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Rookie Casey Roderick Finishes Second Behind Point Leader’s Dominating Performance
The back nine at any golf course is what makes or breaks a player’s golf game. Many players use their mulligan up on the front nine, leaving the final few holes of a match critical for positioning prior to the final hole and the 18th green.
The RC Cola / MoonPie American Speed Association Southeast Asphalt Tour is on the back half of their 2008 race schedule, putting race points and positions on the track in a critical state prior to their season-ending points event at Watermelon Capital Speedway (GA) on October 18th. On Saturday night at Anderson Motor Speedway (SC), point leader Jay Middleton did exactly what he needed to do to strengthen his position at the top of the standings by dominating the Anderson 100 event and crossing the finish line first. Middleton started his run to the checkered flag in qualifying, where he turned in the second fastest time to Chris Fontaine, but he started on the pole position after the top-five redraw. From the drop of the green flag, Middleton took control of the event and led all of the 100-lap distance.“I have led a lot of laps this year,” said Middleton. “You have to go out and run your own pace. This place (Anderson Motor Speedway) is a lot like Pensacola (Five Flags Speedway in Florida). I have had a lot of races around there. You just have to go out there and run a pace you can run the whole race because if you go too fast at the beginning, you will not have anything left for the end. I focused on that. If they were on me, then so be it.” While Middleton paced himself out in front of the field, his competition in the top-five struggled to keep their cars up in the field. John Bolen and Chris Fontaine, third and fourth in the points, both had issues throughout the event. Fontaine finished 14th with Bolen coming back from tire issues to an eighth place result. The driver though hurt the worst by this event was Taylor Satterfield, who was second in points before the race, but finished 19th after a driver in front of him missed a shift on a restart.
“I believe someone missed a shift there on the restart and we had nowhere to go,” said Satterfield. “I tried to turn down, but it wasn’t quite quick enough. It tore the whole right front suspension up on the car, but the guys did a great job putting it back together and getting us back out there.”
With his closest competitors out of contention for the win, Middleton turned his attention to Casey Roderick, who pressured him for the top spot for the last half of the race. During the last 10 laps, Roderick put the pressure on, but a late caution on lap 97 ruined his momentum on the track.
“I told my dad and Ricky Turner, my crew chief, to just tell me when there were 10 laps to go. I had a good car and was just sitting there waiting,” explained Roderick. “He (Middleton) was burning his tires off the car. I couldn’t quite deal with him coming off the corner. He has just a little bit bigger motor than I do. I was just sitting there trying to work him each lap before that last caution. I believe I could have got him as I was under him coming off of turn four. If that caution wouldn’t have come out I think I would have gotten him and tried for the win.”
Middleton took the green flag on the final restart and made sure to keep his car low so Roderick couldn’t sneak in under him.
“He is in a position where he has to go and I was in a position to do whatever I want, so I made sure I went nice and slow through the middle of the corner and nice and hard off,” said Middleton. “That is how you have to run a place like this. The one time you drive in there too hard, you slide up and it gives him a little window under you, then it is over. If I kept in on the bottom, he didn’t have anywhere to go. That is what I tried to focus on the whole race.
“You can run all the way down (to the inside pit wall), so that is where I tried to go. If you tried to get under me there, you would go head-on into the tires, so that wouldn’t work. I was also real good off of turn four, so it worked out in the end.”
Even though Middleton was all smiles in victory lane knowing he not only won another event, but padded his points lead, he was impressed with Roderick, who drives for NASCAR veteran Bill Elliott’s driver development program.
“Casey did a great job tonight. I have never raced with him before,” said Middleton. “I expected to be able to pull away from him, but I couldn’t.”
Roderick was equally thrilled with his run as well as the battle with Middleton, even though he came up one position short of the victory.
“I just want to thank Bill Elliott for believing in me and taking the chance on me,” added Roderick. “I think we are going to have a lot of momentum after this race. I also want to thank Ricky Turner and all of these guys that worked on the car this weekend. We will gain on this a bit and see if we can get a win soon. That was probably the most fun race I have been in throughout my whole racing career.”
Leading every lap and winning the race was like scoring a hole-in-one for Middleton. Except for missing the fast time by one spot, his day was perfect, which helps in his bid for the 2008 title.
“We got a lot of bonus points today. I think we got every bonus point you could get here,” said Middleton. “That is what it is all about. This is the second race this year that we have led every lap. You cannot get passed in the points if you get every point available out of a weekend, so that is what we try to do.”
The next race for the RC Cola / MoonPie ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour will be on the road course at Rockingham Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina on Saturday, August 30th. If you would like more information regarding the event and upcoming TV coverage, please visit the official website of ASA SAT at www.asasoutheast.com.
The RC Cola / MoonPie ASA Southeast Asphalt Tour is part of an eight-race televised program that makes up the “Road to Nashville,” which will set up the most prestigious event of the season at the historic Music City Motorplex at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. ASA SAT and the CRA Super Series will race in Nashville on Saturday, November 1st, as part of the Adam Petty Memorial All American 400 weekend. credit: ASASAT |
