Along with the Ultimate Super Late Model Series, the Smoky Mountain Speedway offered up racing in the Crate Late Model, Sportsman and Mini Stock divisions on Friday night. Frequent east Tennessee winners Jason Welshan, Jordon Horton and Nick Perry came away with the victorious trophies when all was said and done.
Jason Welshan cruised to victory in the Crate Late Model class at Smoky Mountain on Friday.
As has been the case so many times this season in Crate Late Model competition around the area, Welshan proved to be a dominant force when that class took to the speedway. The Maryville driver racing on his home town track led the way in qualifying among the 19 cars that signed in for competition on the 4/10 mile clay oval. Also starting near the front would be Greg Martin, Adam Beeler, Hunter Best and Brett Wyatt.
The initial start of the 25-lap feature was marred by two separate crashes, one in turn one and the other off of turn two, that damaged or eliminated many who started in the back half of the field.
Once the feature got underway, Welshan asserted himself as the leader and set out to dominate. However, there would be some jostling for position behind the front runner throughout the event. Sixth starting Brandon Williams almost immediately began making noise as he climbed up through the top-5 just after the drop of the green flag. The No. 95 car made it up to the runner-up position very early in the going and served as the primary chaser of Welshan.
Meanwhile, Martin and Beeler fought for the 3rd and 4th spots just behind those top-2 drivers as the race played out.
After a second caution on lap 6 for troubles on Wyatt’s car, the race ran green until the end with Welshan building a commanding lead. At the finish it was Jason Welshan, Brandon Williams, Adam Beeler, Greg Martin, Justin Summers, Tanner Works and Warren McMahan.
Jordon Horton took the Sportsman win at SMS.
Jordon Horton typically races on the tight, high banks of the Tazewell Speedway but he brought his car to Smoky Mountain on Friday to test himself on a very different type of track against the 15 car field that assembled for racing in the Sportsman class.
Horton led the way in qualifying when he turned a lap of 18.10 seconds around the 4/10 mile oval. That lap placed him ahead of Terry Poore, Chase King and Zach Shannon on the starting grid for the feature.
The race had been scheduled as a 15 lap affair. However, a number of incidents that slowed the action and caused delays for clean up forced track officials to shorten the event.
Horton was able to hold off the challenges of Poore during the green flag sessions to earn the win. At the finish it was Jordon Horton, Terry Poore, Chase King, Zach Shannon and Tony Shannon.
Nick Perry was the winner in the Mini Stocks at SMS.
A total of 16 cars were on hand to race in the Mini Stock class on Friday night. Since there was no qualifying for this class, the feature lineup was set by two heat races. Those preliminaries were won by Nick Perry and Kyle Courtney.
Ultimately, it would be those two drivers who would settle the issue in the 15-lap feature race. At the finish it was Nick Perry winning out over Kyle Courtney, Jacob Sharp and William Tallent.
