BRASELTON - Georgia native Mike Garvey captured his first win of the season in the ASA Racing Lanier 250 at Lanier National Speedway on Saturday, May 1. As the defending champion of the event, he came into his home track with a vengeance set to defend his title.
"It was really tough to pass here," said Garvey, driver of the No. 17 Jani-King Chevrolet. "I had to go high and low to get around cars. I knew Mike (Cope) wasn't
going to give me the low side so I went high on the restart. The crew gave me a great car.
It's fun to win two in a row on your home track."
Garvey started the race from the fifth position, and was one of the stronger
cars throughout the evening, especially at the end of the caution-filled event. On the final
restart on lap 241 of the 250-lap event, Garvey was able to pull away from the fierce
battle going on behind him.
As Garvey cruised to a 2.2322-second victory, Casey Smith and Mike Cope were beating on each other for second place. Smith was able to get the nose of his Chevroletahead, relegating Cope to third at the line. Brett Sontag and Todd Kluever rounded out the top 5, also battling for track position.
Mike Cope, driver of the No. 25 Manheims Florida Auto Auction of Orlando Dodge
predicted before the race that the event would be "full contact, all-out ASA short track
racing at its best."
This proved true as the race was slowed by 15 caution flags for a total of 137 laps,
though this didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the thousands of fans in the stands and
packing the hill behind the back stretch.
There were five lead changes among four
drivers. As with the first race, drivers used the "Choose Rule" to move up quickly through the pack.
The Cool Shirt "Cool Move of the Race" award was given to Casey Smith for coming from a lap down to finish third. Scott Lagasse Jr. was the VP Racing Fuels "Hard Charger" of the race by moving up 16 positions, and Robbie Pyle picked up the BFGoodrich Tires Halfway Leader award.
Monday
January 27th, 2025
8:17AM
