Riley Hickman took the lead at the halfway mark and drove to the win
Along with a big Spring Nationals race, Boyd’s Speedway completed the event with a lucrative Crate Late Model event that drew 21 cars to the Ringgold, GA facility. Local hero Riley Hickman overpowered the competition and drove on to victory to claim the $1,500 first prize.
Cruz Skinner began the night by setting fast time in qualifying when he posted a lap of 14.517 seconds around the third-mile clay oval. Jamie Perry, Hickman, Grant Pearl, Jason Deal, Will Roland, Jake Teague, John Ownbey, Ahnna Parkhurst and Chip Brindle rounded out the top-10 in time-trials.
There would be no heat races as the starting lineup was set entirely from qualifying results.
Perry went to the lead at the start of the feature with Skinner, Hickman and Pearl trailing closely behind. However, the first of four caution flags waved after the completion of the first lap and the field was once again bunched tightly.
On the ensuing restart, Skinner moved low on the track in an attempt to grab the lead while Hickman began employing a high line around the speedway as he tried to move forward. Those three cars raced in tight, almost three-wide formation for multiple laps until the second yellow flag of the night came out on the seventh circuit.
One lap following that restart, Hickman made the defining move of the race when he split the middle between Skinner and Perry to grab second place. Then on lap 10, the veteran driver moved his No. R1 machine under Perry. The two cars made contact going through turns one and two before Hickman emerged onto the backstretch with the lead. Skinner took advantage of the opportunity provided by the hard racing and moved to the runner-up spot.
Further back, Ownbey was moving forward as he made his way into the top-4 after a lap 15 restart. A final caution flag came out on lap 17 when the second running car of Skinner slowed to a stop in turn four.
The checkered flag waved on lap 20 with Hickman beating out Perry, Ownbey, Deal, Brindle, Ethan Hunter, Heath Hindman, Matthew Turner, Parkhurst and Greg Martin.
