Jason Welshan scored a Limited Late Model win at 411
With rain all over the east Tennessee region, 411 Motor Speedway was the only track in the area spared by Mother Nature enough to open their gates on Saturday night. And when all was said and done, there was a familiar face in Victory Lane following the Limited Late Model feature.
Jason Welshan has had a solid season so far in 2015, but it pales in comparison to the 34 wins he amassed last year. With fireworks going off in all directions around the speedway on the evening of July 4th, the Maryville, Tenn. driver seized another checkered flag after surging to the lead then holding off a strong late race challenge.
Trevor Sise began the night by setting fast time in qualifying as he turned a lap of 13.992 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval. Ruben Mayfield, Welshan, Brad Coffey and Bobby Mays also earned top-5 starting spots via time-trials.
There were no heat races as the 14 car starting lineup for the main event was set entirely through qualifying.
At the start of the 30-lap feature, there was trouble immediately as four cars near the tail of the field tangled in turn four. That incident led to a series of starts that were called off as track officials did not approve of the gamesmanship being played by the front row drivers.
Once the race finally went green, Sise burst into the early lead with Mayfield and Welshan right in his tire tracks. Over the first third of the event, the front runners became evenly spaced and clicked off laps. However, a lap 10 caution for a spin by William Overbey that collected the second running Mayfield in the aftermath set the stage for quite a battle to the finish.
Mayfield was given his spot back by track officials.
On the ensuing restart, the intensity level picked up significantly. Welshan immediately went to work on Mayfield for the runner-up position while sixth starting Jason Manley also began to move forward when he too overtook Mayfield to capture third.
At the same time, fourth row starters Rusty Ballenger and Cory Hedgecock moved into the top-5 as each passed by Coffey.
At the midway mark of the event, Welshan was applying heavy pressure on the rear spoiler of the leading car of Sise. On lap 18 the No. 29 machine finally made its move and drove by for the top spot on the scoreboard. Just one lap later, Manley also took a position away from Sise as he moved to second.
From that point, the race would be decided between Welshan and Manley as they were locked in tight formation around the track. Hedgecock was also on the move as he passed by Mayfield and Sise on lap 24 to move into third. But by that time, the two leaders were too far out front.
Welshan and Manley maintained tight formation over the closing circuits. On the final lap, Manley made one last attempt to wrest the lead away but Welshan was able to fend off the challenge at the finish line.
The top-8 finishers were Jason Welshan, Jason Manley, Cory Hedgecock, Trevor Sise, Ruben Mayfield, Rusty Ballenger, Brad Coffey and Bobby Mays.
Jason Welshan in 411 Victory Lane
