DILLON, SC :: It was déjà vu for the #98 Carswell Motorsports team as Daniel Hemric made a late race charge Saturday night to win the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model Wildcat 150 at Dillon Motor Speedway. The win was Hemric’s second PASS South win of 2013 and came at the site of the Carswell team’s first series victory in 2008 with the now retired Justin Wakefield.
“Considering that this is where Jake and Deanna [Carswell] started their Super Late Model career, this is pretty cool, especially doing it here at Dillon…it’s really neat for everybody,” Hemric said afterwards in victory lane.
The afternoon certainly started out promising for Hemric as he scored his first career PASS South quick time in qualifying, nearly two-tenths of a second quicker than his nearest competitor with a lap 89.419 miles per hour around the 4/10 mile egg-shaped speedway. But, that was tempered in the top ten qualifiers redraw when he drew pill number nine which resulted in starting the 150 lap feature inside of row five.
At the drop of the green flag, PASS South points leader Jay Fogleman jumped into the lead, but that was short lived as Alex Fleming moved by to claim the top spot on lap three. With the field staying tightly packed in the early going, Fogleman made the move to retake the lead on lap 11. The drive of the race early on came from Jody Measamer, who started a disappointing 17th in the Wildcat 150. Measamer wasted little time in moving towards the front, breaking into the top 10 on lap 25 after contact between Rodney Brooks and Spencer Wauters while battling for 9th opened the door for him.
With a torrid pace being set by the entire field, focus shifted back to the battle for the lead between Fogleman and rookie Trevor Noles. The two raced side-by-side for the lead for over six laps before Noles finally moved up front on lap 37. Measamer continued his early charge towards the front moving past Jimmy Doyle for fifth lap 41. All the while, Hemric hung back just inside the top 10, conserving tires in the hopes of a late charge.
Just past halfway, Fogleman was ready to go again, moving around Noles for the lead on lap 78. Not long after, Hemric began to implement his strategy, passing Brooks for 5th with 46 laps to go. The first caution of the fast paced race would not wave until lap 107 for a solo spin by rookie Karl Weber in turn four.
On the restart, Fogleman continued to lead, but he would be joined up front by a new contender after Hemric made his way up to second. With 29 laps to go, Hemric’s strategy paid off as he passed Fogleman for the lead. But, his luck nearly ran out with 16 laps to go, when Weber spun again in turn four just in front of the leaders.
Fogleman hung tough initially after the final restart going back and forth with Hemric in a side-by-side battle for the lead with less than 15 laps to go. However, Hemric proved to be too strong pulling away in the final laps to win the Wildcat 150 over Fogleman, Noles, Measamer, and Tyler Church.
“I knew from lap one that we could ride and maintain and stay just where we needed to for the first 100 laps and when that caution came out with about 50 to go that really helped us out,” said Hemric. “Jay’s just as good as they get on these short tracks and it was fun to race side-by-side as long as we did. We tried to put on a show and I hope the fans enjoyed it.”
Rounding out the top ten at the finish were Clete Caywood, Wauters, John Batten, Kyle Grissom, and Brooks.
In the PASS Pro Late Model division, Trevor Noles took the lead from Adam Welch early and held off a furious charge by Harrison Burton for his seventh win of the season. Following Noles and Burton at the finish were Jeff Batten, Austin Reed and Welch.
The PASS South Super Late Models will be in action again on Saturday night, October 19th at Orange County Speedway for the 8th Annual Orange Blossom Special along with the PASS Pro Late Models.
