Randy Porter Wins Greenville-Pickens NASCAR Late Model 50; Howard and Root Grab SELLM Victories

Bob Root and Colby Howard were both first-time winners in their respective Southeast Limited Late Model Series divisions, while Josh Sams, Bobby Emory, Chris Meinders and Tommy Davis, Jr. also visited ‘Call Double Aught’ Bryan Ramey victory lane.

The 50-lap Daytona1 Challenger race hit the track first.  It was Bob Root all the way in this one, as he put his Root’s Tire and Auto Service No. 29 out front at the drop of the green and was never seriously challenged.

The No. 56 of Anthony Miller battled briefly with R.J. West for second before diving to the inside and making the pass on lap nine, and while they were dicing, Root opened up an advantage of over two seconds.   

With no yellow flags to slow the race pace, Miller could not make up the ground and settled for a strong second behind first-time series winner Root.

Division points leader Thad Moffit raced R.J. West for third right down to the wire and took the spot on the last lap in his Jacob No. 46.  West finished fourth and Lexi Gay drove the CM Driver Development No. 77 to fifth.

Next up was the Super Stock division for their 20-lap feature.  It was an “all-Sams” front row as Tim Sams and his son Josh Sams brought the field to the green.  Tim jumped out front and opened a distance of over two seconds.  Behind him, Travis Cox, Ted Somero and Josh Sams were all battling for position.  As the race went on, Josh got faster and was able to break away and chase down his father with just two laps left.

On the last lap, Josh dove underneath the No. 71 of Tim Sams and raced his father through turns one and two and all the way down the back straightaway before edging out ahead in turn three and beating Dad to the finish line.  At the stripe, it was Josh Sams, Tim Sams, Ted Somero, Dale Stancil and Travis Cox in that order.

NASCAR K&N Pro East Series winner Kyle Benjamin, a local racer from Easley, South Carolina made his first ever start in a NASCAR Late Model at Greenville-Pickens and led the first 11 laps before three-time track champ Randy Porter stormed from his fifth starting spot and took command.  Once in the lead, Porter opened up nearly a two-second gap as Benjamin ran second in his No. 51.

Points leader Dylan Hall in the Autobank No. 4 came on mid-race to challenge Benjamin for second and found success on lap 39, setting sail after the leader.  He closed in on Porter and narrowed the advantage to less than a second but just couldn’t quite get there.

Porter, who didn’t decide to race until Saturday morning, put his ole’ red car into victory lane for the first time in a couple of years.  Hall was second with Benjamin, Trey Gibson and Ryan Walker rounding out the top five.

Bobby Emory took the early lead in the 20-lap Renegade main event, trying to add to his win total and points lead on the season.  He led flag-to-flag and accomplished the goal of further cementing his road to the championship in this division for 2016 heading into the final night of points racing next Saturday.  Spenser Darnell finished second, Robin Darnell third, Alexx Breazele fourth and Lance George fifth.

Colby “The Kid” Howard put his No. 16 on the pole for the 100-lap Southeast Limited Late Model Series Pro division feature and simply dominated the field.  Points leader Anthony Alfredo and Blair “Hotshoe” swapped second and third early in the going, with Addis taking over the runner-up spot on lap 12 and Alfredo getting back by on lap 40.

The only yellow flag of the event came on lap 68 for debris in turn one, erasing Howard’s six second advantage and giving Luke Sorrow, who’d run off the pace in fourth much of the event but had taken third from Addis on lap 58, new life as he would line up behind Howard for the restart.

Sorrow took advantage of his good fortune by taking second from Alfredo after the restart and holding on to the end.  While Howard won the battle, Sorrow won the points war, gaining the two points he lacked to end up tied with Alfredo for the championship going into the next event on the series schedule, a return date to Greenville-Pickens on October 22nd.

The final outcome was Howard, Luke Sorrow, Alfredo, Taylor Sorrow and Blair Addis in the top five.

As it often is, the 15-lap Four-Cylinder feature was a wild one, with several cautions and lots of two and three-wide racing.  Chad Redding put his “Silver Bullet” No. 1 out front early and staved off all challengers to pick up the win. Once they got to post-race tech, however, his machine and that of Ray Mullinax were both disqualified.  Redding’s car failed to meet the weight specifications while the Mullinax machine had an issue with tires.

This gave the win to Tommy Davis, Jr.  Michael Webster finished second followed by Travis Shelton, Dannon Esco and Don Tavernia.

Chris Meinders finally got his long-awaited victory in the 12-lap Pure Stock feature, besting Spencer Morgan, Buck Simmons, Charlie Meinders and Zack Meinders.

Next Saturday, September 17th, is NASCAR Championship night at Greenville-Pickens.  All divisions will run their final night of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series points racing for the season.  The late models, limited late models, four-cylinders, renegades, super stocks and pure stocks will all be in action.

Gates will open at 4pm with race time at 7:30pm.  Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for students aged 9 through 11 and free for kids 8 and under with a paid adult.  

The following Saturday, September 24th, the Speedway will team with Entercom Communications to present the inaugural Carolina Motorfest, an entire day of cars, music and fun for the whole family.  A swap meet, car corral, live auction and multi-band concert will all be part of the day along with food, beverages and lots of activities.

The event runs from 10am – 6pm.