Defending PASS South Super Late Model Champion Tate Fogleman prevailed in a race-long battle with Chris Dilbeck to capture his first career series win in the Catawba Valley 150 on Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway.
With his win, Fogleman and his father, Jay, join Mike and Ben Rowe as the only father-son duo to ever capture wins in the South’s oldest Super Late Model tour.
“Yeah, it’s definitely been a long time coming, that’s for sure,” said Fogleman in an emotional victory lane. “He (Dilbeck) definitely put up a fight there at the end and I had my work cut out for me to get around him. This has been the closest we’ve been to victory lane and I just couldn’t let that one get away.”
In qualifying, rookie Kodie Conner captured his first career quick qualifying lap with a time of 14.924 seconds (87.563 MPH). After the top 10 qualifiers redraw, Conner would drop to the ninth starting position, while six-time Hickory winner Preston Peltier and Lucas Jones would move to the front row.
While Peltier would jump into the lead at the start, Conner and Matt Craig would be plagued with problems. Conner would suffer a flat right front tire after contact with Jones as they battled for fifth on lap four. On the restart, Craig would suffer a broken axle, ending his night early with a 26th place finish. Conner would struggle all night and finish 14th. Conner now leads the standings over Craig by less than 10 points heading to the championship finale at Concord Speedway on November 5.
Fogleman was able to take the lead from Peltier on an early restart, only to be passed by seventh place starter Tyler Church on lap 20. Church would continue to lead the early going, but the caution would wave again on lap 40 when Jimmy Doyle and Nick Robinson made hard contact with the backstretch wall.
After a spin by Tyler Williams and Kaylee Stukas three laps later, Dilbeck bypassed Church for the lead. The caution flag waved again on lap 63 for a spin in turn two by Andy Loden. During the caution, Peltier, who had been dropping back, pitted to fix a power steering issue.
While Dilbeck continued to lead, Peltier and Loden worked their way through the field and into the top 10. Following a crash by Justin Laduke with 36 laps to go, Fogleman would get the best of Dilbeck on the restart to move back into the lead. The leaders would make contact in turn two with 25 laps to go, causing both cars to momentarily get sideways, but they would gather it back in and continue the fight.
The final caution of the night would wave with 12 laps to go for a scary crash involving Jones and Trey Jarrell as they battled for fourth. Both made contact with the frontstretch wall with Jones careening into a tire barrier entering turn one. While both cars suffered significant damage, the drivers emerged unscathed.
On the restart, Fogleman struggled to come up to speed, allowing Dilbeck to go back out front. Fogleman would not be denied though, tapping Dilbeck in turn four to retake the lead with 10 laps to go.
Fogleman led the rest of the way to take the win, with Dilbeck finishing in second, followed by Peltier in third, Brandon Setzer in fourth and Loden in fifth.
Jared Irvan, Jody Measamer, Heath Hindman, Lee Hansard and Matt Sever rounded out the top ten.
The next event will be November 4-5 as the PASS National and PASS South Super Late Model champions will be crowned as part of the 14th Annual North-South Shootout at North Carolina’s Concord Speedway.
For more information, visit ProAllStarsSeries.com.
PASS South Super Late Model Series
Hickory Motor Speedway – Newton, NC
Catawba Valley 150 (Unofficial) – Sept. 24, 2016
1. 8F – Tate Fogleman
2. 9 – Chris Dilbeck
3. 33 – Preston Peltier
4. 6 – Brandon Setzer
5. 74 – Andy Loden
6. 28 – Jared Irvan
7. 98 – Jody Measamer
8. 12h – Heath Hindman
9. 89 – Lee Harsard
10. 83 – Matt Sever
11. 7 – Tyler Church
12. 16 – Vinnie Miller
13. 15x – Tyler Williams
14. 45 – Kodie Conner
15. 24j – J.P. Jostasse
16. 16x – Lucas Jones
17. 12 – Trey Jerrell
18. 70 – J.D. Roberts
19. 4 – Justin Laduke
20. 15 – Colt James
21. 47 – Kelly Moore
22. 2 – Garrett Archer
