Green-White-Checker finish makes the sparks fly at Orange County
Naples, ME — Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South rookie Andy Loden scored a hat trick Saturday night, capturing three PASS South series wins in a row with his victory in the Southern Sizzler 150 at the Orange County Speedway. A great side-by-side restart between Andy Loden and Jay Fogleman on lap 149 set up a dramatic finish as the two battled down the back stretch with Loden holding the bottom groove with a half a car length lead over Fogleman to the outside as they entered turn three on the white flag lap. It then appeared that Loden drove up the track clipping the right front of Fogleman’s #4 machine almost sending the veteran spinning, giving the win to Loden as the field checked up behind him.
The remaining top five positions made for some of the best racing throughout the night. In the end, Justin Wakefield and Joey Gase finished second and third. Fogleman managed to cross the line fourth followed by John Stancill in fifth.
Several teams had up and down races. One driver that finally showed he can have a bad day was point leader Preston Peltier. The Concord, North Carolina came into the Southern Sizzler with a comfortable PASS South point lead but Peltier finished twelfth, victim of a tire going down in the waning laps. Peltier failed to finish in the top five for the first time all season. While Peltier had a down night, Alex Fleming had an up night after qualifying problems forced him to race his way in through the last chance race. Fleming took the green from the twenty-sixth position and raced his way to an impressive sixth place finish.
The win gives Loden a shot at a spot in the Pro All Stars Series history book. He can become the first driver to capture four PASS sanctioned super late model wins in a row next Friday July 2nd when the PASS South series travels to Greenville-Pickens Speedway for the Firecracker 125. If Loden fails to win four time PASS North champion and 2010 point leader Johnny Clark gets his crack at entering the record book first at Canaan (NH) Fair Speedway when he puts his own three race win streak on the line.
Don’t miss this Friday’s (July 2nd) PASS South series Firecracker 125 at the historic Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Easley, SC. Greenville –Pickens is a click away at www.greenvillepickens.com.
UnOfficial OC Finish on 6/26
1) 29 – Andy Loden
2) 98 – Justin Wakefield
3) 08 – Joey Gase
4) 4 – Jay Fogleman
5) 20 – John Stancill
6) 05 – Alex Fleming
7) 47 – Trey Mitchell
8) 18 – Bradley McCaskill
9) 23 – Jimmy Weller
10) 16 – Joey Coulter
11) 10 – Ryan Blaney
12) 26 – Preston Peltier
13) 35 – Evan Jackson
14) 93 – Tayla Orleans
15) 35 – Devin Jones
16) 91 – David Quackenbush
17) 48 – John Batten
18) 39 – Kenzie Ruston
19) 71 – Kyle Benjamin
20) 74 – Ryan Moore
21) 02 – Scott Patton
22) 91 – Heath Hindman
23) 75 – Michael Gaier
24) 5 – Spencer Wauters
25) 7 – Dana White
26) 20 – Steven Legendre
27) 56 – Tony Jackson
28) 00 – Grant Davidson
Sources: PASS South PR