Photo Courtesy of PBO Media Productions
Nashville, Tenn., (July 17)- Local favorite Mark Day proved that home-track knowledge is tough to beat as he took a convincing victory in the Ken Ten Nashville 125 at Fairgrounds Speedway. Day, a Clarksville, Tenn., native who had a tough night in his last Ken Ten outing at Beech Bend Raceway Park, came back with a vengeance at Nashville. He began the night by capturing the ARBodies fast time award in qualifying. However, in the post qualifying re-draw, Day pulled a six. That was his only low spot of the night.
“I wasn’t too worried when we drew the six, because I knew we had a good car,” Day said. “At the start we were too loose to get around them on the outside, but I knew if we just rode a bit that it would come to us,” he added.
As Day was biding his time, others were racing with much more intensity. The first caution of the night occurred on lap 14 when Martin Belcher, from Brooks Ken., made hard contact with the inside wall on the backstretch. Belcher was unhurt, but his night was over.
A major pileup occurred on the ensuing restart. The field became bunched up coming to the green flag, and the ensuing melee left the cars of Tony Conway, Tony Ussery, Jerrod Foley, and Terry Smith piled up along the inside wall. Though all drivers walked away from their cars, the race had to be halted while the track crew cleaned off the racing surface.
The green flew again on lap 37, and five laps later, Day took his familiar spot at the front of the field.
“We were really good after the red flag. I was able to get on the outside and the car stuck. I knew we were going to be tough to beat once we got out front,” Day said.
Day remained at the front of the field until the lap 75 break, at which point the top six once again redrew their starting positions for the final sprint. This draw was much better than the first for Day, as he pulled a two, meaning he would line up on the outside of the front row.
“That worked out for us,” Day said “because I would have chosen to start on the outside anyway.”
During the break, teams were warned that the race would have to be cut short, as events at the track have an 11:30 p.m. curfew. This added even more urgency for the drivers, as they would only be given a five lap warning before the race would be considered complete.
Daniel Bolden, the winner of last year’s Nashville Ken Ten race, drew a one, putting him at the head of the field at the restart. That lead was short lived, however, as Day rocked around him to once again take the top spot. The field was slowed briefly for a spin by series point leader Tim Hollis. With the time constraints in mind, officials hurried to get the field properly lined up and back to racing. However, on the ensuing restart, cars once again bunched up, and an accident that took out Chad Willis, Davey Coble, and Blake Hillard brought out the red flag yet again, effectively bringing an end to the race. The checkered flag was displayed with 90 of the scheduled 125 laps completed.
Initally, scoring was reverted back to the previous lap; however, it was later determined that the cars involved in the final incident would be put to the rear of the lead lap in the final rundown.
“We’re happy to get the win,” Day said. “We were prepared to go the full 125 laps, but anything can happen late in the race, so we’ll take it.”
The next Ken Ten race on the schedule is at the Kentucky Motor Speedway near Owensboro. This will be Ken Ten’s first visit to the track this season.
Final Results:
1. Mark Day
2. Clay Alexander
3. Daniel Bolden
4. Michael House
5. Sterling Marlin
6. Johnny Brazier
7. Josh Weston
8. Dakota Stroup
9. Mason Mingus
10. Jeff Berg
11. TW Fisher
12. Chad Willis
13. Davey Coble
14. Blake Hillard
15. Roger Parker
16. Brian Royalty
17. Kyle Fletcher
18. Ryan Isaacs
19. Jason Jones
20. Tim Hollis
21. Jerrod Foley
22. Terry Smith
23. Tony Ussery
24. Tony Conway
25. Martin Belcher
26. Tony Sawyer
Point Standings:
1. Tim Hollis- 336
2. Brian Royalty- 312
3. Mason Mingus- 292
4. Davey Coble- 282
5. Roger Parker- 266
6. Chad Willis- 218
7. Josh Weston- 212
7. Jason Jones- 212
9. Dr. Jeff Berg- 192
10. Mark Day- 174
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