ALTAMAHAW, NC :: Current points leader Tyler Church passed race long leader Trevor Noles with six laps to go to win his first Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model race of the season Friday night at Ace Speedway. Church’s win in the Ace’s Wild 150 was his first in a year that has that has already seen him finish second twice and third on one occasion.
“The car was a little tight and I started moving around a found something over in turn four and man, this car came alive,” said Church after becoming the fourth different winner in four PASS South events at Ace Speedway. “This was a hard race. Me and my daddy, we work so hard on this car. This race is for him.”
Due to thunderstorms in the area, qualifying was delayed for over two hours as series and track officials attempted to dry the track. PASS officials made the decision to go to a “European style” qualifying format which saw groups of cars take to the track for 10 laps with the lineup being determined by group speeds. Rookie Jared Irvan claimed his first career PASS South quick qualifying time with a lap of 15.228 seconds around the tricky 4/10 mile speedway. Following the traditional PASS top 10 qualifier redraw, Irvan would drop back to third while Trevor Noles and Joe Ryan Osborne moved up to the front row for the start of the race.
After another thunderstorm moved over the speedway to delay the start once again, Noles and Osborne would finally lead the field to green shortly before 10 PM Eastern. But, Osborne missed a shift on the initial start causing the field to stack up behind them. Tate Fogleman and David Latour, Jr. both spun into the inside guardrail resulting in significant damage for Fogleman. Veteran Jimmy Doyle also suffered damage in the incident and was finished for the night.
When racing got back under way, Noles jumped out into a lead he would not soon relinquish. Irvan and Jared Fryar went back and forth for the runner-up spot before Irvan eventually settled into second behind the leader. The race was slowed two more times early on for minor spins by Bill Catania and Lee Hansard.
Noles and Irvan continued to lead through a long green flag run that would last over the next 100 laps. During that time, Tyler Church was making his way to the front after starting in 10th. Just past halfway, Church was in the top five after passing the all-time PASS South wins leader Preston Peltier as they exited turn four.
Church continued his climb to the front moving around Brandon Setzer and Jared Fryar to take third. As he closed in on Irvan for second, Irvan’s Auramist machine began showing sparks and slowed on the speedway. The final caution of the night waved with 24 laps to go when Irvan stopped in turn three due to a flat right front tire.
Noles maintained his lead on the restart, but Church was close behind. With 6 laps to go, Church got the run he needed exiting turn four and took the lead from Noles as they entered turn one. Church checked out on the field over the final laps to take his first PASS South Super Late Model win of the season over Noles, Setzer, Fryar, and Joe Heigl. Rounding out the top ten were Peltier, Tyler Dippel, Cole Timm, Irvan, and Roger Lee Newton.
In the PASS Pro Late Model division, Kodie Conner passed Jeff Batten with 15 laps to go and held on for his first career win. Rounding out the top five were Walker Yates, Lucas Jones, Batten, and Jacob Schneider.
The PASS South Super Late Models and PASS Pro Late Models will be in action next along with the Pee Dee/Coastal Supertrucks on Saturday night May 31 at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, NC. Entry forms are now posted at ProAllStarsSeries.com.
