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Saturday Oct. 27th
Ben Takes Second
Ben
2nd fastest of 29 cars in the second practice sessions.
In time trials, Ben runs 2nd at 19.789 compared to the 19.768
of father Mike Rowe.
Ben easily took the checkered flag in the Dash race, putting him
on the pole for the race. Jeff Fultz crossed the line in
second, putting him outside pole. Mike Rowe started from
the back and worked his way to the back bumper of Fultz on the
last lap to finish third. Ryan Lawler, Justin Wakefield,
Corey Williams, Preston Peltier and Heath Hindman rounded out
the top starting spots.
Ben
finished second
with Derek Ramstrom making a late charge up to the
third position. Series points leader Ryan Lawler
finished fourth with
Corey Williams fifth.
Both Ben and Mike would share the lead throughout the
first three-quarters of the 150-lap distance with
five-time NASCAR Elite Series winner at
Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Jeff Fultz. But, during a
long green flag run in the mid-portion of the event,
both Mike Rowe and Fultz began to fade and that’s when
the white number-8 of Clark began to pour it on.
With 50 laps to go in the event, Clark had worked his
way up to the bumper of Ben Rowe’s number-4. The two
fought hard for the top spot for more than 30-laps. Rowe
tried to hold him off as long as he could, but with 16
laps remaining, Clark made the move that got him the
win.
“We had a shootout there at the end,” said Clark. “I
didn’t want to lay the bumper to him, but I was going to
try like hell to get by him. I was awesome getting into
the center and pretty good off there, but with the
little motor, it was hard to get up off the corner. I
have crate motors and they have the big motors. I could
get up to his rear wheel and door, but at the tail end
of the straightaway he could pull down and get back in
front of me. I knew if I kept putting the pressure on
him he would have to drive in too deep and that is what
happened. We had a five or six lap shootout there where
I was on the bottom and he was on the top. It was good
clean racing and I am happy with the outcome.”
Ben Rowe did everything he could to keep the lead in the
late portions of the race, but had to concede to Clark’s
car in the end.
“We had a good car there early on,” said Ben Rowe. “We
knew we had to save tires. The crate engine car is just
200 pounds lighter than we are, which is huge on tires.
I tried to save tires and I wanted a yellow there at the
end. I knew Cassius was coming and there was nothing I
could do. It is discouraging. I could hold him off down
the straightaways, but there isn’t much of an outside so
when he got up underneath me I just spun my tires. We
were beating and banging and ran side by side there for
some laps. We had a good car. We were the best in class
with the big engine cars. He just had a different engine
and weight package, and that is what beat us today.” |
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