Steve Blackburn, seen here from an earlier win, scored the FASTRAK Pro Late Model victory in Friday night’s Bill Hicks, Sr. Memorial at 11 Motor Speedway. Photo: Steve Blackburn / Facebook
Steve Blackburn had to rely on tire management strategy to win Friday night’s Bill Hicks, Sr. Memorial for the FASTRAK Pro Late Model Series at 311 Motor Speedway in Pine Hall, North Carolina.
After an early race battle with Mitchell Coble, Blackburn took the lead for good on lap 28 when Coble cut down a tire. From there, the Greensboro, North Carolina driver went on to take the win and the $3,000 top prize.
“I looked everywhere around this race track trying to find a harder tire, but there weren’t any,” Blackburn said. “I knew I had to race on a softer tire and I knew I had to take care of it. I hate it that Mitchell Coble cut down a tire, because I wasn’t sure if I had anything for him.
“Winning this race means a lot to me because Bill Hicks, Sr. and the Hicks family have done a lot for racing in this area. I was here 26 years ago, sitting in the stands when Bill Sr. went down with his heart attack.”
Ross Bailes finished in second, with Benji Hicks in third, Tyler Bare in fourth and Ron Parker in fifth.
Brent Hilton, Jensen Ford, Jeff Parsons, Cla Knight and Corey Almond rounded out the top ten.
In preliminary action, Bailes set fast time honors among the 26-car field with a lap in 17.132 seconds. Blackburn, Bailes and Chase McCormick scored heat race victories.
The first start of the race was met by a caution flag after Almond and Brandon Umberger tangled in turn four. The complete restart had the same result, as Almond was having trouble negotiating turn four, collecting Matthew Nance and Randy Ring as well.
The third time was a charm, as Coble took the lead followed by Blackburn, Hicks, Hilton and Bailes. Ring brought the third yellow flag after he stalled in turn two on lap six. It came out again on lap seven, followed by the red flag after Luke Fleming hit the turn four guard rail.
Back under green, Blackburn quickly made up a ten car-length deficit and the battle for the lead was on. Blackburn got his car far enough inside of Coble on lap 26 to take the lead, but Coble came back to lead lap 27. Coble’s second reign of being the leader didn’t last long, as Blackburn took the lead for good on lap 28, and Coble fell back through the field with cut tire.
The caution came out on lap 29 when Hicks avoided disaster after getting together with the lapped car of Dustin Brim coming off the fourth turn. Brim stopped on the track to bring out the caution flag, but he was able to continue. Blackburn had a new challenger behind him for the restart, as Coble went to the pits and Hicks moved up to the second spot.
There was a three-car battle for the lead on the restart, as Hicks tried Blackburn on the inside, which opened the door for Bailes on the outside. Bailes took over the second spot, but before he could mount a challenge for the lead, the caution flag came out on lap 30 when Raymond Brown spun down the front straightaway and backed into the steel guard rail.
On the restart, Teddy hit the steel guard rail in turn four to bring out caution flag number seven. The field was slowed by caution for the final time on lap 32 when Brown executed his second spin on the front stretch.
Blackburn was able to maintain the lead on Bailes in the remaining eight laps to take the win.
The next race for the FASTRAK Pro Late Model Series will be a National event on Saturday night, June 3 at Virginia Motor Speedway in Jamaica, Virginia.
For more information, visit FASTRAKRacing.com.
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311 Motor Speedway – Pine Hall, NC
Bill Hicks, Sr. Memorial – May 26, 2017
POS STRT CAR # DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS $ WON
1. 1 39 Steve Blackburn Greensboro, NC 40 $3,000
2. 6 79 Ross Bailes Clover, SC 40 $1,000
3. 3 55 Benji Hicks Mt. Airy, NC 40 $700
4. 11 30 Tyler Bare Rockridge Baths, VA 40 $600
5. 8 8 Ron Parker Belwood, NC 40 $500
6. 4 33 Brent Hilton Rural Retreat, VA 40 $450
7. 7 83 Jensen Ford Piney Flats, TN 40 $400
8. 10 44p Jeff Parsons Union Grove, NC 40 $375
9. 12 42 Cla Knight North Augusta, SC 40 $350
10. 18 7a Corey Almond Appomattox, VA 40 $325
11. 9 24T Phillip Thompson Knoxville, TN 40 $315
12. 24 24n Matthew Nance Ronda, NC 40 $300
13. 17 7 Dustin Brim Madison, NC 40 $275
14. 14 5 Robbie Stevens Madison, NC 40 $265
15. 15 12 Brandon Umberger Rural Retreat, VA 40 $250
16. 22 618 Kevin Wilson Stoneville, NC 40 $250
17. 20 44 Dylan Lewis Oakland, MD 39 $250
18. 5 15 Chase McCormick Dobson, NC 32 $250
19. 21 93 Raymond Brown Danbury, NC 30 $250
20. 13 99 Teddy Tate Rural Retreat, VA 29 $250
21. 2 23 Mitchell Coble Mt. Airy, NC 28 $250
22. 19 07 Neil Welch Greensboro, NC 27 $250
23. 26 87j Dwayne Joyce Walkerton, NC 13 $250
24. 23 13 Luke Fleming Mt. Airy, NC 5 $250
25. 25 56 Randy Ring West Jefferson, NC 4 $250
DNS: 16 10 Kenny Compton Bland, VA 0 $0
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