Mooresville, NC 7/15/13– So far this season Edelbrock Victory Lane has only been graced by two X-1R Pro Cup Series veterans in Clay Rogers and Mark McFarland. Rogers won the series’ first three events followed by McFarland taking care of business in the last two outings. Saturday night, Caleb Holman another longtime series supporter, piloted his #75 Food Country USA Chevrolet to a dominating victory; leading 141 laps of the NolesCabinets.com 200 at the Southern National Motorsport Park. The win came in just his second start of the 2013 season after blowing an engine on lap nine in his last outing at Motor Mile Speedway on June 8th.
“We had a pretty decent piece when we unloaded and then Butch (Miller) and the entire crew went to work on it throughout the day in practice to make the handling last over the long run and it looks like what we did worked,” explained an excited Holman in Edelbrock Victory Lane. “I settled in for second just to see how things were going to play out, and then I decided I need to see what we had over the final laps leading up to the halfway point, so I would know what to expect after the halfway break. Luck must have been on our side because we redrew the pole at the break and never looked back.”
With just about every track and series canceled due to weather within a four hour radius of the Southern National Motorsports Park; officials from both the track and X-1R Pro Cup Series put in over the top effort in getting practice, qualifying, and all of the night’s events in. That was ideal for Stacy Puryear who picked up the MAHLE Pole Award during qualifying for the first time this year.
It was Puryear who took the early lead from the pole position followed by Holeman on his tail. Holman spent fifty-eight circuits around the 4/10th mile track in the bridesmaid position before taking the top spot on lap fifty-nine.
The driver on the move after a disappointing qualifying effort was the #23 machine of 2012 series champion J.P. Morgan. Morgan showed his strength through the early laps slicing his way through the field. It was the opposite case for Clay Rogers who was fighting a tight car, but more so a problem under the hood. Doing his best to ride things out the issue finally came to a head on lap ninety-four when Roger’s #16 Lamb & Robinson ride went up in a ball of fire down the front stretch before coming to the aid of safety workers in turn two. Despite the display of fire, Rogers was unharmed in the incident and had to settle with his first real disappointing finish of the year.
Leader Holman at the halfway break took advantage of the best possible redraw for position drawing the number one spot, thus leading the field back to green flag racing on lap 101. Action heated up in a hurry as the field went back green as a pair of “newbies” to series competition got shuffled to the back. Local driver and track regular Clay Jones, making his first start in Pro Cup competition since 2007 driving for C&C Motorsports, was forced to the outside as the field went by. The same happened to youngster Jordan Anderson making his first ever X-1R Pro Cup Series start. Anderson would impress in his debut eventually finishing fifth.
This allowed Holman to stretch his lead over the field during the clean and green final 100 laps to complete the NolesCabinets.com 200. Even though Holman was out front, plenty of action was taking place from second on back. The battles for position were everywhere Clay Jones seemed to point his #67 ride. A good side-by-side race took place between eventual fourth place finisher Eric Gerchak before Jones set his site on Morgan in second. Morgan driving with the loss of his grandmother on his mind, was doing all he could to catch Holman before Jones eventually would have a bit left in his #67 Wearcrete Concrete machine passing Morgan on lap 180 to seal up an impressive runner up finish for the driver leading the championship points in the Limited Late Model division at Southern National Motorsports Park.
“I want to thank Don Henderson and this entire Henderson Motorsports team for this opportunity to drive for them. Longtime support Food Country USA for their support and everyone else that stands behind us to make this happen,” added Holman. “I’m hoping this leads to a few more races for us here in the Pro Cup Series and a few more wins.”
Next up for the X-1R Pro Cup Series is the KOMA Unwind 200 on July 27th at the Montgomery Motor Speedway. It will be the series’ first trip to the Alabama facility in nearly seven seasons. For more information on this race and the remaining 2013 schedule visit www.x1rprocup.com.
NolesCabinets.com 200
Southern National Motorsports Park-Kenly, NC
Saturday July 13, 2013
Official Results
1) #75 Caleb Holman
2) #67 Clay Jones
3) #23 J.P. Morgan
4) #21 Eric Gerchak
5) #33 Jordan Anderson
6) #17 Stacy Puryear
7) #41 Rusty Skewes
8) #2 Brady Boswell
9) #56 Gus Dean
10) #1 Dalton Hopkins
11) #62 Andrew Smith
12) #16 Clay Rogers
#53 Joey Jones (DNS)