LUCAMA, NC – Matt Craig took the lead from Matt Wallace on lap 28 of Saturday night’s 150 lap PASS South Super Late Model race and never looked back, as he scored his second Southern National win of the year in dominant fashion.
Craig, who has enjoyed plenty of success at Southern National with two wins in the Pro Late Model Series last year along with a PASS South win earlier this year, performed a sweep of the PASS South Series with his victory on Saturday.
“That’s really cool to sweep the season in PASS, both races,” Craig said after the race. “The car has just been phenomenal. We have a good setup under our piece right now and I think it was a good race. I wish we had a few more cautions there, got strung and my car kept getting a little better and some other ones were fading. It was a lot of fun. I love this track a whole bunch and hope we come back here next year.”
Early in the race, Matt Wallace pulled away with a big lead, until the caution came out for rain, erasing Craig’s deficit to Wallace. Craig, who had been saving tires, was able to get by and then pull away. He would go on to survive a series of late race restarts to pick up the win, his fourth win of the season in PASS South competition.
“We were just letting off at the flagstand,” Craig explained. “He was running a little hard and I’ve done it before. It takes a while to learn your lesson about that. With five to go, I wasn’t real worried. My crew was giving me the lap times and we felt safe.”
Maine driver Dave Farrington finished the race in second while fellow northern driver Trevor Sanborn was third. Rounding out the top-five were Jared Fryar and veteran Jay Fogleman.
Gary Ledbetter, Jr. dominated in the 50 lap Mid-Atlantic Street Stock feature race to score the victory in convincing fashion. Much like Craig had to do in the Super Late Model race, Ledbetter survived a series of late race restarts and held on for the victory.
“You try to save as much tire as you can for cautions at the end if you have any,” Ledbetter said. “We saved enough where it helped out and worked out for us. I knew the car was good, but a restart worries you. Bobby [Tumbleton] ran me clean. He’s a good driver. Still, you never know, five to go, sometimes people are hungrier than others.”
Tumbleton finished in second while Ricky Locklair, Jr. finished third, Sonny Schoffen was fourth and Jeff Melton finished fifth.
Southern National Motorsports Park resumes its regular season on Friday night, August 4th with the #StottStrong195 presented by Solid Rock Carriers out of LaGrange, North Carolina, headlined by twin Late Model Stock Car races. Chargers, Mini Stocks, Legends, Bandoleros and Any Cars will also be in action in a memorial race for Ashley Stott, a longtime supporter of Southern National Motorsports Park.
For more information about Southern National Motorsports Park, check out SNMP’s website at www.snmpark.com, “like” Southern National Motorsports Park on Facebook or “follow” @SNM_Park on Twitter.
Unofficial Results
PASS Super Late Model
- Matt Craig
- Dave Farrington
- Trevor Sanborn
- Jared Fryar
- Jay Fogleman
- Joe Graf, Jr.
- Kodie Conner
- Tate Foleman
- Sarah Cornett-Ching
- Matt Wallace
- Roy Hayes, III
- Eddie Fatscher
- Jody Measamer
- Will Bristle
MASS Street Stock
- Gary Ledbetter, Jr.
- Bobby Tumbleton, III
- Ricky Locklair, Jr.
- Sonny Schoffen
- Jeff Melton
- Gary Ledbetter, Sr.
- Kevin Ellis
- David Thomas
- Kevin Benton
- Wayne Locklair
- Greg Barnette
- Chuck Ison
- Wesley Scott
- Michael Worthington
- James Horner, Jr.
- Ron Flynn
- Kyle Lynch
- Ricky Locklair, Sr.
- Anthony Yarborough
- Larry Isenhower