EASLEY, SC :: Last time Daniel Hemric raced in South Carolina, he was competing in the tire management Myrtle Beach 400 where he finished third.  This time, Hemric took lessons learned at ‘the Beach’ to score his third career Pro All Stars Series (PASS) victory.

Garrett Campbell started on the pole for Saturday’s season opening race for the PASS Series and dominated much of the race before fading late.  Campbell’s late race slide allowed Randy Gentry to take the lead within the final laps and looked to have the win in hand until the race’s lone caution came out on lap 137.  When the race resumed, it was Hemric who rose to the occasion, passing Gentry and going on to score the win.

“This is big for us,”Hemric said.  “I just want to thank the Woodman’s for the opportunity… that was one of the wildest things I’ve ever been a part of right there.  To go 130+ laps green like it was, you never have enough time.  The good Lord was looking out for us.  We had that caution just when we needed to.  I’m just so proud of all these guys.  There are so many people that make this personal to me.  Before I came here, I was told if you can stay on the lead lap, you’re in good shape.  That’s what the plan was and it worked out tonight.”

Hemric credited his experience at Myrtle Beach for his victory in Saturday night’s race.

“Running Myrtle Beach was the difference between running 15th and winning the race tonight,” I just tried to use all the racing experience I’ve ever gained over the years and applied it.  It’s just fortunate it all worked our way tonight.”

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East regular Cameron Hayley finished in the runner-up position.  Haley had a fast car and felt he could’ve won the race but lining up on the outside lane in the second row hurt his chances to get to the lead.

“I wanted to win really bad,” Hayley said.  “We struggled on that last caution.  We restarted fourth which is the worst possible place to start.  You never want to see an outside starting position coming to 10 laps to go but our car was really good tonight.  We had a winning car but it didn’t go our way.”

Gentry went on to finish third – satisfied with the result but disappointed he could not come away with the victory.

“I’m happy with finishing third,” Gentry said.  “I wanted that win bad and barring a caution we were going to win a race.  That’s alright.  We had a good car and were able to stay up front all night.  We’ll build off this one and hopefully we’ll take home the next race here in Greenville.”

Ben Rowe finished in fourth, Garrett Campbell faded to fifth while Jared Irvan, Tyler Church, John Hunter Nemecheck, Cole Timm and Lee Tissot rounded out the top-10.

Walker Yates scored his first career Pro Late Model victory in the 50-lap PASS Pro Late Model feature over Kerry Lawrence, Nick Robinson, Jacob Schneider and Matt Murphy rounding out the top-five.

The next race for the PASS South Super Late Model touring series will be next Saturday night, March 8th at Dillon Motor Speedway in South Carolina.

Race Results

1. #41 Daniel Hemric — 150
2. #24 Cameron Hayley — 150
3. #09 Randy Gentry — 150
4. #4N Ben Rowe — 150
5. #12 Garrett Campbell — 150
6. #28 Jared Irvan — 150
7. #7 Tyler Church — 150
8. #8 John Hunter Nemechek — 150
9. #57 Cole Timm — 150
10. #71 Lee Tissot — 150
11. #77 Cassius Clark — 150
12. #71b Ky;e Benjamin — 149
13. #4f Jay Fogleman — 149
14. #198 Russell Fleeman — 149
15. #98 Jody Measamer — 149
16. #36 Anthony Anders — 149
17. #7k Ted Mickelson — 149
18. #13 Joe Ryan Osborne — 148
19. #33 Brandon Jones — 148
20. #1 Tyler Dippel — 148
21. #15 Tanner Rumburg — 147
22. #15h Joe Heigl — 144
23. #8f Tate Fogleman — 143
24. #26 Preston Peltier — 133
25. #42 Tim Pinion — 130
26. #4d Joey Doiron — 113
27. #115 Jody Lavendar — 112
28. #2 Trevor Noles — 104
29. #48 Jeff Batten — 9
30. #9 Matt Daley — 2