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THE
RACING RADIOS 100
SATURDAY, JULY 16TH |
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| ENTRY
LIST | |
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Gresham Top 3 - L to R:
Preston Peltier, Bubba Pollard, &
Augie Grill |
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Photos by Jim
Carson - Late Model Digest |
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Bubba
Pollard Wins PASS South
“Racing
Radios 100” at Gresham |
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Photo Finish Earns
Georgia Racer First-Series Win of
His Career |
The Pro All
Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late
Models headed to Gresham Motorsports
Park in Jefferson, Georgia, on
Saturday, July 16th, for the “Racing
Radios 100” event, the first time
the series raced on the
newly-configured and renamed track.
While series regular Andy Loden
dominated the event up front, a late
yellow allowed series invaders Bubba
Pollard and Augie Grill a shot at
the top spot. At the checkered flag,
Pollard was able to earn the victory
by just 0.021 seconds over Grill,
earning his first-series victory.
“I enjoy racing with the PASS
guys,” said Pollard in victory lane.
“Hopefully we can make more of their
races.”
A total of 25 Super
Late Model drivers took time during
the qualifying session, which was
held early in the evening. Loden
turned a time of 16.511 seconds
around the half-mile facility, but
that was only good for second
fastest as Pollard earned the top
honors with a lap of 16.345 seconds.
Loden was second fastest, followed
by Grill, Jay Fogleman, Stephen
Nasse, Paul Kelley, Donnie Wilson,
Preston Peltier, Steven Legendre and
Landon Cling. After the redraw,
Legendre and Loden would start from
the front row, followed by Peltier,
Wilson, Kelley, Pollard, Nasse,
Cling, Fogleman and Grill.
Legendre and Loden took the green
flag with Loden getting the lead on
the first lap. Wilson was able to
drop into the third position,
followed by Pollard and Blaney. By
lap 15, Pollard had worked his way
up to third while Grill was up to
fourth.
The first yellow flag
flew at lap 19 as Russell Fleeman
went around in turn four. He was
able to drive off after coming to a
stop by the wall. The top five at
the yellow was Loden, Legendre,
Pollard, Grill and Wilson.
Loden went to the lead once again on
the restart, but Pollard was able to
shoot through for second with Grill
following him through in third.
Legendre was fourth with Blaney
fifth. At lap 25, Grill ducked low
going into turn one, taking the
second spot from Pollard as he tried
to run down Loden for the lead.
Just past the halfway mark,
Nasse worked his way to the fourth
position with Peltier in fifth.
Ahead of them, Loden still held the
top spot ahead of Grill and Pollard.
With just 25 laps remaining in
the race, Loden had close to a
four-second lead over Grill with
Pollard riding in third. Peltier was
able to get around Nasse for the
fourth position with Nasse rounding
out the top five. By the time the
field had just 20 laps remaining,
only seven cars were on the lead
lap.
After a long green-flag
run, the second yellow flag flew at
lap 96 with just four laps to go as
Legendre went around on the
backstretch. At the yellow flag,
Loden was ahead of Grill, Pollard,
Peltier and Nasse.
On the
restart, Grill was able to get a
good restart, taking the lead going
into one. Loden tried to get back to
the lead, but couldn’t quite get
there as the caution flew on lap 97
for an incident in turn four, which
included Randy Gentry and Cling. The
new top five for the restart was
Grill, Loden, Peltier, Pollard and
Nasse.
The final restart had
Grill and Loden side by side for a
lap on the restart. Loden tried to
keep his car going on the high side,
but ended up sliding back through
the pack, moving Pollard into the
runner-up position. On the
white-flag lap, Pollard went low
under Grill as the two battled hard
for the top spot side by side, all
the way to the checkered flag.
Getting just enough grip on the low
side, Pollard was able to beat Grill
back to the stripe to win the event.
“We had a good car all weekend,”
said Pollard. “The race track did
something tonight opposite that it
usually does in the past years. We
freed the car up thinking it was
going to get tight and the track
greased up and we were free.
“We wouldn’t have had a shot
there at the win right there. The
#29 car (Loden) was awful good out
front, but the fastest car doesn’t
always win. We knew if we cooled our
tires off there we had a shot at it
with four to go.”
Pollard and
Grill are used to racing against
each other in the south, and had to
battle for the win over the final
few laps.
“It is fun racing
with Augie,” continued Pollard. “I
know it is killing him and he hates
it (not getting the win). I enjoy
racing like that. We can race like
that and race clean. We got into
each other a little bit, but with
less than five to go, I am sure he
understands.
“Over there in
three there are a lot of bumps. When
you drive the car off hard down
there the car is going to bottom out
and move you up the hill. Luckily he
moved up with me and we were able to
get straight up off the corner.
Grill looked like he was going
to win the event on the final
restart, but was snake bit at the
checkered flag.
“I knew on
one restart we had a shot at it,”
said Grill. “This place you can
hustle it on the outside for a few
laps. I got by him (Loden) and a
quick caution came out. I was lucky
enough to get by him again and Bubba
got under me the next lap. I am kind
of frustrated I didn’t win.
“I tried everything I knew how to do
(to keep the lead). I could have
wrecked him, but I am trying not to
race him like that, so we will take
a second. I have a complete race car
to take home and work on, so I will
take that. It was a good race for
the fans, and thanks to them for
coming out. That is why we do this.”
Peltier didn’t make much noise
during the race, but he was able to
maneuver his way to cross the line
in the third position.
“We
started our pressures a little too
low,” said Peltier. “It took a
little bit for them to come in. Once
they did, the car took off; it was a
rocket ship. I was definitely faster
than them guys through the center. I
just couldn’t get a good run up off
the corner. If I could have carried
the momentum on the outside I could
have gotten by them.”
Nasse
and Loden rounded out the top five.
The PASS South Super Late Model
Series will take about a month break
before returning to action at South
Boston Speedway (VA) on Saturday,
August 20th.
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South Official
Results: Gresham on Sat., July 16th |
1) #18 Bubba Pollard (100)
2) #112 Augie Grill (100)
3) #26
Preston Peltier (100)
4) #51
Stephen Nasse (100)
5) #29 Andy
Loden (100)
6) #82 Donnie Wilson
(100)
7) #23 Jimmy Weller (100)
8) #4 Jay Fogleman (99)
9) #98
Justin Wakefield (99)
10) #10k
Paul Kelley (99)
11) #33 Roger
Lee Newton (99)
12) #10 Ryan
Blaney (99)
13) #91q David
Quackenbush (99) |
14) #29c Landon Cling (99)
15) #75 David Odell (99)
16) #56
Gus Dean (98)
17) #2 Gray
Gaulding (98)
18) #29k Allen
Karnes (98)
19) #91 Heath Hindman
(98)
20) #20 Steven Legendre (94)
21) #36 Rodney Benefield (59)
22)
#10h Greg Simpson (45)
23) #101
Jason Hogan (29)
24) #98f Russell
Fleeman (18)
DQ) #09 Randy
Gentry (94) |
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