GREENVILLE, S.C. — Audio and story by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Reid McCall/HMM photo —
While Joey Doiron (PASS South) claimed the headlining victory of Greenville Pickens Speedway’s season-opening Winter Meltdown on Saturday, Chase Purdy (Southeast Limited Late Models), Anthony Anders (Southeast Super Trucks) and A.J. Sanders (Mayhem Mini Stocks) also claimed glory as winners in their respective divisions at the historic half-mile.
After an invert of seven following group-style qualifying, reigning SELLM champion Mack Little III led a 16-car limited late model field to the green flag, and saw the first 52 laps of the 100-lap main event run non-stop before the first caution flag of the night came out — a blown motor for the No. 16 of Colby Howard the cause.
Following extensive cleanup for fluid on the high lane of the frontstretch, Little led the field back to green and weathered four cautions over the next 17 laps — for a wide range of problems that took Hayden Humphrey, fast qualifier Justin Hicks, Phillip Peters and Amber Balcaen all out of contention for the win — before the race’s second long run of the race broke out.
While Little led the race’s first 73 laps from the pole, it was a power move to the inside in turn one that afforded two-time Myrtle Beach 400 winner Dylan Hall the lead on lap 74, as well as set up a barn-burner of a run to the checkered flag.
Series rookie Chase Purdy latched on to Hall’s rear bumper and dogged the race leader through traffic for the next 21 laps before giving Hall a shot to the rear corner coming to four laps to go. The contact moved Hall up the race track, put Purdy out in front, and the race was on.
Hall returned the favor the next lap, reclaiming the top spot with three to go, and coming to the white flag the duo was separated by less than a truck length. Purdy moved Hall for the lead and the win in turns one and two, and though Hall fought his way back to the inside coming off of turn four, Purdy hung on for the win — his first in the series — by five one-hundredths (0.050) of a second at the checkered flag.
“That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done in a race car,” Purdy grinned after climbing from his car and collecting the $3,000 winner’s check. “It’s an unreal moment.”
“A lot of things were going through my mind at the end there. I knew there was no time for patience, because [at that point] you’ve gotta do what you gotta do. Fortunately it worked out for us. I can’t thank Hawk McCall Motorsports and my family enough for all of this. I’m so blessed to be here.”
For Hall, on the other hand, second was a bittersweet result when looking at what “might have been” after the race.
“I just got jacked up on that last lap,” lamented the 17-year-old South Carolina native. “I had a great race car and was able to save tires all night, even while we were up front. I got the lead and knew the 41 (of Purdy) was behind us, and he just kept jacking us up in [turns] one and two.”
“He finally got around me with four to go, and I got him back the next lap but he had one more shot in him. The last lap, going into one he picked the rear wheels up off the ground and pretty much wrecked me. I gathered it back up and tried to do the same thing to him in three and four but I made the mistake of letting him gather [his car] back up. If I’d stayed in it, I might have had him.”
“It sucks to lose one like that, but I’ll say this — I know how to race him now and it’s only going to help us in the future.”
Anthony Alfredo, Little and Luke Sorrow rounded out the top five finishers.
Track manager Anders notched the victory in the 75-lap Southeast Super Truck Series main event, passing Randy Porter for the lead on lap 59 and leading the rest of the way unchallenged, despite a caution flag with seven laps to go that set up one final restart for a $2,000 winner’s purse.
While Tory Black led the field to green after a five-truck invert, it was actually Kenneth Headen that was the beneficiary of an early-race scramble for the lead.
Jamie Altop and Black both took turns at the front in the first three laps, and then the driver of the No. 33 truck inherited the top spot after that duo got together on lap three — Altop went spinning in turn four as a result. Black was dropped to the rear of the field as the cause of the caution and Headen led until lap 36, when Porter snuck by him on the inside in turn one.
