Photos by J. Torres
By Reese Fant • Contributing Writer •

Ryan Blaney took the win in Friday night's Firecracker 125 for PASS cars, at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, and said he was happy to be in South Carolina. "I won in Dillon, and now here at this historic track. I wish my dad (Dave) was here, but he's in Daytona. He is going to be proud of me. This is my first win since March, but this is a hard group to race against."

Andy Loden was  the second place finisher, with Kyle Bonsignore, Preston Peletier, and Jody Lavender rounding out the top five.

Randy Gentry came in eighth, with Randy Gentry 144th. Anthony Anders was 20th, and Corey Gibson was 25.

In the early going, all the way up to the 80th lap, Easley's Gentry had the local fans' hopes on his shoulders. Gentry ran as close as third, but settled in at fifth until he faded several positions suddenly just after the half-way point.

Randy Porter started in the back, but had worked his way up to the top ten before pitting with 42 laps gone. His crew switched his right side tires, but the change didn't help much with his handling, and he had to work his way through heavy traffic most of the race. 

Porter had his hands full all afternoon. He had his car, the car of his nephew, Corey Gibson, and his brother-in-law, Jeffrey Kummer's racer to help get ready for the race. "I came here with my old suspension setup, but I saw right away that wasn't going to work, so I switched the cars to the bump-steer suspension. Corey got his car going really well, and qualified seventh, but I didn't do too well. I changed a lot of stuff just before qualifying, and was terrible. Jeffrey and I had to run the last-chance race to try to get in the main."

Porter figured out just right what to do to his car, as he quickly took the point and won the race. He started 21st, but Kummer didn't make the top six. "We got two of our three cars in the show, so we feel good about that," Porter said.

Two other local drivers, Anthony Anders and Randy Gentry, were in the middle of things as the race started. But Anders, who had been involved in a crash during the last-chance race, seemed to be having handling problems and was never a serious threat in the race.

In the Allison Legacy cars, Justin Allison, the grandson of Donnie Allison, took a few laps to get things together, and blew quickly to the front. He took the win, his sixth of the season, and Gus Dean took second. Tyler Hill was third, and Hunter Devers fourth. Bobby McCarty was fifth.

Scott Mann defended his All-Star championship in the Charger division while a mass of destruction was behind him. James Johnson provided plenty of competition late in the race, but Mann held him off for the victory.

Mann was delighted to defend his title, and at the same time he was glad James Johnson was a bit off at the end. Phillip Peters took third, with Zach Pressley in fourth. Mike Mote was the fifth place finisher. although he didn't manage to finish the race. Sam Staggs, Daryl Culbertson, and Tim Crowe completed the field    

In the Renegade Main event, Edward Cordell led from start to finish, with Shawn Campbell second and Zach Meinders third. Travis Cox took fourth and Charlie Trammell was fifth.