Dillon, SC ~ A week late but it was well worth it. After mother nature not cooperating last weekend at the Dillon Motor Speedway, the PASS South series for the Super Late-Models rolled onto the track for the first time in 09′. Also on the card was the first ever event for the newly created PASS Supertruck series. Both events wowed the crowd, with Hal Goodson having a dominate performance in the truck race, and the PASS South event going to the man from the far North Ben Rowe.
Dillon Motor Speedway looked much different from the week before, with blue skies and temps in the mid 60’s. With a long off-season behind them, the teams were ready to roll off, with 14 trucks and 20 Super-Lates taking time. Hal Goodson took the top spot for the trucks, as Ben Rowe and Preston Peltier made up the front row For the Super-Lates. After a mandatory redraw, Rowe would line up 5th, and Peltier’s luck would bite him again, drawing the 10th spot. This now put youngster Bradley McCaskill on the front row with the Kyle Busch owned machine of Alex Haase outside.
The trucks would roll off first, with Hal Goodson putting on a dominate performance. Goodson did have pressure from Justin Hicks throughout the event, but after a truck blew an enginer late in the race, Hicks slipped in the oil off turn 2 ending his run at Goodson. Grant Davidson got up to the second spot late and was gaining on the leader, but the laps ran out giving Goodson the win leading every lap.
13 year-old Clint King made his “full-sized racecar” debut in the trucks, after winning the Pro Challenge championship last year. The youngster finished the race toward the back of the pack, but didn’t put a scratch on it, and got valuable seat time. The team hustled and loaded up after the race, with crew chief and former driving ace Ricky Bryant behind the wheel of the toter-home. “We’re going to try and make it to Asheboro for the race tonight” Bryant stated as they pulled out the gate.
The PASS South Super Late-Models were up next and the large crowd on hand were in for a treat. Some might say the car count was low, but when you have names like Rowe, Haase, Fogleman, Fultz and Wakefield racing, you know it’s gonna be good. As the green waved, Bradley McCaskill tried to take the top spot entering turn 1, making contact with Haase, and sending both cars up the track. Both would stay up front in the early stages, with Haase taking the top spot as McCaskill gradually faded back in the pack. Behind them the action was hot and heavy with a lot of contact was being made, but a lot of give-and-take was keeping the action going without incident.
As Haase was trying to check out, Ben Rowe had other ideas. He quickly made headway from his 5th starting spot, and took over 2nd from Wakefield only 11 laps into the event. Duane Linville would spin to bring out the caution on lap 22, and that was all that Rowe needed. The PASS series has double-file restarts on every green flag, and Rowe dove into turn 1 ahead of Haase, and that was all he needed for the rest of the day. But up front wasn’t the only action.
Preston Peltier is always a force in every event and Saturday was no exception. After having to redraw in 10th, he worked the field over taking 5th from Wakefield on lap 36, and getting by Heath Hindman for the 4th spot on lap 42. but the fun ended when he got to Jeff Fultz. Fultz has been know to be one of the toughest competitors in the Southeast for quite some time, and Peltier found out all about it. As Peltier got to Fultz, he decided to give the outside a try.
Fultz ran the #26 machine high in turns 1 and 2, and as Peltier tried again in turn 3, contact was made again causing Peltier to spin. This would put him in the back, where as just a few laps later he was involved with a large incident on the frontstrech taking out Hal Goodson.
“He’s and idiot, what more could I have done?,” said a furious Peltier as he made his feelings know to Fultz as he pased by in turn 2. Fultz was black flagged for the incident, but came back to finish a strong 4th.
Back up front it was all the Ben Rowe and Justin Wakefield show, as the two cars got nearly a half-lap lead on the rest of the field after some late cautions. The battle for 3rd, 4th,5th 6th was fierce, with Haase, Fuiltz, Spencer Wauters and young Ryan Blaney duking it out. Blaney turned out to have the best car at the end, starting 17th and coming home in the 3rd spot. What was more of an accomplishment is who he passed to get the last 2 spots, Haase is one of the hottest drivers around and Fultz is a short-track legend, Blaney definitely worked for it.
Wakefield tried everything he had, sometimes almost losing the car diving in the corners so deep, but he was no match for Rowe at the end. The Northerner is a 3-time Pass champion, and he made notice at Dillon to everybody in the South. If he shows up a your track in 09′, you had better watch out.
