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TOP THREE at WAKE COUNTY: #26
Preston Peltier (2nd-left),
#62 Brandon
Ward (1st-center), #25 Ross Kenseth
(3rd-right) |
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Caution Free Race at
Wake County Speedway Sees Brandon
Ward Pick up His First Career PASS
South Series Win |
Charlotte, NC 5/12/12- Wake
County Speedway, the less than
quarter mile located in Raleigh,
North Carolina, played host to the
PASS South Series super late models
Friday night celebrating fifty
consecutive years of racing. After
all was said and done regulars to
track were left thinking about those
last fifty years when the last time
125 laps of racing in any division
was ran caution free. One guy that
could tell you fifty years from now,
will be #62 Brandon Ward as he
cruised to victory winning the
Capital City Clash/Bull Ring Tough
Guy Challenge 125 presented by
Bio-Specialists. The win was his
first in the series and his first
for car owner Jeff Day who has
fielded a car in the series dating
back to the inaugural season in
2006.
“Wow, what a race that
was right there,” cheered an excited
Brandon Ward as he exited the car in
victory lane. “Man, I never thought
in a million years I would get my
first PASS South Series win at a
track like Wake County. All my guys
worked their butts off to give me an
unbelievable car tonight and it
showed. I’ve been trying so hard to
get Jeff Day a win in this series
and tonight we were finally able to
do it.”
Ward was fortunate
enough to redraw the pole position
after qualifying ninth during the
series redraw of the top ten
qualifiers and never looked back.
#31 Kyle Grissom who set fast time
during the day’s qualifying session
and started to the outside of Ward
challenged the #62 machine early on
riding right on the bumper of Ward
and making contact several times
over the first thirty-two laps. Just
as Ward started to put fellow
competitors #1 Justin Allison and
#29 Landon Cling a lap down, the two
made contact resulting in Grissom
losing a half a straightaway
distance to the leader. A pair of
quick movers early on in the form of
#4 Jay Fogleman closed in to the
third position, as did Gray Gaulding
after starting tenth.
Still
clean and green at the event’s
halfway mark, Ward continued to lead
over a distant Grissom in second
followed by Fogleman and series
veteran #26 Preston Peltier. With
the race inside forty laps to go and
still no slowing the field, business
amongst drivers picked up on track.
Caruth, in his first season racing
on pavement shined on the tight bull
ring making a move that saw him go
from fifth to second all in a matter
of Wake County’s 100 foot back
stretch. This was exactly what Ward
needed to almost circle the field
entirely. Inside twenty laps to go
early front runners Fogleman and
Grissom battled to stay within the
top five and on the lead lap.
Brandon Ward once again showed
no signs of mercy or letting up in
the closing laps as he lapped the
field all the way up to the fourth
position as the checkered flag flew
through the air. Preston Peltier
made it back-to-back podium finishes
with his second place finish. Third
place man Ross Kenseth did the same
after scoring his first series win
in the series’ last outing at Orange
County Speedway just two weeks ago.
“I’ve been racing in this
series as a car owner since day one
and maybe I’ve missed fielding a car
in about twelve races during that
time, and you couldn’t have wrote a
better script than this one
tonight,” stated Jeff Day, car owner
of Ward’s #62 ride. “I can’t even
begin to describe how easy Brandon
is to work with out there. He really
is an awesome racecar driver and I’m
proud that he was the guy that got
this #62 Kevin Powell
Ford/KPMoto.com race team in victory
lane tonight.”
Next up for
the “BIG BOYS WITH THEIR BAD FAST
TOYS” PASS South Super Late Model
Series will be the
CV Products 100
at the Concord Speedway located in
Concord, North Carolina on Saturday
night May 26th in conjunction with
the area’s race weeks. |
UNOFFICIAL PASS SOUTH SLM
RESULTS
WAKE COUNTY SPEEDWAY - 5/11 |
1)
#62 - Brandon Ward
2) #26 - Preston Peltier
3) #25 - Ross Kenseth
4) #89 - David Latour Jr.
5) #19 - Nate Caruth
6) #48 - John Batten
7) #29 - Landon Cling |
8)
#31 - Kyle Grissom
9) #4 - Jay Fogleman
10) #1 - Justin Allison
11) #18 - Bill Cantania
12) #2 - Gray Gaulding
13) #15n - Joe Heigl
14) #55 - Kevin Floars |
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Entries Received - Wake - 5/11 |
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