The next time Devon Morgan pulls on to a race track it’ll be on some Southeastern red clay dirt track but in what could be his final opportunity to race on asphalt, the young wheelman made the most of it.
Morgan was one of three Hawk McCall Motorsports entries that dominated the Winter Meltdown at Greenville Pickens Speedway on Saturday evening. Hawk McCall Motorsports won practice, qualifying and led every lap of the race with all three drivers taking their turn in the top spot.
Austin Somero owned the first two parts of the day with his car being fastest in the only practice session of the day and he posted the fastest time in qualifying to win the pole for the 125-lap contest. Somero was the only driver in qualifying to break into the 19-second bracket and was just over a tenth of a second ahead of his teammate Jeremy Burns. Kevin Leicht managed to keep Hawk McCall Motorsports from getting a clean sweep of the top three qualifying positions by putting his car in third for the start of the race ahead of Morgan, who posted the slowest time of the three Hawk McCall entries.
From the drop of the green flag, it was Somero who put his car on the point to lead the field. However, the field was slowed quickly on lap 4 when a massive pile-up destroyed several cars toward the back of the pack. Joey Collins, Taylor Satterfield, Spenser Morgan, Mitchell Wright, Adam Satterfield, and Tasha Kummer all piled up at the bottom of the track in the middle of turns one and two. Several cars were done for the day but both Satterfield’s and Kummer were able to continue.
Back up front as the field went back green after a long red flag period for track clean-up, Burns wanted the lead on the restart and he took it away from Somero. At this point, all three Hawk McCall entries lined up first through third and looked to be unstoppable. On lap 36 the caution waved again as Kummer got turned around off turn four.
Just before the first break on lap 50, Leicht was making his presence known and had moved into the second position. He would challenge Burns for the lead briefly but wasn’t able to get the lead before the break. Following the restart, the biggest threat to the Hawk McCall trio was eliminated as he was trying to get down the track to preserve a spot in the top five he and Ralph Carnes made contact. Leicht would be done for the night with the damage.
Taylor Satterfield, who had made significant repairs from the early crash would return to compete for a top three position following the next restart. Carnes was another driver who had really began mixing it up and was sitting in the third position on lap 72. On lap 94 the caution would wave again as Tony Black, T. Satterfield, and Stevie Johns got together in turns three and four.
At the lap 100 break, where teams would be able to decide to pit and take up to two new tires or stay on the track and move in front of those who pit, the Hawk McCall trio was first through third. Every car but one came down pit road to get tires. The lone stay out would be Ryan Walker, who arrived late and hadn’t shown much speed.
Walker would lead the field to the green flag but he would never officially lead a lap as Burns rocketed past him as Walker was in a free fall through the field. This put the Hawk McCall cars of Burns, Morgan, and Somero back in the lead. Walker would fall all the way to seventh on the restart.
The laps began clicking off in this final 25-lap segment and as the laps began to run out so did Burns’ lead over Morgan. The six-time winner and Limited Late Model champion from last season was on the move and quickly discarded of Burns. Burns attempted a crossover but brushed the inside wall and cut his left front tire.
Just as Morgan had got to the lead, his own drama had begun to develop. His window net had come down and officials instructed his team that he would have to reattach it or come down pit road to have his crew put the window net back up. Just as officials were about to call him to pit road, the young driver managed to get his window net reattached.
Morgan now had to just survive a challenge from his teammate Somero. Somero had shown more speed than anyone all day but now he’d have to find a way to use that speed to get around his teammate for the biggest win of his career. Morgan, however, wasn’t to be denied. Despite several shots from Somero, who raced him clean but hard, Morgan was able to hold on to the top spot and drive off to the $6,000 victory.
“I was just waiting,” said Morgan. “I had fallen back to fifth there and (Ralph) Carnes was being pretty hard on the bumper with (Taylor) Satterfield, so I was just being careful but I got back up to third. It was a great way to go out. I’d like to get more opportunities to race on asphalt but this was a great run for the whole Hawk McCall Motorsports team.”
Somero would finish second with Carnes managing a third-place finish despite being down on power with a GM 603 crate engine. Black and Riley Gentry completed the top five finishers. Initially, Gentry’s team was going to protest the winner of the race but after consulting with officials chose not to do so. Wright, Walker, Kummer, Collins, and Burns completed the top ten in a 17-car starting field.
Unofficial Results:
1 – #12 Devon Morgan
2 – #99 Austin Somero
3 – #2 Ralph Carnes
4 – #05 Tony Black
5 – #09 Riley Gentry
6 – #25W Mitchell Wright
7 – #28 Ryan Walker
8 – #35 Tasha Kummer
9 – #29 Joey Collins
10 – #41 Jeremy Burns
11 – #40 Taylor Satterfield
12 – #91 Stevie Johns
13 – #25 Kevin Leicht
14 – #56 Anthony Miller
15 – #59 Adam Satterfield
16 – #33 Spenser Morgan
17 – #88 Alex Brezeale
