the green flag with Kelly Glass winning
the drag race into turn one. With Champ’s nose under Glass’ bumper the first two laps, the first caution of the event
was shown on lap two as Greg Burchett looped his ride around coming out of turn four causing Chris Manning to make
contact with Burchett placing heavy damage to his ride sending Manning pit-side for the night. The top-five on the
restart were: Glass, Champ, Hall, Jeff Treece, and Warren McMahan.Going back green, the battle for second started
heating up as Champ was placing pressure on Glass for the lead, Champ edged his nose to the inside of Glass in turn
two as Glass and Champ slipped up the race track, it opened up the door for Hall ease his way into the lead as Glass
held onto second, McMahan worked his way around Champ to overtake the third running position.Jeff Treece spun in
turn two and went pit-side ending his stellar run on lap four, but the race remained under the green flag.With Hall
setting sail out front on lap five, Warren McMahan, Kelly Glass, Allen Champ, and Harry Cadmus filled out of the top
five running positions. Glass and Champ quicky picked off McMahan on lap seven.Hall looked to have ‘checked out’ on
the field by lap nine as the battle behind him was heating up between Kelly Glass and Allen Champ, Champ went to the
inside of Glass on lap ten and overtook second with McMahan and Cadmus filling in the final top-five running positions.
Hall continued to dominate the race as he had made his way through the field and was lapping the fifth place car of
Cadmus on lap twenty, holding a straightaway lead over second placeman Allen Champ.The caution flag was shown
again on lap twenty-three for debris on the racing surface as Kelly Glass went pit-side with apparent mechanical issues.
The top-five on the restart were: Brad Hall, Allen Champ, Warren McMahan, Harry Cadmus, and Ricky Moore.Allen
Champ wasted no time on the restart as he quickly went to the outside of Brad Hall vying to overtake the point in turn
two before placing his nose under Hall’s bumper and riding it for the next two circuits. With the fans on their feet,
Champ went for the lead again on lap twenty-seven as the two were running door to door at the line on lap twenty-
seven as Champ lost some momentum coming out of turn two letting Hall place some distance between the two.
Another caution was shown on lap twenty-eight for debris high in turn two.The top-five on the restart were Hall, Champ,
McMahan, Cadmus, and Ricky MooreAllen Champ quickly drove to the inside of Hall on the restart as the duo battled
the entire twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth circuits. With the Hall & Champ running side-by-side at the line to begin the
thirtieth-lap, Champ went to the inside of Hall in turn two, and as the two made contact, Allen Champ maneuvered his
way into the lead.Brad Hall mounted several challenges on Champ during the last five laps of the feature, but it just
wasn’t enough as Champ went on to capture the "Crate Late Model Special" piloting the Jerry's Automotive/Airport
Tire/MSD Ignition/Auto Meter Competition Instruments/R.J.S. Racing Equipment Inc/ Wilwood Disc Brakes/ TCI
Circlematic/ Earl’s Performance Plumbing/Holley HP Carbs/ RaceFab/RaceGraphics/ No. 11c Chevy Monte Carlo GRT
followed by: Brad Hall, Warren McMahan, Harry Cadmus, and Ricky Moore.
Ball leads flag-to-flag for Volunteer Speedway Fastrak Racing Series victory
By Robert Walden
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (Sept. 29) — The Carnesville, Ga.-based Fastrak Racing Series touring Crate Late Models were
making their third appearance of the season at Volunteer Speedway on Saturday night for a $2,000-to-win combined
Southern and Mideast regional points event. Dale Ball of Johnson City, Tenn., led flag-to-flag to capture his first-ever
Fastrak touring victory.
But the spotlight was also on John Llewellyn of Knoxville, Tenn., who entered the event in position to capture both the
Southern and Mideast regional titles, as he stood atop the points leaderboard ahead of Lee Cooper of Greer, S.C.,
and David McCoy of Franklin, N.C. With each Fastrak regional champion to receive $5,000, all Llewellyn had to do was
finish ahead of Cooper and McCoy in the feature. And he did, by one position … thus sewing up the championships in
each region, and pocketing $10,000.
Shanon Buckingham was fast-qualifier over the 35 Fastrak cars present, running a lap of 13.672-seconds. But that
didn’t guarantee him the pole position for the $2,000-to-win feature. The top-six in qualifying were Buckingham, Shane
Roberts, Bobby Mays, Dale Ball, Allen Champ and Jerry Broyles. Following the Quick Six draw for starting spots prior
to the start of the 50 lap main, Roberts was selected for the pole and Ball the outside front-row position. Row two
consisted of Broyles and Mays, with Champ and Buckingham starting from the third row.
