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Mitchell takes Carolina Clash main to highlight Shrine Race

Enoree’s Zack Mitchell was too quick for the rest of the Carolina Clash Super Late Model Division drivers during Tuesday night’s Laurens County Shrine Race at Laurens County Speedway, winning the pole position and the main event in the feature division on the night.

Jeff Smith finished second, defending champion Ross Bailes was third, Dennis Franklin was fourth and Johnny Pursley was fifth.
The victory is Mitchell’s third this season in the Carolina Clash series.

Mitchell set the standard in qualifying for the main event, posting a blistering time of 14.469 seconds to take the poll position. G.R. Smith just missed out on the pole, taking second at 14.538 seconds, and Michael Brown took third in qualifying at 14.724 seconds. Of the 18 qualifiers Tuesday night, seven of those were able to break 15 seconds during their qualifying laps.

In the main event Mitchell chose to start on the inside of Row 1, with Smith taking the outside position.

At the start Mitchell was able to power away to grab the lead from Smith as Jeff Smith, who started fifth, moved up to third place. A caution came out on the third lap to bring the field back together, but Mitchell continued to hold onto his lead after the restart. G.R. Smith, after the restart, ended up going higher on the track and gave Jeff Smith an opening to get by to take over second place before another caution came out on Lap 5.

After a series of cautions, including one that brought out a red flag for a time, Mitchell was again able to get out to a solid lead as Jeff Smith followed from behind, but at a fair distance. As the laps went by, however, Smith started to close the gap slightly, and made it appear as though he was ready to make a last-gasp charge in what would’ve been the final five laps. After the first of two cautions came out on Lap 31, Smith again was able to stay tight with Mitchell, but the race was brought to a halt. On the last restart of the race, again on Lap 31, Mitchell got a better start and was able to pull away to a lead of nearly nine-tenths of a second – and put the victory on ice.
Overall results: 1. Zach Mitchell; 2. Jeff Smith; 3. Ross Bailes; 4. Dennis Franklin; 5. Johnny Pursley; 6. Kenny Collins; 7. Josh Richeson; 8. Anthony Sanders; 9. Brett Hamm; 10. G.R. Smith.
11. Scott Shirey; 12. Billy Lambert; 13. David Yandle; 14. Michael Brown; 15. B.J. Cochcroft; 16. Jim Manka; 17. Mike Kernells; 18. Jim Rogers.

604 Crate: Trent Ivey posted the fastest lap in qualifying for the main event and used that momentum to pick up a victory in the main event. Larry Timms took second place, Dylan Brown was third, Goose Calvert was fourth and Ahnna Parkhurst was fifth.

602 Crate: Dale Timms moved into the 602 Crate Division for Tuesday’s Shrine Race and was the top driver in the field as he pulled away for the victory. Timms was followed by Mart Patterson in second place, Jeff Robinson in third place, Chris Patterson in fourth place, and Ahnna Parkhurst – who was fifth in the 604 Crate – taking fifth in this race as well.

Thunder Bombers: Dustin Morris took the victory in the main event of the Thunder Bombers Division, with Dylan Chappell in second and Scott Pulley in third.

Monster Minis: Justin Morris grabbed the top spot in the main event, with Rod Tucker in second and Stacy Brock in third.

FWD: Travis Jamieson powered from the back of the field and took home the main event in the Front-Wheel Drive Division. Mason Mack was second and Joel Powell was third.

Look for a full report on the Shrine Race in this weekend’s edition of The Laurens County Advertiser Extra.

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