Roberson, Dohm, and Steele Victorious in 5th Annual Crystal Cup Weekend
The 5th Annual Crystal Cup finally arrived and the highest paying weekend of the season for the series was set to rock and roll. We kicked the weekend of at Natural Bridge for $5,000 to win with thirty-five cars signed in for battle. Josh Dietz would win BHR Fabrication Qualifying with a 16.022 in group A with Zach Sise going second in group A with a time of 16.065 and Jeremy Steele taking third at a 16.139. Logan Roberson took Group B with a time of 16.046 and Joe Leavell, in his first AAS start, went second in his group with a time of 16.241 and Henry Hornsby III took the third quick time at a 16.310.
The Race Track Connection Dash is where Logan Roberson, showed he once again meant business at his home track taking the win over Josh Dietz and Joe Leavell. Dirt2Media Heat One went to Trevor Sise over Samuel Bryant and Justin Williams. Outside Groove Heat Two went to Dalton Jacobs with fellow North Carolinian Baillie Lowe taking second and "Fast" Freddie Carpenter securing the third and final transfer spot. FMS Rapid Graphix Heat Three saw Sylvan Schuette take the win over New York's David Pangrazio and Colby Quick. PPM Racing Products Heat Four saw the Weekend Warrior Ronnie Martin Jr. defend his home track over Jason Welshan and Logan Walls. ATC Bolts & Fasteners B-Main One saw Tyler Bare and Jesse Quick take the transfer spots with ATC Bolts & Fasterners B-Main Two transfers going to Jesse Lowe and Braseon Fulton. The provisionals on the night went to Duke Lowe and Ryan Adams.
With the feature field set Logan Roberson was in the house and meant business jumping out to a commanding lead early. The first half of the feature went pretty much caution free and even in lapped traffic no one was running Roberson down as he had the dominate car. A few cautions would fly on the night, but no one had anything for Roberson all night long as he would soar to victory once again with the AAS at his home track. Josh Dietz and Zach Sise had a great battle for second with them finishing in that order. Henry Hornsby III and Jeremy Steele would round out the top five. Justin Williams and Jason Weslshan both passed a lot of cars to finish sixth and seventh. David Pangrazio, Tyler Bare, and Ronnie Martin Jr. would round out the top ten on the night.
The next night we traveled west to the Mountain State of West Virginia for Crystal Cup Night #2 at Beckley Motor Speedway. Forty-three competitors signed in to do battle for the $10,000 payday at the Pack the Track Challenge Beckley hosts every season.
BHR Fabrication Qualifying went to Zach Sise with a 14.354 in Group A over Josh Dietz with a 14.421 and Brandon Umberger with a 14.442. Group B went to Jacob Brown with a time of 14.423 over Trevor Sise with a 14.499 and Dillon Brown at a 14.548.
The Race Track Connection Dash featured two sets of brothers for what we believe was the first time in series history! Zach Sise would take the win with Jacob Brown taking second and Trevor Sise finishing third. Dirt2Media Heat One would go to Jeremy Steele over Matt Long and Shane Greco. Outside Groove Heat Two was won by Chip Brindle over Jesse Lowe and Jensen Ford. FMS Rapid Graphix Heat Three went to Zach Dohm over Sylvan Schuette and Jordan Hedger. PPM Racing Products Heat Four went to Henry Hornsby III over Michael Bland and Jason Welshan. ATC Bolts & Fasteners B-Main One saw Baillie Lowe and Rick Williams take the first two transfer spots with ATC Bolts & Fasteners B-Main Two going to Shane Minnix and Justin Hudspeth. The two provisionals for the night went to Duke Lowe and Tyler Bare.