By virtue of being selected to start from the outside pole, Ball used his front-row starting berth to his advantage. The
46-year-old veteran driver had been out of racing since June following an accident while riding his horse. But back
behind the wheel of his Smith Brothers Harley-Davidson of Johnson City/Alan Poyner Enterprises/Mainline
Communications/Jim Schweitzer Inc./Broyles Tire/Twin D Auto & Truck Sales/Tri-City Rubber & Gasket Co./Advance
Auto Parts/Bilstein Shocks/Steve “The Man” Williams/Bill Curl Racing Engines/Warrior Race Cars/No. 2 Pontiac GTO,
he felt right at home.
The first attempt to start the race was quickly red-flagged for a multi-car wreck at the end of the front straightaway
entering the first turn that involved 15 of the 24 starters, with several machines suffering extensive damage. The
second try to get the race under green also produced another multi-car tangle just past the flagstand. For the third
attempt to go green, and with only 16 of the original 24 qualifiers still on the track, the race began single-file.
Roberts was moved to the rear of the field for a Fastrak race procedure rules violation, thus putting Ball out front on
the point followed by Broyles, Mays, Champ and Buckingham. With the green flag waving, Ball was hounded initially by
Broyles, who had Mays glued to his rear bumper. Champ was also being pressured for the fourth spot by Buckingham,
who got his car sideways between turns one and two on lap 10 while sticking his nose underneath Champ wanting the
position. Before he reeled his mount back in, Llewellyn sped past to move into fifth dropping Buckingham back to sixth
in the running order.
Ball had pulled out to an eight car-length advantage over Broyles and Mays. Mays was working Broyles over trying to
take away second place, and on lap 11 racing off the fourth turn he completed the pass for position. Just three circuits
later Broyles dropped back another spot, as Champ passed him to move into third.
Mays, the current track Crate Late Model points leader and a winner of five features in 2007, closed to Ball’s rear
bumper by lap 20. Looking to the outside and also sneaking peeks to the inside, Mays was applying heat on Ball for
the point. Racing down the backstretch into the third turn on lap 25, Mays looked to the inside of the race leader Ball
entering the corner.
With Ball protecting his ground and Mays wanting the lead, between turns three and four contact was made. In a
racing incident Mays’s right-front tire/wheel touched Ball’s left-rear wheel with Mays spinning at the exit of the fourth
turn. With right-front suspension damage Mays’ strong run ended as he slowly pulled into the pits.
The top five going back green were Ball, Champ, Broyles, Buckingham and Llewellyn. With only 13 cars remaining in
the race, out front Ball had a clear view. But he also had a hard-charging Champ riding in his rearview mirror. Champ
appeared to have a quicker car as he began sizing Ball up for the right moment to make a pass for the lead.
Getting a good run on the inside of Ball racing off turn two on lap 35, it appeared Champ might make his move at the
opposite end of the track. But between turns three and four, all at once Champ’s car just shot up the track from down
on the inside. Having to get out of the throttle to reel his mount back in, he lost valuable real estate to Ball. However, in
just two laps he once again closed back in on Ball.
With Ball and Champ having pulled out to comfortable margin over Broyles and Buckingham, Buckingham worked
around Broyles to take away the third spot on lap 41 racing into the first turn. But as the laps wound down, Ball held off
Champ and Buckingham for the $2,000 victory, with Broyles and Llewellyn finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Lee Cooper, Vic Chandler, Shane Roberts, Chris Chandler and Jason
Trammell.
“It feels really good getting to race again after being away for a couple of months,” said a smiling Ball after climbing
from his car in victory lane. We had a really good car tonight, but we also caught some lucky breaks too. We were
quite fortunate in the draw among the top-six qualifiers to get the outside front-row starting spot. I guess that’s what
you call the ‘luck of the draw’ working in your favor. During our weekly racing events we’re just used to starting where
we qualify, and this drawing for starting positions really hurt (Shanon) Buckingham tonight as he had to start sixth.
