Church Dominates For Mason Dixon Meltdown Win In PASS South Finale

LUCAMA, NC :: Tyler Church led 120 of the 200 laps that made up the 8th Annual Mason Dixon Meltdown for a dominant win Saturday afternoon at Southern National Motorsports Park in the 2013 season finale for the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Models. The win marked a strong final third of the season that saw Church also claim his first career PASS South Super Late Model win back in September at Hickory Motor Speedway.

“I’ve always wanted to win somewhere other than Hickory and Tri-County, we’ve won up there quite a bit in the Limiteds, but finally we were able to win somewhere else,” said Church in victory lane. “It’s really not sunk in yet. This place is really cool and I can’t believe we were able to win the Meltdown.”
The afternoon began with Church just missing out on the track record as he claimed his first quick time in a PASS South Super Late Model with a lap of 97.337 miles per hour. It was obvious after the PASS South redraw that Church not only had speed, but he also had luck on his side, drawing pill number one to start from the pole for the Mason Dixon Meltdown.

The race began ominously when eighth place starter Tyler Dippel got loose exiting turn two on the first lap of the race which resulted in several cars spinning to avoid the accident. Among the cars collected were defending Mason Dixon Meltdown winner Preston Peltier, Tate Fogleman, Joey Polewarczyk, Shelton McNair, Jr, and Ted Mickelson. Both Peltier and Fogleman would receive heavy damage and be out of the race before they could even complete a single lap.

When the race restarted, Trevor Noles took the lead from the outside of row one in front of Church and Ben Rowe. On lap 15, Church made the move on Noles to take the lead and started to distance himself from the rest of the field. After starting tenth, Derek Ramstrom methodically made his way toward the front passing Cole Timm for second on lap 75. In the meantime, Church had stretched his lead to more than a straightaway over Ramstrom. The race went caution free until the lap 100 halfway break when Brandon Jones spun in turn two. Only 12 cars remained on the lead lap when the field entered the pits for the 10 minute halfway break to change four tires and refuel.

At the drop of the green flag for segment two of the Meltdown, Church led the field into turn one followed closely by Ramstrom and Timm. Just 10 laps later, Ramstrom and Timm moved around Church sending the early leader back to third. Like Church had done in the first half of the race, Ramstrom had nearly a straightway advantage over Church who had retaken second from Timm. With less than 40 laps to go, Church had closed back in on Ramstrom. It was clear that Ramstrom’s Matthews Truck Service Chevrolet had developed a problem as evidenced by the audible engine miss one could hear every time the #35 sped by. With 25 laps to go, Church moved around Ramstrom’s ailing machine for the lead.

Church’s victory celebration was put on hold however, when Jay Fogleman and Jody Measamer both spun in turn four with two laps to go while battling for fifth. On the restart, Church led the field to turn one as Ramstrom dropped back due to the problem that had developed 40 laps earlier. Church took the checkered flag for his second career PASS South Super Late Model win over Timm, Roger Lee Newton, Steve Legendre, and Joey Doiron. Rounding out the top ten were Rowe, Ramstrom, Harrison Burton, Trey Mitchell, and Measamer.

Despite a 12th place finish, Jay Fogleman became the first driver since Preston Peltier in 2010 to claim both the PASS National Series and PASS South Super Late Model championships. Fogleman said afterwards that this season was his last run for a title as he will step back to partial schedule in 2014 to focus more attention on his son Tate’s racing career.

“I just can’t say enough for the people that have helped make this happen like Will Brafford and Becky and Dickie Woodman to give me a car to race and have a chance to win these championships,” said Fogleman. “We really didn’t start out with a plan to race the whole year so to win the South and National championships is just a great way to end it up and go out on top.”

In the PASS Pro Late Model division, Austin Thompson led flag-to-flag to claim his first career series win. Thompson dedicated the win to his mother who is currently battling breast cancer. Trevor Noles finished second, good enough to cap off a seven win season and win the PASS Pro Late Model division championship. Noles will move up to compete full-time in the Coulter Motorsports #2 and will race for both the 2014 PASS National and PASS South Super Late Model championships. Jeff Batten finished third in front of Walker Yates and Austin Reed.

Brian Gerster took the win in the 30 lap Must See Racing Xtreme Sprint Car feature and Chalin Williamson took the Mini Cup checkered flag.

Although the 2013 season has concluded, tentative schedules for all PASS divisions are currently posted and can be found at ProAllStarsSeries.com.