LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Using patience and traffic to his advantage, Tim Crawley topped a stacked field of 38 drivers in the 12th annual Ralph Henson Memorial at I-30 Speedway Saturday night.
A combined ASCS Regional event with the Stealth Recovery ASCS Mid-South and American Bank of Oklahoma ASCS Sooner Regions, the win is Crawley’s second in the Ralph Henson Memorial.
“This race means a lot to me. I grew up racing with this old man [Wally Henson] and Ralph let me drive his car a few times when I was coming up, so this trophy, it really has a lot of meaning to me,” explained Crawley
Taking the green from fourth, Crawley made the quick move to third as Blake Jenkins and Sean McClelland took off with the first two positions. Moving past McClelland for second after a lap-one restart, Crawley kept Jenkins insight. Keeping in line after a restart following a red for Hayden Martin on lap six, Crawley kept in the tire tracks of the No. 99 until the pair made the way into slower traffic.
Moving in to put Ernie Ainsworth a lap down, Crawley began picking up the pace. On Jenkins’ back bumper on lap 17, Crawley showed a nose to the No. 99, pressuring him to drive in harder, and in doing so, made Blake slip off the bottom and open the door for Crawley to advance to the lead on lap 18.
With slower cars still in line ahead of him, it wasn’t enough to allow anyone to challenge as Tim opened his advantage to a straightaway over the closing laps.
Also using traffic to his advantage, McClelland had slipped a little bit in the mid-point of the feature but came back to finish second. Missing the line in the early goings and falling out of the top five, Howard Moore likewise made a rebound run to third.
Dale Howard crossed fourth with Kyle Clark advancing 10 spots to complete the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1X-Tim Crawley, [4]; 2. 22-Sean McClelland, [1]; 3. 3-Howard Moore, [3]; 4. 47-Dale Howard, [5]; 5. 9$-Kyle Clark, [15]; 6. 99-Blake Jenkins, [2]; 7. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [16]; 8. 39-Brad Bowden, [18]; 9. 14-Jordon Mallett, [17]; 10. 1S-Joey Schmidt, [7]; 11. D6-Cody Gardner, [20]; 12. 17W-Harli White, [9]; 13. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth, [12]; 14. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [10]; 15. 21-Koty Adams, [13]; 16. 26-Marshall Skinner, [19]; 17. 52-Blake Hahn, [8]; 18. 67-Hayden Martin, [14]; 19. 8Z-Zach Pringle, [6]; 20. 6-Dustin Gates, [11]