BATESVILLE, Ark. (March 11-12) – Brandon Smith and Shawn Walsh were $1,500 feature winners at Batesville Motor Speedway’s Mid-America IMCA Modified Championship special.
Smith paced Friday’s opening night event for his career first win in the sanctioned class since 2003, then took runner-up honors behind Walsh on Saturday to earn a $500 bonus for the top two-day point total. Both drivers will be new to the 2011 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational.
The pole starter on Friday, Smith quickly found himself playing catch-up after Kenny Schrader zoomed by. Cautions slowed the contest on laps four and 12, the second of those lap 12 yellows coming after an eight car pileup.
Schrader led the field back to green and looked to have the upper hand before slowing with mechanical issues. Smith took charge and held off T.J. Herndon in the race to the checkers.
“It was wonderful. We’ve struggled the last few years,” said Smith, who started driving the Donnie Ledgerwood-owned ride in 2010. “My crew did a good job with the car. Any win is great, especially when everything is working right.”
Ryan Watnem, Lyle Shepard and Ronnie Jeffery rounded out the top five.
Rebounding from a back in the pack finish in the first show, Walsh led all 30 laps from the pole on Saturday.
Smith was hot on his heels and challenged for the lead on several occasions, but as the race continued it was clear Walsh was dialed in and he pulled away from the rest of the field, lapping up to the 10th place car and winning by most of a straightaway.
“We were running in the top five on Friday when the fuel cap came off,” said Walsh, who’d battled power steering problems at the end of his heat race that evening. “We were fast both nights and it could have been a really good weekend.”
Smith got second place back when Shepard came up light on the scales. Richie Tosh, Watnem and Peyton Taylor followed. The win was the IMCA career 49th for Walsh.
The 15th annual special was originally scheduled for three days, but the Thursday program was canceled because of wet track and pit conditions.
Feature Results
March 11 – 1. Brandon Smith; 2. T.J. Herndon; 3. Ryan Watnem; 4. Lyle Shepard; 5. Ronnie Jeffery; 6. Drew Armstrong; 7. Ken Schrader; 8. James Emerson; 9. Chuck McGinty; 10. Tyson Franks; 11. Clint Wendel; 12. Jeremy Kuykendall; 13. Peyton Taylor; 14. Dallas Everett; 15. Jeff Nielsen; 16. Gavin Landers; 17. Greg Waugh; 18. Troy Cordes; 19. Brian Ritchie; 20. Patrick Linn; 21. Shawn Walsh; 22. Brint Hartwick; 23. Philip Forbush; 24. Randy Weaver.
Heat winners were Smith, Watnem, Schrader and Taylor.
March 12 – 1. Walsh; 2. Smith; 3. Richie Tosh; 4. Watnem; 5. Taylor; 6. Jeffery; 7. Weaver; 8. Kuykendall; 9. Ritchie; 10. Forbush; 11. Emerson; 12. Waugh; 13. Luke Riddle; 14. Hartwick; 15. Landers; 16. Linn; 17. Franks; 18. Herndon; 19. Armstrong; 20. Cordes.
Heat winners were Smith, Kuykendall, Walsh and Shepard.
