Cole Williams celebrates after winning Saturday night’s season opening Pro Late Model feature at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. Photo: Rackley W.A.R./Twitter
Cole Williams opened up the 2022 racing season at Tennessee’s Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway with a wire-to-wire run to the Pro Late Model victory on Saturday night.
Williams and William Hale brought the 35-car field to the green flag at the famed 5/8-mile raceway. The race was quickly halted on lap two when Brent Crews made heavy contact with the wall going into turn one. The damage to his car would bring an end to his night.
On the restart, the drivers settled into a rhythm throughout the field, however, out front it was tight and contested, as the top six drivers raced nose-to-tail.
As Williams led, Jake Bollman and Dylan Fetcho grew impatient behind second place Hale. As Hale lost touch with Williams, Fetcho and Bollman raced side-by-side for third, before Bollman finally settled into the position. Another caution flew near the midway point of the race when Justin Blake spun on the backstretch.
Williams survived the following restart and another after Kyle Fletcher spun into the turn one wall following what appeared to be a failed coolant hose. The final restart of the night saw Williams and Fetcho jump away from a battling Hunter Wright and Bollman. The leading duo worked up a nearly full straightaway advantage on third place and Fetcho attempted to run down Williams in the closing laps.
With less than five laps to go, Fetcho’s gap to Williams was closing ever so slightly, from four tenths of a second, down to three, before Fetcho was forced three-wide into turn one with two lapped cars. Fetcho survived the run up the banking, but could not recover to lost ground to Williams.
The win was Williams’ second in a row at Nashville, dating back to his All American 100 win last October.
Fetcho finished in second, with Hunter Wright in third, Jake Bollman in fourth, and Chase Johnson in fifth.
In other action, Jeff Templeton survived a wild and time-shortened Limited Late Model race to pick up his first win in three years racing at Nashville. Templeton took the lead after Dwayne Hudson spun Josh Pierce coming out of turn two with less than 10 laps to go. The caution filled race was called due to time limit with just four laps remaining. Peyton Hamlett finished in second, with Kevin Rollins in third, Jonathon Dishman in fourth, and Dwayne Hudson in fifth.
In Street Stocks, Travis Arms put on a clinic during the 25 laps feature. Arms jumped out to the lead early in the race and was hardly challenged by the field. Michael Curran was the only challenger, and he fell to the grips of James Gentry by the time the checkered flag flew. Buddy Moody finished in third.
A total of 15 Pure Stocks waged war around the ¼-mile Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway layout. Ronnie Upchurch, despite being collected in an early race incident, crossed the line ahead of the field after nearly giving the race away to Michael Neidert on the final corner of the final lap. Unfortunately, Upchurch failed post race technical inspection, and Neidert was declared the race winner, with Terry Jackson, Travis Ryman, Justin Dickens, and Dustin Williams rounding out the top five.
Matt Hamlett led all 20 laps of the Pest Doctor Front Runner feature and put a large majority of the field a lap down en route to his season opening win. Ray Gann and Tony Gann rounded out the podium in the caution free event, with Randall Waterston in fourth, and Josh Harrell in fifth.
The BH Holmes Construction Legends had 45 cars on the property, and were split into two feature events. In the Pro/Masters feature, T.J. Decair took the lead from Jonathon Taylor just before the halfway point, and never lost it again despite heavy challenges from Michael Crafton at the end of the race. In feature number two, Jenson Jorgenson used strong restarts and patient passes to work his way by Gavin Graham late in the 25 lap event. Jorgenson went on to win by over a second.
The Murfreesboro Fence Company Bandoleros were also split into two feature events due to the number of entries. In race one, Hudson Canipe used a late race restart to take the lead and go on to win ahead of Beckham Malone. Race two saw Austin Harrison lead every lap ahead of Emma Britt and Gavon Veach.
The next event at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16. For more information, visit NashvilleFairgroundsSpeedway.racing.
Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway – Nashville, TN
Race Results* – April 2, 2022
Pro Late Models
1. 26 Cole Williams 118
2.89 Dylan Fetcho 118
3. 29 Hunter Wright 118
4. 25 Jake Bollman 118
5. 20 Chase Johnson 118
6. 24K Buddy Kofoid 118
7. 1 Michael House 118
8. 9 Michael Bolden 118
9. 91 Jim Wall 118
10. 41 Dylan Jones 118
11. O9 Daniel Bolden 118
12. 12 Bryson Shaffer 118
13. 14R Trey Craig 118
14. 84C Steven Chunn 118
15. 11 Stacey Crain 118
16. 16 Austin Brawley 118
17. O1 Austin Wilson 118
18. 116 Zach Johnson 118
19. 95 Bennie Hamlett 118
20. 27 Garrett Dies 118
21. O8 Spencer Bragg 117
22. 103 Tandy Marlin 116
23. 63 Tracy Green 114
24. 96 Kyle Fletcher 78 DNF – Accident
25. 14 Davey Coble 72 DNF – Damage
26. 25B Justin Blake 62 DNF – Accident
27. 2 Michael Pruitt 54 DNF – Mechanical
28. 48F James Fohn 45 DNF – Mechanical
29. 62 William Hale 39 DNF – Mechanical
30. 53 Kyle Ivey 30 DNF – Mechanical
31. 86 Troy Hall 18 DNF – Mechanical
32. 88 Boston Oliver 9 DNF – Mechanical
33. 48 Mike Murray 2 DNF – Accident
34. 24C Brent Crews 2 DNF – Accident
35. 41H Phil Hill 1 DNF – Accident
Limited Late Models
1. 4 Jeff Templeton 21
2. 19P Peyton Hamlett 21
3. 93 Kevin Rollins 21
4. 67 Jonathon Dishman 21
5. 52 Dwayne Hudson 21
6. 9 Jim Jordan 21
7. 76 Josh Pierce 21
8. 55 Dalton Hamlett 21
9. 8 Michael Pannell 21
10. 178 Bryson Dobbs 21
11. 1 Jerry Pryor 20 DNF
12. 465 Carl Porter Jr 15 DNF – Accident
13. 3 Bradley Arms 15 DNF – Accident
14. 4R Blake Roberson 14 DNF – Accident
Street Stocks
1. 3 Travis Arms 25
2. 48 James Gentry 25
3. 22 Buddy Moody 25
4. O5 Michael Curran 24 DNF – Accident
5. 25 Dillard Vickers 23
6. 84 Gus Moody 3 DNF – Mechanical
Pure Stocks
1. 4 Michael Neidert 25
2. 21 Terry Jackson 25
3. 6 Travis Ryman 25
4. 33 Justin Dickens 25
5. 77 Dustin Williams 25
6. 52 Tre Ashworth 25
7. 71 Dylan Jones 25
8. 44 John Bradley 25
9. 15 Joseph West 19 DNF
10. O3 James Shaw 19 DNF
11. 64 Kenny Veteoe 19 DNF
12. 6 Mark Fuqua 19 DNF
13. 23 Brian Woodward 8 DNF
14. 4W Chase Walls 7 DNF
DQ: O8 Ronnie Upchurch 25 – Post Race Inspection
Front Runner
1. 9 Matt Hamlett 20
2. 31 Ray Gann 20
3. 18 Tony Gann 20
4. 26 Randall Waterston 20
5. 411 Josh Harrell 20
6. K5 Kasey Williams 20
7. 4 Joshua Stephans 20
8. A1 Paul Cummings 19
9. 15 Logan Meyers 19
10. 75 Kailex Dallas 19
11. 99 Hugh Williamson 18
12. 96 Mitch Waynick 18
13. 65 Jamie Harris 17
14. 82 Cameron Choate 13 DNF
15. 68 Aidan Potter 9
16. 25 Scott Conner 3 DNF
Legends
Semi-Pro & Young Lions
1. 88D T.J. DeCaire 25
2. 9 Michael Crafton 25
3. 7T Jonathon Taylor 25
4. O7 Travis Oliver 25
5. 24D Jadyn Daniels 25
6. 55 George Phillips 25
7. 38 Galen Clark 25
8. 24 Joel Smith 25
9. 60 Dylan Faulkner 25
10. 51 Chase Loyd 25
11. 22 Taylor Corum 25
12. 31M Sam Mazzo 25
13. 9 Garrett Erwin 25
14. 10 Chad Barker 25
15. 85 Bradley Swift 25
16. 81 Justen Dubay 25
17. O4H Colby Hixson 25
18. 25 Jesse Brinkley 24
19. 70 Hannah Faulkner 24
20. 2 Jeremy Haynes 24
21. 93 Aiden Walker 24
22. 57 Jake Brooks 23
23. 56 Chris Jones 20 DNF – Mechanical
24. 313 Jerry Jones 9 DNF – Mechanical
Pro & Masters
1. OO Gavin Graham 25
2. 12 Bryson Shaffer 25
3. 27B Isaac Bevin 25
4. 17 Oliver Cordell 25
5. 4 Wayne Grubb 25
6. 21M Joshua Mullins 25
7. 56N Ethan Norfleet 25
8. 89 Dylan Fetcho 25
9. 48 Tyler Cordell 25
10. 93 Kevin Rollins 25
11. 75 Scott Henderson 25
12. 31 Giles Martin 25
13. 24G Greg Gresham 25
14. 34 Carter Pugh 25
15. 00G Tim Gresham 24
16. 27 Kyle Smithson 24
17. 36 Paul Jones 24
18. 84 Trey Turner 24
19. 76 Phil Jones 22 DNF – Mechanical
20. 34 John Dies 22
DQ: 32 Jenson Jorgenson 25 – Post Race Inspection
Bandoleros
Beginners & Bandits
1. 2 Hudson Canipe 15
2. 23 Beckham Malone 15
3. 31 Darren Krantz Jr 15
4. 55 Landon Thrasher 15
5. OO7 James Faulkner 15
6. 37 Trevor Cauble 15
7. 11 Landon Cordell 15
8. 9 Jack Smith 14
9. 10 Alexander Pate 14
10. 4 Jordan Bauer 14
11. 18 Isabella Garvin 10
DNQ: Klaire Stine
Outlaws
1. 1 Austin Harrison 15
2. 38 Emma Britt 15
3. 9 Gavon Veach 14 DNF
4. 57 Kingston Norfleet 14 DNF
5. 95 Hunter Taylor 12 DNF
*Unofficial Results
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