COLUMBUS, Miss. — In a race that saw four different leaders, Ashton Winger ultimately emerged victorious in the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series Clash at The Mag opener on Friday night at Magnolia Motor Speedway.
Winger overcame a wild race paired with a field of 54 entries to snare the $5,000 win.
“It was crazy the whole time, we fired off there and I think I was fifth leaving (turn) two on the first lap. I’m not sure what happened with (Dillard and Clanton) on the start, but I kinda just went where they weren’t and got the lead,” Winger said. “My car was just really good, I felt like I could be maneuverable. But the racetrack was just so much better down there on the bottom through them holes, it was like you said, riding a bull.”
Shane Clanton and Cade Dillard brought the field to the green for the 30-lap feature. Clanton led the opening circuit before sliding back and ultimately retiring on the fifth lap. Dillard was the leader of the second lap before the fourth-starting Winger surged to the top spot on lap three.
On an aggressive race track, Winger held the top spot until Jake O’Neil briefly slipped by to lead lap 10. On the ensuing circuit Winger found himself back out front but had to survive a close call in the closing laps when the lapped car of Talan Willis spun in front of him.
After making contact with Timothy Culp and half spinning himself, Winger recovered to maintain the lead and ultimately the victory.
Sixth-starting Tyler Erb, Jake O’Neil, Cade Dillard, and 20th-starting Sam Seawright completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 12W-Ashton Winger[4]; 2. 01-Tyler Erb[6]; 3. 0-Jake O’Neil[3]; 4. 97D-Cade Dillard[2]; 5. 16S-Sam Seawright[20]; 6. 2C-Cody Overton[16]; 7. 212-Josh Putnam[10]; 8. 01A-Drew Armstrong[5]; 9. 14C-Haiden Cowan[12]; 10. 14M-Morgan Bagley[23]; 11. 5-Jon Mitchell[14]; 12. 90-Brian Rickman[8]; 13. 11-Jon Kirby[17]; 14. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[9]; 15. 86B-Kyle Beard[19]; 16. 1-BJ Robinson[24]; 17. 2-Charlie Cole[13]; 18. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[18]; 19. 66-Eli Ross[22]; 20. (DNF) C8-Timothy Culp[25]; 21. (DNF) 955-Talan Willis[11]; 22. (DNF) 73-Evan Ellis[21]; 23. (DNF) 15-Shane Stephens[26]; 24. (DNF) 11A-Austin Smith[7]; 25. (DNF) 18X-Michael Page[15]; 26. (DNF) 25-Shane Clanton[1]
