Johnny Pursley came out on top of a hard fought battle that saw two and three wide racing and five official lead changes to score his first career ULTIMATE Super Late Model feature Saturday night in the series first race in five years at Travelers Rest Speedway in Travelers Rest, S.C.
Pursley, of Clover, S.C. took home the $4000 payday for winning the Whitey Whitesides Memorial.
Current series points leader Casey Roberts of Toccoa, Ga. nailed down overall fast time with a lap of 15.225 seconds and picked up the $200 pole award.
Roberts opted to start from the outside of the front row with Pursley to the inside for the 40-lap feature event. Roberts chose wisely, as he was able to grab the point exiting turn 2 on the opening lap. Pursley and Dennis Franklin battled back and forth for the second spot in the early going until a lap 8 yellow slowed the field when Dustin Mitchell got turned around in turn 2. The double-file restart resulted in the continuation of the Franklin and Pursley battle.
Pursley was finally able to clear Franklin and set after the leader. At times Pursley was 3/10ths of a second faster than Roberts as he closed in on the leader. Pursley was able to duck in low and pull alongside Roberts, while Franklin closed in to make it a three car battle for the lead.
Pursley pushed by Roberts exiting turn 4 on lap 13 to lead at the line, only to have Roberts use his top-side momentum to roll by Pursley through turns 1 and 2. With Franklin peering under Pursley and Roberts still rolling on the top, the lead trio exited turn 4 three-wide coming to complete lap 15. Franklin edged Pursley by just 0.002 seconds.
Pursley stayed the course, pinning mount to the inside and on lap 19, he was able to definitively grab the lead. Franklin was able to dispose of Roberts and closed back to Pursley’s rear deck. Franklin took advantage when Pursley slipped high entering turn 1 on lap 22. But as quickly as Franklin took the spot the yellow waved when Jordy Nipper slowed to a stop in turn 2. Pursley was saved as he returned to the lead with the field not having completed the lap.
On the ensuing restart Pursley was able to get away and put some distance between himself and Franklin and Roberts. Pursley was able to move through lapped traffic with relative ease over the remaining distance and pulled away to capture the victory. Franklin held on for second with Roberts coming home third, followed by Kenny Collins of Colbert, Ga. in fourth and Josh Langley in fifth.
“We had a really good car,” said Pursley. “We just put this new motor in today and it ran really good. We ran a little hot but it was still really fast. I had some luck on my side too. I got the car upset when I hit that little rut in turn 1 and let (Franklin) get by me and then that caution came out and saved us.
“We really needed this win. We didn’t win a super race last year and we have been working hard to finally get one. “
The next event for the ULTIMATE Super Late Model Series is the Friday, August 21 John Bradshaw Memorial at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Kentucky. For more information visit UltimateSupers.com.
ULTIMATE Super Late Model Series
Travelers Rest Speedway – Travelers Rest, SC
Whitey Whitesides Memorial – Aug. 15, 2015
1. 09 Johnny Pursley
2. 2 Dennis Franklin
3. 101 Casey Roberts
4. 1c Kenny Collins
5. 7 Josh Langley
6. 1 Brent Dixon
7. 10 Scott Shirey
8. 98 Casey Barrow
9. 07 Brian Ledbetter
10. D8 Dustin Mitchell
11. 3 Danny Ledford
12. 28 Kelly Guy
13. 17 Tim Allen
14. 1N Jordy Nipper
15. D8x Douglas Davis
16. 00 Jeff Smith
17. 121 Benji Cole
18. 421 Anthony Sanders
