Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com
Photos by: Russ Calabrese

Concord, NC(August 18, 2009) -- In what was supposed to be the biggest event of the year for Concord Speedway's new class of 2009, the Pro Late-Models, the numbers just didn't add up. The track put up a $5,000 to win for this race for 100 laps, surely it would draw some of the best around as the regional series had the weekend off.

While it didn't have the car count that was expected with only 13 cars on hand, the crowd was still treated to some good racing between some of the heaviest-hitters in the Southeast. And, in the end it was the kid from as far South as you can get, as Texas native, Colt James has five-thousand more reasons to smile.

The car count was on the low side from expectations, but the talent level was not. Concord and UARA driver Roger Lee Newton was on hand, and had one of the fastest cars throughout the day. PASS South series regular Preston Peltier was on hand, as he has won the last 5 events at Concord going into Saturday night. Mix in Concord veteran Bobby Measmer Jr., point leader Daniel Johnson, Ohio boy Jimmy Weller, Southeast hot-shoe Colt James, the legendary Jeff Fultz and you start to forget that there was only 13 cars on hand, the ones there were some of the best around.

Throughout the day, James was consistently the fastest car in practice, and backed it up taking the pole as the only car in the 15 second bracket.. But as it is at other tracks, being fast in time trials doesn't mean you'll be up front, as the top 7 redrew for their starting positions. Now Weller was on the pole with Newton to his outside. Fultz rolled off 3rd, followed by James and AJ Frank. Peltier would roll off 7th, but he made sure he wasn't there long.

At the drop of the green, Peltier was not going to be denied. Newton took off like a rocket past Weller for the top spot, but Peltier jumped 3 spots on the first lap to attach himself to Fultz' bumper before the first lap was over. James went from 4th to second, and Weller was falling off the face of the earth, as cars were passing him in like he was tied down, but we were about to find out why.

Peltier had just made the move around Fultz for 3rd, when the days first caution was thrown on lap 7, for the pole-sitter Weller. He had dropped to the rear of the field in only 6 laps, but lap 7 gave the reason for the decline, a flat left front tire. Debris was on the track and the first double-file restarts of the night was upon us, as Weller made repairs and headed back on track.

On the restart, Newton was caught sleeping as James and Peltier took the top 2 spots before turn 1. Things then got interesting, as Peltier gets into James hard going into turn 1 on the next lap, pushing the #15 up the track and out of the lead. James would fall in behind and looked to be out for payback the following lap, but thought better of it and stayed in Peltier's tire tracks. It was at this point when we all saw what was going to be the deal on this night, nobody was in the same league as Peltier and James.

As the top 2 decided to set sail on the field, one of the best battles of night was going on right behind them. Newton is not known for being "tame", and neither is Fultz, and the two together was what real racing is all about. Lap after lap, Fultz would try to get by on the inside on Newton, sometimes making contact, but could not pull off the pass. Newton wasn't going to let him have it, and kept Fultz pinched to the inside, taking the preferred line away. Fultz showed no backing down, and after running side-by-side for 5 laps, even through the treacherous backstretch dog-leg, Fultz completed the pass for the 3rd spot. But when he got by Newton, there wasn't anything but open track in front of him, the leaders were gone.

It looked as if the top two of Peltier and James were going to run off into the night, but we all knew that wasn't going to happen, as cautions were sure to take place. And it didn't take long, as Newton was falling back, Frank got to the inside for 5th and the two made contact going into turn 3, and ultimately both cars finally spin off turn 4. this made for another double-file restart, and these became the highlight of the night. James got the jump on the outside of Peltier, and Fultz gets hard into the back Peltier, bunching up the field but everyone ending up sorted out.

Once again it James in the lead with Peltier coming hard, or too hard if you ask James. This time Peltier gets into James so hard the car goes completely sideways, but gathers it up, but not before a hard charging Austin Kirkpatrick takes over the second spot. Kirkpatrick's run in the top 2 would be short lived, as a few laps later James makes his way back around, and really sets his sights on Peltier. but he wouldn't have to for long, as Peltier's night was about to get cut short.

We get another caution in the first 50 laps, and once again we get James in the lead with Peltier once again knocking him out of the way for the top spot. Things would calm down a bit, as the field got rather strung out and Peltier started to open up a lead. 35 laps from the end, heartbreak would come to Peltier, as he entered turn 3 with a 2 second lead, the right front tire blew and the #26 went hard into the outside wall.

When asked if he had any warning, Peltier replied with a smile, "Yeah, it went BOOM and went dead right. It's a shame, we had the car to beat here, but what can you do?"

With Peltier out the way, it was James race to lose. The restart was Fultz' only chance to get at James, and he gave it a valiant effort, diving to the inside going into turn 1, but the #15 of James was stout on this night, and pulled off into the distance. Newton was charging from the rear of the field all race, and made it back up to 5th at the end of the night, and Weller and Frank put on a whale of a show for 4th until the Frank machine experienced mechanical failure less than 10 laps from the finish.

Colt James would take the victory and the $5000 check from Mobil1, but it was not without a fight on this night. He was happy in victory lane, but when asked, he felt the same way a lot of drivers have felt this year about Peltier's driving style.

"You know, I'm not going to say anything bad about Peltier, he's got enough bad rep as it is. I thought it was a little uncalled for that early in the race, but hey, he's an aggressive driver. I think you saw at the end on the last restart I just ducked in behind him because I wasn't even going to mess with it. I just wanted to wait until ten to go, get on him hard and get him looking in the mirror and make a mistake," explained James.

"I was riding just a tad throughout the race, I went pretty hard there at the first, he lit a fire under me the way he passed me, but I calmed myself down and just focused on getting to twenty to go. But, Peltier had some bad luck and got into the wall, I hate that for him, but then on the last restart i had Fultz all over me, and I knew he was saving tires, he's a veteran and knows how to do it. I was able to get away from him, but coming up on lapped cars there at the end, it could have gotten exciting if it was 5 laps longer. I love this place, It's an awesome track, it's just fun, much different than any other."

Jeff Fultz gave it all he had, but he knew it wasn't enough.
 

"We were good on the restarts, I got up under him there at the end, but my car was just a little too tight on the bottom and if I could have gotten him clean I would have, but I'm not going to get into him for nothing, said Fultz. "He could get away for a few laps but then he slowly started coming back to me at the end of a run. I just had to hit my lines exactly right, and with the lapped cars here that's a challenge sometimes. We just haven't really run a lot of the crate car stuff, It's a really fun car, I just simply had it too free for most of the race. I gave it all I had without wrecking it, which was close to that, this was the first time I have ran here since '98, we'll be back for some more of them though. We don't have to "work" on the car now, it's good, we just have got to tweak it a bit."
 
Official Results:
1) Colt James #15
2) Jeff Fultz #66
3) Austin Kirkpatrick #11
4) Jimmy Weller #23
5) Roger Lee Newton #33
6) Logan Dernoshek #18
7) Cooper Faassen #11
8) Bobby Measmer #14
9) Daniel Johnson #7
10) A.J Frank #10
11) Preston Peltier #26
12) Mark Brooks #19
13) Mark Reedy #12