Jason Welshan had his eye on the prize as he strapped into his Crate Late Model on Friday night at Boyd’s.
Boyd’s Speedway hosted the first round of the ‘Labor Day Triple Crown’ on Friday night which was made up of a $3,000-to-win Super Late Model race as well as a $1,000-to-win Crate Late Model affair along with the track’s regular A & B Hobby classes. Maryville’s Jason Welshan continued his season of dominating performances with his crate car as he led all the way to claim the first leg of the three race mini-series.
It was Ethan Hunter who set the pace in qualifying as the young Georgia driver posted a quick lap of 14.160 seconds in time-trials with Welshan, Ryan Gifford and Bobby Richey, Jr. following.
The solitary Crate Late Model B-main was won by T.J. Brittain ahead of track co-owner David Duplissey.
The start of what was to be a 35-lap feature(shortened to 25 laps due to time constraints) was marred by a multi-car incident as the field raced through turns 1&2 for the first time. Boyd’s Speedway regulars Tod Hernandez and Kenny Kizzar were among those collected in the melee. Both would ultimately be forced to retire from the race due to the damage received.
Once the main event got rolling, Hunter appeared as if he might set the pace in the early going as he used his inside front row starting spot to seize the lead through the first set of turns. However, Welshan employed an outside power move through turns 3&4 as the field neared the completion of the first circuit to grab the lead just before the flag stand.
Although there would be two more cautions to reel the leader back to the pack, Welshan would dominate the remainder of the event from that point.
Jason Welshan has been dominant all over the east Tennessee region in his Crate Late Model this year.
But there was some fierce battling going on behind the front runner as Gifford began applying heavy pressure on Hunter for the 2nd spot during the early laps. At the same time, Richey found himself under attack from Todd Morrow, Bryan Pritchard and Jerry Coffman as those drivers fought for positions within the top-5.
Gifford moved around Hunter for the runner-up spot on lap 12 and did briefly close on Welshan as the leaders fought through traffic, but he was never able to make any sort of move for the lead.
As the race wore on, the battling behind Welshan and Gifford only intensified. Jeff Smith entered the fray in the race’s second half as he made moves around Richey and Coffman when those cars found themselves three-wide for 4th on lap 19. Eventually, Smith would even go side-by-side with Hunter in a failed attempt to claim the 3rd position before the laps would run out and end his charge.
At the finish, Welshan held a lead of several car lengths over Gifford.
Feature finish: 1. Jason Welshan, 2. Ryan Gifford, 3. Ethan Hunter, 4. Jeff Smith, 5. Jerry Coffman, 6. Todd Morrow, 7. Bobby Richey, Jr., 8. Bryan Pritchard.
In other action, Eric Hughes won the B-Hobby feature over Dallas Brooks and Lamar Hughes. The A-Hobby feature was not run due to the track’s curfew. It will be made up at a later date.