“Besides being selected to start on the front row, another lucky break for us was when Shane (Roberts) got put to the
rear of the field when we started the race single-file. When you can start all alone out front it definitely works to your
advantage, because it’s so tough to pass in these (crate-engine) cars because every competitor has the same
powerplant under the hood. You’ve really got to have a good-handling car, and tonight ours was very good. I could
basically run wherever I needed to on the track. Being a racer myself and knowing what it’s like having to work on your
equipment following a wreck, you sure hate seeing so many competitors get collected in those wrecks before we could
even get one lap completed and tear their stuff up. I really want to thank my car owner Alan Poyner and also my uncle
(Robert Ball) for working on the race car all the time, along with Steve Williams, Jason Smith, Jim Schweitzer and my
wife and daughters for their support.”
By Robert Walden
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (Sept. 29) — The Carnesville, Ga.-based Fastrak Racing Series touring Crate Late Models were
making their third appearance of the season at Volunteer Speedway on Saturday night for a $2,000-to-win combined
Southern and Mideast regional points event. Dale Ball of Johnson City, Tenn., led flag-to-flag to capture his first-ever
Fastrak touring victory.
But the spotlight was also on John Llewellyn of Knoxville, Tenn., who entered the event in position to capture both the
Southern and Mideast regional titles, as he stood atop the points leaderboard ahead of Lee Cooper of Greer, S.C.,
and David McCoy of Franklin, N.C. With each Fastrak regional champion to receive $5,000, all Llewellyn had to do was
finish ahead of Cooper and McCoy in the feature. And he did, by one position … thus sewing up the championships in
each region, and pocketing $10,000.
Shanon Buckingham was fast-qualifier over the 35 Fastrak cars present, running a lap of 13.672-seconds. But that
didn’t guarantee him the pole position for the $2,000-to-win feature. The top-six in qualifying were Buckingham, Shane
Roberts, Bobby Mays, Dale Ball, Allen Champ and Jerry Broyles. Following the Quick Six draw for starting spots prior
to the start of the 50 lap main, Roberts was selected for the pole and Ball the outside front-row position. Row two
consisted of Broyles and Mays, with Champ and Buckingham starting from the third row.
By virtue of being selected to start from the outside pole, Ball used his front-row starting berth to his advantage. The
46-year-old veteran driver had been out of racing since June following an accident while riding his horse. But back
behind the wheel of his Smith Brothers Harley-Davidson of Johnson City/Alan Poyner Enterprises/Mainline
Communications/Jim Schweitzer Inc./Broyles Tire/Twin D Auto & Truck Sales/Tri-City Rubber & Gasket Co./Advance
Auto Parts/Bilstein Shocks/Steve “The Man” Williams/Bill Curl Racing Engines/Warrior Race Cars/No. 2 Pontiac GTO,
he felt right at home.
The first attempt to start the race was quickly red-flagged for a multi-car wreck at the end of the front straightaway
entering the first turn that involved 15 of the 24 starters, with several machines suffering extensive damage. The
second try to get the race under green also produced another multi-car tangle just past the flagstand. For the third
attempt to go green, and with only 16 of the original 24 qualifiers still on the track, the race began single-file.
Roberts was moved to the rear of the field for a Fastrak race procedure rules violation, thus putting Ball out front on
the point followed by Broyles, Mays, Champ and Buckingham. With the green flag waving, Ball was hounded initially by
Broyles, who had Mays glued to his rear bumper. Champ was also being pressured for the fourth spot by Buckingham,
who got his car sideways between turns one and two on lap 10 while sticking his nose underneath Champ wanting the
position. Before he reeled his mount back in, Llewellyn sped past to move into fifth dropping Buckingham back to sixth
in the running order.
Ball had pulled out to an eight car-length advantage over Broyles and Mays. Mays was working Broyles over trying to
take away second place, and on lap 11 racing off the fourth turn he completed the pass for position. Just three circuits
later Broyles dropped back another spot, as Champ passed him to move into third.
Mays, the current track Crate Late Model points leader and a winner of five features in 2007, closed to Ball’s rear
bumper by lap 20. Looking to the outside and also sneaking peeks to the inside, Mays was applying heat on Ball for
the point. Racing down the backstretch into the third turn on lap 25, Mays looked to the inside of the race leader Ball
entering the corner.
With Ball protecting his ground and Mays wanting the lead, between turns three and four contact was made. In a
racing incident Mays’s right-front tire/wheel touched Ball’s left-rear wheel with Mays spinning at the exit of the fourth
turn. With right-front suspension damage Mays’ strong run ended as he slowly pulled into the pits.
The top five going back green were Ball, Champ, Broyles, Buckingham and Llewellyn. With only 13 cars remaining in
the race, out front Ball had a clear view. But he also had a hard-charging Champ riding in his rearview mirror. Champ
appeared to have a quicker car as he began sizing Ball up for the right moment to make a pass for the lead.
