Connor Hall kicked off his JR Motorsports tenure in victorious fashion on Saturday night (March 1).
Hall pulled away on a late restart in the last six laps to claim the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock opener at New River All-American Speedway, prevailing in a race that saw two red flags and multiple wrecks.
Hall was the polesitter for the race and stayed in the mix for the lead throughout the race, despite conserving his tires on the abrasive oval. His primary challenger was Bobby McCarty. The pair traded the lead multiple times throughout the night before Hall finally broke away on the last restart, leaving McCarty to finish second.
“It feels good to be in Cook Out Victory Lane here with the CARS Tour,” Hall told FloRacing afterward. “Put our Johnny Morris Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet in victory lane. I’m trying to catch my breath because I tried screaming a little bit, to sound excited. I’m just pumped and really excited to get the year going with these guys.”
Ronnie Bassett Jr., Carson Loftin, and Ryan Millington rounded out the top five. Bassett and Millington had impressive runs, recovering from crashes within the first five laps to come back and save strong points days.
Caden Kvapil, Doug Barnes Jr., Kade Brown, Donovan Strauss and Lanie Buice completed the top ten. Brown had been in the top three for portions of the race, but ran out of fuel on the last lap.
The race was wreck-filled affair, with two red flags being called. The first red flag was displayed on lap 5 of 125 after a stack up shortly after a restart. The second red flag followed on lap 86, when Mason Diaz was spun into turn 1 by Carson Haislip before being plowed into by Bryce Applegate. The stoppage was called to clean up fluid left on track after the incident. The last caution which set up the late race restart where Hall pulled away was caused by Clay Jones’s car breaking down on the backstretch.
Hall’s win came on debut with JR Motorsports. He moved over from fellow short track powerhouse Nelson Motorsports after a runner-up effort in the 2024 zMAX CARS Tour season. Hall is expected to make a run at the championship and started off on the right foot tonight.
LMSC Results
- 88 Connor Hall
- 6 Bobby McCarty
- 4 Ronnie Bassett Jr
- 22 Carson Loftin
- 15 Ryan Millington
- 8 Caden Kvapil
- 88B Doug Barnes Jr
- 4 Kade Brown
- 4S Donovan Strauss
- 3 Lanie Buice
- 29 Landen Lewis
- 11 Buddy Isles Jr
- 08H Carson Haislip
- 4E Parker Eatmon
- 57 Landon Huffman
- 47M Ryley Music
- 1 Andrew Grady
- 7 Tristan McKee
- 16 Chad McCumbee -1
- 8 Deac McCaskill -1
- 81 Mini Tyrrell -1
- 17 Kaden Honeycutt -3
- 1J Clay Jones DNF
- 41 Mason Diaz DNF
- 2 Brandon Pierce DNF
- 47 Bryce Applegate DNF
- 71B Jake Bollman DNF
- 18 Max Reaves DNF
- 14 Jared Fryar DNF
- 44 Conner Jones DNF
In the Pro Late Model division, what seemed to be a breakthrough win for T.J. DeCaire was undone by a failure in post-race technical inspection for left-side weight.
That gave the victory to runner-up finisher Jade Avedisian, a former dirt standout that’s transitioning to asphalt racing. The former Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series champion became the first woman to claim a feature in CARS Tour history.
“Obviously I wanna be the first to cross the finish line, but like you said a win is a win,” Avedisian told FloRacing. “I’ll take it. I’m very proud of everyone behind me, everyone on this 24 car did a great job over the last few days and it obviously showed.”
Tristan McKee, Isaac Kitzmiller, Ben Maier and Tyler Reif completed the top five, with Dylan Garner, Rodney Dowless, Brandon Lopez, Logan Jones and Brody Monahan capping off the top 10.
PLM Results
- 24 Jade Avedisian
- 7 Tristan McKee
- 25 Isaac Kitzmiller
- 6M Ben Maier
- 47 Tyler Reif
- 97 Dylan Garner
- 15 Rodney Dowless
- 6 Brandon Lopez
- 44 Logan Jones
- 31 Brody Monahan
- 94 Garrett Hall
- 43 Joshua Horniman – DNF
- 51 Mason Maggio- DNF
- 54 T.J. DeCaire- DSQ
Logan Kendall joined the Frontstretch team in 2025 as the Tuesday News Writer and fills in other roles as needed. He resides in the Finger Lakes region of New York and spends his free time writing as a hobby creatively and is a self published author.
Logan can be found on X @LoganKendall48
Great win for jade. First of many.