HICKORY, N.C. — Bleu Slocum survived a wild race to post his third ASA Late Model Series Southern Division feature of the season Sunday at Hickory Motor Speedway and further tighten the race for the 2007 ASALMS title.
Slocum managed to dodge numerous wrecks and spins during the race that saw a series record 18 caution flags, beating out teammate Jon Wes Townley for the victory. Michael Pickens, Josh Lane and Travis Wilson rounded out the top five.
Series point-leader Jeff Choquette edged out Wilson on the opening lap to take the initial lead shortly before the first caution flag waved for an eight-car pileup on lap five.
Choquette continued to lead for the first 82 laps before Ryan Lawler powered past for the lead in lapped traffic with Slocum moving up to take second.
Slocum dogged Lawler until lap 115, when Lawler drifted high in turn two, giving Slocum an opening to take the lead. Lawler gave chase until running out of fuel during a lengthy yellow flag on lap 122, giving second to Townley.
On the restart, Townley spun on the oiled-down racetrack and ASALMS officials threw the yellow flag for the final time, ending the race under caution. Scoring reverted back to the previous green flag lap, giving Slocum the victory with Townley shown second.
Choquette managed to limp home 18th after getting caught up in a wreck and now leads Slocum by just 51 points heading into the final race of the 2007 season.
The finish:
Beau Slocumb, John Wes Townley, Michael Pickens, Josh Lane, Travis Wilson, Rob Partelo, Max Gresham, Brandon Johnson, Shane Riffel, Jimmy Weller, Ryan Lawler, Jeremy Gerstner, Jerrod Foley, Brian Blum, Chris Fontaine, David Rigan, Sean Bass, Jeff Choquette, Michael Seeright, Will Thomas, Sean Murphy, Glenn Gault, Jr., Colt James, Phil Gill, Cody Smith, Jimmy Lang, Mike Marden, Tyler Townsend, Jon Michael, Travis Cope.