PINE HALL, NC – Steve Blackburn of Greensboro, NC had to rely on a tire management strategy to win the Bill Hicks Sr. Memorial on Friday night at 311 Motor Speedway for the FASTRAK Pro Late Model Series. After an early race battle with Mitchell Coble of Mt. Airy, NC, Blackburn took the lead for good on lap 28 in the Billy Allen Taxidermy Rocket.
Blackburn kept early race leader Mitchell Coble of Mt. Airy, NC in his sights for the first half of the race, but when Coble cut down a tire on lap 28, Blackburn took control and went on for the $3,000 victory.
“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.”
The race was the first jewel of the 12th Annual FASTRAK Triple Crown, and the event first went on the schedule this past Monday. Even with just four days to promote the race, area race fans packed the grandstand for the first race at 311 Motor Speedway in three years.
The defending FASTRAK Triple Crown Champion Ross Bailes of Clover, SC finished second in the H&H Auto Sales Barry Wright, and Benji Hicks of Mt. Airy, NC took the third spot in the T&K Enterprises Longhorn. Tyler Bare charged from the 11th starting spot to finish fourth in the Loco Motives Rocket, and Ron Parker of Belwood, NC was fifth in the Schaeffer Oil Rocket.
Brent Hilton of Rural Retreat, VA drove the Cedar Springs Fish Farms Barry Wright to a sixth-place finish, and seventh went to Jensen Ford of Piney Flats, TN in the Tim Byrd Motorsports TNT. Jeff Parsons of Union Grove, NC finished eighth in the Parsons Towing GRT and the defending FASTRAK Pro Late Model Series Champion Cla Knight of North Augusta, SC was ninth. Corey Almond of Appomattox, VA rounded out the top ten in the Loco Motives Rocket.
In preliminary action, Bailes set Fast Time honors among the 26-car field with a lap around 311 Motor Speedway in 17.132 seconds. The three eight-lap Heat Races were won by Blackburn, Bailes and Chase McCormick of Dobson, NC in the Long Brothers of Smithfield Rocket.
The first start of the race was met by a caution flag after Almond and Brandon Umberger of Rural Retreat, VA in the BCU Barry Wright tangled in turn four. The complete restart had the same result, as Almond was having trouble negotiating turn four.
This time, Matthew Nance of Ronda, NC in the Diversified Finishers Longhorn and Randy Ring of West Jefferson, NC in the M&M Ranch Saloon Mastersbilt were collected. Nance was able to restart in the 24th spot on the grid and finished 12th to earn the Hard Charger of the Race honors.
The third time was a charm, as Coble took the lead from his outside front row starting spot followed by Blackburn, Hicks, Hilton and Bailes. Ring brought the third yellow flag after he stalled in turn two on lap six. The yellow bulb flashed on again on lap seven followed by the red flag after Luke Fleming of Mt. Airy, NC hit the turn four guard rail in the Fleming Racing Rocket.
The top ten for the double-file restart had Coble leading followed by Blackburn, Hilton, Hicks, Bailes, McCormick, Parker, Ford, Parsons and Knight. On the restart, Hicks got back by Hilton to retake the third position. The field pretty much spread itself out until lap 20 when Coble reached the cars on the tail end of the lead lap.
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 of Madison, NC in the Pirtek Performance Specialties Rocket 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.
The battle for the lead on the restart was a three-car dance, 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 of Danbury, NC spun down the front straightaway and backed into the steel guard rail.
On the restart, Teddy Tate of Rural Retreat, VA hit the steel guard rail in turn four to bring out caution flag number seven. The top ten line-up for the restart with 11 laps to go saw Blackburn in the lead followed by Bailes, Hicks, Parker, Hilton, Bare, Knight, McCormick, Ford and Parsons. When the field went back to green, Bare was able to get by Hilton for the fifth spot.
The field was slowed by caution for the final time on lap 32 when Brown executed his second spin on the front stretch. Bare was ready to go once again on the single-file restart, as he moved up another position, getting by Parker for the fourth spot. Blackburn was able to maintain a four to six car-length 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, VA for a 40-lap $3,000-to-win main event as a part of the USA 100. FASTRAK’s sister series, the ULTIMATE Super Late Model Series will race for $20,000-to-win in their 60-lap portion of the USA 100.
Check out the official website for the FASTRAK Racing Series at www.fastrakracing.com and continue to follow our social media networks for the FASTRAK Racing Series. Like and Follow our Fan Page on Facebook plus follow @FASTRAK_SE and/or @FASTRAK_MOV on Twitter to get up to the minute news and details as they become available.
OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 3 AT 311 MOTOR SPEEDWAY IN PINE HALL, NC ON 5/26/17:
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
26. 16 10 Kenny Compton Bland, VA 0 $0/DNS
ENTRIES: 26
FAST QUALIFIER: Bailes, 17.132 Seconds
PROVISIONALS: None
LEAD CHANGES: 2
LAP LEADERS: Coble, 1-25; Blackburn, 26; Coble; 27; Blackburn, 28-40
LAPS LED: Coble, 26; Blackburn, 14
ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Thompson
HARD CHARGER OF THE RACE: Nance (started 24th and finished 12th)
CAUTIONS: 8 (1 Red Flag)
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.846 Seconds
TIME OF THE RACE: 1 Hour, 11 Minutes, and 6.654 Seconds
NEXT RACE: Saturday, May 27, Princeton Speedway, Princeton, WV, 40-Laps, $2,000-to-win, $250-to-start
GROUP QUALIFYING:
GROUP 1:
POS
CAR #
DRIVER
HOMETOWN
CHASSIS
TIME
1
39
Steve Blackburn
Greensboro, NC
Rocket
17.390
2
99
Teddy Tate
Rural Retreat, VA
CVR
17.451
3
83
Jensen Ford
Piney Flats, TN
TNT
17.669
4
33
Brent Hilton
Rural Retreat, VA
Barry Wright
17.694
5
10
Kenny Compton
Bland, VA
Bloomquist
17.815
6
44
Jeff Parsons
Union Grove, NC
GRT
17.980
7
618
Kevin Wilson
Stoneville, NC
Rocket
18.198
8
56
Randy Ring
West Jefferson, NC
Mastersbilt
19.301
9
07
Neil Welch
Greensboro, NC
Rocket
NT/LT
GROUP 2:
POS
CAR #
DRIVER
HOMETOWN
CHASSIS
TIME
1
15
Chase McCormick
Dobson, NC
Rocket
17.170
2
23
Mitchell Coble
Mt. Airy, NC
Rocket
17.244
3
30
Tyler Bare
Rockridge Baths, VA
Rocket
17.338
4
8
Ron Parker
Belwood, NC
Rocket
17.546
5
5
Robbie Stevens
Madison, NC
Warrior
17.596
6
7
Dustin Brim
Madison, NC
Rocket
17.815
7
44
Dylan Lewis
Oakland, MD
Mastersbilt
17.850
8
13
Luke Fleming
Mt. Airy, NC
Rocket
17.893
GROUP 3:
POS
CAR #
DRIVER
HOMETOWN
CHASSIS
TIME
1
79
Ross Bailes
Clover, SC
Barry Wright
17.132
2
55
Benji Hicks
Mt. Airy, NC
Longhorn
17.366
3
24T
Phillip Thompson
Knoxville, TN
Warrior
17.435
4
42
Cla Knight
North Augusta, SC
Longhorn
17.485
5
7a
Corey Almond
Appomattox, VA
Longhorn
17.604
6
12
Brandon Umberger
Rural Retreat, VA
Barry Wright
17.713
7
24n
Matthew Nance
Ronda, NC
Longhorn
17.869
8
93
Raymond Brown
Danbury, NC
Rocket
17.972
9
87j
Dwayne Joyce
Walkerton, NC
Rocket
18.056
HEAT RACES – 10 LAPS:
1ST HEAT: 1. Blackburn; 2. Hilton; 3. Ford; 4. Parsons; 5. Tate; 6. Compton; 7. Welch; 8. Wilson; 9. Ring.
2ND HEAT: 1. Coble; 2. McCormick; 3. Parker; 4. Bare; 5. Stevens; 6. Brim; 7. Lewis; 8. Fleming.
3RD HEAT: 1. Hicks; 2. Bailes; 3. Thompson; 4. Knight; 5. Umberger; 6. Almond; 7. Brown; 8. Nance; 9. Joyce.
THE 2017 MARKETING PARTNERS FOR THE FASTRAK RACING SERIES ARE CHEVROLET PERFORMANCE, HOOSIER RACING TIRE, VP RACING FUEL, BEYEA HEADERS, ROCKET CHASSIS, TNT RACE CARS, ARIZONA SPORT SHIRTS, SIMPSON SAFETY EQUIPMENT, SAFECRAFT FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS, ROCK AUTO.COM, AND THOMAS CLARKE PERFORMANCE.
