EASLEY, S.C. - Fireworks erupted Saturday night when Joey Doiron and Zane Smith made contact just past the finish line at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, as Doiron crashed taking the PASS South Super Late Model victory at the historic Easley, S.C. raceway.
Despite a car that was destroyed in the incident, Doiron walked to victory lane with the win and his first PASS Super Late Model National Championship.
“I try to race everybody like they race me and now my car is destroyed,” said Doiron afterwards. “We held back and saved our tires and just had enough to get there to the leader (Smith) and race for the win. We’re really proud to win the PASS National Championship too. It’s a lot of hard work during the season to get to all these races in the North and South and I’m glad it paid off for us to get the title.”
In qualifying, Zane Smith blistered the legendary half-mile speedway with a lap of 90.050 miles per hour. Following the top 10 qualifiers redraw, Smith would slot in to the fifth starting spot, while Steve Legendre and Jeff Batten would move up to the front row.
At the drop of the green flag, Legendre took the lead over the 22 car field entering turn one. The only caution of the night would wave on lap 9 when Ryan Hall slowed to a stop on the backstretch.
Legendre continued lead on the restart, but the car on the move was 2014 NASCAR All American Series National Champion Anthony Anders, who started 11th. Anders took the lead from Legendre with an outside move entering turn one on lap 16.
But it was quickly evident that some drivers were employing a tire conservation strategy. PASS National Championship contender Tate Fogleman dropped back to 20th, while Doiron fell all the way to the tail of the field by lap 40. Meanwhile, Flowery Branch, Ga. driver R.S. Senter moved around Anders to take the lead.
With about 50 laps to go in the 125 lap event, several drivers began making their move towards the front. Smith moved around Batten on lap 76 for fifth and three-time PASS National Champion Ben Rowe followed him into the top five a few laps later. With 24 laps to go, Doiron was charging as he made his way into the top 10.
With 19 laps to go, Smith made his way around Senter for the lead while Doiron moved past Colt James and into the top five just two laps later. Doiron continued his charge, moving up to second as the leaders began to encounter lapped traffic.
As the field took the white flag on the final lap, Doiron was on Smith’s back bumper as they entered turn one. The two made slight contact allowing Doiron to pull alongside down the backstretch. With a half car length advantage at the finish, Doiron took the win, but the two cars made contact just past the finish line sending Doiron hard into the outside wall.
Following the incident, several penalties were handed down to Zane Smith. Smith was fined $2000 and 100 championship points for extreme aggressive driving on the final lap. He was also docked an additional 50 points and $1000 for not pulling onto the front straightaway following the race and for not reporting to the tech area immediately after the race.
Additionally, he will have to start last in the final 2 PASS South races at Concord Speedway and Hickory Motor Speedway, regardless of where he qualifies, and will be on strict probation for the remainder of the season.
Following Doiron and Smith at the finish were Rowe in third, Senter in fourth and Matt Craig in fifth. James, Raphael Lessard, Christian Eckes, Anders and Trey Jarrell rounded out the top ten.
The PASS South Super Late Models will be in action once again as part of the 13th Annual North-South Shootout on Saturday, November 7 at Concord Speedway in Concord, N.C.
For more information, visit ProAllStarsSeries.com.
PASS South Super Late Model Series
Greenville-Pickens Speedway – Easley, SC
Race Results (Unofficial) – Oct. 24, 2015
1. 73 – Joey Doiron
2. 77 – Zane Smith
3. 4 – Ben Rowe
4. 10 – R.S. Senter
5. 54 – Matt Craig
6. 5 – Colt James
7. 71x – Raphael Lessard
8. 15x – Christian Eckes
9. 09 – Anthony Anders
10. 12 – Trey Jarrell
11. 00 – Steve Legendre
12. 98 – Jody Measamer
13. 88 – Kyle Desouza
14. 8 – Tate Fogleman
15. 16 – Vinnie Miller
16. 51 – C.J. Greaves
17. 49 – Jeff Batten
18. 56 – Gus Dean
19. 89 – Lee Hansard
20. 7k – Ted Mickelson
21. 66 – Ryan Hall
22. 71 – Jimmy Doyle
