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| _ | Ashley Gets Wild with
Last Lap Pass for SUPR win at Jackson BYRAM, MS (April 17, 1999) - The Southern United Professional Racing (SUPR) Series paid their first visit of the year to Jackson Motor Speedway and David Ashley mounted a late race charge to the front in his Warrior chassied racecar to take the win. Ashley snatched the lead and the win from Marlon Wild on the white flag lap. Wild had built himself a comfortable lead with 10 laps to go when Ashley began his final charge to the front. Ashley, who spent most of the feature just outside of the top 5, found his groove late and roared to the front moving by Donald Watson and then Darin Dorsey before he closed in on Wild. A caution waved on lap 37 when Gary Cooper slowed in turn 2 and this gave Ashley the chance he needed. He restarted right behind Wild and worked under him as they raced onto the backstretch on lap 39. Ashley relayed, “The caution come out and I seen him bobble in the middle of the corner. I just turned the car hard and kind of walked the berm a little bit and let the left front kick up and drag raced him down the back straightaway. I had the grip at the bottom. It was just tacky down there and on a straight run I could pull hard.” The win earned Ashley $3000 and also moved him to the top of the 1999 SUPR point standings as the race paid double points to all participants. The late caution helped Ashley close in for the lead but it also worried him. “The caution worried me because I knew Marlon would get on the defense. I was catching him under green and I didn’t know if I could catch him with 3 or 4 laps to go but we were coming.” For Wild, it was a disappointing end to a strong run in his new Bullitt chassis. “I went too hard on the right front tire. It was getting tighter the whole race. I was having more and more trouble turning it.” When the feature rolled out, the drivers encountered a racing surface that while a bit rough was plenty raceable as witnessed by Dorsey’s race long charge around the top groove. Dorsey, who is the 2-time defending Modified champ at Jackson, was impressive up high. “I have a bad habit of, when I see people running down on the bottom and slowing down, I try to go around them because I don’t like following folks. I just took a chance on it and it stuck and I went with it.” The strong charge did slow a bit at the end as the fuel load lightened. “I think we had a good shot at winning the race but my rear percentages left me and it got loose.” The first start was waved off when Rob Litton got sideways in turn 2 and collected the cars of Elizabeth Halpin and Duke Whiseant. Marlon Wild grabbed the lead on the restart, only to have SUPR Rookie Dave Siegert pull by to take over the lead. A second caution waved on lap two as Dennis Duncan looped his car in turn 3 while battling for 3rd. Siegert continued to hold the top spot as the racing got restarted while drivers shuffled for positions behind him. The top 5 after 5 was Siegert, Wild, Donald Watson, Darin Dorsey and Jay Blair. Caution waved again on lap 6 as Duncan and Litton tangled in turn 4. Siegert again set the pace while Dorsey used the high groove to power past Watson for 3rd. By lap 10, the battle for the lead really began to heat up as Wild moved underneath Siegert going into turn 3 while Dorsey was right there on the outside. Siegert’s right front brake locked up and Wild grabbed the lead while Dorsey took evasive action. Siegert jumped into the pits to make repairs while Mike Boland, who started 14th, joined the battle for the lead. Boland joined the top 5 on lap 9 and quickly closed in on the lead battle. He got by Dorsey for second on lap 13 and began to close in on Wild when the caution waved for James Dean, who jumped the berm on the backstretch and broke his front suspension. Top five at this point: Wild, Boland, Dorsey, Watson and Blair. Back under green, Boland moved in on Wild for the lead and looked under him in turn 3 on lap 17. He caught the berm as they exited turn 4 and he got into the side of Wild. As Boland describes it, “Marlon slipped a little bit and I got up under him and I guess it just rolled the right front tire off of it. Just one of those deals.” With Boland off the track, Wild was able to pull out to a comfortable lead over Dorsey and Watson, who were running up high and Blair and Ashley who ran down low. Ashley got by Blair on lap 22 and Larry Ritter moved by Blair on lap 25. With 10 to go, Wild looked to be set for the run to the finish as he had a half-straightaway lead over Dorsey and Watson but Ashley had caught the battle for second and had other plans. Ashley moved by Watson on lap 31 before he moved by Dorsey on lap 33. But despite Ashley’s sudden surge in speed, Wild was still in the driver’s seat when the final caution of the night waved for Gary Cooper, who slowed in turn 2 with engine damage. The restart not only helped Ashley but also helped Ritter who got by both Watson and Dorsey to move up to 3rd at the checkers. Thirty-five SUPR Late Models were on hand. Marlon Wild was the GRT Top Qualifier while Scott Slay moved up 11 positions to claim the Lloyd Wild Jr. Hard Charger award. Heat winners were Ricky May, Wild, Watson, Siegert and Ashley with Elizabeth Halpin and Slay claiming the last chance victories. Official Results: |
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