Howard, Root, Proffitt, Gibson, Johnson and Gregory All Winners In Greenville-Pickens Fall Finale Action

Howard led 81 of 100 laps in the Pro feature – including the final 77 – en route to a stop in “Call Double Aught” Bryan Ramey Victory Lane, while Root wired the field in the 50-lap Challenger main event.
 

Ricky Proffitt (Bandit Big Rigs), Trey Gibson (Mulligan Power Trucks),Blake Gregory (Renegades) and James Johnson (Four Cylinders) also collected wins in their respective divisions during the six-division card on Oct. 22.
 

Though seven lead changes in the first 25 laps characterized the Pro main event, Howard had the dominant car late in the race, powering ahead following the race’s final caution for debris with 40 to go and holding off three charges from rival Luke Sorrow in the final 15 circuits before notching his sixth GPS victory of the season across all divisions.
 

“That was a really hard race,” Howard said in victory lane. “Luke raced me hard and I raced him hard, but it was clean. I thought he might get me or get to me there at the end, but we were able to hang on. Hats off to him … for a great race. I had a lot of fun.”
 

Root made his job easy, starting on the pole and never looking back in notching his second straight GPS win and second of the season.
 

“The car was excellent tonight,” Root said in victory lane. “It’s a good group effort. I want to thank Anthony for having this division down here; maybe one time we’ll be able to beat some of those young kids (in the Pro division).”
 

Though Proffitt started seventh in the Bandit Big Rigs Series main event, he made a masterful charge to the front and dominated the series’ 25-lap main event in their second appearance of the season at Greenville Pickens Speedway.
 

Proffitt charged to the outside of fellow fourth-row starter Chris Kikelhan on lap seven and never looked back, leading the final 19 laps around the half-mile en route to his second win of the year in the series and first at Greenville.
 

The dominating run came in a caution-free main event, in which Proffitt beat runner-up and heat race winner Justin Ball to the finish line by 7.32 seconds in the end.
 

Kikelhan, who started eighth and led laps two through seven, finished third ahead of Darren Proffitt and opening lap leader Tyler Kruckeberg.
 

Adam Neely, Allen Boles, Jonathan Lisenbee and Scott Treadway completed the finishing order.

Gibson wired the field in the Mulligan Power Truck Series main event, leading all 35 laps of the feature and scoring his first series win at the controls of the No. 36 Hawk McCall Motorsports entry.
 

Gibson started from the pole and dominated the event, opening up as much as a seven second lead at times over the field on his way to victory lane, ultimately beating Jamie Altop to the checkered flag by 2.469 seconds.
 

A caution-free run characterized the opening 20 laps before debris slowed the pace, but a lap after the restart, contact between second-running Tim Lollis and third-running Jamie Altop sent Lollis around on the frontstretch.

Following the return of the green flag, Gibson again opened up a big lead, holding four seconds over the field when the final caution of the night came out with five laps to go – a stopped Lollis in turn four the cause.
 

No one could stop Gibson, however, who ran away over the final five laps to notch the victory over Altop, Jamie Tate, Sorrow and Pete Porter.
 

Gregory lead every lap en route to parking his No. 64 entry on the frontstretch at the end of the race after the 25-lap Renegade feature.
 

Gregory started from the outside pole but had the lead before a lap was complete, holding off Billy Brown through two cautions and a 20 lap run to the finish before parking his machine in ‘Call Double Aught’ Bryan Ramey victory lane.
 

A flat tire for Shane Brown and a spin by Wayne Waters – both on lap five – were Gregory’s only obstacles en route to the season-ending win.
 

Billy Brown finished second ahead of Lance George, with Shane Brown rallying for a fourth-place finish and Larry Nabors completing the top five.
 

Johnson scored his first win of the season in the 20-lap Four-Cylinder feature event, coming out on top of a seesaw battle with Michael Webster where the lead changed hands four times over the race distance.
 

Johnson led the field to the green flag from the pole position and drove out to a six car length advantage by the time the caution flag came out on lap five for a spin in turn two.
 

Going back to green quickly, Johnson was passed for the lead on the restart by Michael Webster, who held the point for two laps before Johnson reclaimed the spot on the eighth round.
 

From there, Johnson led through the halfway point, but a caution with seven laps to go for a crash in turn four set up a late-race restart that saw Webster reclaim the point on the race’s final restart.
 

Johnson would not be denied, however, taking the top spot with five laps remaining and driving away over the final stretch to beat Webster, Dannon Esco, Ray Mullinax and Danny Esco in the end.