ROUGEMONT, NC (March
25) - Matt Craig came out on
top of a controversial last
lap battle that saw both he
and third finisher Preston
Peltier slap the wall to win
the 10th Running of the
Orange Blossom Special on
Saturday night at Orange
County Speedway. Craig's
second straight Pro All
Stars Series (PASS) South
Super Late Model win also
guarantees him a starting
spot in the 44th Annual
Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains
Speedway in Maine.
"Our car was really good,
but we got really loose when
it was time to go," said
Craig, driver of the C&C
Boilers Sales & Service
Chevrolet #54. "I've raced
with Preston [Peltier] for a
long time and I knew if I
would have stayed on the
outside on the last lap, it
wouldn't have been any
different than what I did. I
don't feel bad about it.
He's raced me dirty and I've
raced him dirty, that's how
we get along."
For
Peltier, with the chance to
end a nearly two year
winless drought in PASS
dating back to the 2015
Easter Bunny 150 at Hickory
Motor Speedway, coming up
short was a hard pill to
swallow.
"I figured
at Southern National that he
won the race and I thought
man, the kid's turned a
corner, but I changed my
mind on that deal," said a
disappointed Peltier
afterwards. "The kid's
wrecked a lot of cars and
it's gotta stop. I just hope
he gets focused because
that's pretty uncalled for."
In qualifying, Craig and
PASS rookie, Tanner Thorson
ran identical fast laps, but
the quick qualifying time
was awarded to Craig by
virtue of having a faster
second lap. Following the
top 10 qualifiers redraw,
Craig would start fifth,
while Kodie Conner and Jeff
Batten would move to the
front row.
At the
drop of the green flag,
Batten got the edge over
Connor to lead the opening
laps. But, on lap four New
Hampshire's Derek Griffith
was able to make his way by
Batten for the lead. While
Griffith stretched his
advantage to over a
straightaway over second
place, Peltier was on the
move from tenth, bypassing
Thorson to move into the top
five on lap 29.
The
first caution of the night
would not wave until lap 69
when Terry Horak would go
for a minor spin in turn
two. On the restart,
Griffith continued to lead
with Peltier moving past
Craig into second. After
restarting seventh, Conner
flexed his muscle, making
the low line work to move
all the way up to third with
63 laps to go.
Griffith and Peltier
stretched their advantage
over third by 15 car lengths
as they began working slower
traffic. Using the car of
Bradley McCaskill as a pick,
Peltier was able to power
his way by Griffith for the
lead with 37 laps to go. The
yellow flag would fly again
when Ryan Moore cut a tire
and slapped the wall
entering turn three with 18
laps to go.
Peltier
took the advantage on the
restart over Craig and
Griffith. Unfortunately for
Griffith, he would spin on
the front stretch and fall
from contention for the win.
The final caution of the
night would wave with six
laps to go after contact
between Thorson and Dave
Farrington, Jr. would send
Farrington for a spin off
turn four.
On the
final restart, Peltier and
Craig raced side-by-side for
the lead on the high-banked,
3/8 mile speedway. With two
laps to go, Craig ducked
under Peltier entering turn
three and slid up the track
into Peltier. The two cars
made hard contact, with
Peltier making slight impact
with the wall. With smoke
pouring from the right side
of his machine, Craig held
off a fast charging Ben Rowe
to take the win over Rowe,
Peltier, Conner, and Tate
Fogleman. Rounding out the
top 10 were Dalton
Armstrong, Thorson, Joey
Polewarczyk, Batten, and
Spencer Davis.
The
PASS National Championship
Super Late Models will be in
action again, along with the
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Modified, as part of The
Icebreaker on Sunday
afternoon, April 2 at
Thompson Speedway
Motorsports Park in
Connecticut. PASS South will
it the track again on
Saturday, April 15 at
Hickory Motor Speedway for
the 12th Annual Easter Bunny
150. Entry forms are
currently available at
ProAllStarsSeries.com. Be
sure to "Like" the Pro All
Stars Series on Facebook or
follow us on Twitter at
@PASSSLM14.
- |
1) 54 - Matt Craig - 150
Laps 2) 4n - Ben Rowe -
150 3) 33 - Preston
Peltier - 150 4) 45 -
Kodie Conner - 150 5) 8f
- Tate Fogleman - 150 6)
74 - Dalton Armstrong - 150
7) 55 - Tanner Thorson - 150
8) 97 - Joey Polewarczyk Jr.
- 150 9) 49 - Jeff Batten
- 150 10) 29 - Spencer
Davis - 150 11) 2 -
Trevor Noles - 150 |
12) 7 - Dave Farrington -
150 13) 12g - Derek
Griffith - 150 14) 51 -
Eddie Fatscher - 148 15)
99 - Sarah Cornett-Ching -
148 16) 118 - Bradley
McCaskill - 148 17) 24j -
JP Josiasse - 143 18) 28
- Terry Horak - 141 19)
74x - Ryan Moore - 129
20) 15 - Roy Hayes III - 125
21) 7c - Tyler Church - 47
DNS - 59 - Dustin Dunn |