The 2017 Spring Season came to a close last Thursday night as The Button Box Shop Super Series wrapped up their season at Lanier in the HidesPride.com Championship 200.
Title Fight – Entering the night, three drivers had a shot at the title as Matt Rolfe led Matt Kocher by 9 points with Derek Robinson 16 points back. By the end of the night, all three drivers found themselves in the top three at the finish all battling for the win and the title. Kocher did what he needed, getting to the lead in the first half of the race and went on to win the race, while Rolfe struggled early on. Rolfe ran towards the back half of the top ten before spinning on lap 48 and fell back as far as 19th. However Rolfe would rebound, picking his way through the field and getting up into the top five by lap 135.
With Kocher running out front, he would be in position to pick up the title unless Rolfe could make his way up into 2nd, and Rolfe would do just that on lap 166. One final restart came out with 28 to go and the top three in points found themselves up front. Kocher kept his momentum on the high side while Rolfe rolled the bottom, but Kocher would go on to pick up the win. However Rolfe did what he needed to do, rebounding to finish 2nd on the night, which would secure him the championship by just 2 points at the top of the standings.
Congrats to Matt Rolfe, the 2017 Spring Season The Button Box Shop Super Series champion. Matt’s title run consisted of 12 starts, 2 wins, 12 top tens, 9 top fives, 262 laps led, and an average finish of 4.58. This is Rolfe’s 8th career SARA championship, which ties him with Bill Martin who won his 8th title this season as well.
Race Winner – Matt Kocher did what he needed to do on the night to try and pick up the championship, leading 115 laps on the night as he would go on to pick up the victory, but came up just short in the title fight. Kocher used the outside lane all night to make some impressive passes around Joe Schaffer and Trevor Edwards to grab the lead, and kept it up high in the closing laps to keep up his momentum to hold off Rolfe for the victory. Kocher would pick up his 2nd career SARA victory.
Dean’s Satellite & Security Pole Award – Tim Bills added his 4th pole of the season with a lap of 12.710 seconds, which tied Derek Holzhausen for the most poles on the season. Both drivers would split the extra $10 bonus for picking up the most pole awards on the season.
Hard Charger – 18th to 3rd (+15) – Derek Robinson’s shot at the title, although a long shot, would start off as an uphill battle as he qualified 18th, but was able to work his way up through the field to finish on the podium.
Biggest Loser – 1st to 19th (-18) – After picking up the pole on the night, Tim Bills received some damage part way through the race and ended up blowing a motor with 55 laps to go, dropping him to a 19th place run.
Rookie of the Race – 1st Place – Matt Kocher ended his impressive rookie season battling for a championship and came out on top with a victory, and picked up the 2017 Spring Season Rookie of the Season, scoring 77 out of a possible 80 rookie points.
HidesPride.com Rising Star – The Rising Star award was up for grabs for a total of 7 drivers who competed in the 2016 Fall Season race at Lanier, and could gain the most positions from last season’s finish to this season’s. Jeremy Adams gained 6 spots on his finish to end up in 9th, while Clay Snider also gained 6 spots improving his finish up to 11th. Both drivers will split the $40 Rising Star purse.
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Standings