WILLIAMSTON, SC : One day after being named to the 2016 Kulwicki Driver Development Program, Marietta, Georgia native Cody Haskins drove his own car to the 50 lap Late Model Stock Car season opener at Anderson Motor Speedway in South Carolina.
Haskins led the field of 11 NASCAR Whelen All American Late Models to the green flag with “The Rocket” David Rogers alongside him on row 1. Rogers got the lead as they exited turn 4 to complete lap 1 and behind them Kenneth Headen blew an engine and covered the turns in oil. Behind him Cole Glasson had nowhere to and make heavy contact with the wall which ended his night.
Due to all the oil dry around the speedway, the race was halted while the track ran a support class to help clean it off.
Once the race restarted on lap 2 it didn’t take long for Haskins to move back to the top spot and he brought Greenville-Pickens Speedway regular Marty Ward to second around Rogers.
Through halfway Haskins and Ward were clearly the best two cars in the field, and lost a strong challenger in Rogers when he pulled off track.
From there on out Haskins was in cruise control as he extended his gap over the final 20 laps. The real fight was on for second as Trey Gibson was on the march from the back of the field. Gibson was able to take 4th from RA Brown on lap 35, then was able to run down Ward and CM Driver Development driver Ralph Carnes for second.
With six laps to go, Gibson made the move under Carnes and Ward to take away the runner-up spot.
However, he was unable to make inroads in the final laps on Haskins’ lead as Cody Haskins took home his first win in the KRC Power Steering, Valvoline, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Earnest Performance Late Model of the 2016 season in pursuit of a track championship. Gibson finished second followed home by Ward, Carnes and Brown.
Haskins in an interview with Short Track Scene after his win had these comments.
“After the first restart there I felt like he [Roberts] used us up a little bit and I was able to get back around him and kind of set sail and pace the field. We had a really, really good car. We spent a lot of time testing up here and dialing this thing in. Once I got out front I could just put it on cruise control and ride to the end.”
“We are definitely going to try and compete here and hopefully sow this deal up here this year and maybe run some CARS Tour stuff, Greenville-Pickens, Myrtle Beach, Hickory wherever we can go find a race,” said Haskins on his 2016 season plans.
Trey Gibson on his second place finish had these thoughts with STS
“We struggled all day and kind of yesterday with the handling of the car. We couldn’t get it to quit hitting the track from bottoming out, so we adjusted on it and in qualifying it hurt us too. As the race went on the speed stayed about the same as the other drivers fell off this one stayed the same speed throughout the whole race.
I would like to have seen it go a little longer to see if we had anything for the 2 [Haskins], but other than that it was a better finish than we thought.”
Unofficial Race Results
- Cody Haskins (#2) – 50
- Trey Gibson (#32) – 50
- Marty Ward (#97) – 50
- Ralph Carnes (#8C) – 50
- RA Brown (#60) – 50
- Richard Starkey (#8) – 33
- David Roberts (#18) – 22
- Jackie Manley (#28) – 22
- Kenneth Headen (#99) – 1
- Cole Glasson (#12) – 1
- Amber Balcaen (#10) -1
