Jason Welshan picked up yet another Crate Late Model win on Friday night in Cleveland.
Jason Welshan just keeps piling up the wins all around the east Tennessee region and Friday night’s grand re-opening event at the Cleveland Speedway is the latest in his conquests. The Maryville driver beat out an impressive field of Crate Late Model cars and drivers to score a $1,200 payday on the historic old track.
Welshan earned the pole position on the starting grid for the Crate Late Model feature by turning a fast lap of 14.144 seconds in qualifying around the third-mile facility. Joining the Maryville driver as locked into the starting lineup were Craig Reece, Bobby Mayse, Todd Morrow, Tanner Works and Kyle May.
Bryan Pritchard and Jimmy Elliott won the two heat races that were used to set the remainder of the starting lineup that would take the green flag in front of a packed grandstand.
When the 25-lap feature took the green flag, it was Reece who went to the early lead with Welshan, Morrow and Mayse trailing close behind.
But it would take long for Welshan to begin applying the pressure to the front runner. On just the second circuit, Welshan began looking inside of Reece in an attempt to wrest the top spot away. But it was on lap 10 when the action got most intense between the two front runners.
As the cars came off of turn two and roared down the backstretch, the split a slower car with Reece taking the high line and Welshan going down low. The duo raced through turns 3 and 4 side-by-side. At the exit of turn four, Reece’s #74 car went up the track even further and briefly climbed the outside wall, almost getting onto its side. The resulting damage forced him to retire from the race.
From that point, no one was able to challenge Welshan for the lead. However, there was some intense battling behind him as Mayse, Works and Pritchard fought throughout much of the race for positions 3-5 as Morrow held down the runner-up spot.
On the race’s final lap, Welshan avoided trouble as he was almost squeezed by a slower car. But the #29 was undeterred as he drove on to the checkered flag.
At the finish, it was Jason Welshan winning over Todd Morrow, Bobby Mayse, Tanner Works, Bryan Pritchard and Jimmy Elliott.
Booger Brooks was the A-Hobby winner in Cleveland.
In other action, Booger Brooks dominated the A-Hobby feature as he won the caution free event by more than a half lap over Jimmy Brown, Greg Brown, Mitch Brady and David Doss.
There was a bit of controversy in the B-Hobby feature as Richard Dixon drove to an apparent victory. However, his car was unable to survive post-race inspection and he was disqualified. Jim Gilbert was declared the winner over Lee Harbin and Michael Brooks.
