Ryan Atkins led flag-to-flag for the SECA win at Cherokee
Along with the Southern All Stars season opener for Super Late Model machines, Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC also hosted racing for the South Eastern Crate Association on Sunday afternoon. Ryan Atkins outran the field to score the win in the season opener for that series.
Atkins proved to be the fastest in qualifying for the Crate Late Model cars as he turned a lap of 16.526 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay oval. Wesley Cadwallader, Dillon Brown, Logan Roberson and Trent Ivey rounded out the top-5 in time-trials. With no heat races being run for for this division, the starting grid was lined up entirely from qualifying results.
At the start of the 25-lap feature, Atkins shot out to the early lead with Brown, Cadwallader and Roberson trailing. Ivey immediately went to work as he moved his No. 88 machine around Roberson to claim fourth on the second circuit. He then took third away from Cadwallader on the next lap and set off in pursuit of the two lead cars.
A lap 6 caution erased a six car length lead that had been enjoyed by Atkins. The ensuing restart also provided Ivey with the opportunity to gain even more ground as he sailed by Brown to move into the runner-up position.
Just behind the leaders, Roberson went on the attack as he moved around Cadwallader for fourth with Carson Ferguson lying in wait just behind those combatants.
A multi-car crash in turn one brought out another yellow flag on lap 9 and again took away the advantage Atkins had built. Two laps after the restart, Cadwallader returned the favor on Roberson as he re-positioned himself in fourth. All the while the top-3 of Atkins, Ivey and Brown broke away from the pack to engage in their own struggle for podium spots.
The top-3 cars soon found themselves racing among slower traffic on lap 15. This ultimately allowed Atkins and Brown to separate themselves from Brown to decide the issue among themselves. Over the course of the final ten laps, Atkins was able to maintain control of the race.
Ryan Atkins drove under the checkered flag to claim the win ahead of Trent Ivey, Dillon Brown, Logan Roberson, David Smith, Wesley Cadwallader, Forrest Trent, Jeff Cooke, Owen Osteen and Carson Ferguson.
