Jason Welshan and crew celebrate in the 411 Victory Lane.
Another weekend has gone by and Jason Welshan has won yet another race in the east Tennessee region. That has been a recurring theme in 2014 as the Maryville, Tenn. driver notched his 30th victory of the season on Sunday afternoon at the 411 Motor Speedway.
Track owners Mitch and Tanya McCarter put up $2,000-to-win as part of this year’s version of the Fall Brawl and a field of 23 Limited Late Models cars and drivers answered the call in this race that had originally been scheduled for Friday night until Mother Nature made other plans.
With track conditions slowed under the bright sunlight, qualifying times were off of the normal nighttime pace around the 3/8 mile clay oval. Nonetheless, Cory Hedgecock led the way in time-trials with a lap of 15.037 seconds. Also earning their way into the feature starting lineup via qualifying were Jason Welshan, Trevor Sise, Eddie King, Jr., Matt Henderson, Pierce McCarter, Layne Clifton, Ryan King, Greg Estes and Jason Manley.
Josh Henry and Brad Seagle won the heat races that were used to set the remainder of the field for the main event.
The 40-lap feature got off to a very rough beginning. On the first attempt at starting the event, a massive pileup in turn 4 that involved no fewer than seven cars brought the action to an immediate halt. Although several cars were damaged in the melee, only former track champion Josh Collins was eliminated.
On the second attempt at green flag racing, another pileup occurred in turn 1. This time, six cars were involved, incurring varying degrees of damage. Pierce McCarter was the only driver to be completely knocked out of the race in that incident.
A third yellow flag waved after one lap was in the books when three cars tangled. Josh Henry was forced to the pit area as a result of this mishap.
Josh Henry was among those caught up in the early accidents on Sunday.
From that point, only one other caution would occur. Once the race got rolling, Welshan jumped from his outside front row starting spot to assume the lead with Hedgecock giving chase. Sise, Henderson and Ryan King also fought to keep pace with the lead car in the early going.
As the laps clicked off, Welshan and Hedgecock began to separate themselves from the pack while Sise and Henderson waged a battle for the 3rd position with King lurking just behind.
A lap 12 caution set up a pivotal restart. Once again, Welshan and Hedgecock broke away quickly but King managed to move around both Henderson and Sise to claim 3rd. At the same time, former track champion Jason Cardwell began to move forward and work his way toward the top-5.
As the event neared its conclusion, it looked as if slower traffic might play a role in the outcome. With less than 10 laps remaining, Hedgecock closed to the rear spoiler of Welshan’s car as they lapped by other machines. However, Welshan was able to beat back the challenge and drive on to the win.
At the finish, it was Jason Welshan, Cory Hedgecock, Ryan King, Matt Henderson, Jason Cardwell, Greg Estes, Trevor Sise and Brad Seagle.
Welshan collected $2,000 for the victory.
