CORDELE, Ga. – Corey Heim overcame an incident while racing for the lead Saturday night at Crisp Motorsports Park to win with the Southern Super Series during the Georgia Spring Nationals.
Heim, returning to the seat of his familiar No. 78 with Jett Motorsports, came together with Jett Noland on lap 72 while the duo was battling for the top spot. The contact sent Noland around and both drivers were penalized to the tail of the field as a result.
However, that didn’t stop Heim from putting his head down and roaring back to the front.
He returned to the top five by lap 97, made the winning pass of Hunter Robbins with 26 laps to go in the 150-lap main event and then held young Jake Garcia off in overtime to secure the trophy.
A late caution and green-white-checkered finish pushed the race five laps beyond its scheduled distance Saturday night.
Garcia trailed Heim at the checkered flag by .352 seconds, with Jeremy Pate, Nick Neri and Hudson Halder filling out the top five.
Noland came back to sixth after his dust-up with Heim, followed by Michael Simko, Daniel Webster, Kyle Bryant and Joe Ross.
Heim’s contact with Noland wasn’t the only incident involving a race leader on Saturday. In all, three incidents at the front of the field occurred in a 25-lap period.
Kyle Plott and Stephen Nasse were two of the drivers involved in those skirmishes, and both of the veterans saw their nights come to an early end as a result.
Plott finished 14th after completing just 96 laps, while Nasse was scored 16th after turning only 69 laps Saturday night.
The finish:
1. 78-Corey Heim, 2. 35-Jake Garcia, 3. 21-Jeremy Pate, 4. 17-Nick Neri, 5. 9-Hudson Halder, 6. 81-Jett Noland, 7. 45-Michael Simko, 8. 33-Daniel Webster, 9. 79-Kyle Bryant, 10. 27-Joe Ross, 11. 28-Mike Garrett, 12. 18-Hunter Robbins, 13. 51f-Jake Finch, 14. 4-Kyle Plott, 15. 71-Dawson Fletcher, 16. 51n-Stephen Nasse, 17. 14c-Connor Okrzesik.