John Ownbey led all the way in the Crate Late Model feature at Crossville
Along with the Southern Nationals Bonus Series race staged at the Crossville Speedway on Saturday night, the track also played host to a $2,000-to-win Crate Late Model contest that drew 27 cars to the facility located on the Cumberland Plateau region of Tennessee. As he has done numerous times over the past few seasons, John Ownbey walked away at the end of the night as the recipient of the big payday for the special event.
With the track running a busy schedule for the night, the decision was made to line all 27 cars up for the feature race based on their qualifying efforts. Ownbey led the way in time-trials to earn the pole for the main event. He was followed by Jason Trammell, Jesse Lowe, Grant Pearl, Deke Waters, Cory Hedgecock, Anthiny White, Ethan Hunter, Heath Hindman and Todd Coffman.
Ownbey wasted no time in putting his machine out front once the green flag waved on the 30-lap feature race. Trammell, Lowe, White and Waters all gave chase in the early going to the car that would prove to be dominant all throughout the event.
With the leader pulling ahead of the pack, the racing became intense in his wake. Lowe proved to be a constant challenge Trammell as the two jockeyed for the runner-up spot in the early going. Shortly after, White joined the fray to make it a three car battle for the second position.
The first of the race’s five caution flags waved for the spinning car of Ethan Hunter on lap 9 to slow the field and tighten the gap that had been enjoyed by the race leader. But it would be on the ensuing restarts from that yellow flag that would provide much of the race’s drama.
On the first attempt to go back to green flag racing at lap 9, a pileup among numerous cars running at midpack again slowed the action. Then on the second restart, the cars of Trammell, Lowe and White went three-wide to contest the second spot. That intense action led to a spin by Trammell and another yellow flag.
Ownbey pulled ahead of the field during the next full speed run but a caution for the slowing car of Jake Teague once again allowed his pursuers to make up the lost distance. From that point, however, the leader’s biggest challenge proved to be slower traffic as he worked through lapped cars on his way to the victory ahead of Jesse Lowe, Anthony White, Cory Hedgecock, Jason Welshan, Greg Martin, Matt Henderson and Heath Hindman.
