10/5/2024
Hunt The Front Super Dirt Series
Zack Mitchell and Coltman Farms Racing take Red Farmer Tribute at Talladega Short Track
EASTABOGA, AL – Zack Mitchell of Enoree, SC drove the Coltman Farms Longhorn to his third Hunt The Front Super Dirt Series win of the season in spectacular fashion on Saturday night and pick up $15,097 in the 4th Annual Tribute To Red Farmer 50 at Talladega Short Track, Mitchell charged up from the sixth starting spot to take the lead on lap 15.
Mitchell had to work through a three-wide battle in lapped traffic to move around polesitter Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, GA, Friday night’s winner and defending race champion Ethan Dotson of Bakersfield, CA, and Cory Hedgecock of Loudon, TN to take the lead running on the bottom groove of “The Hornet’s Nest.”
In the closing laps of the race, Mitchell had to hold off Hedgecock, again in heavy lapped traffic. Hedgecock used the inside groove to take the lead from Mitchell with two laps to go, but on the next lap, Mitchell took the high side and used a lapped car as a pick coming off turn two to make the winning pass. Mitchell took a .579 second margin of victory under the checkered flag.
Hedgecock came up a car-length short to finish second and Sam Seawright of Fort Payne, AL took the third spot. McDowell was fourth and fifth went to Michael Page of Douglasville, GA. Dillon Tidmore of Gadsden, AL drove to a sixth-place finish and Ashton Winger of Hampton, GA finished seventh. Joseph Joiner of Milton, FL took the eighth spot and Tyler Millwood of Kingston, GA was ninth.
The 2023 Hunt The Front Super Dirt Series National Champion Josh Putnam of Florence, AL started 22nd and rounded out the top ten to earn the MD3 Hard Charger of the Race Award. Point leader Brandon Overton of Evans, GA went into the race with an opportunity to all but sew up the $50,000 Hunt The Front Super Dirt Series National Championship over Winger and Seawright.
All Overton had to do was finish in front of Winger and Seawright, and then just show up at the final two races of the season to clinch the title. Overton was part of the early mix in the battle for the lead, and ran as high as third. Handling problems sent Overton to the Earth Tek Hot Pit under caution in the second half of the race. After starting at the back of the pack for the restart, Overton had to settle for a 14th-place finish.
Overton will go into the Championship Weekend on November 1 and 2 at I-75 Raceway in Sweetwater, TN with an 84 point lead over Winger. Winger leads Seawright in the battle for the $25,000 Runner-Up spot by just 12 points.
In preliminary action, Overton was the My Race Pass Fast Qualifier for the second straight night with a lap around the 1/3-mile clay oval in 13.461 seconds. The four eight-lap Heat Races were won by Hedgecock in the Quicksilver Engines Heat 1, Page in the Earnhardt Technologies Heat 2, Dotson in the MD3 Heat 3, and McDowell in the Minon Construction Heat 4. The two ten-lap Last Chance Qualifier Races were won by Gavin Cowan of Rincon, GA in the Augusta Aquatics LCQ 1 and Spencer Hughes of Meridian, MS in the Hoosier Racing Tires LCQ 2.
Article Credit: Roby Helms | Simple Moments Photography
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