MARYVILLE, Tenn. - Marshall Skinner received a king’s welcome back to victory lane for the USCS Sprint Car Series on Thursday night at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn.
Skinner, the 1999 series champion, started from the pole position and never looked back, blasting away from Eric Riggins, Jr. and leading all 30 laps of the “Thunder in the Smokies” A-Main en route to his first series win in nearly two years.
The win, Skinner’s first at Smoky Mountain and his 26th career USCS victory, broke a drought dating back to November 3, 2013 at Riverside International Speedway and made for an emotional victory lane celebration for the Marion, Ark. native.
“(The car) was pretty good (tonight),” Skinner said. “I haven’t been running any big tracks lately – we’ve been running Riverside (International Speedway) and (I-30 Speedway in) Little Rock weekly. I won the championships at both of those tracks last year, but that’s all I’ve been doing is running these small, quarter-mile little bullrings.
“When we went to Batesville (Ark.) last weekend, which is a big track like this, I struggled bad. I said to myself, ‘Boy, I better go run me some of these bigger race tracks again so I can get back on top of my game,’ because I used to win at a bunch of these places. Luckily, we made it all come together and it put us back in victory lane tonight. This is a big win, and I definitely needed it. We’re gonna be celebrating a long time tonight.”
Skinner hung on for the win despite a restart with 13 laps to go, sparked when Brandon McLain blew a rear tire and spewed debris down the backstretch to draw the race’s only caution flag.
Though Riggins was able to close up on Skinner on the restart, he could never get close enough to mount a charge for the victory.
“We really got good about halfway through the race, and I think we probably could have run Marshall down if that caution hadn’t come out,” Riggins said. “We had some issues with some lapped cars holding us up before the yellow and after it, the car just wasn’t the same. I think I just used up everything I had too soon tonight.”
Riggins then faded on the final lap, as Terry Gray slid by on the inside to claim the runner-up spot at the twin checkers. Riggins was credited with third in the rundown.
Danny Martin Jr. finished fourth ahead of Morgan Turpen in fifth.
Grovetown, Ga.’s Jay Dunham led the next group of drivers with a sixth-place effort, followed by Shawn Mott in seventh. Joe Larkin, from Suwannee, Ga., was the final car running, finishing eighth.
McLain was credited with ninth after his tire woes, and Lookout Mountain, Ga, veteran Aubrey Black finished out of the race in tenth with a flat tire from the debris field on the backstretch.
Snyder and Gray kicked off the evening’s racing action by winning the Hoosier Tire Speed Dashes. Skinner followed by scoring the win in the first heat and Riggins rolled to the victory in the second heat.
Skinner was the provisional polesitter after scoring the most passing points in heat race action and when a zero was rolled on the inversion, he also received the K&N Filters Pole Award.
For rules and updated schedule information about the United Sprint Car Series, visit USCSRacing.com.
USCS Sprint Car Series
Smoky Mountain Speedway – Maryville, TN
Thunder In The Smokies – July 16, 2015
1. #26 – Marshall Skinner – Marion, AR
2. #10 – Terry Gray – Bartlett, TN
3. #47 – Eric Riggins, Jr. – Charlotte, NC
4. #24 – Danny Martin, Jr. – Sarasota, FL
5. #10M – Morgan Turpen – Cordova, TN
6. #51 – Jay Dunham – Grovetown, GA
7. #5M – Shawn Mott – Rockwell, NC
8. #33 – Joe Larkin – Suwanee, GA
9. #21B – Brandon McLain – Indian Trail, NC
10. #21A – Aubrey Black – Lookout Mountain, GA
11. #07 – Johnny Bridges – Cherryville, NC
12. #116 – Nick Snyder – Marco Island, FL
DNS: #5 – David Thorman – Greenville, SC
DNS: #69 – Bubba Johnson – Del Rio, TX
