TAZEWELL, Tenn. - Shane Clanton didn’t let the 31-degree banking at Tennessee’s Tazewell Speedway hold him back from leading all 50-laps of the Ray Varner 50 in order to land his third World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series win of the season on Friday night.
“We were just buying our time waiting for the checker flag to come out,” the Zebulon, Georgia racer said. “Our car has been working real good the past month and that just shows what hard work that Penske and Ronny Crooks, Aaron and Nick and all of them guys have done to get me back on top here.”
Clanton’s win broke the two-year streak of Tennessee top-guns overtaking the Outlaws at the third-mile, but Jimmy Owens was looking to carry on the tradition. Owens landed fast-time and a heat win before drawing a sixth place start in the feature.
After steadily passing three cars, Owens passed Ricky Weiss on lap 40 for the second position. After an unsuccessful effort to reel in the leader, Owens finished in second and Weiss rounded out the podium.
“We had an awesome race car tonight the track just kind of locked down a little quicker than we needed it to,” said Owens. “I would’ve liked to see what we had for Shane there if we could’ve gotten to race a little more but he had a good car. He’s been good for a while so congratulations to Shane and his crew and I’m glad that we get to come home with a good second place finish.”
Chris Madden finished in fourth, with Brandon Sheppard in fifth.
Rick Eckert, Devin Moran, Tyler Erb, Eric Wells and Chub Frank rounded out the top ten.
For more information on the World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series, visit WoOLMS.com.
World of Outlaws Craftsman Late Model Series
Tazewell Speedway – Tazewell, TN
Ray Varner 50 – June 2, 2017
1. 25- Shane Clanton
2. 20- Jimmy Owens
3. 7W- Ricky Weiss
4. 44- Chris Madden
5. 1- Brandon Sheppard
6. 7- Rick Eckert
7. 9- Devin Moran
8. 91- Tyler Erb
9. 18- Eric Wells
10. 1*- Chub Frank
11. 14m- Morgan Bagley
12. 2c- Joey Coulter
13. 3s- Brian Shirley
14. 99jr- Frank Heckenast, Jr.
15. 10- Chad Ogle
16. 1H- Vic Hill
17. 21k- Dakotah Knuckles
18. 201- Billy Ogle, Jr.
19. 7s- Brian Smith
20. 17- Shannon Thornsberry
21. 56H- Jordon Horton
