Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Hickory, NC(September 1, 2009) -- The PASS South series has become one of, if not the premiere series for Super Late Models in the Southeast over the past two seasons.
 
The famed Hickory Motor Speedway was the site of the 11th race of the 2009 PASS season, and the 3rd of the year at the historic track. The other two installments of racing here were barn-burners with extra large fields, and the "Over The Mountain 150" was no exception. With the canceling of the ASA race in Georgia this weekend, some invaders were on hand to challenge the PASS regulars. And challenge they did, as a driver picked up the win in his first ever PASS series start. Introducing 14 year-old Chase Elliott, son of former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Bill Elliott and it seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all.

33 cars were on hand under high heat and humidity, and the practice times showed how hard it was for teams to get a hold of the track, as drivers varied in each session. Ryan Blaney was the only driver to stay in the top ten in each of the 3 practices, but Jeff Choquette, Chase Elliott, Cassius Clark and Corey Williams were all fast throughout the day. Mix in 3 time Hickory Speedway champion Andy Loden making his first PASS start, and LMSC hotshoe Alex Yontz making his second, and the field was a melting pot of drivers from all over, and from all different types of backgrounds.

As qualifying rolled off, the thinking was that the heat of the day along with some cars that had problems throughout practice, would separate the field by some bit. We were all wrong, as it was one of the tightest fields ever in the PASS series, with John Stancill taking the pole at a blistering 14.914, only .116 in front of the tenth place qualifier Devin Jones. Stancill was followed by Elliott, Williams, point leader Ben Rowe and the July 5th Hickory winner Justin Wakefield. The top 8 were under the 15 second mark, and the top 20 was withing 2 tenths. Loden and Yontz rolled off 17th and 18th respectively, locking themselves into the top 20 as the rest of the field had to look forward to the last chance qualifiers race to make the field.

The PASS Trucks were up first, and as the size of the truck field had been down all season, a nice surprise was found at Hickory with a nice field of 12 trucks. Jody Measmer would jump out to the early lead and never be challenged, but not before there was a chance to be challenged. Nearly the entire race, the crowd was greeted to a fierce battle between point leader Grant Davidson and Michael Cooper as the two went side-by-side for nearly the entire event. While those two were racing hard, Measmer was leaving, until a few late race cautions created a green-white-checkered finish. As the field took the green, Davidson went high into turn 1 to try and set Measmer up for a pass of turn two. But Cooper wasn't in on Davidson's plans, as he dive-bombed the #00 into turn 1 and muscled his way to the second spot as Measmer took home the win. Just a prelude to the main event, and an indication of what the night had in store.

After a unexpectedly tame last chance race, the top 10 drivers in qualifying would redraw the spots, now putting the top five as Clark, Jones, Choquette, Elliott and Wakefield. As the green fell, Clark and Choquette let it be know that they will be contenders on this night, as they pull away from the field in just 5 laps. But lap 7 comes, and carnage comes with it.

Tayla Orleans was running mid-pack when she gets turned around going into turn 3. Yontz has no where to go and piles in, and the rest follow. The crash collected roughly 7 cars, but the only two that could not continue was Peltier and Yontz. Peltier's crew did make a valiant effort to get the 3-time winner this season back on track, but after he was involved in a few more altercations many laps down he finally decided to park the car. They had worked feverishly to get back on track to keep their third place standing in the points, but Peltier knew it wasn't his night. "That's just how it goes sometimes, we have been really good all year, we were gonna be good today too, but you can't win them all", said a frustrated but understanding Peltier.

As the race wore on, the top two cars of Choquette and Clark looked to get stronger. Restart after restart, they would race two abreast for a few laps, then Choquette would pull ahead by 4 car-lengths, and they just seemed to ride comfortably there. Behind them things were picking up with great battles back in the pack, and cars coming in the likes of Williams and Loden. Williams is the all-time win leader in the PASS series, and won last race out at Orange County Speedway, so him making his way to third in the middle stages of the race wasn't surprising. Loden, the local boy and Hickory hotshoe, has always been noted on his "high line' driving style, and used his track experience there to the maximum. He started low and then faded higher as the race went on, and eventually started to pick cars off moving into the 8th spot from 17th before lap 80.

Bradley McCaskill was another driver that nobody saw coming, as he had the drive of his life, but did it quietly and patiently. They rolled off 13th and was content on letting the field come to him and it worked nicely. As Williams and point leader Ben Rowe had problems toward the end, McCaskill jumped on every opportunity and at the end he was a car the leaders had to keep and eye on. Loden had moved up to 5th after contact with 4th place Ryan Blaney, and challenged him every restart, which allowed the top three cars of Choquette, Clark and Elliot to scoot away before they sorted themselves out. It did become a 3-car race, but nobody thought that the third car in that equation would be the one to challenge for the victory.

Elliot had drove a very clean race all evening, and didn't have a mark on his car, an accomplishment in itself on this night. But he looked to have a 3rd place car, Choquette and Clark looked to be toying with the field all night. But Elliott buckled down with 13 to go and started to make ground on Clark, and a few laps later he was underneath the #8 machine. They ran side-by-side lap after lap, looking like Choquette was going to drive away. Elliott finally clears Clark for second, and set his sights on Choquette for the lead. It takes a few laps, but Elliott finally catches the rear of Choquette with two to go, but we all know that catching them and passing them is two different things. The crowd was on the edge of their seat wondering how the young Elliott would handle the experienced Choquette. It turned out that he fits the PASS series profile fine, as he came to race and wasn't settling for second.

The cars go into turn 3 coming to the white flag, and Elliott gives Choquette a shot in the rear, turning the #33 sideways. He let's him gather it back up, but did take that as an opportunity to get alongside, and the two raced door to door down the backstretch as Elliott eased ahead going into turn 3. Clark tried to get into the mix and get under Choquette as he was pinned to the outside, but it was over, and Elliott had beaten Choquette and Clark, two of the best in the business.

Another exciting event for the PASS South series, but then again, every event they run is exciting. The biggest names in racing from Florida to Maine, and a great mix of old and young, they have it all. And the racing on this night was something the crowd cannot complain about, as they saw a little bit of everything. One thing they didn't see was a 14 year-old making his first PASS start putting it on some of the best in the business. Seems dad, "Awesome Bill From Dawsonville", has taught him well, and I'm pretty sure this is just the beginning of things to come. Chase Elliott is the real deal.
 
Results:
1 - 9 Chase Elliott
2 - 33 Jeff Choquette
3 - 8 Cassius Clark
4 - 18 Bradley McCaskill
5 - 29 Andy Loden
6 - 10 Ryan Blaney
7 - 9 Keeton Hanks
8 - 35 Devin Jones
9 - 4n Ben Rowe
10 - 05k Gene Kirlia
11 - 98 Justin Wakefield
12 - 18x Billy Leslie
13 - 48 John Batten
14 - 4s Jay Fogleman
15 - 51 Michael Pope
16 - 23 Jimmy Weller
17 - 47 Corey Williams
18 - 1 Fred Moore
19 - 22 Perry Brown
20 - 05 Alex Fleming
21 - 74 Ryan Moore
22 - 91 Heath Hindman
23 - 02 Tim Nooner
24 - 20 John Stancill
25 - 26 Preston Peltier
26 - 00 Jeramie Whorff
27 - 93 Tayla Orleans
28 - 55 Alex Yontz