Berry, Plott Victorious Over Competition and Mother Nature at Orange County
ROUGEMONT, NC (Sept. 10, 2018) – The CARS Response Energy Tour beat Mother Nature on Saturday night at Orange County Speedway, completing all 300 scheduled laps of the Thrifty Tire Center / Puryear Tank Lines 300 in record time at the .375-mile facility. Despite the quick showtime, the racing was fierce and resulted in a return to victory lane for one driver, Josh Berry, while Kyle Plott scored his first career series triumph in a fantastic comeback story.
LATE MODEL STOCK RECAP:
Qualifying for both divisions was washed out due to a passing shower and on-track weepers, setting the field by the rulebook and ultimately combined practice speeds from earlier in the afternoon. By virtue of his practice run, Craig Moore captured his first career Hedgecock Racing Pole Position and led the opening eleven laps of the race.
On lap 11, outside pole sitter Bradley McCaskill missed turn three and slid into the outside wall, ultimately stopping on-track with damage just a circuit later to bring out the first and only caution flag for an on-track incident in the race. Following the restart, Deac McCaskill motored around Craig Moore for the race lead and held the point through lap 92.
By rule, the CARS Response Energy Tour throws a competition caution for every 40 consecutive green flag laps early in an event. The ensuing restart after the lap 92 caution found Josh Berry alongside of Deac McCaskill, where the JR Motorsports driver took full advantage of a front row start and rocketed around McCaskill on lap 93. Despite challenges from McCaskill and Ronald Hill late in the race, Berry held on for his second win of the season and the third consecutive victory for JR Motorsports in the CARS Response Energy Tour. Deac McCaskill held on for second while Craig Moore, Tommy Lemons, Jr., and Bobby McCarty rounded out the top five.
“I’ll be honest, we were really close; he was really good and we were really good,” Berry said in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “He looked to be a tick tight, we were a tick loose, and I knew it was going to come down to that restart. The outside went, and I felt like I had to find a way to make it happen. I sailed off in there, turned it sideways, stood on the gas and had him pinned down enough where I could carry the momentum through three and four.
“We are on it at the right time, that’s for sure” he continued when asked about the momentum JR Motorsports has late in the season. “To win one of these races is such a hard feat because everyone in this field is so good. These are the best of the best in these races every week. We got off to a slow start and we’re hitting our stride. That’s three in a row for this organization and we’ve got a big one coming up soon, and I’d sure like to have a clock.”
SUPER LATE MODEL RECAP:
Raphael Lessard made the most of final practice to log the fastest time of the day, placing him on the Mahle Pistons Pole Position to start the super late model portion of the Thrifty Tire Center / Puryear Tank Lines 300 at Orange County. Much like the late model stock race, Lessard held onto the lead early but Steve Wallace motored around the driver of the Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota to take the point on lap five.
In one of the cleanest displays of driving by the super late model competitors all season, Wallace led the field for the majority of the race, including through three competition cautions which came on laps 40, 83 and 123. Occasional challenges from Lessard, and Matt Craig were met with additional speed from the No. 66 Ford, and Wallace held strong on the point through the third competition yellow.
The restart on lap 123 is where it all began to unravel for some. Contact from Matt Craig sent Raphael Lessard down the speedway where he entered turn one at a bad angle, bouncing off of Wallace’s left rear and spinning the race leader in front of the field. Miraculously, no other contact was made despite cars spinning in the aftermath. By rule in the CARS Response Energy Tour, anyone involved in the caution must go to the tail, meaning each of the three were sent to the back for the final 27 lap sprint to the flag.
Kyle Plott and Corey Heim inherited the front two positions after the call, positioning both drivers for a shot at their first career win. After a handful of restarts for relatively harmless spins, Plott and Heim came down for the final restart with just 16 laps remaining with Steve Wallace immediately behind them. The pair raced side-by-side for laps on end with Heim stealing the lead on lap 145. Undeterred, Plott moved up the racetrack to retake the position and held on for his first career win. Heim finished second followed by Wallace, Jared Fryar, and Lessard.
For Plott, the win was exceptionally unlikely because his team had begun loading up at the end of practice with a motor issue, but thanks to quick thinking and some generous hands at-track, were able to repair the issue (head gasket) before the race began.
“The motor laid down in practice and we were struggling and loading up,” Plott explained in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “Robert Long came by and asked if we needed a head gasket for this thing and I said yeah, so me and the crew busted tail on this thing and got if fixed. I was trying to save my tires as good as I could because I knew we were too free and I was spinning them too much. Somehow I got out with that win because the 78 (Heim) was battling me hard and I appreciate him racing me clean, but I had to work for that one and am a little wore out.”
The next event on the CARS Response Energy Tour comes at South Boston Speedway on Saturday, November 3. The dual-division show will crown champions for the second consecutive year with a two-horse race in both the late model stock and super late model divisions.
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NOTES OF INTEREST:
– Bobby McCarty expanded his point lead over Lee Pulliam by virtue of a finish ahead of him on Saturday night. Mathematically, everyone else is eliminated from the late model stock championship battle entering South Boston and Pulliam will need some help in order to pull off a title in his first full season with the tour.
– Raphael Lessard raced back from his late-race incident to score a top five finish just behind the super late model title leader Jared Fryar. Unofficially, Lessard is eight points behind Fryar entering the South Boston finale in November, meaning he must outperform Fryar for the best chance to steal the title where a win, in the right circumstances, could narrowly hand the Kyle Busch Motorsports pilot his second tour championship in three years.
– The CARS Response Energy Tour announced the largest late model stock race in history, by all accounts, on Friday night prior to this event in a meeting with competitors. The Old North State Nationals will be held April 5-7, 2019, at Orange County Speedway and will feature a $30,000-to-win winner’s purse with a guaranteed $1250 to start the main event and a limit of six tires in the 200-lap feature. Per position, the event pays as much or more than any other late model stock race in the country with additional bonuses and contingency awards still to be announced.
THE FINISHES:
CARS Late Model Stock Tour
Puryear Tank Lines / Thrifty Tire Center 300
Orange County Speedway – September 8, 2018
POS NUM DRIVER LAPS REASON OUT
1.88Josh Berry150
2.22Deac McCaskill150
3.1MCraig Moore150
4.27Tommy Lemons, Jr.150
5.22MBobby McCarty150
6.9Sam Mayer150
7.2PBrandon Pierce150
8.5Lee Pulliam150
9.9WCharlie Watson150
10.2Chris Denny150
11.01Camden Gullie149
12. 74 Ronald Hill 141 Engine
13. 07 Bradley McCaskill 131 Mechanical
14. 99 Layne Riggs 121 Mechanical
15. 57 Justin Johnson 111 Mechanical
16. 18 Ty Gibbs 103 Mechanical
17. 44 Mike Chambers 57 Mechanical
CARS Super Late Model Tour
Puryear Tank Lines / Thrifty Tire Center 300
Orange County Speedway – September 8, 2018
POS NUM DRIVER LAPS REASON OUT
1.4PKyle Plott150
2.78Corey Heim150
3.66Steve Wallace150
4.14Jared Fryar150
5.18Raphael Lessard150
6.17Mike Speeney150
7.00Anthony Cataldi150
8.16Molly Helmuth150
9.2Darrell Gilchrist150
10.2TGracie Trotter150
11.8Tate Fogleman150
12.49Jeff Batten150
13.54Matt Craig150
14.37Dan Speeney149
15. 12 Dean Ward 72 Mechanical
16. 32 Harold Crooms 21 Mechanical
17. 7 Tyler Church 0 DNS (Rear End)
Sources: Tony Stevens/CARS Tour PR