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LUCAMA, NC (November 23) –
Tyler Church led 120 of the
200 laps that made up the
8th Annual Mason Dixon
Meltdown for a dominant win
Saturday afternoon at
Southern National
Motorsports Park in the 2013
season finale for the Pro
All Stars Series (PASS)
South Super Late Models. The
win marked a strong final
third of the season that saw
Church also claim his first
career PASS South Super Late
Model win back in September
at Hickory Motor Speedway.
“I’ve always wanted to
win somewhere other than
Hickory and Tri-County,
we’ve won up there quite a
bit in the Limiteds, but
finally we were able to win
somewhere else,†said Church
in victory lane. “It’s
really not sunk in yet. This
place is really cool and I
can’t believe we were able
to win the Meltdown.â€
The afternoon began with
Church just missing out on
the track record as he
claimed his first quick time
in a PASS South Super Late
Model with a lap of 97.337
miles per hour. It was
obvious after the PASS South
redraw that Church not only
had speed, but he also had
luck on his side, drawing
pill number one to start
from the pole for the Mason
Dixon Meltdown.
The
race began ominously when
eighth place starter Tyler
Dippel got loose exiting
turn two on the first lap of
the race which resulted in
several cars spinning to
avoid the accident. Among
the cars collected were
defending Mason Dixon
Meltdown winner Preston
Peltier, Tate Fogleman, Joey
Polewarczyk, Shelton McNair,
Jr, and Ted Mickelson. Both
Peltier and Fogleman would
receive heavy damage and be
out of the race before they
could even complete a single
lap.
When the race
restarted, Trevor Noles took
the lead from the outside of
row one in front of Church
and Ben Rowe. On lap 15,
Church made the move on
Noles to take the lead and
started to distance himself
from the rest of the field.
After starting tenth, Derek
Ramstrom methodically made
his way toward the front
passing Cole Timm for second
on lap 75. In the meantime,
Church had stretched his
lead to more than a
straightaway over Ramstrom.
The race went caution free
until the lap 100 halfway
break when Brandon Jones
spun in turn two. Only 12
cars remained on the lead
lap when the field entered
the pits for the 10 minute
halfway break to change four
tires and refuel.
At
the drop of the green flag
for segment two of the
Meltdown, Church led the
field into turn one followed
closely by Ramstrom and
Timm. Just 10 laps later,
Ramstrom and Timm moved
around Church sending the
early leader back to third.
Like Church had done in the
first half of the race,
Ramstrom had nearly a
straightway advantage over
Church who had retaken
second from Timm. With less
than 40 laps to go, Church
had closed back in on
Ramstrom. It was clear that
Ramstrom’s Matthews Truck
Service Chevrolet had
developed a problem as
evidenced by the audible
engine miss one could hear
every time the #35 sped by.
With 25 laps to go, Church
moved around Ramstrom’s
ailing machine for the lead.
Church’s victory
celebration was put on hold
however, when Jay Fogleman
and Jody Measamer both spun
in turn four with two laps
to go while battling for
fifth. On the restart,
Church led the field to turn
one as Ramstrom dropped back
due to the problem that had
developed 40 laps earlier.
Church took the checkered
flag for his second career
PASS South Super Late Model
win over Timm, Roger Lee
Newton, Steve Legendre, and
Joey Doiron. Rounding out
the top ten were Rowe,
Ramstrom, Harrison Burton,
Trey Mitchell, and Measamer.
Despite a 12th place
finish, Jay Fogleman became
the first driver since
Preston Peltier in 2010 to
claim both the PASS National
Series and PASS South Super
Late Model championships.
Fogleman said afterwards
that this season was his
last run for a title as he
will step back to partial
schedule in 2014 to focus
more attention on his son
Tate’s racing career.
“I just can’t say enough
for the people that have
helped make this happen like
Will Brafford and Becky and
Dickie Woodman to give me a
car to race and have a
chance to win these
championships,†said
Fogleman. “We really didn’t
start out with a plan to
race the whole year so to
win the South and National
championships is just a
great way to end it up and
go out on top.â€
In
the PASS Pro Late Model
division, Austin Thompson
led flag-to-flag to claim
his first career series win.
Thompson dedicated the win
to his mother who is
currently battling breast
cancer.
Trevor Noles
finished second, good enough
to cap off a seven win
season and win the PASS Pro
Late Model division
championship. Noles will
move up to compete full-time
in the Coulter Motorsports
#2 and will race for both
the 2014 PASS National and
PASS South Super Late Model
championships. Jeff Batten
finished third in front of
Walker Yates and Austin
Reed.
Brian Gerster
took the win in the 30 lap
Must See Racing Xtreme
Sprint Car feature and
Chalin Williamson took the
Mini Cup checkered flag.
. |
1. #7 Tyler Church -
200 Laps 2. #57 Cole Timm
- 200 Laps 3. #33 Roger
Lee Newton - 200 Laps 4.
#5 Steven Legendre - 200
Laps 5. #73 Joey Doiron -
200 Laps 6. #4n Ben Rowe
- 200 Laps 7. #35 Derek
Ramstrom - 200 Laps 8.
#12 Harrison Burton - 199
Laps 9. #47 Trey Mitchell
- 199 Laps 10. #98 Jody
Measamer - 199 Laps 11.
#29 Spencer Davis - 199 Laps
12. #4f Jay Fogleman - 199
Laps 13. #2 Trevor Noles
- 199 Laps 14. #15 Joe
Heigl - 199 Laps |
15. #97 Joey
Polewarczyk - 198 Laps
16. #05 Alex Fleming - 198
Laps 17. #83 Brandon
Jones - 197 Laps 18. #80
Blake Jones - 197 Laps
19. #88 Kyle Desouza - 197
Laps 20. #18 Bill Catania
- 196 Laps 21. #77 Ted
Mickelson - 196 Laps 22.
#1 Tyler Dippel - 193 Laps
23. #8 Joseph Mursuli - 191
Laps 24. #48 John Batten
- 139 Laps 25. #9 Matt
Daley - 42 Laps 26. #m3
Sheldon McNair - 34 Laps
27. #26 Preston Peltier - 0
Laps 28. #8f Tate
Fogleman - 0 Laps |