Along with the $10,000-to-win Southern Nationals Bonus Series held on Saturday evening at Boyd’s Speedway, the Ringgold, GA track also hosted racing in a variety of other divisions. John Ownbey proved to be the big support class winner as he earned $2,500 for his victory in the Crate Late Model feature while Justin Litchford brought home $1,200 for taking first place in the Limited Late Model main event.
John Ownbey earned $2500 for his Crate LM win at Boyd’s
After winning his heat race on Friday night, Ownbey started the Crate Late Model feature from the pole with fellow preliminary winners Jimmy Elliott, Riley Hickman and Cory Hedgecock filling out the first two rows on the starting grid.
Ownbey’s domination of the 35-lap feature began as soon as the green flag waved over the 24 car field. The No. A19 machine surged to the early lead with Elliott, Hedgecock, Hickman and Jamie Perry trailing. Hedgecock made an early attempt to seize the runner-up spot from Elliott on the third lap but the first of three caution flags would interrupt the racing action at that point.
Ownbey immediately marched away from the pack once the race returned to green conditions with only slower traffic delaying his progress. Meanwhile, Elliott led a tight battle of four cars competing for the second positions as Hedgecock, Hickman and Perry continued to hound the runner-up machine.
Elliott’s night ended early when he brought out a yellow flag on lap 15. However, the battle for the right to serve as Ownbey’s closest antagonist raged on with Bryan Pritchard also joining the fray.
After the final caution flag on lap 24, Perry was able to get the jump on the restart and propel himself into second place, but Ownbey was not to be caught on this night.
At the finish it was John Ownbey taking the win followed by Jamie Perry, Cory Hedgecock, Bryan Pritchard, Riley Hickman, Chip Brindle, Kenny Kizzar, Kasey Hall, Todd Morrow and Josh Henry.
Justin Litchford and crew celebrate their Limited Late Model win at Boyd’s
Justin Litchford earned the right to start the Limited Late Model feature from the pole when he led 18 cars in qualifying with a lap of 15.351 seconds around the third-mile clay oval. Booger Brooks, Drew Kennedy, Kevin Gibson, Tom Maddox, David Duplissey would round out the top-6 on the starting grid as a result of the division’s time-trials.
Litchford and Brooks exchanged crossover passing moves at the start of the 25-lap main event before Litchford was finally able firmly take command of the event on the second lap. Soon after the dispute for the race lead settled down, Kennedy began pressuring Brooks for the runner-up spot.
Litchford pulled several car lengths ahead of the field in a race that would eventually run caution free. Meanwhile, however, the racing was intense behind the leader as Brooks, Kennedy, Jason Manley and Riley Hickman fought for positions within the top-5 throughout the entire event.
When the checkered flag waved, it was Justin Litchford earning the Limited Late Model victory over Booger Brooks, Drew Kennedy, Jason Manley, Riley Hickman, Andy Miller, Kevin Gibson and Tod Hernandez.
