Ben Watkins
Ben Watkins may not necessarily be a household name in the east Tennessee region, but the leader in the Carolina Clash Super Late Model standings is looking to change that by racing in the Volunteer State on numerous occasions throughout 2015. This Saturday night will mark his first time on track at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. but it will be his fifth time racing in this area already this year.
Consistency has been the key for the native of Rock Hill, SC who now resides in Lancaster, SC. He and his team began the season on a solid note and have since parlayed that early success into a commanding series points lead coming into this weekend.
“We started the season out at Carolina Speedway and we had a good finish, we finished second there, and that really started our season off well,” Watkins explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com prior to last week’s Carolina Clash event at the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap. “That got us off on the right foot. We’ve kind of rolled with that consistency this year. We’ve ran up front every time and these last few weekends we’ve picked up a couple of wins and that’s really helped us along.”
Indeed, Watkins has earned two victories on the Carolina Clash tour so far in 2015. Both of those trips to victory lane occurred at the Fayetteville(NC) Motor Speedway. The first of his wins on June 6 was in a Rocket Chassis while the second on August 1 came in a new Longhorn Chassis.
Even though Watkins is more familiar with race tracks in the Carolinas, racing in east Tennessee is quickly growing on the 25-year-old. In four trips to the Volunteer Speedway so far this year, the No. 16 has posted better results almost every time. Two 11th place runs early on led to a pole and a sixth place effort in May. This past Saturday night, a 12th place start eventually ended with a hard charging third place finish at the end of the night.
“It’s definitely different,” Watkins declared when asked about racing in Bulls Gap. “We came here a few years back for the first time and ran a steelhead race and I tell everybody that this place here is nothing I can describe. You’ve got to go around this place to really know what it feels like. We’ve been good. Every time we’ve come here, we’ve learned something new. The locals are really tough and they’ve got the handle on this place. But each time we’ve come, we’ve gotten better. And the last time we were here, we sat on the pole and led a few laps.”
The Rocket Chassis Watkins used to sit on the pole at Volunteer earlier this season
While the Carolina Clash series will make another stop in Tennessee this weekend, the track will be very different from the Volunteer Speedway. With it’s wide and sweeping turns, Smoky Mountain offers a different challenge for the racers.
“I’ve never raced at Smoky Mountain,” Watkins pointed out. “I’ve seen some videos of it and I’m really looking forward to going there. It looks like a really fun track to race.”
So does Watkins believe he will feel more comfortable on a track that somewhat resembles those he is used in his home area?
“I do,” the racer said. “I cut my teeth at Lancaster, a big half-mile. I say it’s high-banked, but it’s nothing compared to this place here(Volunteer). But yeah, I do enjoy the kind of tracks that are more ‘in the gas’. I feel like it favors what I was raised on.”
Watkins’ new Longhorn
At the midpoint of the season, Watkins and his team made the decision to switch from their Rocket Chassis to the red hot Longhorn brand of race car. The move paid immediate dividends.
“Last week at Fayetteville was our first race with the Longhorn and we were able to win there, which was exciting. At the same time, I’m also glad that the time we were there before we won in our Rocket. But we did make the switch to Longhorn. We just felt like it was time to move on to something that we thought was a little better and we’ve been really pleased with it.”
