Corey Williams Goes Back-to-Back In PASS South with Peachstate Speedway Victory

Corey Williams has been on top of the world since the June 9th Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South event at Orange County Speedway (NC). Williams scored his first-ever PASS South victory in thrilling fashion over some of the toughest Super Late Model competition in the Southeast at Orange County. That win thrusted momentum upon Williams and his number-47 team that carried him through the off-weeks before the first running of the “Firecracker 125” PASS South event at Peachstate Speedway (GA) on July 3rd.

Upon getting to Peachstate for the “Firecracker 125” Williams’ roll continued by setting fast time for the series’ first-ever race at the Peachstate half-mile. Then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the momentum was gone. The 21-year-old driver pulled off the track in the Dash qualifying event with engine problems.

But when it came time for the feature, no amount of bad luck or disappointment after suffering a loose coil wire was going to keep the young driver from success, especially not with all the momentum on his side. Williams rallied back from the Dash problems, started eighth and paced himself throughout the race on the abrasive track surface just enough to take the lead from Preston Peltier on lap 122. He then fended off the challenges of Peltier and Ryan Crane on a final green-white-checkered restart to score his second-straight PASS South victory.

“I was a little worried (after the engine problems), but deep down I knew I had a car that could win the race,” said Williams, who relocated to the Charlotte, NC, area this year after cutting his racing teeth in his native state of Maine. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in the car and the crew, especially after the last couple of races. It was the hardest thing to go out there and save the tires – just going out and riding. I’m so used to just coming out and going. Today, just to ride sixth, seventh or eighth was tough on such a worn-out racetrack.

“But when your car is as good as mine was tonight, it’s not that hard to save tires because you don’t have to drive it nearly as hard as you would if your car wasn’t good. When I would

get riding, I would just pick off one car at a time. Then at the end, my tires were still there and both Preston and I had good cars with three to go, but I had just enough to hold him off.”

Williams did indeed have just enough to hold off Peltier. He had ducked under Peltier for several laps, but off the corners, Peltier would have the momentum on the outside groove to hold the lead down the straightaways. On lap 122, however, Williams had just enough of a run to finally clear Peltier – albeit by the narrowest of margins.

“As soon as I cleared him, I saw him looking right back low and I knew it was going to be a good race to the finish,” said Williams. “I knew he was going to be tough, but man, my car was good. It was really working for us tonight. We were just a little bit better.”

“Late in the run, he caught me and my car had gotten pretty tight,” said Peltier. “When we came out of turn two there, I was there and I was sliding. I could’ve taken him out. I kept the car off him just so he didn’t tear up his stuff. I wasn’t so concerned about mine; I’m used to tearing up my stuff all the time. After that, I didn’t have anything for him.”

Peltier’s chances at getting his first PASS South victory looked bleak after Williams got by him, but his chances improved quickly once a yellow flag came out on lap 123, setting up a green-white-checkered restart.

While Peltier welcomed his new-found opportunity to get that elusive first victory, Williams worried his chance at back-to-back wins were in jeopardy.

“I got on the radio and I was all wound up,” said Williams of the caution. “I knew the second groove was going to be better, so I was worried out of my mind. I knew he was going to be good on the top.”

“The caution came out and I thought this was it,” said Peltier. “The tires would cool off and the pressures are going to come back down and we’d have our chance on the start. But he kind of snookered me down there, so we had to hold on for second.”

Williams got the jump and led the field into the first turn on the final restart. Peltier would get runs under Williams, but this time Williams had the momentum up top and used it to cross beneath the checkered flag for his second-straight PASS South win.

“The restart was key,” said Williams. “We’ve been decent with restarts this year and my spotter was right there on the button so we were ready to go, and she bit and we went on from there.”

Williams started the “Firecracker 125” eighth after finishing last in the Dash event that determined the starting order of the top-eight cars in time trails. As he patiently bided his time in the early going, Dash winner Preston Peltier checked out to an early lead after starting from the pole. Grant Enfinger started a charge for the lead and grabbed it on lap 32 from Peltier before getting into a fierce battle for the lead with Ryan Crane.

On lap 44, Enfinger and Crane battled for the lead with Enfinger on the low side and Crane up top when Enfinger’s car slid up the track and went across Crane’s nose and into the wall with the right side. Crane went on to take the lead, while Enfinger lost several spots and eventually cut down a tire, which negated his chance at victory.

As the field circled around under long green flag runs, Williams’ #47 came on just shy of the lap-75 break. With Crane out front, Williams began his pursuit of the lead going into the break. He pulled even with Crane several times before eventually settling for second at the break.

“We pretty much planned on going as hard as we could from laps 68-75 in case we needed to make any adjustments on the car, we’d know what the car was going to do,” said Williams. “We caught Ryan Crane and we just rode right on his bumper because I had a feeling that the outside was the preferred groove and I didn’t want to start on the bottom on the restart after the break if I took the lead. Everything worked out pretty well.”

FIRECRACKER 125

PASS SOUTH SUPER LATE MODELS

Peachstate Speedway

Jefferson, GA

July 3, 2007

125 Laps

1. Corey Williams

2. Preston Peltier

3. Ryan Crane

4. Kevin Perry

5. Jason Hogan

6. Allen Gordon

7. Joey Senter

8. Ryan Lawler

9. Chris Dunn

10. Hunter Robbins

11. Tim Nooner

12. Heath Hindman

13. Jeremy Rice

14. Mark Gibson

15. Dean Clattenburg

16. Alex Fleming

17. Brian Payne

18. Lane Morrow

19. Bubba Pollard

20. Grant Enfinger

21. Brandon Johnson

22. Joe Mattress

23. Lee Hansard

24. John Batten

25. Thomas Stokes

26. Travis Hearn

27. Russell Fleeman

Fast Qualifier: Corey Williams – 17.717

Heat Winners: Jeremy Rice, Joey Senter

Dash Winner: Preston Peltier

Cautions: 6

Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders: Preston Peltier 1-31, Grant Enfinger 32-43, Ryan Crane 44-94, Peltier 95-122, Corey Williams 123-125

Crane would remain in the top-five even after losing the lead to Peltier on lap 95 after the competition caution, but the Florida racer was not able to make a charge to compete with Peltier and Williams for the win because of the earlier battle with Enfinger.

“We were giving it all we had at the end,” said Crane. “We got into the wall on the front straightaway on about lap 30 going for the lead, and I think that hurt our right front. After that, the right-front tire on the car and the second set right front both blistered. Probably getting up into the wall messed up the camber, but still, we gave it a run.”

Kevin Perry brought home an impressive fourth-place finish in his PASS South debut, while former PASS South winner Jason Hogan rounded out the top-five.

The PASS South Super Late Models will return to action on Saturday, August 4th, for the “Saturday of Speed” event at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, GA.