Skip Arp
Rides Away with Steel Block Bandits Win
(April
22, 2023) Hall of Famer Skip Arp added another series
win to his collection by winning Saturday’s Rockin' with
the Stars Steel Block Bandits race. Forty-seven cars signed in
vying for the $5,000 first place prize. (ZSK
Photography)
By winning his heat race, Arp started along side Jordan Roadabaugh
on the front row for the 50-lap main event. Arp quickly took the
lead and was never seriously challenged until the leader caught
slower traffic that were racing two-wide in front of the leaders.
Arp finally powered his way past the slower traffic to stretch
out to a comfortable lead. A caution on lap 47 slowed the field
to give Roadabaugh one last shot at Arp. But Arp was too strong
and easily picked up the win.
Mack McCarter was one of the big gainers finishing third after
starting seventh. McCarter made late race passes on Jason Manley
and and Ronnie Johnson to get the third place finish.
The sportsman late model feature saw Jake Whitehead fight off
an early challenge from Cody Courtney to get the win. Courtney
tried to make the outside line work. Whitehead was too strong
on the bottom and pulled away for the win.
The front wheel drive feature proved to be the race of the night.
Pole sitter James Burnette and Travis Weeks battled for the lead
for most of the 20-lap feature. Weeks got alongside Burnette on
multiple occasions. Burnette fought off those challenges to get
a close win over week.
The next event at Smoky Mountain Speedway will be the All Star
Monster Truck Tour on April 28-29. Information for that event
can be found at All
Star Monster Trucks: Knoxville TN 2023 (ticketspice.com).
The next race is Saturday, May 27 when the American Pro Late
Model All-Stars return for Mayhem at the Mountain. The Cumberland
Plateau Open Wheels, TSCRA front wheel drive and TSCRA Juniors
will also be racing.
Steel Block Bandits
1. 31-Skip Arp[1]; 2. 66-Jordan Roadabaugh[2]; 3. 71-Mack McCarter[7];
4. 5-Ronnie Johnson[5]; 5. 32-Jason Manley[4]; 6. 29-Rusty Ballenger[6];
7. 24-Anthony White Jr[3]; 8. 44-Chase King[12]; 9. 51-Jed Emert[13];
10. B8-Tyler Bare[8]; 11. P1-Jeff Parsons[18]; 12. 9E-Robbie Emory[19];
13. 74-Derick Quade[9]; 14. 44O-John Ownbey[20]; 15. 3-Austin
Neely[16]; 16. D5-Drew Collins[22]; 17. 72-Derrick Rankin[15];
18. 56H-Jordan Horton[14]; 19. 72L-Barrett Lowe[17]; 20. 7-Dan
Breuer[23]; 21. 20-Samuel Bryant[24]; 22. 18-Kyle Courtney[11];
23. 002-Tyler Arrington[21]; 24. 7B-Shane Bailey[25]; 25. 97-Bobby
Giffin[10]
Sportsman Late Models
1. 116-Jake Whitehead[1]; 2. C9-Cody Courtney[2]; 3. 98-Jed Emert[3];
4. 50-Adam Mitchell[4]; 5. 2D-Darren Goins[5]; 6. 31S-Brad Seagle[7];
7. 31-Wes Tilley[6]; 8. 6-Jonathan Ingram[8]; 9. 10-James Parrott[9];
10. 3-David Beeler[11]; 11. 16-Micah Jones[14]; 12. 28-Kelvin
White[10]; 13. 3S-Shane Starnes[12]; 14. 11-Jeff McLemore[13]
Front Wheel Drive
1. 18-James Burnette[1]; 2. 85-Travis Weeks[2]; 3. 21T-Travis
Taylor[6]; 4. 01-Josh Davis[3]; 5. 08-Daniel Beckham[5]; 6. 26-Michael
Lambert[7]; 7. 61-Nick Ginn[9]; 8. 43-Fisher Swanson[8]; 9. 206-Allen
Vaughn[4]; 10. 33-Jonathan Moses[10]
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