Lance Bags The Win In Rheem Pro Late 40 At Gresham

Michael Lance celebrates with family and crew members after winning the Rheem Pro Late 40 at Gresham Motorsports Park Wednesday night. Photo by Brandon Reed

Wednesday night’s Rheem Pro Late 40 at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Georgia all came down to a restart with six laps to go.

It looked like Jerick Johnson had his second straight Midweek Mayhem event in the bag. The winner of the July 20 event restarted on the inside of leader Michael Lance, and moved out into the lead when the green flag dropped.

But race officials ruled that he jumped the restart, and showed Johnson the black flag with five laps to go.

That moved Lance to first, where he held off a hard charging Russell Fleeman for the victory.

Lance had run second to Johnson back on July 20.

“It’s good to be here,” said Lance in victory lane. “I want to thank everybody for coming out.”

Dwayne Buggay started on the pole after winning the eight lap trophy dash earlier in the evening. But on the start of the 40 lap feature, Kyle Benjamin squeezed into the lead, with Buggay in second, Ricky Sanders in third and Michael Pilla fourth.

Shawn Simpson brought out the first caution of the night with a spin off of the second turn. He didn’t hit anything, and was able to continue.

Benjamin again jumped to the lead on the restart, with Lance moving to second and Sanders to third.

Meanwhile, Russell Fleeman, who started 15^th, charged towards the front, moving to seventh as the lap approached the 13^th lap.

At the same time, Lance closed on Benjamin, and the two began a fierce battle for the lead that would last through the race’s halfway point.

As the two leaders slugged it out, Sanders and Pilla quietly closed the gap, making it a four car race as the event approached 10 to go.

On lap 30, Lance got a run off of turn four and ran to Benjamin’s inside as the duo raced off into turn two. Benjamin tried to hold Lance low, but the two cars made contact, sending Benjamin spinning in turn two, where he made slight contact with the outside wall, bringing out the yellow flag.

“I tried him a couple of times, and he was crowding me a little bit, which is what he was supposed to do and we just touched and he went around,” Lance said after the race. “But there was nothing intentional there.”

The green flag flew again with nine to go, and Lance moved out to the lead, with Sanders second and Pilla third. The fight for second heated up quickly, and with six to go, Sanders and Pilla made contact going into turn one, sending both cars hard into the wall.

Dwayne Buggay scored the win in the Pro Late Model trophy dash earlier in the evening. Photo by Brandon Reed

The crash resulted in a brief red flag. Both drivers walked away from their cars under their own power. The break in the action set up the final restart, leading to the black flag for Johnson and a trip to victory lane for Lance.

Fleeman held on for second, with pole sitter Buggay third, Dalton Grindle fourth and Gus Dean rounding out the top five.

It was a fitting end to a hot night of racing on the Jefferson high banks.

Earlier in the evening, Buggay led the eight lap trophy dash wire-to-wire for the win, but had to hold on tight, as Kyle Benjamin missed a win at the line by just inches. Ricky Sanders was third with Michael Lance fourth and Michael Pilla fifth.

Greg Jarrett had to fight back from a lap one penalty that sent him to the back of the pack to pick up the win in the Renegade feature.

Greg Jarrett (far right) came back from a lap one penalty to score the win in the Renegade feature. Photo by Brandon Reed

Jarrett jumped the start on the green, and had to fall to the back of the pack, handing Tony Newman the lead. Newman would hold the point, holding off a hard charge by Mike Childers.

Meanwhile, Jarrett hustled back through the field, and closed on the leaders as Childers caught the wall off turn two.

Jarrett made the pass for the lead with five laps to go, and held off a last lap charge for the win. Newman held on for second, with Childers, Jessie Thomas and Dickie Davenport fifth.

“I tried staying off of (Newman), and I went all the way down to the bottom to keep from it,” Jarrett said. “I don’t like no beatin’ and bangin’ if I don’t have to. I try to keep a decent car, and I want everybody else to race me the same way. I did get into him there on the last lap, but hey, I had to come from a long way back.”

Vernon Hicks took the lead from the drop of the flag, and never looked back as he picked up the win in the Mini-Stock division. Dustin Stephan was second, followed by Steve Hill, Scotty Beck and Ken Candiotti, Sr.

“Just a danged good engine builder is all I can tell you,” Hicks said after the win. “It’s great, I love it. Loose is fast.”

Former track champion Spanky Hicks had mechanical issues on the last lap and was done for the night.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular Shane Sieg drove Cody Haskins' truck to victory lane in the Truck feature. Photo by Brandon Reed

In the Truck feature, Chris Wagner moved out to an early lead, but found himself trying to hold off Camping World Truck Series regular Shane Sieg and Dawsonville, Georgia’s Spencer Davis was third.

Sieg charged past Wagner for the lead just after halfway, then began to check out from the field. After a quick caution for debris with 11 to go, Sieg again moved out to a healthy lead while Wagner worked to hold off a hard charging Davis and Brandon Jones.

Sieg would pull away for the win, with Wagner, Davis, Jones and Bill Hoose rounding out the top five.

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All race results are unofficial until certified by GMP race officials.

Racing returns to Gresham Motorsports Park on Aug. 13 with the US Auto Sales 100 Back To School race, featuring Pro Late Models, Trucks, Renegades, Mini-Stocks and Mini-Cups. For more info, visit www.greshammotorsportspark.com.

Gresham Motorsports Park – Jefferson, GA
Rheem Pro Late 40 – August 3, 2011
Unofficial Race Results

Rheem Pro Late 40
1. Michael Lance
2. Russell Fleeman
3. Dwayne Buggay
4. Dalton Grindle
5. Gus Dean
6. Kyle Benjamin
7. Rodney Benefield
8. Tyler Edwards
9. Shawn Simpson
10. Scott Saunders
11. Austin Reed
12. Jerick Johnson
13. Ricky Sanders
14. Michael Pilla
15. Shane Sawyer
16. Bill Nealis
17. Eric Wallace
18. Larry Petty