JUSTIN ASHLEY SEALS THE DEAL AT ANDERSON

By Amy Hayes

Young Gun Justin Ashley may have had to settle for second place a week ago at Anderson Motor Speedway when competing in the Legends Division, but he wasn’t about to settle for second this time around.

He was able to get by his mentor (and the person who sets up his cars) Wesley Thompson with just a few laps to go to claim the overall victory, as well as the Semi Pro victory in the latest Legends event in Anderson on Friday evening.

“It was a lot of fun to be out there racing again with Wesley,” said Ashley.  “It felt pretty good to be able to beat him too.   I knew that we had a faster car and we were able to get by him there in the end.”

A healthy field of cars made up the event, and as usually Wesley Thompson was quick to get up front.  It looked as if once again it was going to be the Wesley Show, but he was unable to hold up the young driver as he had to settle for the second position in order to claim the Pro division win.

He doesn’t mind getting beat by the young Ashley though.

“It was a lot of fun racing out there,” said Thompson.  “And it’s always good to see Ashley win.  I am more tickled when he wins than when I do.”

While Thompson is clearly a force to be reckoned with when it comes to setting up Legends cars; either he or Ashley have won all of the feature events thus far in the 2007 season and Thompson says that what it comes down to is all driver.

“I don’t give him anything when I set up the cars,” added Thompson.  “He outran me.  I ran as hard as I could and he just outran me.  Like I said, I am happy when they win than for me to win and him run second.

“The racing up front is just great, that is what it is all about.  You know we race, we bump but it’s not ever intentional it’s just the way racing is.

It’s a good thing that Ashley got out front when he did, because had he not he might have been caught in the clutches of Georgia Legends racer Andrew Smith who had set his sights on getting up front before the night was over. 

Smith had his sights on claiming not only the Semi-Pro win, but the Overall win as well. Unfortunately for Smith, the 20-lap feature didn’t allow him enough time to get up past Thompson or Ashley, but he will take third place, for now at least.

“I was trying just to be nice out there at the end,” laughed Smith. “Two cars racing side by side , you don’t want to take both of them out.  I was just trying to take my time, and wait or my turn and it just never did come up.  We will be back here next week to try and get them then.”

Jerry Rector was the ‘Victor’ in the Master division, bringing home a fourth-place finish overall.  He had to contend with the likes of fellow Master competitor Buddy Clay  to claim the win, and he had a good game plan on his way to victory; just stay out of trouble.

“We are trying for the Master Championship,” said Rector.  “So far we have won all of the Master races.  We have had some great luck, but luck doesn’t usually hang out that long.   

“My main goal is just to keep up. I am not fast enough to win, I just try and hang in there and do the best that I can.  We don’t have too many cars in the Masters division, and that makes it a little bit easier.”

Three of the top four finishers claimed their individual division wins, With Ashley taking the Semi-Pro and overall, Thompson claiming second and the Pro Division and Jerry Rector claiming the fourth and Master division win.  Smith was the oddball in the mix, with a third place finish and Rector’s stepson John Gallman rounded out the top-five.

The competition was tough at Anderson, but Ashley (Yellow No. 50)  was able to take the victory.

This week at Anderson it was the student who beat the teacher.  (LN Photos)