Lessard Conserves For CARS SLM Myrtle Beach Victory

Raphael Lessard scored his third career CARS Racing Tour Super Late Model victory Saturday night at Myrtle Beach Speedway.  Photo by Kyle Tretow/CARS Tour

Raphael Lessard scored his third career CARS Racing Tour Super Late Model victory Saturday night at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Photo by Kyle Tretow/CARS Tour

For the second time in as many races, Raphael Lessard scored the CARS Racing Tour Super Late Model feature victory, beating out Gus Dean for the win Saturday night at South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach Speedway.

Meanwhile, Josh Berry also scored his second straight victory in the CARS Late Model Stock Car feature.

In the Super Late Model feature, Lessard captured his first career series pole, shattering the track record held by Brandon Setzer from one year ago with a lap of 19.943 seconds, averaging 97.117 mph. Setzer started alongside in his pursuit to defend his win in this event one year ago.

After the drop of the green flag, Myrtle Beach’s famous tire conservation style of racing quickly began. While Lessard led the opening few circuits, Steve Wallace charged ahead to the top spot on lap 4. He was soon challenged for the lead by super late model newcomer Chad McCumbee who overtook Wallace for the lead on lap 7.

Matt Craig was one of the most aggressive drivers on the speedway during the opening fifth of the race. Craig, along with Dean and Hannah Newhouse, opted for a strategy of early track position and charged their ways to the top three early, with Craig taking over the lead on lap 17.

Craig stretched his advantage to nearly 3 seconds over Dean at various stages of the race, but any advantage he had was erased when Setzer spun on lap 79 after a mechanical issue. Setzer was penalized a lap for intentionally causing a yellow.

Dean, Lessard and others hounded Craig for the top spot as the laps clicked away. Lessard and Craig gradually pulled away from the field and waged a two-car fight for the lead that saw Lessard make his way around Craig on lap 92.

Lessard stretched his lead to nearly a full second at the checkered flag as he scored the third series win of his career. Dean finished second, followed by Dalton Sargeant in third, Craig in fouth and Tyler Ankrum in fifth.

“It was very hard, I’ve never had to be that smooth in my life,” Lessard said in victory lane when asked about the difficulty of the event. “But Seth Smith was telling me exactly what to do and I was able to do it right. I’m just so happy. I can’t thank David Gilliland Racing enough for this Toyota Camry. It’s just awesome to have two wins in a row like this. I can’t thank everyone enough.”

Josh Berry celebrates after winning Saturday night's CARS Racing Tour Late Model Stock feature at Myrtle Beach Speedway.  Photo by Kyle Tretow/CARS Tour

Josh Berry celebrates after winning Saturday night’s CARS Racing Tour Late Model Stock feature at Myrtle Beach Speedway. Photo by Kyle Tretow/CARS Tour

In the Late Model Stock feature, Josh Berry laid down his own track record lap in qualifying. JR Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes started to Berry’s outside, making it the first sweep of front row for the team.

Much like Concord three weeks ago, Berry appeared to be the car to beat early, jumping out to an early advantage over Deac McCaskill, Christian Eckes and others. However, McCaskill was not content to ride second for long and swiped the lead away from Berry on lap 14.

McCaskill paced the field for 22 laps until Sam Yarbrough, who earlier had to leave the track for medical attention due to sickness, bypassed him for the lead on lap 37.

Bryant Barnhill brought out the first caution of the event with a lazy spin in turn. On the restart, Yarbrough held onto the lead and set the pace through the two-thirds mark of the event.

By lap 70, Berry had reeled in Yarbrough for the race lead and began aggressively challenging for the top spot. He maneuvered his way around on lap 73 for his second stint of the evening at the front of the field.

Tommy Lemons and Stefan Parsons waged war with each other in the middle of the top ten at the same time the lead battle was being fought, with Parsons and Lemons making contact that damaged Parsons’ No. 98 car. Lemons appeared to be undamaged until the right rear tire went flat on lap 84, forcing officials to throw the second caution flag of the night with only 16 laps remaining.

On the restart, Berry once again shot out ahead of the field. Lemons charged his way from 16th to second by lap 95. But Berry’s car was too far ahead by the time Lemons was in position to challenge. Berry cruised to his seventh career series win, the fourth for the Tennessee native this year. Lemons finished second while Yarbrough, Eckes and McCaskill rounded out the top five.

“He started slipping a little bit and I could see it, so I tried to push him a little bit and see what he had, and as soon as he went to the top I knew he was searching and I felt really good at that point,” Berry said. “I just tried to get the lead and manage it. With Tommy having a new right rear at the end, I knew if we got a caution we’d probably be in trouble and I just tried to stretch it out as much as I could and pull away. I have to give a lot of credit to these guys, they’ve worked extremely hard driving this car here and doing everything they do to allow me to make it farther in this sport and they’ve been supporting me the entire time.”

The next race for the CARS Racing Tour is October 29 at Hickory Motor Speedway in Newton, NC. For more information, visit CARSRacingTour.com.

CARS Racing Tour
Myrtle Beach Speedway – Myrtle Beach, SC
Race Results – Sept. 17, 2016

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1. 99 Raphael Lessard
2. 56 Gus Dean
3. 55 Dalton Sargeant
4. 54 Matt Craig
5. 58 Tyler Ankrum
6. 98m Jody Measmer
7. 51 Todd Gilliland
8. 8 Tate Fogleman
9. 67 Clay Jones
10. 16c Chad McCumbee
11. 66 Steve Wallace
12. 7k Jody Lavender
13. 16 Lucas Jones
14. 97 Chase Purdy
15. 5 Korbin Forrister
16. 49 Jeff Batten
17. 98n Hannah Newhouse
18. 6 Brandon Setzer

Late Model Stock Cars
1. 88b Josh Berry
2. 27 Tommy Lemons
3. 20 Sam Yarbrough
4. 1 Christian Eckes
5. 08 Deac McCaskill
6. 98m B.J. Mackey
7. 88t Robert Tyler
8. 7 Justin Crider
9. 12 Austin McDaniel
10. 99 Layne Riggs
11. 41 Haley Moody
12. 98 Stefan Parsons
13. 28 Chris Hudspeth
14. 74 Ronald Hill
15. 5 Stephen Leicht
16. 23 Zachary Dabbs
17. 88 Chris Davis
18. 31 Thomas Beane
19. 42 Craig Stallard
20. 8 Trevor Rizzo
21. 5b Bryant Barnhill

 

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