Wrap-up from The Pelican 3/17... Tim Culp Wins a Thriller!

Streak is still going... There has NEVER been a bad Late Model race at Ark-La-Tex Speedway! And last night may have been the best one yet...

Tim Culp won his second Pelican from the pole position. If I stopped right there it would probably be the biggest disservice to race-writing history ever. Just ask anyone who bought a ticket last night.

Culp and fellow young gun Late Model racer Tyler Erb looked like they put all they had into every lap of their heats and feature last night. Garrett Alberson, BJ Robinson, Jon Mitchell, Jesse Stovall and 19 other racers were all stars last night though at The-Land-of-3WIDE! And a spectacular 4-wide a time or two too.

The two young guys earned the most passing points to start on the front row. Erb's heat race saw #91 come off the bottom of a lap one 4-wide lead battle that went down the backstretch and into turns 3 and 4, Coming off turn 4, he slid barely in front of the noses of three Late Models but no one touched or perhaps barely touched in what may be the most spectacular pass I've see at ALT and I've seen a bunch of them. Culp and Erb then traded the lead early in the 50-lap feature and it looked like it would come down to those two through the middle stages too. Anyone who jumped to that conclusion at that time had to change their mind later. Culp secured the lead with Erb giving chase while the 3 and sometimes 4-wide racing continued mid-pack.

Had a couple significant cautions early, two mid-race ones and a late race yellow that changed this race up a bunch. Two fast cars -- Chandler Petty and Gavin Landers -- ended up out of the race early. Others got sheet metal damage that didn't help their chances. The most significant mid-race caution came when Erb either clipped a tire or berm on the inside of turn 4 as the lead duo raced through lapped traffic. It ripped the nose off his car which then landed in the middle of the track to cause the yellow. Erb never stopped and was still 2nd but the damage was done. He battled gamely the rest of the way but the car was never the same and eventually ended up 9th at the end.

Culp masterfully worked lapped traffic. Inside, outside and between cars. Meanwhile there were plenty of other battles to watch. Mitchell, Billy Moyer, Jr. and Morgan Bagley had one of the best ones for a while around the 6th spot. Kyle Beard charged from 23rd into the top ten and had many laps side-by-side with Jack Sullivan for position. After one of the mid-race cautions, Stovall got up-on-the-wheel in his bid for a second bird and advanced as far as third before settling back into his own side-by-side battle for 4th with Robinson. Unfortunately, Jesse got just enough of the wall going into turn one that he ended up damaged and over the hill for the next-to-last caution.

Through the short runs and the long ones, Culp remained in command but as Erb began to fade, a smoother approach entered the picture in the form of the Childress #F5 with Alberson running a very smart race. With less than 10-to-go, Garrett began reeling in Culp and it looked to be perfect timing for a last lap pass. Like most race leaders on a multi-groove track, Culp wasn't quite sure which line was the fastest. He had been using them all. His middle to low line though, left the outside open just as Alberson caught the C8. A great run off turn two got the pair side-by-side on the next to last lap, then on the final lap, still side-by-side going into turn three, Alberson went to the middle to block the upcoming slide-job by pinning Culp against the infield berm and we appeared headed to a possible photo finish.... but....

... a spun car at the bottom of turn four necessitated that final caution setting up a green-white-checker and a #1 car ready to play spoiler. With the diamond restart (leader out front, 2nd & 3rd side-by-side) and Culp knowing where the F5 had been running now, it pretty much sealed the deal. Robinson made a valiant effort from the inside though and actually led the race through the corners. He held 2nd until Alberson got back by him on the backstretch of the white flag lap. Mitchell and Moyer Jr. rounded out the top 5.

**Would anyone like to see NASCAR-style restarts used?** :-)

2017 Pelican Late Model Finishing Order

1. (1) C8 Timothy Culp, West Monroe, LA/Sheridan, AR
2. (5) F5 Garrett Alberson, Las Cruces, NM/Shreveport, LA
3. (3) 1 BJ Robinson, Shreveport, LA
4. (4) 5M Jon Mitchell, Texarkana, TX
5. (9) 21 Billy Moyer Jr., Batesville, AR
6. (12) 14M Morgan Bagley, Longview, TX
7. (23) 86 Kyle Beard, Truman, AR
8. (8) 18 Jack Sullivan, Greenbriar, AR
9. (2) 91 Tyler Erb, Magnolia, TX
10. (18) 1C Chad Thrash, Collinsville, MS
11. (11) 5T Randy Timms, Moore, OK
12. (16) 93 Ray Moore, Haughton, LA
13. (20) 51 Dean Carpenter, Coldwater, MS
14. (15) 96 Lee Davis, Greenwood, LA
15. (7) 00 Jesse Stovall, Galena, MO
16. (14) 14 Alex Ashley, Zachary, LA
17. (13) 11A Ronny Adams, Marshall, TX
18. (19) 7D Austin Theiss, Hockley, TX
19. (22) 6X Kyle Pleasant, Natchitoches, LA
20. (24) 27 Stacy Taylor, Jacksonville, AR
21. (17) 17M Robert Baker, Little Rock, AR
22. (6) 77 Gavin Landers, Batesville, AR
23. (10) R5 Chandler Petty, Cabot, AR
24. (25) 4 Bo Day, Caddo Mills, TX
25. (21) 115 Trey Beene, Bossier City, LA