Story by: Corey Latham ~ corey@RACE22.com

Altamahaw, NC(September 30, 2010) -- After having the first race at Florence Motor Speedway back in July, the Southeast Limited Late Model tour was back in action once again this past Saturday night at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw NC and as the race went in Florence, carnage and excitement were the hot topics, as a local veteran took the checkered, but a rising 13 year-old driver took home the trophy.

34 cars in total were at Ace to try and make the 100 lap event, but in practice the drivers new to the track found out that Ace is not the easiest place to get around. The most notable of the early casualties before race time were Motor Mile Speedway Limited champion Matt Taylor and Ace Speedway master Ziggy Zimmerman. Taylor had his car crashed in turn one, damaging the entire rear clip, and Zimmerman, driving for Todd Hunt, had his orange #13 hit the turn three wall hard after a failure on the right front suspension. Taylor loaded up and headed home, and Zimmerman decided he would try his luck at North Wilkesboro two events from now.

After the wrecks and engine trouble in practice, 27 cars took time for the nights event. A surprise visitor, Tommy Peregory, took the pole home with Brian Pembleton, Jesse Little, Danny Willis Jr. and Ryan Robertson following behind. Peregory had been in one of the fiercest rivalries in recent memory at South Boston Speedway this season with Willis, and many wondered if their "unfinished business" would carry over at Ace. Add in Pembleton who has had his own run-ins with Willis before, 13 year-old Jesse Little, Late Model driver Robertson, hard-nosed veteran Garry Ledbetter, local wonder Boo Boo Dalton, former Hooters Pro Cup driver Scott Hall and always tough Jimmy Rice, and there is no way action was not going to be present within the top few cars, much less in the back.

Before the race even got started, the Extreme division set the tone for the evening as a driver was reprimanded on the track various times by track manager Brad Allen, then when they made a pit stop under caution they exited the pits at a high rate of speed and slammed into the tracks 2010 Chevy Camaro pace car. As tempers flared and some crew members tried to fight Allen on the track in front of the grandstands, we knew this was only the beginning of what the night had to offer, as things were already rough. By coincidence, but fittingly, earlier in the evening the Limited Tour officials decided not to do double-file restarts, as Florence was a disaster, with more caution laps than racing. It may have helped some, but not much.

As the green dropped it didn't take long for things to happen as Peregory jumped out to the lead, cars were wrecking behind him. On lap two a mess of cars including AJ Sanders, Scott Hall, Matt Merrel, Jerick Johnson, Hunter Bledsoe and Patrick Coleman all wadded up in turn one, with each receiving damage but Coleman getting the worst, as his night was finished.

The racing is fast and furious in the early stages as Little is giving Peregory all he can handle and Ledbetter and Robertson get by Willis for fourth. Ace regular, Boo Boo Dalton, tries to follow in the hole created by Robertson but it closes quickly and Dalton gets into the left rear of Willis cutting down the SoBo competitors tire, and bringing out another caution. This was the beginning of the end for Willis, as when he came back on track to take the next green he immediately had contact with AJ Sanders knocking the front toe out severely, and had to eventually park his car.

Ledbetter and Robertson continue their march to the front as they get by Brian Pembleton for third on lap 12, then a lap later Robertson makes the move on Ledbetter to take third for himself, as Pembleton comes to a rest against the turn two wall, his night done. Little was still giving Peregory a hard time, but we had yet to see all the 13 year-old was showing.

Finally, after a few more cautions, Little makes the move around Peregory for the lead on lap 22 and starts to pull away. Peregory wouldn't stop his fall though, as Robertson and Ledbetter fly by on the inside, then another, and another, it didn't stop until Peregory was back to eighth, and that was after leading just two laps prior.

Little was setting sail, and showed he was the car to beat all evening. Just past the halfway mark Ledbetter and Robertson began a furious battle that had the crowd on their feet, lap after lap they beat and banged, sometimes running one another almost to the inside guardrail as they swaped the second spot numerous times. The same was going on behind them for the sixth spot, as Josh Lowder, Peregory and Ricky Williams were doing everything but wrecking as they had cars jacked every which way but straight. Williams was making his first asphalt start in a house car owned by chassis builder Tom Pistone, and was strong the entire event. His night would go extremely bad later though.

As we pepper in a few cautions towards the end, which looked to be the only chance that Robertson had to make a move on Little, it became evident that this race was
Little's to lose, he simply had the rest of the field covered. With a 11 lap shootout to decide it, Little quickly pulls away as Robertson has to fend off the veteran Ledbetter each and every corner of every lap. Little takes the white flag with nearly a eight car length lead and dives off turn two.................and the caution comes out. In most series the race would be over, and we all thought this was the same as the leader had taken the white flag, but as we all learned, the Little crew included, the caution can fly on the final lap in the Southeast Limited series.

The accident was massive, as Boo Boo Dalton and Josh Lowder got together off turn two for sixth spot, Lowder spins and collects Kenny Bost and Ricky Williams. Lowder and Bost receive extensive damage, but Williams has no car left at all, as his machine hit the inside guardrail and nearly went under it, knocking the pole holding it completely out of the ground and setting the guardrail back six feet. Lowder showed his displeasure by chunking his helmet at Dalton as he passed, the two have had somewhat of a history this year. But after looking at the video Lowder just called it hard racing, we were just glad everyone was OK.

Well, the race had been one of the most exciting ever at Ace, who would of thought we wouldn't have a green-white-checkered? Little and his crew weren't glad to see it, that's for sure. Robertson was glad, rather the red flag he was glad for, as he drank nearly seven bottles of water while the cars sat in turn two waiting for cleanup to commence, it was a hot night for sure. It was all going to come down to this, if Robertson was going to pull off the victory it would have to be on a short run, as Little would pull away if they got five laps of green in.

The flag waves and immediately Robertson starts to apply the pressure, with Ledbetter laying in wait. Little protects the bottom and as they take the white flag Robertson tries to dive inside in turn one but Little blocks his move. The leaders dive into turn three and Robertson dives harder than Little, moving his way inside and taking both cars up the track in the process. And there sits the crafty veteran Ledbetter, he had been waiting for the leaders to get together, and he dives inside of Robertson off turn four to make it three wide coming to the checkers. Robertson crowds Little into the wall off turn four, Little tries to out-power him but comes up just short by inches as sparks fly across the finish line.

Robertson was overcome with emotion, and Little let his emotions out as he exited the car, he wasn't happy. Ledbetter was his usual cool self, knowing he had a third place car but almost pulling off the win. Victory lane was a joyous one, but the joy turned to disappointment a few hours later as Robertson was DQ'd for having an illegal block. Jesse Little was now the winner, and it was fair enough for him, as he did by far have the best car of the evening.

After two events the Southeast Limited Late Model series seems to just keep getting better, Florence was good, Ace was amazing, we can only wonder what Hickory will hold for them on October 16th.

Results:
1. Jesse Little
2. Gary Ledbetter
3. Chris Chapman
4. Tommy Peregoy
5. Ross Dalton
6. Jimmy Rice
7. Ben Stanton
8. Ryan Glenski
9. Jason Cochran
10. Jerick Johnson
11. Dan Discepoli
12. Scott Hall
13. Josh Lowder
14. Ricky Williams
15. Kenny Bost
16. Remington Prince
17. Kyle Southern
18. David Sell
19. Hunter Bledsoe
20. John Thornton
21. AJ Sanders
22. David Parks
23. Matt Merrill
24. Brian Pembleton
25. Danny Willis Jr
26. Patrick Coleman
DQ Ryan Robertson