Finally! Pollard Scores First GMP And First PASS South Win

Bubba Pollard (18) nips Augie Grill at the wire to win Saturday's Racing Radios 100 at Gresham Motorsports Park. Photo by Justin Poole

After 99 laps of racing, it came down to a last lap pass on the final turn to decide the winner of Saturday’s PASS South Racing Radios 100 at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Georgia.

Senoia, Georgia’s Bubba Pollard made a hard charge to the inside of Augie Grill coming off the fourth turn as the checkered flag flew, and beat Grill to the line by .021 seconds to pick up his first PASS South win and his first win at Gresham Motorsports Park since the track was refurbished two years ago.

“I didn’t think the race was going to go that many green flag laps that long, so I was just sitting there riding and thinking the caution was going to come back out,” Pollard said in victory lane.  “The car got real free on us.  Usually this track tightens up, so we freed it up and the race track slicked up.  Maybe we learned something we can carry on to the race.  I enjoy racing Augie like that.  It was just a great race.”

Pollard spent most of the night chasing Grill and pole sitter Andy Loden.  Loden jumped out front on the opening lap and pulled away to a comfortable lead.  Grill moved into the top five on lap 12 while Pollard ran third.

The first caution of the night came out on lap 18 when Dacula, Georgia’s Russell Fleeman spun and made slight contact with the outside wall in turn four.

Grill charged on the restart, making his way around Pollard and moving to the second position while Loden again moved out to a sizeable lead.

That’s the way it stayed over the course of the next 76 laps until Steven Legendre, who had spent much of the night in the top five, had an issue on the backstretch, bringing out the second caution of the night.

Bubba Pollard celebrates his first PASS South victory in GMP's victory lane. Photo by Justin Poole

On the restart, Grill made his way around Loden to take the lead, but coming off the fourth turn, Randy Gentry and Landon Kling tangled, bringing out the third and final caution of the night.

A dustup under caution led to Gentry being disqualified by PASS officials.

The final restart came with just three laps to go.  Pollard got a solid run on the drop of the green, making his way past Loden and setting up the dramatic last lap pass on Grill for the win.

“We didn’t necessarily have the best car tonight,” Pollard said.  “We’ll get one when we have the best car.  I feel like we’ve had some good cars in the past and come up short.  This is a tough place to get around.  It’s fast and I enjoy coming here.”

Grill would hang on for second, with Preston Peltier, Stephen Nasse and Andy Loden rounding out the top five.

It was a rough and tumble night for some of the drivers in GMP’s local divisions, as the Hometown Heroes went at it in several events.

Jason Bates celebrates his victory in the Outlaw Late Model feature with friends and family. Photo by Justin Poole

Jason Bates worked his way around pole sitter Hoyt Stephens at the halfway mark of the Outlaw Late Model event and pulled away for the victory.  Stephens finished second with David Murphy, Matthew Wragg and Terry Martin rounded out the top five.

In the Truck division, Cody Haskins looked to have the truck to beat, but faded while leading, handing control of the race to Bill Hoose, who would go on to pick up the victory.

A multi-truck wreck occurred just two laps in, gathering up several competitors, including Brandon Jones.  Jones would rebound to finish second.

The truck race was also marred by two scary incidents.  On lap 5, Conrad Compton made hard contact with the front stretch wall, bringing out the red flag.  Compton walked away uninjured.

Eric Wallace (12) and Matt Vasser (2) tangled in turn one on lap 30 of the truck event. Photo by Justin Poole

On lap 30, Matt Vasser and Eric Wallace tangled going into the first turn, bringing out the second red flag of the event.  Again, no one was injured.

Following Hoose and Jones to the checkered flag were Kevin Vasser, Aaron Calvert and Joel Townsend.

Scotty Beck held off a hard charging Troy French to pick up the Mini-Stock victory.  Matt Meyer finished third, followed by Steve Hill and Dustin Stephan.

Mark Caudell outdistanced Brian Sosebee for the Sportsman victory.  Jackie Daniel was third.

Mike Childers took the win in the Renegade division.  Jessie Thomas finished second with Dicky Davenport third.

Will Fagen made the trip to victory lane in the Mini-Cup event.  Mason Elzey finished second with Eric Brookshire, Brody Bullard and Blake Gaither rounding out the top five.

All results are unofficial until certified by race officials.

Up next for Gresham Motorsports Park is the first of two “Mid-Week Mayhem” Wednesday night events on July 20, featuring a 40-lap Pro Late Model event along with racing in the Truck and Outlaw Late Model divisions.

For more information, visit www.greshammotorsportspark.com

Gresham Motorsports Park – Jefferson, GA
Racing Radios 100 – July 16, 2011
Unofficial Race Results

PASS South Racing Radios 100

  1. Bubba Pollard
  2. Augie Grill
  3. Preston Peltier
  4. Stephen Nasse
  5. Andy Loden
  6. Donnie Wilson
  7. Jimmy Weller
  8. Jay Fogelman
  9. Justin Wakefield
  10. Paul Kelley
  11. Roger Newton
  12. Ryan Blaney
  13. David Quackenbush
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  15. Landon Cling
  16. David Odell
  17. Gus Dean
  18. Gray Gaulding
  19. Allen Karnes
  20. Heath Hindman
  21. Steven Legendre
  22. Rodney Benefield
  23. Greg Simpson
  24. Jason Hogan
  25. Russell Fleeman

DQ- Randy Gentry

Outlaw Late Models

  1. Jason Bates
  2. Hoyt Stephens
  3. David Murphy
  4. Matthew Wragg
  5. Terry Martin
  6. Michael Silvey
  7. Brian Hardman

Trucks

  1. Bill Hoose
  2. Brandon Jones
  3. Kevin Vasser
  4. Aaron Calvert
  5. Joel Townsend
  6. Ashley Harvey
  7. Brandon Franklin
  8. Spencer Davis
  9. Eric Wallace
  10. Matt Vasser
  11. Cody Haskins
  12. Blake Haddock
  13. Mark Caudell
  14. Rodney Haddock
  15. Conrad Compton
  16. Cody Puckett

Mini Stocks

  1. Scotty Beck
  2. Troy French
  3. Matt Meyer
  4. Steve Hill
  5. Dustin Stephan
  6. Bill George
  7. Drew Griffith
  8. Vernon Hicks
  9. Avery Burgess
  10. Spanky Hicks
  11. Bryan Bellew

Sportsman

  1. Mark Caudell
  2. Brian Sosebee
  3. Jackie Daniel

Renegades

  1. Mike Childers
  2. Jessie Thomas
  3. Dicky Davenport

Mini-Cup

  1. Will Fagan
  2. Mason Elzey
  3. Eric Brookshire
  4. Brody Bullard
  5. Blake Gaither

 

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