Brad Neat pictured with the sons of Scott Sexton.
Brad Neat turned in a performance on Saturday night that may well have reminded some long time followers of east Tennessee dirt racing of the man the race was named in honor of. The Kentucky driver dominated the Southern All Stars sanctioned event at the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. by employing an all out style of driving that had his car right up against the outside wall for many of the 52 laps, just like Sexton was often known to do.
Neat began the night by posting the fastest overall time in qualifying among the 21 Super Late Models signed in for competition on the high banked oval. His lap of 12.425 seconds led the way in Group 1 which guaranteed him the pole position for the feature event. Jason Welshan grabbed the outside front row starting spot by leading Group 2 qualifying with a lap of 12.440 seconds.
The 52-lap feature got off to an ominous start when a crash on the back stretch on what was meant to be the first lap of competition involved over half the field. Contact between Welshan and 4th starting Stacy Boles seemed to initiate the accident which eliminated or severely damaged the likes of Boles, Billy Ogle, Jr., Mark Douglas and Tommy Kerr.
Southern All Stars points leader Riley Hickman was also caught up in the crash but was able to continue with relatively minor damage.
Once the race finally got underway, Neat had to fight off an aggressive first lap challenge from Welshan to take the lead on the first circuit. From that point, Neat would never be seriously challenged despite the fact that his competition was given three chances to close in on his No. 16 car after cautions.
At times, Neat built leads of over a straightaway in length ahead of Vic Hill, who emerged as the nearest pursuer of the lead car.
A pivotal moment in the race occurred on lap 39 as both the 2nd and 3rd place drivers would be eliminated. First, third place Welshan slowed to a stop in turn two with heavy smoke belching from his car to bring out the initial caution. Then on the ensuing restart, second running Hill suffered a mechanical issue which forced his retirement from the event.
From that point, Neat drove away to collect the win and the $5,200 payday that came along with it.
At the finish, it was Brad Neat, Randle Chupp, Todd Morrow, Aaron Ridley, Riley Hickman, Josh Putnam, Jeff Maupin, Bryan Hendrix, Bobby Mays and Chris Wilson.
