ROUGEMONT, NC (June 25, 2017) – Saturday night’s CARS Tour event at Orange County Speedway was the perfect predecessor to the inaugural Mid-Atlantic Classic coming up at the facility in July. Cole Rouse survived a wild and hectic super late model feature to win his first race while also battling mechanical problems late in the race and local driver Layne Riggs captured his second career late model stock win dominating fashion during the Thrifty Tire Center / Puryear Tank Lines 300 presented by The Grilling Store.

SUPER LATE MODEL RECAP

With Mahle Pistons Pole Qualifying cancelled due to weather, Matt Craig and Cole Rouse were the fastest two in final practice, the session by which officials set the starting lineup. Craig quickly jumped out to the lead as a group of a half dozen cars separated themselves from the field in the early laps.

A handful of mid-race incidents thinned the field, beginning with a four-car melee in turn one on lap 46. Brandon Setzer and Lucas Jones came together, sweeping Tate Fogleman and Dan Speeney into the accident, too.

A little over fifty laps later, Trevor Noles and Casey Roderick came together in turn four, cutting the left rear tire of the No. 2 of Noles and causing him to spin into the wall in turn one. A lap later on the restart, Roderick and David Calabrese found one another on-track. The ensuing aftermath claimed Bradley McCaskill after he flew airborne over Calabrese’s car, plus Fogleman and Jody Measmer while Spencer Wauters and Gracie Trotter spun to avoid the carnage.

Rouse and Craig emerged as the two contenders once the proverbial dust settled, locking horns each lap around the lightning-quick facility. With 33 laps to go, Rouse moved to the inside of Craig in turn three and performed a textbook slide job to claim the lead.

In the final five laps, with over a two-second lead, Rouse’s car began to show smoke and Casey Roderick began to close in. Rouse was able to hold on to a narrow margin of victory to claim his first CARS Super Late Model Tour win and the fourth for Kyle Busch Motorsports at Orange County.

“We had enough until at the end when our tires got so over-inflated that it was so hard to make it through the entire corner without slipping,” Rouse said in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “I was so loose those last five laps or so and losing a lot of speed. I can’t thank all these guys enough, Toyota and KBM did a great job. We deserved a few wins this year and finally got one. It’s good to finally get a win since we deserved a lot and should’ve won three this year and a lot last year. So, yeah, this is for all these guys here.”
SUPER LATE MODEL RECAP
The late model stock feature lineup, much like super late model race, was set via practice speeds and had Josh Berry leading the field to green with Layne Riggs alongside. Berry won the drag race into turn one, but by the time the first circuit was completed, Riggs had wrestled the lead away from Berry and began to control the event.

Grayson Massey exploded an engine underneath of his No. 39 machine on lap 38, bringing out the first caution and subsequent red flag of the race. He escaped uninjured. Twenty laps later, Tommy Lemons, Jr., slowed with a flat right front tire, bringing out the second yellow flag of the event.

The field took the green flag for the final time with 91 laps remaining and Riggs once again was forced to duel with Josh Berry for the race lead. After a handful of side-by-side laps, Riggs cleared Berry and slowly began to pull away. Deac McCaskill passed Berry for second 19 laps later and made his attempt to reel in Riggs as the laps wound down.

Riggs caught traffic in the final ten laps, allowing McCaskill to pull within three quarters of a second, but used veteran-like maneuvers to slice through the slower cars, causing McCaskill’s hopes of victory to evaporate as he also was forced to navigate the cars racing for position. Riggs cruised to his second career victory and first at his home track by 1.456 seconds and extended his point lead over Anthony Alfredo who finished fifth.

“Oh, man, it’s just amazing to win at our home track,” Riggs remarked in Edelbrock Victory Lane, visibly holding back tears. “Thanks to everyone and all the sponsors who’ve helped us. Hopefully, we can get some more wins like this. I’m just ready to go to the next track, Tri-County. I felt like we were pretty good there last year, we sat on the outside pole and had some bad luck. I feel like Tri-County is probably most like this track than anywhere else, then we come back to Orange County, so it’s great for us and hopefully we can get some more finishes.”

