Ultimate Super Late Model Series
Toccoa Speedway
June 8, 2013
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Casey Roberts picks up the 2nd Annual Buck Simmons Memorial at Toccoa

TOCCOA, GA (June 8) - Blue skies met the Ultimate teams as they pulled into Toccoa Speedway for the 2nd annual Buck Simmons Memorial. 20 teams signed in for the action under the lights.

The teams rolled onto the speedway for hot laps and track record holder Chris Ferguson set quick time in hot laps with a 12.44 time. Brett Miller was 2nd quick and Kid Quick Zack Mitchell posted 3rd quick time.

In the VP race fuels race for the pole Casey Roberts went out first and posted a time of 12.652. Driver after driver took a shot at Roberts with Chris Ferguson in the Stout 21 Warrior making a strong statement with a quick time of 12.770. Clayton Turner, Brett Miller, Kenny Collins, Jeff Smith, Zack Mitchell and Josh Thurmond all found themselves locked into the main by virtue of their qualifying times. After all cars took time, Casey Roberts remained quickest in the VP fuels race for the pole.

The rest of the lineup was decided by 2 B-mains. In the Hoosier Race Tire B-main , Larry Timms used his outside starting spot to power by Jerry Loudermilk for the lead and held on for the win and the inside position of row 5. He was followed by Loudermilk, Jamie Oliver, Frank Coates, Ted Crunkleton and J.R. Headen. In the American Racer Tire B-main, Casey Barrow used the pole position to lead the first lap over Brent Dixon. A lap 2 caution for a Crandall Turner spin in turn 3, saw the field line back up for a restart. Barrow again pulled to the lead but Brent Dixon fought back on the next lap and got to the inside of Barrow in turns 1 and 2. Dixon powered by with just a little rub and pulled away and held on for the American Racer B-main win. He was followed by Barrow, Jimmy Ivester, Dabs Potts, Randy Nichols and Crandall Turner.

A 4 wide salute to the fans, backdropped by a huge fireworks display set the mood for the Ultimate Supers main event, The Buck Simmons Memorial. As the drivers tightened the belts one more time for the 41 lap $4100 feature, the fans and drivers paid tribute to the “Living Legend” who garnered over 1000 feature event wins. Casey Roberts, the pole sitter, chose the outside position and moved Chris Ferguson to the inside. As flagman Randy Collins dropped the green flag, Roberts in his 101 Capitol chassis motored the outside line and pulled a couple of car lengths advantage as the field went the first 8 laps before a caution for J.R. Headen stopped at the top of turn 4. The field took the green again and Ferguson dove to the inside, but as Ferguson mentioned after the race, his tires didn’t take off on the restarts as well as Roberts. Brett Miller had moved up to the third spot but began to lose the handle on his machine with the car washing up the banking in the turns. Lap 19 saw the second caution for the 95 machine of Ted Crunkleton who slowed down the back stretch. As the green flew again Roberts pulled away, but as the laps began winding down, Ferguson with a harder Hoosier tire on the Stout 21 ride began to reel in the leader. But just as he got close to Roberts in lapped traffic the caution fell on lap 37 for Brent Dixon’s slowing machine. Roberts took the green for a 4 lap shootout to the lap 41 distance and was unchallenged to the checkers. Roberts stated in Victory Lane that “this win means so much to me. Buck was my hero and I grew up racing here. To win in front of all my friends and family and in the race that honors Buck makes it extra special. Mr and Mrs Cushman couldn’t be here tonight but without their support none of this would be possible.” This win moves Roberts to the all time leader in wins in the Ultimate Series competition. Chris Ferguson finished second and in his post race comments stated” hopefully the monkey is off our back. We have run well.... at Cleveland County we were leading and had a problem, and we were running second last week at I77 raceway and again had a problem. We have been fast but just haven’t had the finishes we think we should have. My crew, my dad, my brother and all the sponsors have stood behind us. If not for them our one car, one motor team couldn’t run with drivers like Casey Roberts. He was just a little too good tonight.” Local driver Clayton Turner brought home a 3rd place finish using the GM 525 spec motor. Proving that different combinations will work in Ultimate completion. “we run weekly here at Toccoa, so I’ve got a lot of laps around here. It feels really good to run with all these Ultimate guys and bring home a 3rd place finish.”

Casey Roberts set fast time, led every lap and is now the 2 time winner of the Buck Simmons Memorial. Roberts and the rest of the Ultimate teams will take a couple of weeks of before the next scheduled event June 29th in Dublin NC.

A-Main
1 101 Casey Roberts
2 22F Chris Ferguson
3 102 Clayton Turner
4 70 Jeff Smith
5 47M Brett Miller
6 57 Zack Mitchell
7 12 Josh Thurmond
8 1 Kenny Collins
9 71 Larry Timms
10 21 Frank Coates
11 00L Jerry Loudermilk
12 3 Randy Nichols
13 1D Brent Dixon
14 98 Casey Barrow
15 95 Ted Crunkleton
16 1X Jr Headen
17 3 Dabs Potts
18 A1 Jimmy Ivester
19 97 Crandall Turner
20 38 Jamie Oliver