Ray captures Super Pro win at Sunday DER races

Church Hill driver Jesse Ray emerged victorious in a matchup of door car versus dragster in Sunday's Super Pro final of the DER Bracket Series at Bristol Dragway. Ray drove his 1969 Chevrolet Nova to the win with a package that included a 5.860-second run at 116.31 mph. He won despite his final-round opponent Vance Houston with an incredible .001 start to a .007 for Ray. Houston broke out with his dragster on a 4.548-second pass at 147.47 mph. Randall Bolden from Morristown drove his 1967 Chevrolet Camaro to the Pro win over ETSU alumnus Jake Ball. Chris Colley from Bluff City won the Sportsman race in his Pontiac Trans-Am, and Jimmy Vines from Hampton was the winner in Trophy in his Chevy Monte Carlo. Another Hampton racer, Luke Hutchinson, captured the Junior Dragster, Division 2 win. Division 1 saw Huck Horton from Rogersville win with Kaiser Eastridge from Bluff City runner-up. Forrest Radford, one of the country's top Junior Dragster racers, won in Division 3. Jayden Johnson from Elizabethton was behind the wheel of a winning Ford Ranger pickup in Junior Street. Russell Justus from Whitesburg beat Randy Justus from Piney Flats in the Motorcycle final. The Super Pro and Pro classes didn't get all the way to the end Saturday. Colley began his weekend sweep in Sportsman by winning on a holes hot against John Isom from Bristol. Randy Hatley from Piney Flats beat Nicholas Branch from Blountville in an all-Ford, all-Sullivan County Trophy final. Hatley raced a Ford F-150 to beat Branch in a Miustang. Carter McGuire won Junior Dragster, Division 1 as Eastridge was runner-up. Case Brady from Kingsport won Division 2, while Landon Bailey took Division 3 honors over Autumn Shipley from Blountville. California driver Blaine DeNunzie was the Junior Street victor in a new Jeep with a win over Adeline Porcho from Afton in the final. The final DER Bracket Series weekend is set for September 25-27. The Summit Street Fights are scheduled for Bristol Dragway this Saturday. NEWPORT SPEEDWAY Kentucky racer Terry Smith conquered the high banks of Newport Speedway last Saturday night. Smith, who started fourth, held off veteran Lee Tissot in a battle of Chevy racers in the 60-lap Limited Late Model feature at the 4/10-mile asphalt track. Polesitter Josh Goble was third as North Carolina drivers took the second through fifth spots. Kaleb Pressley and Jacob York from Asheville were fourth and fifth, one spot ahead of Bluff City's Zeke Shell. Glen Dale Holt from Hot Springs, N.C., was the Pure 4 winner with Kingsport's David "Animal" Trent second. James Powell from Asheville was third and Brayden Powers from Church Hill fourth ahead of Dwayne Smith. North Carolina racers dominated the Street Stock race. Jamie Sutton, James Dolan and Greg Bohanon Jr. took the top-three positions. Ben Shelton from White Pine was the Crown Vic winner with Newport drivers in the next three spots. Knoxville drivers Wyatt Collins and Aidan Walker finished 1-2 in Legends with Marty Roberts III from Church Hill third. Chris Corum from Luttrell won the Carolina Vintage feature over South Carolina driver Jesse Martin. Other winners were Bohanon in Super Street and Shane Poplin in Stock FWD. It's a busy weekend of local oval track racing coming up with Kingsport Speedway on Friday night, Lonesome Pine Raceway and the Volunteer Speedway dirt track on Saturday night. HOT SUMMER NIGHTS Muddy Creek Raceway hosted two days of the Hot Summer Nights Supercross Series action last weekend. Memphis Scott from the other end of the state in Johnson City swept the weekend in the 250 D class. He also rode his Kawasaki to a runner-up finish in Unlimited D on Sunday. Ryder Hill from Jonesborough won the second Moto and the Unlimited C class on Saturday. He finished second to Bristol's Zach Carter on Sunday. Brandon Hughes from Roan Mountain rode his Kawasaki to the win in 40+, and finished second in the 35+ class on both days. Chris Furches from Jonesborough was Sunday's ATV Open winner. Veteran Eddie Branch from Bristol won Sunday's 60+ races. The Hot Summer Nights Series returns September 12 at Cathey's Creek MX in Forest City, N.C.