Chase Washington has raced in half of the races at Magnolia Motor Speedway this season. But when he shows up, there’s a 50 percent chance he’ll win the NeSmith Crate Late Model feature race.
After Washington started fifth in the Highway 45 Crate Late Model Throwdown on Saturday at Magnolia, he passed Jeremy Shaw for the lead on lap nine to win his third race at the track this season.
Washington, who is from Houlka, also has two third-place finishes at Magnolia this season.
“This is my home track, but we don’t race here much,” Washington said. “We try to travel off every now and then to stay on top our game and fine-tune things so we can stay fast when we come back. I think that’s helped us throughout the year.”
Evan Ellis, who has two wins at Magnolia this season, and Jeremy Shaw started on the front row and looked to pull away from the pack in the first few laps. Shaw worked a pass on lap five and Ellis fell to fourth before Washington found his way to Shaw’s bumper. The two raced door-to-door for a few laps before Washington passed him high in turn three on lap nine.
Washington went unchallenged for the next 15 laps to win the $1,000 prize.
“I knew we had a pretty good car there from the get-go,” Washington said. “I was just trying not to press the issue too early and save my stuff. I showed my nose to Jeremy, and I saw he took the bottom. I really wanted the outside, so when he done that, that was really what I needed to get going. My car was really better around the outside than it was on the bottom.”
Jamey Boland, Shaw, Ellis, and Scott Dedwylder rounded out the top five.
Shaw said the heavy conditions of the track, brought on by pockets of rain throughout the week, took some speed out of his car. With a slightly less powerful motor than several others, like Washington, he couldn’t utilize the usually slick Magnolia surface to his advantage.
“We had, I think, a second-place car,” Shaw said. “We just got caught up in lap traffic a little bit and that held us up. Our cars are not real good in the hammer-down. They run good laps, but we’re usually better in the slick. Hopefully we’ll get those conditions from here on out.
“That’s a good points night for us, though, and we have another race or two to try and get up there to the points lead. Hopefully we can keep getting these good finishes.”
Shaw said he knew Washington would be a threat when he saw him climb to second and his spotter signaled someone was on him. With as good as Washington has been at Magnolia, anyone running up front has to hope for a break, Shaw said.
“We’ve pretty much been basic in how we left Capital Race Cars,” Washington said of his manufacturer. “I gotta thank Marshall Green in Georgia. He builds a real fine race car. Joel Murphy turns the wrenches for me during the week, and if it weren’t for him I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Thrash wins SLM feature
Chad Thrash expressed his good fortune Saturday night after passing Rick Rickman in the final turn of the last lap of the Super Late Model feature.
The Meridian native watched Rickman, who started on the pole, and Shay Knight fight for the lead for the first five laps before jumping from fourth to first after two laps following a re-start on lap six. A poor re-start on lap 16 almost stymied that effort, though, as Rickman took the lead.
But Thrash clawed back, pushing the inside on each corner until one mistake by Rickman left an opening on the final lap.
“Rick went in there, drove in really hard, got across the bottom, got in the slick, and kind of got hung behind that lap car,” Thrash said. “I was able to shoot by him. We just got lucky on that one.”
Thrash said Rickman had the better car, but his new car — Saturday marked the sixth time he has competed in it — has been fast from the first day.
“This car is a lot different than anything I’ve ever had,” Thrash said. “I was a little tight with the way the race track was. I wasn’t expecting it to be that way (heavy) all night long. (Magnolia) isn’t known for doing that, but it worked out in our favor.”
Hughes uninjured in Factory Stocks wreck
Ellie Hughes was on the outside of a three-wide pack coming down the front stretch when she did what has been seen a handful of times each year: She went airborne.
The 15-year-old Factory Stocks driver was clipped just before turn one, and her car dove to the apron, nailing a tractor tire used as a barrier. The tire launched Hughes’ car into the air before it tumbled and landed on its roof. Brad Gable, who lost control of his car and nailed a tire off turn two, pulled to the infield to help remove Hughes from the car. She was uninjured, other than soreness, she said Sunday on Facebook.
Friends of Hughes and Jennifer Byrd debated on Facebook into the midnight hours over who caused the wreck. Byrd was in the middle of Gable and Hughes, and some of Hughes’ fans and friends blamed Byrd for the wreck. But Byrd said Sunday on Facebook that Gable knocked her into Hughes.
Scooter Ware won the race, while Zach Shelton, Logan Lux, Jeff Collum, and Byrd rounded out the top five.
In Street Stocks action, Spencer Hughes won his 16th race of the year. Terry Taylor, Lee Ray, Brandon Hardin, and Brad Ware rounded out the top five.
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