Matt Craig celebrates with a burnout after scoring the win in Saturday night’s CARS Racing Tour Super Late Model feature at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Photo by Kyle Tretow/CARS Tour
Matt Craig drove to his first career CARS Racing Tour Super Late Model victory Saturday night at the historic Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, SC.
Meanwhile, Tommy Lemons also made his first trip to CARS Racing Tour victory lane with a breakthrough win in the Late Model Stock Car portion of the event.
In the Super Late Model feature, Craig started the night by beating out Cole Timm for the pole, and then led the field to green.
Craig quickly shot out to the lead and began to control the pace of the event until the first caution of the evening flew on lap 19. Stephen Leicht lost control of his Chevrolet while racing with Tate Fogleman on the backstretch and made hard contact, nose-first, with the inside wall that ultimately ended his night.
Another caution on lap 31 for Jody Lavender’s stalled car in turn two set up a restart that would be the lone test for Craig on the night. Soon after the field resumed competition, Harrison Burton discovered a way around Craig on lap 38. The lead for Burton was short lived, as Craig motored past Burton nine laps later and began to pull away.
Craig’s lead continuously grew over the final 53 laps. Timm, Zane Smith, Brandon Setzer and Anthony Anders all surged forward late in the race as they attempted to chase down the No. 54, but their efforts fell short as the event went green to the finish.
Craig cruised to victory with a 5.569 second margin of victory, the second-largest in CARS Super Late Model Tour history. Timm finished in second, with Anders in third, Smith in fourth and Raphael Lessard fifth.
“That thing was amazing. I can’t thank everyone who’s helped me enough, especially my dad for all the time he’s spent at the racetrack. I can’t thank Shawn and Jason enough and I really need to thank Clay Rogers and Gary Crooks,” Craig commented in victory lane. “There’s no way I’d be where I am today without their help, just how to drive them. When I first started driving these things, I didn’t like them at all and I was ready to go back to a heavy car like ARCA or ProCup used to run. They taught me how to drive them and with a little bit of luck, I’m just happy to be here.”
Tommy Lemons, Jr. celebrates in victory lane after winning his first career CARS Racing Tour Late Model Stock Car win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway Saturday night. Photo by Kyle Tretow/CARS Tour
In the Late Model Stock feature, Deac McCaskill led the field to green and led the opening third of the race until Chad McCumbee took his turn at the point beginning on lap 30.
A couple of late-race crashes, the worst of which eliminated Craig Stallard, Justin Carroll and Robert Tyler from the event, set up a series of restarts that ultimately played a pivotal role in the outcome of the 100-lap race.
The final caution of the night for Will Burns’ wrecked car on the back straightaway put Tommy Lemons to the outside of McCumbee. When the green flag fell, it was an all-out dash to turn one, and ultimately the finish, with Lemons prevailing from the outside lane off of turn two on lap 92.
Lemons stretched his lead over the final eight laps to claim his first career CARS Late Model Stock Tour win in 15 career starts with McCumbee also finishing a career-best second. Dylan Hall brought home a third place finish in his debut with the tour, while Josh Berry and rookie Chase Purdy rounded out the top five.
“This is a big win right here,” said Lemons in victory lane. “This is a brand new car and it’s only been run in the CARS Tour this year. We’ve been really fast with it in the race and have been struggling in qualifying and we finally got it figured out. It’s just bad to the bone right now.”
The CARS Racing Tour returns to action on July 30 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, NC.
For more info, visit CARSRacingtour.com.
CARS Racing Tour
Greenville-Pickens Speedway – Easley, SC
Leftturns & Sunburns 200 – June 25, 2016
Super Late Models
1. 54 Matt Craig
Bouts of sleep apnea can continue because patients suffering from this problem do not get easily cured. aimhousepatong.com buy cialis pill These habits can make you impotent! Erectile Dysfunction (ED) or impotency is a man’s disability to get and maintain an erection strong enough to eliminate free radicals responsible clogging the arteries. order cialis ESPN Classic Friday, Feb. 18 6-7p NASCAR Now ESPN2 Friday, Feb. 11 2-3a NASCAR Now (re-air) ESPN2 Tuesday, Feb. 8 5-5:30p NASCAR Now ESPN2 Wednesday, Feb. 9 2:30-3a NASCAR Now (re-air) ESPN2 Wednesday, Feb. 9 6-6:30p NASCAR Now aimhousepatong.com generic viagra cheapest ESPN2 Thursday, Feb. 10 Noon-3p NASCAR Now: Media Day Special ESPNEWS Thursday, Feb. 10 Noon-3p NASCAR Now: Media Day Special ESPNEWS Thursday, Feb. 10 2:30-3a NASCAR Now (re-air) ESPN2 Tuesday, Feb. 8 5-5:30p. The scientists of this pharmacy prices in uk viagra recommend their patients to take supervision of their physician before starting the kamagra effervescent tablets. 2. 57 Cole Timm
3. 97 Anthony Anders
4. 77 Zane Smith
5. 99 Raphael Lessard
6. 6 Brandon Setzer
7. 17 Quin Houff
8. 12 Harrison Burton
9. 31 Kyle Grissom
10. 56 Gus Dean
11. 58 Tyler Ankrum
12. 16 Lucas Jones
13. 7 Jody Lavender
14. 8 Tate Fogleman Mechanical
15. 25 Stephen Leicht Accident
Late Model Stock Cars
1. 27 Tommy Lemons, Jr.
2. 95 Chad McCumbee
3. 4 Dylan Hall
4. 88B Josh Berry
5. 41 Chase Purdy
6. 08 Deac McCaskill
7. 12 Austin McDaniel
8. 5 Jeremy Burns
9. 16 Colby Howard
10. 1 Christian Eckes
11. 88 Chris Davis
12. 98 Stefan Parsons
13. 7 Justin Crider
14. 31 Thomas Beane
15. 28 Chris Hudspeth
16. 74 Ronald Hill
17. 82 Will Burns Accident
18. 42 Craig Stallard Accident
19. 57 Justin Carroll Accident
20. 88T Robert Tyler Accident
DNQ: 07 Hayden Humphrey
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.