The Mountain Raceway Park and Fairgrounds

Maryville, TN (8-30-08) Tommy Kerr of Maryville, Tennessee continued his winning ways on Saturday night at Mountain Raceway Park by taking advantage of a lap 35 crash by race leader Eric Jacobsen of Sea Cliff Beach California, who drives for Team Zero / Bloomquist Race Cars. Kerr held off challenges from Advance Auto Parts Thunder Series point leader Rick Rogers of Knoxville and Randy Weaver of Crossville over the final five laps to capture the $3,000 to win Second Annual Mountain Moonshine Classic. It became the fourth straight victory for his Blount Motorsports team but his first in Tennessee and his first Series win in front of family and friends at his home track.

The saying goes: ‘It’s better to be lucky than good’, but in this case when you’re lucky and good, then you’ve got a combination that is almost impossible to beat. Just as it appeared that Jacobsen, who was using this race as a final test and tune session for the World 100 coming up September 5th and 6th at Eldora Speedway in Ohio, was going to run away with the feature on Saturday night, disaster struck as he tagged the front stretch wall with five laps to go, subsequently breaking something on the right front suspension causing him to slam hard into the turn one retaining wall.

Jacobsen, who had earlier claimed The Powermaster Pole Award by knocking down a fast lap of 17.02 seconds, would fall back to fourth in the starting order for Sunoco Dash One after he drew a number four pill, allowing the fourth fastest qualifier, Tommy Kerr to start from the pole. Kerr was able to hold off Rogers to win the dash and earn the pole for the Feature. David Crabtree of Maryville finished second, followed by Bobby Giffin of Maryville and Mark Vineyard of Powell, TN. Jacobsen slowed at one point in the dash relegating him to a sixth place finish which meant he would start sixth in the feature.

Jacobsen showed his hand once again as the green flag flew over the twenty-four car field in the feature as he quickly charged to third place behind Rogers and Kerr. Weaver also made a surge from the get-go as he started ninth but was running in fifth by lap five. On lap number six Jacobsen got by Rogers as they exited turn two and by lap seven he was challenging Kerr for the lead and actually got a nose out front on the next circuit but the first caution would wave for the stalled car of Mark Vineyard of Powell, TN in turn four just as lap number eight was posted on the scoreboard. The re-start would put Jacobsen back behind Kerr with Rogers in third, Crabtree in fourth and Weaver fifth.

The next seven circuits would be the most competitive of the feature as Kerr pulled out all the stops to hold off Jacobsen by running the high line around the 4/10 mile oval but Jacobsen was not to be denied and took the lead on lap fourteen. Meanwhile, Weaver was able to get by Crabtree for fourth and then began waging a battle for third with Rogers. Kerr would also be challenged by Rogers for second over the next twenty laps while all at the same time Weaver made several bids for each spot until caution waved for the second and final time on lap thirty-five for Jacobsen’s crash on lap thirty-five. He was a straight-away ahead of that second through fourth trio at the time. Jacobsen was slightly shaken up following the hard crash as he had the wind knocked out of him but suffered no serious injuries.

Just as the crowd was bracing for what was sure to be a barn-burner over the final five laps, Kerr may have disappointed some in attendance as he went relatively un-challenged for the final five laps, en-route to earning his fourth straight tour victory and first before his hometown crowd at Mountain Raceway. Rogers came in second with Weaver in third. Chad Ogle of Sevierville finished fourth after starting seventh and David Crabtree rounded out the top five.

“I just want to thank Advance Auto Parts for supporting the series, all my crew again and all these fans. My Mom never comes to the races but she’s even here and waved at me over in tier parking, my Grand Dad (JT Kerr) handed me the checkered flag. This really feels great to get to do this in front of all my family and friends” stated a jubilant Kerr from Victory Lane. Support Class story's coming soon w/photos on the photo's page above

RACE STATS
2ND ANNUAL MOUNTAIN MOONSHINE CLASSIC $3,000 TO WIN 40 LAPS

Entries: 24 representing four states (TN, GA, NC, CA)
Time of Race: 21 Minutes (9:55pm - 10:16pm)
Yellow Flags: 2
Red Flags: 0
Lead Changes: 3 (Kerr 1 thru 13, Jacobsen 14 thru 35, Kerr 36-40)

ADVANCE AUTO PARTS A-MAIN

1 Tommy Kerr #4T
2 Rick Rogers #44
3 Randy Weaver #116
4 Chad Ogle #10
5 David Crabtree #C5
6 Stacy Boles #11B
7 Bobby Giffin #97
8 David Payne #8
9 Anthony White #2X
10 Mark Douglas #52D
11 Billy Ogle Jr. #201
12 Derek Ellis #99
13 April Farmer #14
14 Jody Teffeteller #21
15 Dan Tipton #12T
16 Jeff Neubert #86
17 Tim Rucker #17
18 Jeremy Carr #4
19 Eric Jacobsen #5
20 Roger Best #007
21 Ronnie Payne #8X
22 Kayne Hickman #H3
23 Mark Vineyard #4
24 Bill Howe #21 (Did Not Start Feature)

SUNOCO QUICK SIX #1

1 Tommy Kerr #4T
2 Rick Rogers #44
3 David Crabtree #C5
4 Bobby Giffin #97
5 Mark Vineyard #4
6 Eric Jacobsen #5

SUNOCO QUICK SIX #2

1 Chad Ogle #10
2 Stacy Boles #11B
3 Randy Weaver #116
4 Billy Ogle Jr. #201
5 Jody Teffeteller #21
6 Roger Best #007

CONTINGENCY AWARDS

Powermaster Fast Time - Eric Jacobsen #5 - 17.02
Phoenix Conversions Hard Charger - #2X Anthony White (18th to 9th)
Racin' with Rex Racer of The Race: #5 Eric Jacobsen
Tiger Rear Ends Rookie of the Race: #14 April Farmer
FSR / Hans Safety Award: #44 Rick Rogers
Sunoco Quick Six #1 Winner: #4T Tommy Kerr
Sunoco Quick Six #2 Winner: #10 Chad Ogle