Ross Bailes wins FASTRAK King of the Commonwealth at VMS

The FASTRAK Racing Series powered by Chevrolet Performance returned to the beautiful ½ mile gem that is Bill Sawyer’s Virginia Motor Speedway for Round #3 of the 2018 national tour with the $3000 to win Aaron’s King of the Commonwealth. 24 drivers from 6 states made the trip to the facility in front of an eager crowd ready to see racing return to the tidewater region of Virginia for the kickoff of the race season for its 19 season of competition. The night got kicked off with the #89 Rocket XR1 chassis of Justin Williams putting down the fastest time in group qualifying with 18.960 seconds.

That then set up the four heat races to set the field for the 40 lap feature in front of a spectacular crowd on hand. After everything was said and done it was the defending 2017 FASTRAK World Champion from Clover, SC #79 Ross Bailes claiming the $3000 payday to make the 3rd different winner on the season as the night ended.

Heat #1 - #75 Brett Hamm set out at the green flag start and never looked back as he would hold off all comers in #4 Matthew Nance #22 Kenny Peeples Jr. and others to easily take the checkers.

Heat #2 - The quick qualifier led the field to Heat #2 and shades of what Hamm did never looked back holding off #30 Tyler Bare, #1 Matt Glanden the top 3 in clean race to line up the 2nd starting spot.

Heat #3 - #17 Logan Roberson had to work for it in the 3rd heat after a great battle with the defending FASTRAK World Champion #79 Ross Bailes from Clover, SC. Also an impressive race for #002 of Tyler Arrington for 3rd staying out of trouble for the finish.

Heat #4 - In the final heat it was a great showing by the #55 from Concord, NC of Matt Long showing his momentum in the Virginia night easily. Four time FASTRAK Touring champion #11 David Smith settled for 2nd and local favorite from Virginia Motor Speedway in the Longhorn chassis #7 Corey Almond took 3rd, with the heats complete it was time to decide who’d take the $3000 victory.

When the green flag fell it was the #75 of Brett Hamm jumping out into the early lead however the BIG ONE would come early out of turn four with a multi car incident during lap 2, on the restart another accident would ensue in the same place. On the restart Hamm would jump out to the top spot. Hamm would hold on to the top spot until lap 8 when the fast qualifier #89 Justin Williams in his Rocket chassis roared to the front. The race would stopped again with a few single car spins or drivers with tire/mechanical issues including #11 David Smith, #38 Nick Love and #5j Warren Dow. Until this point it seemed like it was Wiliams to take it however Bailes was reeling him in with the likes also of #55 Matt Long, #7 Corey Almond, #4 Matthew Nance and #17 Logan Roberson in the cross hairs too.

The racing was fast and furious all around the ½ mile with 3-4 wide excitement from first to last position. Just before the halfway point Bailes would make his move off turn two to relinquish the top position from Williams, just a few laps after that Williams would hand grenade the engine causing the final caution of the race on lap 33. This set up a seven lap shootout with Bailes out in front, Long and Roberson tried all that they could muster to pull the upset on Bailes but it wasn’t enough as the defending FASTRAK World Championship title holder would take the Aaron’s King of the Commonwealth making him the 3rd different winner on the 2018 season.

OFFICIAL RESULTS for the King of the Commonwealth at Virginia Motor Speedway – (pending tire and fuel samples)

1st #79 Ross Bailes, 2nd #17 Logan Roberson, 3rd #55 Matt Long, 4th #4 Matthew Nance, 5th #7a Corey Almond, 6th #75 Brett Hamm, 7th #21 Billy Beachler, 8th #k22 Kenny Peeples Jr, 9th #002 Tyler Arrington, 10th #52dBrad Basey, 11th #87 Davis Lipscombe, 12th #66x Matt Tarbox, 13th #54 Justin Wofford, 14th #40 Brent Bordeaux, 15th #89 Justin Williams, 16th #22 Nick Dietz, 17th #38 Nick Love, 18th #5j Darrell Dow, 19th #11 David Smith, 20th #12 Ryan Adams, 21st #28 Carl Vaughn, 22nd #01 Matt Glanden, 23rd #30 Tyler Bare, 24th DNS (engine issues) #74 Matt Quade

Rounds #4 and #5 for the FASTRAK Racing Series powered by Chevrolet Performance will be next weekend April 20th as we return to the NEW Lavonia Speedway in Lavonia, GA for a $2000 to win show and Saturday April 21st at the Toccoa Raceway in Toccoa, GA for $3000 to win. The next time FASTRAK returns to Virginia Motor Speedway will be Father’s day weekend Saturday June 16th with the Annual Tire-X USA 100 for another $3000 to win show before “The Super Bowl of Pro Late Model Racing” the 2018 15th Annual FATSRAK World Championships come September!!

Check out the official website for the FASTRAK Racing Series at www.fastrakracing.com and continue to follow our social media networks for the FASTRAK Racing Series. Like and Follow our Fan Page on Facebook plus follow @FASTRAK_SE and/or @FASTRAK_MOV on Twitter to get up to the minute news and details as they become available.

The 2018 marketing partners for the FASTRAK Racing Series are Chevrolet Performance, Hoosier Racing Tire, VP Racing Fuel, FloRacing, Swift Springs, MyRacePass, TNT Race Cars, Arizona Sport Shirts, Simpson Safety Equipment, Rockauto.com, Dirt Late Model Magazine and Thomas Clarke Performance.