2/4/2023
Southern All Stars
The Boss makes it Back-to-Back Winter Freeze Victories
The Cars and Stars of the Southern All Stars Super Late Model Series rolled into Screven Motor Speedway to kick of the 41st season of racing at the 13th annual Winter Freeze. 22 SAS Super Late Models signed in to do battle for the 10 Grand top prize. The night would start with Kenny Collins picking up the Knowles Race Parts fast time with a lap of 14.627, Ross Bailes was quick time in group B. That would set the field for 4 heat races; Ray Cook, Ross Bailes, Steven Roberts, and Jordy Nipper would pick up heat race victories. The 2023 Ice Bowl Winner Ray Cook and 2022 Winter Freeze winner Ross Bailes would lead the 21-car starting field to green. Ross would get the lead on the start but caution on lap 3 would slow the field, Ray Cook and Josh Putnam did some awesome driving to miss Ben Boyd who had spun in the middle of 3 and 4. Bailes would get the jump on the restart until Lap 8 when Will Roland spun in the middle of turn 3 and 4 unfortunately 4 cars were collected but all were able to pull away. Bailes would lead the field back to green but would get high in turn 1 and Ray Cook would take the lead, Bailes would drop back to 4th. Cook would extend his lead until he caught the tail end of the field on lap 21, Bailes already worked his way back to second and would set his sights on the Tar Heal Tiger. On lap 25 Bailes would retake the lead from Cook, two laps later Kenny Collins would make his way around Cook for second. Collins would mount a challenge for the lead while in heavy lap traffic, even pulling alongside of Bailes but a caution at lap 30 for a stopped Parker Martin would end his bid for the lead. Bailes would lead the field back to green and this time he did not battle and pulled away from Collins, Bailes would catch the back of the field on lap 41 and Collins would close in but a caution on lap 42 for a stopped Chase Oliver. Ross Bailes would lead the field back to green and would go unchallenged the rest of the way to pick up the win and the $10,000 payday. Kenny Collins, Steven Roberts, Trent Ivey, and Benji Hicks would be your top 5. Next Event for the SAS is March 5th at Cherokee Speedway.
Car Count: 22
Quick Qualifier: Kenny Collins (Group A 14.627) Ross Bailes (Group B 14.699)
Hard Charger: Caleb Gay +10
Next Event: March 5th Cherokee Speedway Gaffney, SC March Madness $10,000 to Win
A Feature (50 Laps): 1. 79-Ross Bailes[2]; 2. 1C-Kenny Collins[5]; 3. 111-Steven Roberts[3]; 4. 88-Trent Ivey[13]; 5. 55-Benji Hicks[9]; 6. XJR-Caleb Gay[16]; 7. 53-Ray Cook[1]; 8. 1N-Jordy Nipper[4]; 9. 16-Brian Nuttall Jr[10]; 10. 17-Billy Franklin[14]; 11. 2X-John Henderson[18]; 12. 26JR-Jimmy Sharpe Jr[12]; 13. 5-Chase Oliver[20]; 14. 212-Josh Putnam[6]; 15. 187-David McCoy[8]; 16. 20-Todd Brennan[11]; 17. 6JR-Parker Martin[17]; 18. 29-Christian Hanger[15]; 19. 22-Will Roland[7]; 20. 121-Pearson Williams[22]; 21. 8-Ben Boyd[21]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 53-Ray Cook[2]; 2. 1C-Kenny Collins[1]; 3. 55-Benji Hicks[4]; 4. 88-Trent Ivey[3]; 5. 6JR-Parker Martin[5]; 6. 8-Ben Boyd[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 79-Ross Bailes[1]; 2. 212-Josh Putnam[4]; 3. 16-Brian Nuttall Jr[2]; 4. 17-Billy Franklin[6]; 5. 2X-John Henderson[3]; 6. 121-Pearson Williams[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 111-Steven Roberts[2]; 2. 22-Will Roland[1]; 3. 20-Todd Brennan[5]; 4. 29-Christian Hanger[3]; 5. 14-Haiden Cowan[4]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1N-Jordy Nipper[1]; 2. 187-David McCoy[2]; 3. 26JR-Jimmy Sharpe Jr[3]; 4. XJR-Caleb Gay[4]; 5. 5-Chase Oliver[5]
Group A Qualifying: 1. 1C-Kenny Collins, 00:14.627[8]; 2. 22-Will Roland, 00:14.905[9]; 3. 53-Ray Cook, 00:14.912[5]; 4. 111-Steven Roberts, 00:14.935[11]; 5. 88-Trent Ivey, 00:15.073[3]; 6. 29-Christian Hanger, 00:15.175[1]; 7. 55-Benji Hicks, 00:15.179[7]; 8. 14-Haiden Cowan, 00:15.314[2]; 9. 6JR-Parker Martin, 00:15.577[4]; 10. 20-Todd Brennan, 00:15.613[10]; 11. 8-Ben Boyd, 00:16.801[6]
Group B Qualifying: 1. 79-Ross Bailes, 00:14.699[5]; 2. 1N-Jordy Nipper, 00:14.915[4]; 3. 16-Brian Nuttall Jr, 00:15.039[6]; 4. 187-David McCoy, 00:15.133[7]; 5. 2X-John Henderson, 00:15.160[1]; 6. 26JR-Jimmy Sharpe Jr, 00:15.166[9]; 7. 212-Josh Putnam, 00:15.221[3]; 8. XJR-Caleb Gay, 00:15.378[2]; 9. 121-Pearson Williams, 00:15.508[10]; 10. 5-Chase Oliver, 00:15.701[8]; 11. 17-Billy Franklin, 00:15.800[11]
Hot Laps: 1. 1N-Jordy Nipper, 00:15.046[14]; 2. 79-Ross Bailes, 00:15.102[15]; 3. 1C-Kenny Collins, 00:15.400[8]; 4. 14-Haiden Cowan, 00:15.503[2]; 5. 2X-John Henderson, 00:15.516[11]; 6. 55-Benji Hicks, 00:15.532[7]; 7. 6JR-Parker Martin, 00:15.539[4]; 8. 88-Trent Ivey, 00:15.592[3]; 9. 17-Billy Franklin, 00:15.594[21]; 10. 26JR-Jimmy Sharpe Jr, 00:15.675[19]; 11. 121-Pearson Williams, 00:15.688[20]; 12. XJR-Caleb Gay, 00:15.709[12]; 13. 5-Chase Oliver, 00:15.745[18]; 14. 212-Josh Putnam, 00:15.784[13]; 15. 187-David McCoy, 00:15.786[17]; 16. 22-Will Roland, 00:15.906[9]; 17. 16-Brian Nuttall Jr, 00:15.937[16]; 18. 20-Todd Brennan, 00:16.181[10]; 19. 53-Ray Cook, 00:16.202[5]; 20. 29-Christian Hanger, 00:16.634[1]; 21. 8-Ben Boyd, 00:17.642[6]
Article Credit: Photo by Kevin Ritchie