WEEDSPORT, N.Y. — Cory Eliason, the new gun for Crouch Motorsports, came out swinging on Sunday night at Weedsport Speedway, securing his first Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 victory of the season and nailing down an $8,000 payday in the process.
The victory came in just his fifth start with Crouch Motorsports, utilizing the highside to take command from race-long leader Matt Farnham on lap 26.
A dramatic ending to his pursuit to Weedsport’s Victory Hill, the only caution of the 30-lapper occurred on the final circuit forcing a one-lap dash to the finish; it was a smooth final lap for the Californian.
Eliason, now a nine-time series winner, may have taken the final spotlight, but it was all Farnham and Tyler Courtney earning the mid-race highlights, as Courtney, who battled into the runner-up spot on lap 14, commenced chase on Farnham immediately after. Courtney inched closer to Farnham with every circuit, but before he could pounce on the New York native, Eliason swooped in from the topside and grabbed second on lap 25, then the lead on lap 26.
“I really thought it was going to take us a little bit longer to get our first win together. That just goes to show what this team is capable of,” Eliason expressed. “I’ve watched a lot of videos on this place and if you can get through one and two without getting up into the wall, it’s going to work. I was probably more nervous than my crew during that one lap restart.
“I used up my brakes. Regardless, I’m very grateful for this. They give us the tools to be successful and I’m happy to be here.”
Friday night Outlaw Speedway winner, Zeb Wise, would sneak in to finish second before the final checkers, followed by Courtney, Scotty Thiel and Farnham.
“I love tracks like this,” Wise said. “This is my first time here and I’m already excited to come back. It takes a lot of finesse to be good on a surface like this. I thought maybe we were in trouble early, but we really came to life at the end.”
Feature Finish (35 Laps)
1. 11-Cory Eliason[3]; 2. 26-Zeb Wise[5]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 4. 70-Scotty Thiel[10]; 5. 7NY-Matt Farnham[1]; 6. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni[2]; 7. 99L-Larry Wight[8]; 8. 01-Danny Varin[6]; 9. 9P-Parker Price Miller[18]; 10. 97-JJ Hickle[12]; 11. 29-Sye Lynch[7]; 12. 28F-Davie Franek[11]; 13. 45-Tim Shaffer[15]; 14. 4-Chris Windom[17]; 15. 98-Joe Trenca[14]; 16. 66-Jordan Hutton[16]; 17. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[13]; 18. 5H-Chris Hile[20]; 19. 88C-Chad Miller[23]; 20. 28M-Conner Morrell[22]; 21. (DNF) 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[9]; 22. (DNF) 4P-Chase Moran[19]; 23. (DNF) 2-Dave Axton[21]; 24. (DNF) 11T-Cory Turner[24] LAP LEADERS: Matt Farnham (1-25), Cory Eliason (26-30).