Elliot Despain Wins His First Pro Late Model Feature at Ray Cook’s Old Man’s Garage Spring Nationals

After starting 12th in the B-main at Brownstown Elliot manage to drive his great car up to 2nd

When the fickle finger of fate points your way, the only thing to do is cut your losses, and get on with it. The pride of Campbellsville, Kentucky, William Elliot Despain understands that reality all too well. Despain Motorsports started their season at Clarksville Speedway in Clarksville, Tennessee, and things soured almost immediately.

Following a shaky start to 2014 Elliot scored his first victory of the season at Ponderosa Speedway

“Our first night at Clarksville ended really before it even started,” established Elliot. “After only three hotlaps I felt a vibration in the car and before I could get slowed down the pull bar bracket broke out of the frame.”

The new power plant that was installed over the winter has 200 more horsepower than the old motor and it caused the pull bar mount to rip out. “The car had heavy damage to the cockpit because the driveshaft came out and it busted the tail shaft on the transmission and broke the bell housing,” Elliot explains.

The next race was at Brownstown, Indiana, were the pill draw for starting positions saw Elliot start dead last in his heat. “We finished 5th, so we started 9th in the feature, and drove up to finish 6th. The next weekend we went back to Brownstown for the 16th Annual Indiana Icebreaker Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event,” Elliot said. “We had bad luck in our heat, which forced us to start 12th in the B-main, and only the top two cars transferred to the A-main. We had a great car and drove up to 2nd. Then we started 19th in the feature and finished 15th.”

After their less than stellar 2014 season opening the Despain crew pressed on undeterred, traveling to Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Kentucky, the following weekend. Billed as "Kentucky's Baddest Bullring," Elliot, driving the Billy and Lisa Despain owned K&N backed Lucas Oil Products No.75e, qualified 6th. With the heat race invert, he started on the outside of row one in the first heat for the speedway’s 42nd season opener.

One of Elliot’s lifelong ambitions was to compete in a Pro Late Model and in only his second start he’s already won his first event

“We won the heat so we started on the pole of the feature. At the start of the feature the outside pole sitter got the jump and kinda drove away from us. After about six laps we got into some lap traffic, and the leader got in a wreck with a lap car. We took the lead on lap 7 and never looked back, and we got our first win of the season! It was a great win for Despain Motorsports. I only wished my mom and dad had been there, they were on a vacation cruise. We have had some really good runs so far, and a little bad luck, but getting a win the 4th night out was huge for us,” remarked the 24-year-old driver.

Having repositioned his season back on the winning track, Despain Motorsports then returned to Ponderosa Speedway for Ray Cook’s Old Man’s Garage Spring Nationals, for the 2nd Annual Spring Showdown. After starting 8th in the Pro Late Model feature, Elliot chased down the leader, and then on a restart, he was right on the leader’s bumper. With just four laps remaining, Elliot made the pass and held on to score his first-ever Pro Late Model feature event victory.

“Elliott would like to thank everyone that has made his lifelong dream come true,” added Billy his proud dad. “He started 8th and drove to the win in only his second ever start in a late model.”