Jason Welshan
As part of its Southern Nationals event on Tuesday evening the 411 Motor Speedway played host to racing in the Crate Late Model division. Longtime east Tennessee front runner Jason Welshan would prove to be the best that night as he drove to victory.
Trevor Sise was fastest in qualifying among the 16 cars to sign in for competition as he toured the 3/8 mile clay oval in 14.271 seconds to beat out Welshan, Ryan King, Mack McCarter, Rusty Ballenger, Ross White, Greg Martin, Josh Henry, Jesse Lowe and Clay Harris.
At the start of the 25-lap feature it was Sise taking the early lead with Welshan, King, McCarter and White following close behind. Welshan immediately began applying pressure on Sise as the two ran side-by-side for the race lead for more than a full lap. Eventually, Welshan would emerge as the front runner during the third circuit.
King looked to move forward as he took on Sise for the runner-up spot on lap 5 but actually feel back into the clutches of McCarter as a result of the move and gave up the third position. At the same time, Ballenger passed by White to move into the top-5.
At lap 10 the top-5 cars had separated themselves from the rest of the pack with Ballenger testing King in an attempt to take fourth. Meanwhile, White, Henry and Martin were in the midst of a hard fought battle for positions 6 through 8.
The second running car of Sise brought out the first yellow flag of the feature when he slowed with a flat tire on lap 14. On that ensuing restart it would Ballenger who would make a big move as he bolted into third behind Welshan and McCarter.
On lap 15 King would give up two spots as White passed by him to grab fourth while Henry would take the fifth position.
Second place proved to be one fraught with bad luck as the second running McCarter tagged the outside wall at the exit of turn two on lap 22 to end his night prematurely and set up a final dash to the checkered flag.
In the end it would be Welshan who sailed under that checkered flag to take the win after fighting off a late run by Ballenger over the closing laps.
Feature Finish: 1. Jason Welshan, 2. Rusty Ballenger, 3. Ross White, 4. Josh Henry, 5. Greg Martin, 6. Ryan King, 7. Jesse Lowe, 8. Clay Harris, 9. Ruben Mayfield, 10. Jerry Green, 11. Jacob Anderson, 12. Ahnna Parkhurst, 13. Tyler Howard, 14. Mack McCarter, 15. Trevor Sise, 16. Austin Neely
