Corey Williams Wins PASS South “Orange Blossom Special

Corey Williams did what so many hopeful drivers in the country do. Before the start of the 2007 racing season, Williams moved down from his native Boothbay, Maine, to North Carolina in hopes of furthering his racing career. However, Williams didn’t have grand ideas of becoming a NASCAR star right away.

Instead, he took a job with one of the most known and respected short track drivers in history, four-time Busch North Series champion Andy Santerre, in hopes to learn something from his fellow Northeast native. Williams hoped that by working in the shop for Andy Santerre Motorsports, he would help further himself as both a racecar driver and as a mechanic.

On Saturday night, that move south paid off, as Williams took the win in the “Orange Blossom Special” at Orange County Speedway (Rougemont, NC) in the PASS South Super Late Model Series.

“I’ve learned so much by moving down here and working with Andy and the entire team,” said Williams, who is a crew member on both Sean Caisse’s and Jeffery Earnhardt’s teams for ASM. “I’ve learned much more about preparation on cars, and I’ve learned to be a better driver through Andy. He had really taught me how to be patient. He’s taught me when you have the car to win how to just hang back and be patient and keep the car there for the end. I’ve been used to running the car 100 percent all of the time and that is what I’ve always done. Now, I know I can just wait until the finish.”

ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL

PASS SOUTH SUPER LATE MODELS

UNNOFICIAL RESULTS

Orange County Speedway

Rougemont, NC

June 9, 2007

125 Laps

1. Corey Williams

2. Ryan Lawler

3. Dean Clattenburg

4. Grant Enfinger

5. Tim Nooner

6. Heath Hindman

7. Brad Bischoff

8. Jason Hogan

9. Taylor Satterfield

10. Derek Ramstrom

11. Mark Gibson

12. Brian Payne

13. Shelton McNair Jr.

14. Chris Dunn

15. Randy Gentry

16. Carnell Lee Jr.

17. Preston Peltier

18. Brandon Johnson

19. Mark Reedy

20. Greg Worley

21. Chad Martin

22. John Batten

23. Ben Rowe

24. Shannon Mines

25. Jimmy Doyle

26. Tim Pinion

27. Joe Mattress

28. Alex Fleming

Lead Changes: Five among five drivers

Lap Leaders: Ryan Lawler 1-3, Jason Hogan 4-5, Corey Williams 6-63, Grant Enfinger 64-91, Preston Peltier 92-100, Corey Williams 101-125

Cautions Flags: 12

Fast Qualifier: Corey Williams

Dash Winner: Ryan Lawler

Heat Winners: Ben Rowe, Shelton McNair Jr., Connel Lee Jr

And wait is exactly what Williams, and the entire PASS South contingent, had to do on Saturday night. After qualifying was over and racing was just beginning, a line of thunderstorms moved through the north-central North Carolina region, delaying the start of the PASS South event. With the help of all of the PASS South competitors who took their cars out on the track to help dry the track, and the tenacity of the track crew, the 125-lap PASS South event took the green just after 11pm Saturday evening.

Williams, who set fast time in time trials, took just six laps to grab the lead from his fifth-place starting spot and held it through a number of mid-race cautions before giving the top-spot up to Grant Enfinger on lap 64. Giving his car a little time to rest, Williams patiently waited for the last 25 laps to make a final charge to the front. However, he would have to do little work to get the top spot back for the final time.

Preston Peltier, who set fast time in time trails in the first two PASS South races of the season, grabbed the lead from Enfinger on lap 92 and started pulling away from the field. However, on lap 100, Peltier hit the wall in turn one after his right-front tire went flat, knocking him from the event and keeping him out of victory lane once again.

“I don’t know what I have to do,” said Peltier, who has led hundreds of laps in his PASS South career while still looking for his first win. “It’s really frustrating. I just don’t know what else to do. I really felt like tonight was our night. I knew this was the winning car, and I told my crew I was just waiting for lap 80. When lap 80 came, I just went after it and got the lead. Then, we had a tire go down. There was not indication or anything. It just really makes me shake my head. I’m just at a loss for words.”

When Peltier hit the wall, Williams, who was in second-place, moved to the top spot but wasn’t out of the woods just yet. On the same caution flag, PASS South points leader Ryan

Lawler had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a cut right-rear tire, giving up his top-three position and putting him at the back of the field.

Several late-race cautions kept the field close and kept everyone on Williams’ bumper. It also allowed Lawler to make a charge through the field with the fresh right-rear tire, as he picked off competitors left and right.

A final restart with just four laps to go pitted Williams and Lawler against each other. But another strong restart from Williams, who had strong restarts all night long, allowed him to pull away from Lawler to capture his first PASS Super Late Model within either the North or the South.

“That was a blast out there,” added Williams, whose previous best PASS Super Late Model finish was a third, which came back in 2005. “This track is so much fun and the competition was unbelievable tonight. Everything went our way tonight. I hate to see the rest of the guys having problems out there. But I’ve had my days like that and had my downs, but it looked like tonight was my night out here.

“The key was the restarts for sure. Everyone was telling me the #31 (Lawler) was coming there at the end and I knew he was going to be. I knew I had to get up front and save my stuff for the end of the race. The last 25 laps, I just went for it.

“It means a lot to win. It’s been a long time since I won something.”

Lawler just missed going three-for-three in PASS South competition in 2007 after winning the first two events of the season, including last week’s “South Carolina Clash” at Anderson Motor Speedway.

“We were just riding up there in the top-five,” said Lawler. “I knew I didn’t have anything for the leaders at that point. Then I realized I didn’t have anything for them because I had a right rear going down. We came in and put a new right rear on, got it up to the right air pressure and we started getting it around the top.

“I told my guys I never had so much fun finishing second. I could weave the car in and out of cars and go three-wide up near the outside wall. It was awesome. With the season we’ve had so far, it was a little disappointing to finish second. But to come back from having the flat tire and to finish second... you can’t ask for more than that.”

The race was full of attrition, as only 14 of the 28 cars that started the event finished. The attrition, along with smart driving, allowed Dean Clattenburg to come home with a third-place finish, the same place he finished in last year’s race at Orange County.

“There was a little bit of attrition in our favor,” said Clattenburg. “We weren’t trying to abuse the car anyway, so it worked out for us. I really didn’t want to race too hard. There were some guys that were running awful hard up there. Some guys were wrecking and we were able to make it through all of that and race some more. You just had to be heads up the whole time. When I got to second, I felt that if I could have got a good restart, I might have been able to run with them. I’m just glad to come home with third and the car in one piece.”

Enfinger was able to come home fourth in his first PASS South event, while Tim Nooner held on to finish fifth. Heath Hindman, Brad Bischoff, Jason Hogan, Taylor Satterfield and Derek Ramstrom rounded out the top-10 finishers.

The PASS South series will return to action on July 3rd at Peach State Speedway in Jefferson, GA.

For more information on the PASS South Series, contact Jeremy Troiano at (704) 788-2134, and for news regarding the PASS North Series, contact Mike Twist (207) 590-1786. For more information on PASS contingency programs and for technical questions, contact Scott Reed at (207) 625-3230 and be sure to visit www.racewithpass.com, as well as the official website of PASS North, www.proallstarsseries.com.