Kyle Fowler Comes Up a Lap Short of Peach State Glory
Dominant Effort Succumbs to Bad Luck In Final Lap
When Kyle Fowler set fast time with a new track record lap at Peach State Speedway on Saturday, October 4th, everyone inside the Georgia Asphalt Series pit area knew that Fowler was going to be the young man to beat that night. After re-drawing the outside pole, Fowler rocketed his way back to the lead on lap nine and showed no signs of letting up through the feature event.
But with about 10 laps remaining, bad luck started settling in for Fowler. A failing tire and mis-communication between spotter and driver kept Fowler from scoring his first-ever Late Model victory at Peach State. Still, Fowler was able to hang on to second after losing the lead on the final lap, earning his second-straight runner-up finish.
“With about 10 to go, our right-front tire started coming apart, but we thought we’d be able to make it to the end to hang onto the win. We had a pretty good lead at that point, so we slowed down a little bit just trying to make it to the end. We were just trying to take it easy because the tire going down wouldn’t let me run near as hard as I’d like to.
“We got down two about two to go and my dad thought the #2 car was a lapped car. I had a ‘spotter malfunction,’ I guess you could say. We didn’t know he was on the lead lap until he was on the inside of us and it was too late.
“Still, even finishing second, It was great having as good of
a car as we had. I thought we’d have a shot to get the victory. We were just saving tires and taking our time, but just a little bit of bad luck kept it from happening.
“I’ve made a bunch of mistakes, so I guess we were due to have a mistake with the spotter. It just made me a lot hungrier to go out and win us the next one now.”
Fowler is hoping to score that elusive first victory that could perhaps come as early as this Friday, October 10th in a Pro Late Model event at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.
