Ashley Newman had no chance of catching Robert Moore Jr. in the Limited Late Model feature of the Possum Town Grand Prix Saturday at Columbus Motor Speedway.
Moore Jr., who was in his second race at Columbus, had the fastest car of the night, quickly passing pole-sitter Wesley Greene and opening a lead on Newman in the only significant green-flag run of the race.
“Once you really get going, you find out real quick what you have for the guy in front of you,” Newman said. “I kind of lost track of him a little bit.”
Newman waited patiently, though, changing his strategy to attack Moore Jr. aggressively on each re-start, a total of six in a four-lap stretch midway through the race.
The approach paid off when Newman got underneath Moore Jr. in turn two on lap 20, running even down the back-stretch before Newman held off Moore Jr., who spun out and lost his position, giving Newman the win in the last race of the 2015 season in the Golden Triangle.
“Turns one and two had some rubber along the bottom, and it was the only groove to go,” Newman said. “I had to hope (Moore Jr.) would slide up a bit, and he looked like his tires might have slicked over or something. He was having to work harder to stay along the bottom. The last re-start with 10 to go, I tried to lineup a little bit better behind him, and whenever he slid up, I was able to get there beside of him.”
Newman capped a 2015 campaign with more than 10 wins, but it wasn’t without controversy, at least to Moore Jr. and Newman. Moore Jr., who said he’d started to lose a bit of gripper due to running a softer-compound tire, thought Newman should have been held responsible for the lap 20 pile-up that sent him to the rear and knocked two other drivers out of the race and collected five cars.
Moore Jr. finished sixth, while eight of the 18 who started the race made it to the checkered flag.
“They told me the caution was on me, which I don’t think it was,” Moore Jr. said. “I think Ashley Newman should have been the one going to the rear. But hey, it’s their track. They make the call. I got to live with it.”
Newman said he and Moore Jr. were door to door in turn four, but Moore Jr. wasn’t able to hold his line.
“When I got a run on him coming off two, I found out real quick he wasn’t gonna give any room, which is his job, and he was gonna keep me pinched on the bottom,” Newman said. “Only thing I had to worry about was not going in and door-slamming him. He got in and started getting loose. I’m sure he’s got a different story, but we went in, he did his deal, but once you’re up beside someone dead even … I hated it turned out like that.
“I had to get lucky to get by him on that re-start because he was really good.”
With temperatures in the mid-40s, drivers said the cars ran faster than normal. While it had been almost two months since the last feature race at Columbus, drivers had a practice session Thursday and heat races Friday. But it still turned out to be “one of those nights,” said Johnny Stokes, who started third and had a top-five run going before breaking a steering shaft and smacking the wall on lap 20.
“You got more power when it’s cold like this, but it does make some of us drivers who don’t do as good mess up a little bit more,” said Stokes, who finished 11th. “It’s just a double-edged sword … it’s just racing.”
Jamie Pickard took second, while Hunter Holloway, Joe Mike, and David Brocato rounded out the top five.
n Phillip Eubanks won the $700 Mini-Stock prize. Billy Pate, Donny Andrews, Nick Deese, and Vinnie Sanders rounded out the top five.
n Jay Burchfield won the $2,000 Street Stock feature. Brent Mitchell, Spencer Hughes, Trey Bright, and Jamie Sudduth rounded out the top five.
n Jason Byrd won the Factory Stock feature, the first of the year at Columbus. Dustin Rushing, Logan Lux, John Johnson, and Heath Beard rounded out the top five.
n Tony Shelton won the 602 Late Model feature. Jessie Smith, Jason Downs, Tony Shelton Jr., and Dustin Smith rounded out the top five.
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