The feature started with Zach Sise out front and a field of competitors hot on his heels. A green flag feel brought us through the first part of the feature. As Zach started working lapped cars he still held an advantage over the rest of the field. Rick Williams was the first car to retire for the night during the green flag run. A caution on the front stretch ensued shortly thereafter eliminating several fast cars including Jacob Brown, Brandon Umberger, Henry Hornsby III, and Shane Minnix who raced his way into his first AAS feature earlier in the night. The restart following this incident is when things start to get interesting, as the other Zack in the field, Zack Dohm started making his moves forward. A couple restarts later he was right on Zach Sise's tail and poised to make a run. Sise was holding him off on the low side as Dohm moved to the high-side. In turns 1 and 2 Sise did exactly what Dohm wanted him to and went high to block at which point Dohm drove underneath him to the lead. At this point Dohm ran away and hid from the rest of the field and left Sise, Dietz, and Brown battling it out for second. Dohm would go on to grab his first career AAS Victory and the $10,000 payday. Zach Sise would hold on for second of Josh Dietz. Dillon Brown would take the fourth position with Trevor Sise grabbing fifth. Chip Brindle took sixth with Jeremy Steele seventh. Jordan Hedger, Jason Welshan and Jesse Lowe rounded out the top ten.
The third race of the weekend was the 21st Annual Pro Late Model Nationals was night to cap off the 5th Annual Crystal Cup Weekend. Twenty-seven of America's Best Pro Late Models signed in for competition. Wythe Raceway Owner, Fred Brown, said start them all, and that's what we did on the big 1/2 mile speedway.
Trevor Sise set the BHR Fabrication quick time at a 17.724. Jensen Ford went second quick at a 17.771. and Jacob Brown was third at a 17.822. Jeremy Steele was fourth with a time of 17.846 and Jesse Lowe rounded out the top five in qualifying turning a time of 17.869.
The Race Track Connection Dash would go to Trevor Sise over Jensen Ford and Jesse Lowe. Dirt2Media Heat One went to Dalton Jacobs over Ross White and Baillie Lowe. Outside Groove Heat Two went to Dillon Brown over Jordan Hedger and Tyler Smith. Justin Hudspeth took FMS Rapid Graphix Heat Three over Matt Long and Jamison McBride.
The feature started and it looked like it was going to be the 2020 Champion Trevor Sise's night. Trevor looked the best he's looked all season long as he jumped out to the big lead early. Just as he got to lapped traffic heartbreak struck as he lost a tire and hit the wall hard. This ended his night early after what looked to be a sure win. This put Jensen Ford in the lead as he came out of Pro Late Model Retirement. A former track champion at Wythe, Ford seemed to be on his way to another series win and Wythe Raceway win, but the race got tight between he, Steele, and Jesse Lowe. Steele managed to get by him on the low side and take the lead. Steele was a man on a mission as Lowe also got by Ford and made it a tight race to the end. Steele drove it in the deep on the last lap and so did Lowe staying right in his tire tracks, but it was meant to be for Steele as he grabbed his second career AAS win and the highest paying victory of his career with $10,000 going his way in the oldest pro late model race in the country! Lowe would cross the line right in his tire tracks for second with Hillbilly Deluxe, Matt Long rolling across in third. Jordan Hedger had a great run taking fourth and Jensen Ford held on to fifth! Justin Hudspeth also had a great run taking sxith and Josh Dietz brought the #9 home in seventh. Zach Sise, Chip Brindle, and the youngster, Jack Brown would round out the top ten.
Josh Dietz would edge out Steele and Zach Sise for the Crystal Cup Championship.
The AAS would like to thank Tiffany Kidd, Randy Kinder, Fred Brown, and all three tracks and their staffs for the wonderful weekend! We'd like to thank all the drivers, fans, and teams who made the Crystal Cup a success yet again! We'd also like to thank all the partners who make it possible: Dirt2Media, PPM Racing Products, Rick Hendrick City Chevrolet, Chevrolet Performance: Vehicles, Parts, Racing, Pro Fabrication "Official Header of the AAS," Mahle, Super Clean "Official Cleaner of the AAS," Outside Groove, FMS Rapid Graphix, Race Track Connection, Beckley Motor Speedway, O'Reilly Auto Parts "Official Auto Parts Store of the AAS," Smash-It by BWR, American Racer, Wieland "Official Aluminum of the AAS," BHR Fabrication and Double Nickle Race Cars, Fast Lane Fabrication, Warrior Race Cars, WV Fireworks Outlet, TNT Race Cars, KRC Power Steering, Peeping Dragon Photography, Terror Race Cars, ATC Bolts & Fasteners, PopBit, MD3, Hyperco, Burgess Motorsports Consulting, ML Performance Midwest, Massey Powersports, Pro-Built Motorsports, East TN Racers Recovery and Fast Fab.