PASS South: Jared Fryar Survives Wild Race for First Win

Jared Fryar took the lead from veteran Greg Marlowe with 13 laps to go and led the rest of the way to score his first career Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model win Saturday night at Caraway Speedway.  Fryar had to survive a wild event that saw the caution flag wave six times in the 125 lap event on PASS Fan Appreciation night at the races.

“I got a little nervous when we dropped back to seventh there, but luckily we were able to get back to third and cruise and then we got a late race caution and things fell our way,” said Fryar, who has finished no lower than fourth in just three PASS South starts in 2015.  “He [Marlowe] was hard to get by there, but it just feels awesome to finally get my first PASS Super Late Model win.  I just can’t thank all of the people who have stuck behind me and believed in what we’re doing.”

In qualifying, PASS South points leader Zane Smith paced the 20 car field in qualifying with a lap of 98.967 miles per hour around the tough .455 mile speedway.  Following the top 10 qualifiers redraw, Smith would slot into the seventh starting position while Joey Coulter and Joey Padgett would move to the front row to lead the field to green.

While Coulter would jump into the early lead, it would not take long for the action to heat up as Jody Measamer and PASS National Championship points leader Joey Doiron made contact entering turn three, sending Doiron spinning on lap three.  Following the contact with Doiron, Measamer would suffer a flat right front tire, causing him to make slight contact with the turn four wall on lap eight bringiong out the second caution flag of the night.

Just two laps later, Greg Marlowe and Jimmy Doyle slapped the turn four wall while battling for tenth, sending cars scrambling behind them.  Kyle McCallum and Kevin Floars both made hard contact with the inside wall ending their nights, while Doiron and Tate Fogleman suffered heavy damage.

Coulter continued to lead over Virginia’s Trey Jarrell until the next caution on lap 34 when Roger Lee Newton spun in turn two after contact from Brandon Ward.  Ward would pit and lose two laps while attending to a brake problem.  On the ensuing restart, the fourth place car of Smith appeared to miss a shift.  Both Doyle and rookie Ashley Rogero made hard contact with the inside wall as they tried to avoid Smith’s machine.

Back under green, Coulter maintained a slight advantage over Jarrell.  As the laps clicked off, though, Jarrell increased the pressure on Coulter, eventually taking the lead on lap 60 when Coulter slid up the track in turn two.  As this was happening, Smith began methodically making his way towards the front, passing Coulter for third on lap 77 and Fryar for second just ten laps later.  Coulter’s night would come to an end when he retired from the race with 25 laps to go due to a brake problem.

With just 17 laps to go, the caution would wave for the fifth time during the event when the car of Matt Craig stopped on the track after making contact with the wall.  On restart, Smith held a slight advantage over Jarrell as the leaders entered turn one.  The two cars made contact, sending Smith spinning and Jarrell careening into the turn two wall.

With the leaders out of contention, Fryar and Marlowe moved to the front row for the restart.  As they went green, Marlowe was able to jump into the lead over Fryar entering turn one.  Fryar stalked Marlowe for several laps before making the move around the former two-time Caraway Speedway track champion on lap 112.  Fryar led the rest of the way to take the checkered flag in his Sterling Building Group/Fryar Trucking #16 over Marlowe, Measamer, Brandon Lynn, and RS Senter.  Rounding out the top ten were Smith, Newton, Craig, Ward, and Fogleman.

Austin Thompson took the lead from points leader Kodie Conner on lap 18 and led the rest of the way for his second straight PASS Pro Late Model win.  Following Thompson and Conner at the checkered flag were Jake Spillers, Cameron Burke, and Mason Diaz.

Dillon Spain came out on top of an exciting battle in the Legends division to take the win over Kyle Beattie and Will Bristle.

The PASS South Super Late Models will be in action once again for 150 laps, along with Twin 75s for the NASCAR Late Model Stocks on Saturday, August 15 at South Boston Speedway.