Cory Hedgecock led all the way to claim Cleveland’s Crate feature
Along with the $10,000-to-win Southern Nationals Bonus Series race for Super Late Model machines, the Cleveland Speedway contested a Crate Late Model feature as part of its Gobbler event. Cory Hedgecock of Loudon, Tenn. emerged as the winner of the $2,000 first prize when all was said and done on the track located in the southeastern corner of the Volunteer State.
Ray Cook led the pack in qualifying for this division on Friday night when he posted a lap of 14.277 seconds around the third-mile clay oval.
The 50 car field was broken into six heat race groups to determine the starting positions for 18 cars. Jason Deal, Hedgecock, Josh Fields, Jordon Horton, Bobby Richey, Jr., and Brett Wyatt won those preliminary events.
Meanwhile, Drew Kennedy and Bobby Mayse won Saturday’s B-main races used to determine the final six qualifiers for the race.
At the start of the 40-lap feature, Hedgecock charged to the lead from his outside front row starting spot with Deal, Richey, Fields and eighth starting John Ownbey in hot pursuit. Also in the mix was Ray Cook, who had moved from seventh to fifth by the ninth circuit.
Another driver who had been moving forward during the early laps was Jason Welshan. After starting 14th, the No. 29 car had made it well into the top-10 until he coasted to a stop in turn two to bring out a caution on lap 14.
After restarts on laps 9 and 14, Cook made inside moves to pick off positions as he worked his way up to second and then looked to close in on the leading Hedgecock. For several laps, the veteran driver employed an inside line in hopes of moving around his younger competitor who was using a much higher groove around the track.
Perhaps the race’s most notable moment came on lap 26 when Justin Owens spun on the backstretch and collected the cars of A.J. Carlisi and Brian Courtney. As the field rolled back around under caution, Owens approached the car of Tanner Works and angrily gestured toward that driver.
Following that restart, Cook continued his pursuit of Hedgecock while Richey, Ownbey and Jerry Coffman battled for positions just behind the lead duo.
Cory Hedgecock was able to keep the field behind him as he sailed to victory over Ray Cook, Bobby Richey Jr., Jerry Coffman, John Ownbey, Andy Picklesimer, Josh Fields, Ethan Hunter, Bryan Pritchard, Michael Courtney, Tanner Works and Booger Brooks.
