Photo Credit: Gerald Harris
The Southeast Super Truck Series made their second stop of the season at Anderson Motor Speedway in Williamston, SC. The day was hot but so was the action, as the teams unloaded and went straight to work around 11 a.m.
Practice started at noon and the drivers took to the track and it was Mart Nesbitt who topped the charts for first round practice. Nesbitt picked up where he left off last time the series visited the facility and finished second. However, defending series champion Lee Tissot picked up the pace and set fast time for round 2 of practice. The teams went back to work and made adjustments as the temperatures rose for final practice, which it was local hometown guy Jamie Altop that claimed the top spot for the last practice session.
As qualifying rolled around, the drivers lined up and taped off the grills, set sway bars, and took their five lap scuff sessions. It was Mart Nesbitt that once again found his way to the top of the charts and set fast time out of the eleven drivers in attendance. He rolled a four on the invert dice, now setting Jamie Altop starting in the top spot for the race alongside Tissot.
When the green flag fell on the field Tissot quickly jumped out front and took the lead away. The first caution flew when Andrew Brown and Ricky Bowers tangled together on the back stretch. Tissot led the field back to the green flag with Altop now to the outside of him.
Tissot quickly set sail back in front of the field. As the next eight laps went on, the No. 2 truck of Matt Leicht began to pick up the pace. Matt made a pass on Altop and now set his sights on the leader and began to real him in lap by lap. Leicht caught Tissot and they both battled hard for the lead, but now the third place of Nesbitt and fourth place of Kevin Leicht had caught up to the top two. As a result, all four were nose to tail for a four way battle for the lead. At Lap 23 there was a new leader as Matt Leicht made a pass on Tissot for the lead and Nesbitt followed in his tire tracks, now moving Tissot back to third.
The second caution came out on Lap 27 for debris on the track. They made one lap following the restart, and the caution came back out again as the No. 44 of Kenneth Headen came to a stop in turn four; Headen reportedly was battling power steering issues.
Matt Leicht once again led the field back to the green, and started to pull away from Nesbitt. However, the fourth caution came back as Andrew Brown spun around for the first time. Matt led the field back to the green flag, but before they could make a complete lap, Brown spun again bringing the caution back out.
Matt Leicht once again led the field back to the green flag and this time began to pull away from Nesbitt. Matt went on to capture the checkered flag for his second win of the season. Nesbitt finished second for the second time this year in front of a packed house at Anderson. He was followed by Tissot in third, Altop in fourth, and Bowers who rebounded from the lap two incident took the fifth place.
Official Results for the Southeast Super Trucks
1. 2 Matt Leicht
2. 92 Mart Nesbitt
3. 27 Lee Tissot
4. 54 Jamie Altop
5. 61 Ricky Bowers
6. 25 Kevin Leicht
7. 8 Ed Surrett
8. 66 Bennie Davis
9. 21 Jamie Barbery
10. 49 Andrew Brown
11. 44 Kenneth Headen
