The first of twin 75-lap features for opening day of Greenville Pickens Speedway’s 2016 season went off caution free but that didn’t mean it went off without a little controversy.
Chase Purdy had put his Hawk McCall Motorsports entry on the pole but right from the start he lost the lead to outside pole sitter Rodney Howard. Howard led the first 44 laps of the race and looked to have a dominant car but his tires were wearing down while he clicked off fast laps throughout the first half of the race.
Dylan Hall who looked to be playing the tire conservation game as did Purdy and Trey Gibson but just after half way they turned it on and moved back to the front of the field. Hall took the lead on lap 45 and brought along Gibson and Purdy to the top three spots as Howard fell back to fourth way ahead of the fifth and sixth place running duo of Will Burns and Cody Haskins.
Once in the lead Hall looked to have a strong car but Gibson who had just rode behind Howard was now putting the pressure on Hall right away. By lap 50 he’d taken the lead and brought Purdy along with him as Hall slipped back away from the two leaders slighty pulled away. Gibson now in the top spot wasn’t about to give it up easy but Purdy wasn’t going away.
Purdy made many moves hoping to get to the inside of Gibson but to no avail as lapped traffic countered his every move. The laps were winding down and Purdy had to find a way by Gibson. Gibson was wanting to flex his muscle however and he wasn’t giving up the lead. That is until the cars entered the final lap and Purdy put the bumper to Gibson in turn two and got side by side with him. The two raced door to door for the lead and the win with Purdy coming out on top by just a few feet at the line.
Purdy was headed to victory lane but the contact on the last lap drew the ire of Gibson’s team led by veteran Late Model Stock Car driver and Gibson’s uncle Randy Porter. Porter and Purdy’s crew chief got into a post race exchange in which Porter accused McCall of directing Purdy to wreck Gibson on the final lap. The two eventually walked off from one another without further incident but McCall denied Porter’s claim and scoffed at the idea.
The second race hit the track just ten minutes later leaving teams and drivers scrambling to get ready but we did manage to get a word with Purdy who also denied that McCall told him to wreck Gibson saying McCall didn’t even speak to him on the last lap. The second race is underway and we’ll have more following the conclusion of that race.
Late Model Unofficial Results:
1 – Chase Purdy #41
2 – Trey Gibson #12
3 – Dylan Hall #4
4 – Bob Root #28
5 – David Roberts #18
6 – Rodney Howard #16
7 – Will Burns #82
8 – Ralph Carnes #40
9 – Cody Haskins #2
10 – Neil Meredith #36
11 – Lance Gatlin #97
12 – Tasha Kummer #35
13 – Kevin Vassar #44
14 – Austin Northcutt #29
15 – Richard Starkey #8
16 – Taylor Sorrow #92