The CARS Tour visits Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C., in two weeks time (July 8) for race seven of the tour’s 2017 schedule, the Do The Dew 200. The Tri-County event is followed by the inaugural $10,000-to-win Mid-Atlantic Classic on July 22, the series’ return visit to Orange County Speedway.

For more information on the CARS Tour, visit their website at www.carsracingtour.com. Fresh content and updates can also be found on the series Facebook page (@carstour), Twitter (@carstour), Instagram (@cars_tour), Snapchat (@carstour) and Youtube channel (/carstour). The series Roku app is also available for installation to see live and on-demand events by following the instructions available at www.carstour.tv.

NOTES OF INTEREST:
– Local driver Craig Moore, who started 2017 with full plans of running the entire CARS Tour until an accident in the season opener nearly destroyed his car, was very impressive in the late model stock race while winning the Hard Charger Award. Moore started 14th and finished fourth at the end of the night.
– Tommy Lemons ran a race as a driver in the CARS Tour for the first time since Bristol. Lemons’ regular driver, Craig Stallard, was home assisting his family with relatively minor medical issues. Lemons gave the No. 42 a drive, however, and was challenging for a top five finish until a flat tire slowed his car. Other mechanical issues ultimately sidelined him prior to the finish.
– If there was an award for outstanding pit crew performance, Tate Fogleman’s crew would’ve won it hands-down on Saturday night. After destroying the entire front of his car on a lap 46 crash, the Fogleman crew used subsequent cautions to completely rebuild the front of the No. 8 Ford and exercise their “never give up” attitude. By the end of the night, the car had two new fenders, a bumper cover, hood and fender bracing just like it was unloaded, although with a few other other battle scars. By virtue of his crew’s exceptional attention to detail and performance under pressure, Tate was able to finish fourth on the lead lap.
– Bond Suss Racing fielded a super late model for Toyota Racing driver Gracie Trotter, a 15-year old Legend car standout, for the first time in her career. With little fanfare, Gracie piloted the No. 55 Camry to a top ten finish, the final car on the lead lap in eighth. Trotter is expected to make more full-size car starts.

THE FINISHES:
CARS Super Late Model Tour powerd by VP Fuels
Thrifty Tire Center / Puryear Tank Lines 300
Orange County Speedway – June 25, 2017

POS NUM DRIVER LAPS REASON OUT
1. 51 Cole Rouse 150
2. 18 Casey Roderick 150
3. 54 Matt Craig 150
4. 8 Tate Fogleman 150
5. 92 Jason Stanley 150
6. 5 Spencer Wauters 150
7. 34 Nolan Pope 150
8. 55 Gracie Trotter 150
9. 37 Dan Speeney 130
10. 118 Bradley McCaskill 103 Accident
11. 2 Trevor Noles 100 Accident
12. 43 David Calabrese 100 Accident
13. 98 Jody Measmer 100 Accident
14. 49 Jeff Batten 98 Mechanical
15. 6 Brandon Setzer 60 Accident
16. 16 Lucas Jones 46 Accident
CARS Late Model Stock Tour
Thrifty Tire Center / Puryear Tank Lines 300
Orange County Speedway – June 25, 2017

POS NUM DRIVER LAPS REASON OUT
1. 99 Layne Riggs 150
2. 08 Deac McCaskill 150
3. 88b Josh Berry 150
4. 1 Craig Moore 150
5. 8 Anthony Alfredo 150
6. 81 Jared Fryar 150
7. 74 Ronald Hill 149
8. 28 Chris Hudspeth 149
9. 2 Myatt Snider 149
10. 98 Stefan Parsons 149
11. 44 Justin Johnson 149
12. 18 Evan Swilling 149
13. 06 Terry Dease 149
14. 32 Brandon Grosso 148
15. 88 Chris Davis 144 Mechanical
16. 42 Tommy Lemons 111 Mechanical
17. 39 Grayson Massey 38 Engine