Peltier Goes Three-In-A-Row with PASS Win at Hickory

NEWTON, NC :: Preston Peltier took the lead with five laps to go from race long dominator Tyler Dippel and held on for his third straight Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model win in the Over The Mountain 150 Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway.  The win increases Peltier’s All-Time series wins total to 13, the most in PASS South history.

“Tyler [Dippel] just kept pushing me higher and higher into the loose stuff on that last restart, but I finally got a good enough run coming off turn two that I was able to clear him and get the win,” said Peltier after his fifth PASS South Super Late Model win at Hickory since 2010.  “I don’t know what it is about this place, but we’ve got a really good setup and the breaks just seem to fall our way in the end.”

In qualifying, Pelter edged out PASS South Super Late Model points leader Tyler Church for his 17^th career quick qualifying time and third straight at Hickory in the Over The Mountain 150.  Peltier’s good fortune continued in the top 10 qualifiers redraw when he drew pill number one to start from the pole position in the Robert Hamke-owned Dodge Challenger.

But, at the drop of the green flag to start the race, Jody Measamer got the advantage over Peltier to lead the strong 30 car field into turn one.           By lap 18, Dippel established himself as the driver to beat, moving around Measamer for the top spot.  Racing was heated back behind the leaders as competitors raced two and three wide for position, 10 rows deep.  The first caution of the night waved when the machine of Brandon Lynn slowed in the middle of the pack resulting in a grinding crash back behind him which collected Trevor Noles, Spencer Gallagher, Tate Fogleman, and Lucas Jones.

Following a minor spin in turn two for Jimmy Doyle, Dippel continued to pace the field until lap 33 when Heath Hindman, making his first start since 2011, raced to the front for the first time in the race.  However, Hindman’s stint up front was short lived as Dippel made his way back into the lead on lap 44.

Just two laps later, Jeff Batten spun exiting turn four with Kevin Powell and David Latour, Jr. collected in the aftermath.  On the restart, the fourth place machine of Measamer struggled to come up to speed, dropping back in the pack and taking Church and Jared Irvan with him as others moved by.  Measamer eventually made it to the pits with a flat tire, while Church and Irvan continued on after having fallen back to 14^th and 15^th respectively.

Meanwhile, Jason Stanley was making an impressive charge to the front after starting in 30^th.  Stanley moved around Peltier and into the top five on lap 55.  By lap 83, Stanley passed Hindman for second and set his sights on the leader Dippel.  That was as far as Stanley would go, though, as he began to struggle with the setup of his car eventually falling out of the top five when Church moved around him with 44 laps to go.

After falling back as far as 7^th at one point, Peltier methodically began to make his way back to the front, passing rookie Kodie Conner for second with 11 laps to go.  The final caution of the night waved just two laps later when Fogleman had more problems and made contact with the backstretch wall.

On the restart, Dippel and Peltier raced hard for the lead, making contact on several occasions over the next four laps.  But, with five laps to go, Peltier got the run he needed exiting turn two and moved by Dippel for the lead. Peltier led the rest of the way taking the win over Church, Dippel, Conner, and Cole Timm.  Rounding out the top ten were Brandon Setzer, Brandon Ward, Brandon Lynn, Irvan, and Matt Craig.

In the PASS Pro Late Model division, Nick Robinson led flag-to-flag to record his first career win.  Rounding out the top five were fast qualifier Ryan Krachun, Kodie Conner, Erik Nash, and Walker Yates.

Chris Lamb held off a hard charging Scott Hunter for the win in the USAC Eastern Midgets with Tyler Corriher, Matthew Lundstrum, and Mike Ward completing the top five.

Kyle Beattie prevailed in a great battle with Alex Pacheco and Joey Padgett for the Legends feature win.

The PASS South Super Late Models will be in action again on Saturday, October 18th^th at Orange County Speedway along with the PASS Pro Late Models and USAC Eastern Midgets.  For more information, please go to ProAllStarsSeries.com, “Like” the Pro All Stars Series on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @PASSSLM14.