Lonesome Pine crowns champs, Kingsport next

Lonesome Pine Raceway crowned its track champions last Saturday. Championship night at Kingsport Speedway is scheduled for Friday. Kingsport driver John Ketron and Fall Branch racer Daniel McMurray were champions in the Pure 4 and Crown Vic classes, respectively, at Lonesome Pine. Ketron, the 2023 NASCAR Division 3 National Champion, won nine of 11 Pure 4 races at the 3/8-mile asphalt oval to beat Steven Watts for the track title. Watts, who has dominated action at Kingsport, won the other two races and finished runner-up. They ran 1-2 in a small field of cars last Saturday. McMurray had trouble Saturday night, but was able to outdistance Trace Marshall and race winner Matthew Shelton for the championship. Keith McMurray, Daniel's brother, was second to Shelton in the race with Steve Owens Jr. third. Kyle Dudley from Roanoke, Va., won the first of two Late Model Stock features with track champion Chase Dixon from Abingdon second and Kingsport driver Brad Housewright third. Joey Owens from Clintwood won the nightcap with Housewright and Dixon in the next two spots. Dudley also won the Limited Late Model feature with Ohio racer Jonathan Shafer second and track champion Lance Gatlin from Morristown third. Kevin Canter from Abingdon won the Mod 4 race and captured his 15th local track championship. Joe White was second with Chris Amburgey third. James Mullins from Bassett, Va., held off brothers Tristen Barnes and Kyle Barnes to win Super Street. Fourth-place finisher Joshua Gobble took the track championship. Rob Austin battled past Kirby Gobble in Street Stock. Tony Dockery was third, one spot ahead of track champion Joey Sykes. Tyler Swecker from Gate City held off Kingsport driver Joshua Collins in Stock FWD for the race win and track championship. Beach Molinary finished third. Lonesome Pine Raceway is scheduled to host the inaugural Coalfield Classic on Oct. 31 with 400 laps of racing action. KINGSPORT SPEEDWAY Grandstands open at 5 p.m. Friday for Championship Night at the "Concrete Jungle." There will be practice and qualifying with racing action scheduled for 8 p.m. North Carolina driver Ashton Higgins has already clinched the Late Model title with 14 wins and a 68-point lead over Derek Lane. His cousin, Cope Higgins, is in the driver's seat in the Super Street class. Rob Austin is in good position to repeat as Street Stock champion with a 22-point lead over Ryan Lark. Rocky Yates will likely keep his son, Kevin Canter, from doubling up with track titles at Lonesome Pine and Kingsport. Watts has already clinched the Pure 4 title with Kingsport drivers rounding out the top five positions. Swecker will win the Stock FWD title with Cody Hilton second. Keith McMurray also has a commanding lead over brother Daniel in the Crown Vic standings. NEWPORT SPEEDWAY Zeke Shell from Bluff City won the Limited Late Model feature at Newport Speedway last Saturday by holding off Lee Tissot and Jacob York. Shell, the reigning NASCAR Tennessee State Champion, won for the second time this season. Josh Goble won the Super Trucks feature in a field of North Carolina racers. Jacob Hayes was second with Kaleb Pressley third. James Powell from Asheville won the Pure 4 feature. Georgia driver Adam Pruett was second with Kingsport driver David Trent third. Other winners included: James Faulkner in Legends and Michael Lipe in Crown Vic. Newport Speedway is hosting the CARS Tour on Oct. 3 with NASCAR Hall of Fame drivers Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. scheduled to compete. BRISTOL DRAGWAY Thunder Valley played host to the World Footbrake Challenge with Kentucky racer Charlie Lockhart starting off the festivities with a $4,000-to-win Gamblers race victory on Thursday. Lockhart, a multiple track champion, ran dead-on in his Chevy S-10 pickup for his sixth win in these events. Lockhart was among some of the last contenders on Friday, but North Carolina driver Rodney Finchum claimed the $15,000 winner's purse in his fast Ford Ranchero. It was an emotional win as Finchum's father, Freddy, owned the car before he died earlier this year. Steve Collier drove another Chevy S-10 to a $3,000 Gamblers win on Friday. New Jersey driver Dave Harvey Jr., a multi-time winner at Bristol, drove his Plymouth Valiant to the $15,000 win in Saturday's main event. Virginia racer Randy Biddle Jr. won the $3,000 Gamblers race. Virginia racer Kris Bunch capped off the weekend with a $15,000 victory on Sunday. Both he and runner-up Chris Strange were dead-on with their runs, but a better start by Bunch was the difference. Local drag racing returns with the DER Bracket Series on Sept. 25-27.