Getting a good run on the inside of Ball racing off turn two on lap 35, it appeared Champ might make his move at the
opposite end of the track. But between turns three and four, all at once Champ’s car just shot up the track from down
on the inside. Having to get out of the throttle to reel his mount back in, he lost valuable real estate to Ball. However, in
just two laps he once again closed back in on Ball.
With Ball and Champ having pulled out to comfortable margin over Broyles and Buckingham, Buckingham worked
around Broyles to take away the third spot on lap 41 racing into the first turn. But as the laps wound down, Ball held off
Champ and Buckingham for the $2,000 victory, with Broyles and Llewellyn finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Lee Cooper, Vic Chandler, Shane Roberts, Chris Chandler and Jason
Trammell.
“It feels really good getting to race again after being away for a couple of months,” said a smiling Ball after climbing
from his car in victory lane. We had a really good car tonight, but we also caught some lucky breaks too. We were
quite fortunate in the draw among the top-six qualifiers to get the outside front-row starting spot. I guess that’s what
you call the ‘luck of the draw’ working in your favor. During our weekly racing events we’re just used to starting where
we qualify, and this drawing for starting positions really hurt (Shanon) Buckingham tonight as he had to start sixth.
“Besides being selected to start on the front row, another lucky break for us was when Shane (Roberts) got put to the
rear of the field when we started the race single-file. When you can start all alone out front it definitely works to your
advantage, because it’s so tough to pass in these (crate-engine) cars because every competitor has the same
powerplant under the hood. You’ve really got to have a good-handling car, and tonight ours was very good. I could
basically run wherever I needed to on the track. Being a racer myself and knowing what it’s like having to work on your
equipment following a wreck, you sure hate seeing so many competitors get collected in those wrecks before we could
even get one lap completed and tear their stuff up. I really want to thank my car owner Alan Poyner and also my uncle
(Robert Ball) for working on the race car all the time, along with Steve Williams, Jason Smith, Jim Schweitzer and my
wife and daughters for their support.”
FASTRAK RACING SERIES CRATE LATE MODELS (50 laps)
1) Dale Ball #2, 2) Allen Champ #11c, 3) Shanon Buckingham #50, 4) Jerry Broyles #72, 5) John Llewellyn #90, 6) Lee
Cooper #57, 7) Vic Chandler #88, 8) Shane Roberts #17s, 9) Chris Chandler #8, 10) Jason Trammell #91, 11) Joey
McCoy #97, 12) Anthony Arnwine #11a, 13) A.J. Watson #99, 14) Bobby Mays #19, 15) Jason Lawrence #54, 16)
Greg Burchett #17, 17) Jensen Ford #83, 18) Luke Laney #9, 19) Warren McMahan #33, 20) Matt Long #25, 21) Brad
Kenyon #98, 22) Chuck Laney #91, 23) Todd Brooks #T1, 24) David McCoy #187
Failed To Transfer Into Starting Lineup: Tony Trent #18, Ricky Moore #75, Brad Dyer #20, Kelly Glass #01, James
Cole #5, Bobby Sexton #99, Josh Henry #B00, Joe “Dirt” Good #911, Hugh “Wishbone” Scalf #56, Casey Greenlee
#02, Wendell Petty #43
1) Dale Ball #2, 2) Allen Champ #11c, 3) Shanon Buckingham #50, 4) Jerry Broyles #72, 5) John Llewellyn #90, 6) Lee
Cooper #57, 7) Vic Chandler #88, 8) Shane Roberts #17s, 9) Chris Chandler #8, 10) Jason Trammell #91, 11) Joey
McCoy #97, 12) Anthony Arnwine #11a, 13) A.J. Watson #99, 14) Bobby Mays #19, 15) Jason Lawrence #54, 16)
Greg Burchett #17, 17) Jensen Ford #83, 18) Luke Laney #9, 19) Warren McMahan #33, 20) Matt Long #25, 21) Brad
Kenyon #98, 22) Chuck Laney #91, 23) Todd Brooks #T1, 24) David McCoy #187
Failed To Transfer Into Starting Lineup: Tony Trent #18, Ricky Moore #75, Brad Dyer #20, Kelly Glass #01, James
Cole #5, Bobby Sexton #99, Josh Henry #B00, Joe “Dirt” Good #911, Hugh “Wishbone” Scalf #56, Casey Greenlee
#02, Wendell Petty #43