The CARS Tour made their first trip of the season to Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) on Saturday night and there was certainly no lack of action in the twin 75-lap Super Late Model races.
Local fan favorite Brandon Setzer would have been anyone’s smart pick as he qualified on the pole in both feature events. The fields were set in qualifying by using the first qualifying laps to determine the first feature and the second feature off of the second lap.
Short track racing was at its finest Saturday evening as the top five drivers could not stay away from each other. Tate Fogleman would eventually get the lead from Setzer but it would be Matt Craig who would park in Victory Lane after inching ahead of Fogleman on a late-race restart.
Tensions were high after the first feature when David Gilliland Racing driver Raphael Lessard had worked his way through the field and was battling with Setzer for second when the two tangled in turn two. The incident took them both out of contention for the win.
“I don’t really know, he left the door open the lap before and I thought he would do the same thing this lap so I just drove in pretty hard and he closed the door,” Lessard told Speed51.com
Setzer, who felt as though he burned the tires off too early in the feature, was frustrated with the incident.
“I gave him the bottom and he just kind of ran right through us. I don’t really know what happened. I just know it didn’t work out good for either of us honestly,” said Setzer.
The second feature event went smoother for the leaders as Setzer started from the pole again but quickly slipped back to third.
The battle of the night was once again found at the front of the field as Fogleman and Lessard swapped the lead back and forth in the second 75-lap feature.
Lessard would go on to get the redemption from earlier by winning the second Super Late Model feature, his first of 2017, and his fifth CARS Tour victory. Cole Rouse would rebound from a rough first feature to come home second and Tate Fogleman would round out the top three.
The CARS Tour heads to Bristol Motor Speedway May 19-21st for the Short Track U.S. Nationals where the Late Model Stock Cars will compete on the high banks of Bristol, and the Super Late Models will compete along side of the ARCA/CRA Super Series and Southern Super Series.
Speed51 TV, the live broadcasting arm of Speed51.com, will carry a live pay-per-view broadcast of all of the action from Bristol Motor Speedway. Fans can purchase their pay-per-view packages at a special “Early-bird” rate of just $44.99 now through May 19 by clicking here.
For an on-demand replay of Saturday’s Trackside Now coverage presented by McCallister Performance Marketing, click here.
-By Hannah Newhouse, Speed51.com Southeast Contributor – Twitter: @HannahNewhouse
-Photo Credit: Speed51.com
CARS Tour Super Late Model Race #1 Results
POS NUM DRIVER LAPS
- 54 Matt Craig 75
- 8 Tate Fogleman 75
- 16 Lucas Jones 75
- 99 Raphael Lessar 75
- 6 Brandon Setzer 75
- 34 Nolan Pope 75
- 37 Mike Speeney 75
- 49 Jeff Batten 74
- 7 Tyler Church 74
- 1 Kodie Conner 73
- 51 Cole Rouse 55 Mechanical
CARS Tour Super Late Model Race #2 Results
POS NUM DRIVER LAPS
- 99 Raphael Lessard 75
- 51 Cole Rouse 75
- 8 Tate Fogleman 75
- 6 Brandon Setzer 75
- 16 Lucas Jones 75
- 54 Matt Craig 75
- 1 Kodie Conner 75
- 49 Jeff Batten 75
- 7 Tyler Church 75
- 37 Mike Speeney 75
- 34 Nolan Pope 41
