Chase Elliott battles with Russell Fleeman for position during Saturday night’s Larry Fleeman Memorial 198 at Gresham Motorsports Park. Photo by T. Spackman
Following one of the most spirited battles seen in recent years at the Jefferson, Georgia speed plant, Chase Elliott used pit strategy to move into the best position late in the going, and powered away to the victory in the Larry Fleeman Memorial 198 for Pro Late Models at Gresham Motorsports Park.
Running on older tires, Elliott’s car was hung out on every corner, as the 17-year-old Dawsonville, GA wheelman fended off challenge after challenge in several side-by-side battles with young drivers and veterans alike en route to the win on the Jefferson high banks.
“It was pretty eventful, especially when we were out there on those old tires, and those guys were coming,” said Elliott in victory lane. “I knew they were coming. I just had a percent of a chance if I could hold them off on the top.”
After an uneventful opening half of the event, Elliott would find himself out front for the final 98 laps. With rain reported in the area, the fight for position got heated early on in the second half of the event.
Elliott fought for more than 30 laps to hold the lead, battling side-by-side with Russell Fleeman, Alex Guenette, and Kyle Plott in a fight that had the Peach State fans on their feet. The fight for the top spot boiled over when Plott made contact with Guenette, sending Guenette sliding off the fourth turn.
Guenette would show his displeasure under caution, resulting in race officials sending him to the rear of the field.
Chase Elliott and his team celebrate in victory lane. Photo by T. Spackman
Meanwhile, with 27 laps remaining, Elliott hit pit road for tires, along with Augie Grill and Bubba Pollard. Fleeman would stay on track, and inherited the lead in the event named in honor of his late father.
On the restart, Hunter Robbins would move to the top spot, with Fleeman in second and Garrett Jones in third.
But it was Grill and Elliott that were on the charge. With 23 laps to go, Grill moved around Fleeman for second, with Elliott trailing him. Two laps later, the duo moved into the top two spots.
With 17 laps left to run, Elliott dove to the inside of Grill, and would make the final pass for the lead in the third turn. Elliott would switch on the afterburners from there, and drove away to a 3.740 second margin of victory.
“Hats off to Russell and those guys for racing me clean,” said Elliott. “They could have very easily run in there and wrecked us, or moved me up the race track at the very least. It’s fun racing like that, and obviously I thought that was a great show for the fans, running side by side like that.”
Grill held on for second, with Pollard in third, Robbins in fourth, and Fleeman in fifth.
Jones, Rodney Benefield, Plott, Fredrick Moore, and Guenette rounded out the top ten.
Spanky Hicks (0) works to hold off Avery Burgess (4) during the Mini-Stock feature. Photo by T. Spackman
In other action, Spanky Hicks scored the victory in the Mini-Stock feature, which opened up the days feature events. Hicks would lead early, with Anthony Burgess and Aaron Calvert giving chase. Four laps in, Trace Embry made hard contact with the outside backstretch wall, ending his day. While under caution, fire broke out on the car of Zack Minielly. Minielly got out okay, but race officials were forced to red flag the event to allow for track clean up.
Back under green, Hicks and Calvert would do battle for the lead, with Hicks fending off the challenge. Calvert would see his chance at a win go away with a spin after contact with Scotty Beck in the first turn. On the restart, Hicks and Burgess squared off for the lead, with Burgess seeming to have a slight edge. But racing contact between the two in turn one send Burgess around, bringing out another caution and setting up a green-white-checkered finish, as the 20 minute time limit for the race had expired.
Hicks would score the win, with Beck in second, Burgess recovering from the spin for third, Dion Ciccarelli in fourth and Calvert in fifth.
In the combined Sportsman and Renegades feature, Jeff Chadwick outdistanced Jackie Daniel for the Sportsman win, while Bryan Beckner topped Rob Hubbard for the Renegade victory.
In the Truck feature, Matt Vasser moved out front off the start, and drove away to score his first GMP victory. Emilee Riley, Ronnie Wehunt, Jamie Weimer, and Matt Wortman rounded out the top five.
In the Outlaw Late Model feature, Russell Fleeman, pulling double duty on the night after racing in the PLM feature, jumped out front early, and held the top spot when the race was cut short by rain on lap 19. Jason Bates finished second, with Brian Hardman in third, David Murphy in fourth, and Russell Shore in fifth.
All results are unofficial until certified by race officials.
Action returns to Gresham Motorsports Park on April 27 when the speedway plays host to the Southern Super Series. Visit racegmp.com for more info.
Gresham Motorsports Park – Jefferson, GA
Larry Fleeman Memorial 198 (Unofficial) – March 30, 2013
1. 9 Chase Elliott
2. 22a Augie Grill
3. 42 Bubba Pollard
4. 18 Hunter Robbins
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6. 88 Garrett Jones
7. 36 Rodney Benefield
8. 4 Kyle Plott
9. 30 Fredrick Moore
10. 39 Alex Guenette
11. 22 Kevin Herbert
12. 15 Colt James
13. 2 Kyle McCallum
14. 29 Matthew Wragg
15. 04m Michael Lance
16. 1 Josh Adkins
17. 29b Anderson Bowen
18. 23 Dalton Grindle
Mini Stocks (Unofficial)
1. 0 Spanky Hicks
2. 25 Scotty Beck
3. 4b Avery Burgess
4. 81 Dion Ciccarelli
5. 01 Aaron Calvert
6. 6 Bill George
7. 33 Erik Czechowski
8. 9 Trace Embry
9. 21 Zack Minielly
Sportsman (Unofficial)
1. 20 Jeff Chadwick
2. 07 Jackie Daniel
Renegades (Unofficial)
1. 29 Bryan Beckner
2. 19 Rob Hubbard
Trucks (Unofficial)
1. 69 Matt Vasser
2. 21 Emilee Riley
3. 5 Ronnie Wehunt
4. 47 Jami Weimer
5. 32 Matt Wortman
6. 98 Taylor Dorner
7. 44 Kevin Vasser
Outlaw Late Models (Unofficial)
1. 98 Russell Fleeman
2. 22 Jason Bates
3. 10 Brian Hardman
4. 35 David Murphy
5. 87 Russell Shore
6. 36 Chad Hoopaugh
7. 2 Todd Vanderford
8. 85 Hoyt Stephens
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