From there, Porter seemed to be on his way to the win — leading through a caution at lap 52 that saw Black and Ahnna Parkhurst tangle — but lost the lead to Anders following the restart and then dropped pitside with terminal issues at lap 61, while Anders continued out front.
Following Kerry Lawrence’s spin with seven to go that bunched the field up one final time, the two-time track champion pulled out to a 0.750 second victory over Headen on the final run, scoring a “very sweet” win as friends and family looked on.
“We got bumped around there in that mess at the beginning and the right front fender was down on the tire, so I had to pit to get that fixed early on,” Anders explained. “After we got back out there, we were a little tight and the truck didn’t drive as well as I think it could have. I missed a couple good wrecks, but Porter and Headen got way out there and I couldn’t seem to make up any time. Thank God for the caution, because I don’t think I would have ended up in victory lane without it. I’m happy about this, and I’m happy about where everything is headed with the track going into the points season next month.”
A.J. Sanders was the star of the Greenville Pickens “Mayhem Mini Stocks,” surging to the lead around polesitter Brian Powell at lap 12 and never looking back en route to the win in that class’s season-opener.
Despite six caution flags over the final 25 laps, Sanders ran away from Michael Tucker and crossed the line with a 0.603 second margin over Tucker at the checkered flag.
Brandon Clements, B.J. Thrasher and Shaun Mize rounded out the top five after the final seven lap dash to the checkered flag, sparked when Ken Candiotti and Thrasher got mixed up in turn four.
The next race for Greenville Pickens Speedway will be on March 5 — featuring twin 75s for the NASCAR Whelen All American Series Late Model Stock Cars — as well as action for the Limiteds, Renegades, Street Stocks, 4 Cylinders and Pure Stocks.
For more information, visit the track website at www.greenvillepickens.com.
Audio with SELLM race winner Chase Purdy:
Audio with SELLM runner-up Dylan Hall:
Audio with SELLM third-place Anthony Alfredo:
Audio with SEST race winner Anthony Anders:
RESULTS: Third Annual Winter Meltdown; Greenville Pickens Speedway; Feb. 6, 2016
Southeast Limited Late Model Series (Pro division; 100 laps): 1. #41 – Chase Purdy; 2. #4 – Dylan Hall; 3. #5 – Anthony Alfredo; 4. #16L – Mack Little III; 5. #9 – Luke Sorrow; 6. #35 – Tasha Kummer; 7. #28 – Bob Root; 8. #11 – Dillon Houser; 9. #29 – Austin Northcutt; 10. #33C – Andrew Cordell; 11. #23 – Shon Gibson; 12. #2 – Amber Lynn; 13. #10 – Amber Balcaen; 14. #1 – Phillip Peters; 15. #61 – Justin Hicks; 16. #33A – Daniel Alverez; 17. #17 – Greg Bohanon; 18. #16H – Colby Howard; 19. #07 – Hayden Humphrey.
Southeast Super Truck Series (75 laps): 1. #36 – Anthony Anders; 2. #33 – Kenneth Headen; 3. #44 – Lee Tissot; 4. #20 – Jamie Barbrey; 5. #05 – Tory Black; 6. #23 – Ahnna Parkhurst; 7. #03 – Kerry Lawrence; 8. #32 – Randy Porter; 9. #66 – Benny Davis; 10. #54 – Jamie Altop.
Mayhem Mini Stocks (40 laps): 1. #24 – A.J. Sanders; 2. #16 – Michael Tucker; 3. #7 – Brandon Clements; 4. #19 – B.J. Thrasher; 5. #26 – Shaun Mize; 6. #81 – Chuck Wall; 7. #98 – Jimmy Crigger; 8. #76 – Bobby Tobelston; 9. #24A – Stephen Sanders; 10. #71 – Ben Kay; 11. #22 – Alan Mitchell; 12. #23 – Ken Candiotti; 13. #53 – Michael Rouse; 14. #43 – Brian Powell; 15. #07M – Neil Meredith; 16. #20 – Chuck Mitchell.
