Sise brothers, Blanken, Merritt, Carey, Driskill visit victory lane at Volunteer Speedway

Sise brothers, Blanken, Merritt, Carey, Driskill visit victory lane at Volunteer Speedway By Robert Walden Volunteer Speedway – Media/Public Relations BULLS GAP, Tenn. (June 16, 2018) — The calendar shows we’ve not yet officially reached the first day of summer, but try convincing everyone in East Tennessee because Saturday was sweltering hot as temperatures were in the mid-90s. The racing action on the high banks at Volunteer Speedway was also quite heated at times, with the Sise brothers of Knoxville making it a family affair with a clean sweep in late model action. Trevor Sise captured the Crate Late Model victory, while 18-year-old Zach Sise recorded the Sportsman Late Model win. Gary Blanken of Russellville captured the Modified Street win, while Lee Merritt and Will Carey, both of Knoxville recorded Classic victories, with Josh Driskill of Newport taking the 602 Street Stock win. Trevor Sise and Rusty Ballenger entered the night of racing separated by only four points in the Crate Late Model standings, and with the pair starting the 25-lap feature from the front row you knew each would be giving it their all. Sis took the lead at start over Ballenger, Josh Henry, Bobby Mays and Tim Maupin. Good racing was taking place from sixth back to tenth in the running order involving Chris Chandler, Gary Crittenden, Tyler Smith, Eli Beets and Pierce McCarter. Caution waved on lap 14 when third-running Henry slowed at end of the backstretch and rolled to a stop high between turns three and four with transmission issues. Back under green off the restart Sise and Ballenger raced four laps glued together, at times side-by-side, before Sise began to put some distance between his car and Ballenger. Sise went on to win his third race of the season over Ballenger, Mays, Maupin and Crittenden. Jed Emert rocketed out to the lead at start of the 20-lap Sportsman Late Model feature over Heath Alvey and Zach Sise. While Alvey and Sise battled for second place, Emert stretched his advantage to about 10 car lengths. Caution waved on lap 12 when Aaron Jones got into the outside wall in the fourth turn. Following the ensuing restart, the trio of Emert, Alvey and Sise were close together. Alvey got underneath Emert racing up off (turn) two on lap 17 and they raced door-to-door down the backstretch into the third turn. But Alvey got out of shape and almost spun, thus allowing both Sise and James Parrott to drive past him. Sise wasn’t content to finish second, and racing by the flag stand into the first turn on the white flag lap, Sise drove to the inside of Emert pulling a slide-job to take the lead. But Emert wasn’t about to go down without a fight and on opposite end of the track he stuck his nose underneath Sise. They raced off the fourth turn to the checkered flag with Sise barely edging Emert for his second win on the season. Finishing third through fifth, respectively, were Parrott,...