Story by: Mike Neff/Contributor to RACE22.com
North Wilkesboro, NC(April 9, 2011) — The PASS South Super Late models took to the track Friday afternoon to set the majority of the field for Saturday’s 300 lap “THE RACE”.
The top 15 cars in time trials were locked into the field while positions 16 through 30 were filled by the top three finishers in five heat lap races run on Friday night. The heat races were the first night races in the history of the 64 year old speedway. Saturday’s main event will be the first feature race to take place under the lights at the 7/8 mile oval. The fastest qualifier of the time trial session was Stephen Nasse with a time of 18.700 seconds for a speed of mph. Nasse’s time is a new track record, besting Andy Loden’s record set during qualifying last year for the inaugural Labor Day Classic for the PASS cars last year.
The qualifying session came down to a luck of the draw for many of the cars that made it into the main event as the 15 cars locked into the field. Roughly half way through the time trials some cloud cover rolled in and the track began to cool down dramatically which resulted in the speeds coming down appreciably over the last twenty or so cars. Eight of the last twenty qualifiers came in under 19 seconds while it took a 19.012 to make it into the top 15 and get locked into the show.
Behind Nasse in the time trial results was Justin Wakefield, Ryan Moore, Brian Ickler and Augie Grill filling the top five. Sixth through tenth were Bubba Pollard, Pat Kelly, Andy Loden, Johnny Clark and Jay Fogleman. Those 10 drivers will redraw tomorrow to determine where they will start “THE RACE” on Saturday evening. The final five drivers who locked themselves into “THE RACE” are Cale Gale, Kenzie Ruston, Trevor Sanborn, T.J. Reaid and Chris Eggleston.
To give an idea of how difficult it was to make the field through time trials, the difference from first to fifteenth was just over three tenths of a second and, if you discount Nasse’s pole run which beat second place by almost two tenths of a second, it was only .012 seconds from there to fifteenth. There are a couple of names that are recognizable in the crowd of drivers who didn’t make the top 15. Sterling Marlin was 31st fastest in time trials while Geoff Bodine was 64th. A few other names that fans might know, Ross Kenseth, Ryan Blaney, Mario Gosselin, Joey Coulter, Preston Peltier(2010 PASS Champion), and Erik Darnell. All of those drivers will be running for the next 15 spots which are filled through five 25 lap heat races.
The first heat race saw Patrick Laperle start from the pole with Joey Coulter to his outside. Laperle took the lead on the initial start but a caution caused a restart. When they got rolling again Heath Hindman grabbed the lead. Laperle got the lead back from Hindman who eventually lost the second spot to Jody Lavender but held on for third to make it into the show. Laperle, Lavender and Hindman will all race for the win Saturday.
Heat race number two was led to the green by Ross Kenseth and Rebecca Kasten. Kenseth grabbed the lead heading into turn one and led the first 20 laps before there was a caution flag. On the restart Kasten grabbed the lead from her outside starting spot for two laps but Kenseth took it back with two laps to go and led the final two circuits to take the win and assure himself a starting spot in “THE RACE”. Rebecca Kasten and Corey Williams crossed the line second and third respectively. With Kasten making it to the feature race it meant both of the female drivers attempting to make the race did succeed in getting into the starting field.
The third heat race started with Ryan Blaney and Mario Gosselin on the front row. Gosselin grabbed the lead in turn one on the start and left the rest of the field while Blaney struggled to get his car going. After a few laps Blaney started reeling in Gosselin while the rest of the field grew smaller in their mirrors. As the race neared the halfway point Blaney caught up to Gosselin and drilled him in the back bumper as they came out of turn four, nearly wrecking the leader before sweeping around him into the lead in turn one. Mike Rowe put on a late race charge to take the third place and final transfer spot from Randy Gentry with five laps to go. That is how they finished Ryan Blaney first, Mario Gosselin second and Mike Rowe third.
Heat number four saw Brandon Ward and Jeff Choquette start on the front row and battle for the entire race before Choquette bested Ward at the finish. Garrett Evans came from a deep starting spot to claim the third and final transfer spot from the race. The action in this heat was the most competitive of the four heats so far with six different cars running in the final transfer spot at some point during the race before Evans emerged.
The final heat race had Preston Peltier and Scott Mulkern flanking each other on the front row. Peltier took the lead on the drop of the green with Mulker slotting in behind him. Erik Darnell started fourth and was fifth after the first lap but battled back hard to get into the top three slots. He ultimately got past Mulkern with 10 laps to go and cruised home to a second place finish. Peltier held him off for the win while Mulkern kept his nose clean and took the final transfer slot of the night.
Saturday afternoon will see two last chance races for the last two spots in the field for “THE RACE”. The green will fly on the last chance races at 2:00 PM Saturday followed by the Modified feature and then the 300 lap feature. Green flag laps only count during PASS racing so the show Saturday night will be 300 exciting laps for all of the fans.
