Zack Mitchell picked up the Carolina Clash win at Fayetteville
*Story submitted to InsideDirtRacing.com by James Pardue
After last week’s rain out in Lancaster, SC, the Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series rolled into historic Fayetteville Motor Speedway, where it all began 17 years ago. There was a very large crowd in attendance at the 4/10 mile oval. And everyone left knowing how Zack Mitchell got the nickname, “Kid Quick.” The 21 year old driver from Enoree, SC was the fast qualifier and led wire-to-wire in the 40 lap Ed Gibbons Memorial Race.
Mitchell led the way in qualifying with a lap of 16.296 seconds. He was followed by Ben Watkins, G.R. Smith, Willie Milliken and Brett Hamm, with those drivers rounding out the first three rows on the feature starting grid. The top-10 were locked into the feature via their time-trial efforts.
Anthony Sanders and Dean Bowen won the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting lineup.
Under green flag conditions, G.R. Smith could keep Mitchell’s Longhorn in his sights. And that was about it. Smith would start second and finish second. Brett Hamm would finish 3rd, up two positions from his 5th starting position. Johnny Pursley, defending series champ and winner at Carolina Speedway two weeks ago, would come home 4th. And former Carolina Clash champion Ben Watkins would round out the top five.
24 cars made the trip up I-95, with 21 starting the feature. The race was slowed by four cautions. The first on lap two, when Tony Quarles experienced mechanical difficulties with his machine. Followed by Mike Parker slowing in his machine on lap 8. The next yellow flag flew on lap 18 when Mitchell had contact with Doug Sanders coming out of turn two as he attempted to lap the veteran racer. The final caution would fly on lap 35 when Michael Rouse had trouble getting around the lapped car David Yandle. Rouse was challenging Jeff Smith for 7th when he encountered Yandle. Rouse would finish 13th, the last car on the lead lap.
The hard charger of the race was rookie Michael “Downtown” Brown. The Pageland, SC native would bring his Rocket home 8th, from his 15th starting position. Which almost mirrored his 17th to 5th effort two weeks ago in the opener. He departs “Boom City” as the top rookie in the Carolina Clash points standing, ahead of Wilson NC’s Michael Rouse. Mitchell takes the points lead from Pursley heading into next week’s race at Friendship Speedway.
The undercards for the evening included Pine Level NC’s Dustin Mitchell leading every lap in the Budweiser Late Models and Andy Boahn doing likewise in the Diet Mountain Dew Modifieds. Jerry Johnson passed polesitter Benji Thompson on lap 12 of the 20 lap Super Street feature to take the win. The most exciting race of the evening was the 3 car battle between Dustin Watkins, Jimmy Capps and Johnathan Lane in the Pure Stock feature, with Lane banging his way to the win. Jeremy Sessoms capped off the evening with a U-Car win.
It was announced that 2018 edition of the Ed Gibbons Memorial Race will pay $10,000 to win, which doubles Mitchell’s winnings from tonight’s race.
Feature Finish: 1. Zack Mitchell, 2. GR Smith, 3. Brett Hamm, 4. Johnny Pursley, 5. Ben Watkins, 6. Jeff Smith, 7. Willie Milliken, 8. Michael Brown, 9. Austin Hubbard, 10. Justin Williams, 11. Anthony Sanders, 12. Dean Bowen, 13. Michael Rouse, 14. Jim Manka, 15. Scott Shirey, 16. David Yandle, 17. Doug Sanders, 18. Daniel Tucker, 19. Dustin Mitchell, 20. Mike Parker, 21. Tony Quarles
