T.J. Reaid outran Late Model veteran Russell Fleeman of Dacula and young gun Casey Roderick to become the first repeat GAS winner this season, as he grabbed the victory Saturday night at Lanier National Speedway.
Reaid and Fleeman traded the lead three times in the 100-lap Pro Late Model feature with Reaid taking the checkers 1.302 seconds ahead of Fleeman, followed by Roderick, Dwayne Buggay, and Greg Simpson to round out the top five.
“What an awesome race,” said Reaid, who won the season-opener at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele. “I want to dedicate this win to Matt Hawkins. We thought we had a car good enough to win the Matt Hawkins memorial race here in April, but we came up short – so this one is for Matt. I just want to thank my parents and everyone on the team for working so hard and giving me this opportunity. The car was fast all weekend, and I’m looking forward to coming back to Lanier for the fireworks show in July.”
In a flashback to the last GAS race, Bill Elliott Racing teammates Casey Roderick and Chase Elliott again each led one practice session and topped the charts in qualifying. Roderick’s fastest qualifying lap of 14.040 seconds was only .004 seconds quicker than Elliott’s but was enough to earn him top qualifying honors for the second straight race. This time, though, Roderick rolled a “five” to determine the field inversion, moving Simpson to the pole, followed by Fleeman, Reaid, Elliott and Roderick.
The 17-car field lined up double file to take the green flag and Fleeman jumped ahead of Simpson to lead the first lap. Thirteen-year-old Elliott, who won his first Late Model race at Lanier two weeks ago, got stuck on the outside and dropped to seventh by lap ten while Reaid and Roderick were able to move up to second and third, respectively.
The field quickly spread out around the 3/8-mile track until the first caution on lap 22. Fleeman and Reaid lined up double file to lead the field back to the green. Reaid held onto the outside and cleared Fleeman to take over the lead on lap 23. The top five spread out single file while Braselton’s Shane Sawyer put the pressure on Buggay for sixth. Sawyer took a look inside the No. 45 just as the second caution came out on lap 33.
Reaid held onto the lead on the restart, but Fleeman resumed the lead on lap 44.
On the final restart, with 20 laps to go, Reaid jumped out ahead of Fleeman again to take over the lead. Roderick put the pressure on Fleeman on the inside for second place. The two made contact and Roderick slipped back to third, allowing Reaid to pull away with the lead.
The field spread out again for the final ten laps while Reaid cruised to his second win of the 2009 Georgia Asphalt Series.
For more on this story, see Wednesday's edition of The Jackson Herald or The Braselton News.
