Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]

Altamahaw, NC(May 11, 2011) — With the Late model Stocks off for the week at Ace Speedway, the Limited Late Model division would take center stage this week with twin 35 lappers. The field would shrink this week to 11 cars, but it really wouldn’t have mattered if 50 were there, Dillon Bassett had them covered and was not going to be denied. Talk about someone on a mission.

Bassett would easily get the pole in front of Kenny Bost, Boo Boo Dalton, Ziggy Zimmerman and Ryan Nelson as he led them to the green. Dalton would look inside of Bassett at the line and thought about going three-wide into turn one but then thought better of it. Bassett simply drove away until the first caution of the night and our first cone restart which always adds excitement to any race.

This restart would see Dalton drive deep into the corner and get Bassett high as they ran side-by-side for two laps until Bassett pulled in front and began to drive away again. The battle behind them was the best of the night at Bost, Zimmerman and Nelson ran together for pretty much both events swapping positions as they put laps down. We get another break on lap 14 as FDJ Motorsports rookie driver Quin Houff gets into Jacob Creed then hits the water barrels at the end of pit road. Houff would have a few more adventures before the night was over.

Bassett made it look easy for the rest of the race pulling away to a half-track lead on Dalton and Bost. That is, until the last lap when Quinn Houff spins bringing out the caution for a green-white-checkered finish. Would it be like last week when Bassett dominated only to be taken out by Jimmy Rice on a GWC? This was something the 14 year-old wheelman definitely didn’t want to see.

As the field gets to the cone, to everyones surprise nobody in the top four take to the outside with Ryan Nelson in fifth jumping up beside Bassett. Nelson can not clear the leader on the restart and loses second to Dalton, but the move to the outside would benefit him as he improves two positions to finish third. Up front Bassett makes sure nothing like last week can happen again and easily takes the victory over Dalton, Nelson, Bost and Zimmerman.

In the second 35 lapper, Basset would draw a “3” inverting the top three for the second event putting Nelson on the pole. It would go bad from the start as Nelson slows the field way down coming off turn four to take the green, then goes as they get jumbled up behind him. In the bumping through the field as they are lined up it knocks the Bassett machine out of gear as the entire field goes around him on the outside before he gets up to speed.

Dalton did manage to get around Nelson for the lead on the outside before the caution flew and would easily jump to the lead again as Bost slips in front of Nelson for second. The eyes are all on Bassett now as he is driving with a vengeance, knowing he has the car to beat but being mired back in the field. He begins to mow them down quickly and goes from ninth to fifth before lap five.

The top four of Dalton, Bost, Nelson and Zimmerman had pulled away from the rest of the field, by the time Bassett gets through the slower cars to try and catch them, they are nearly a straightaway ahead. That didn’t matter though, he seemed to hit another gear and walked them down with ease passing Zimmerman for fourth on lap ten. Lap 13 sees Basset blow by Nelson next, then a lap later Bost tries to block him but Basset gives him the bumper and drives around into second never losing speed. Dalton looks up at his mirror on lap 16 and doesn’t see Bassett, that’s because he blew by to the inside and was gone, an impressive run through the field from 11th to first in 16 laps.

Bost, Houff and Dan Dicepoli have a skirmish in turn two with Houff getting relatively heavy damage to bring out a caution on lap 17. Dalton goes to the outside with Nelson behind as Bassett jumps out front once more. Zimmerman and Dalton are side-by-side for second when Nelson thinks about sticking it in the center of them to go three-wide but pulls out as they get to the turn. Dalton suddenly slows with sparks coming out of the right side, a right front tire goes flat and brings out the caution for another time.

On the next restart Discepoli gets in to the back of Houff coming to the green and never let’s off spinning him down the frontstretch. We try this again and it doesn’t go any better as they dive into turn one and all hell breaks loose, only four cars manage to make it back to turn three, the rest of the field is wrecked.

Brandon Meeks, Quin Houff and Bost would all be done for the night with Patrick Coleman somehow making repairs and rejoining the field. Under the red flag Bost goes to the frontstretch guardrail and let’s Discepoli know he’s number one in his book saying he caused the wreck, needless to say Discepoli didn’t make a lot of friends on this night, especially not Quinn Houff and Kenny Bost.

The track has finally had enough of the crazy driving and we get a single-file restart to calm things down. Bassett checks out but the battle between Zimmerman and Nelson would be fierce to the end as the two drivers swapped the spot back and forth with Dalton finally getting by Discepoli with a handful of laps to go to move into fourth.

The white flag flies and Bassett is ahead by nearly half a track again, Zimmerman gets by Nelson but he comes right back as they run side-by-side down the backstretch, Nelson gets a good bite off the corner and beats Zimmerman to the line by three feet to pickup the second spot with Dalton watching it go down from fourth.

By the time Zimmerman and Nelson cooled down entering turn one, Bassett was already in victory lane. The youngster had put on a clinic for the past three races at track, if not for the move by Rice at the end of the race last week he would have three in a row, a move that Bassett has assured everyone he will return the favor times ten if Rice ever returns. But that is why we run the race for the scheduled number of laps, you never know what is going to happen. Dillon Bassett knew this week he was not going to be denied though, simple as that.

Race 1:
1. Dillon Bassett
2. Boo Boo Dalton
3. Ryan Nelson
4. Kenny Bost
5. Ziggy Zimmerman
6. Jacob Creed
7. Dan Discepoli
8. Brandon Meeks
9. Jason Turner
10. Quinn Houff
11. Patrick Coleman
12. Bethany Stovall

Race 2:
1. Dillon Bassett
2. Ryan Nelson
3. Ziggy Zimmerman
4. Boo Boo Dalton
5. Dan Discepoli
6. Patrick Coleman
7. Jason Turner
8. Bethany Stovall
9. Kenny Bost
10. Quinn Houff
11. Brandon Meeks
12. Jacob Creed