Brasstown, NC -The Southern All Stars East Racing Series made its first ever appearance at Brasstown, North Carolina's 1/3rd mile Tri-County Racetrack on Saturday, July 4th for the forty lap, $4000 to win Firecracker 40. The event was the finale of a Southern All Stars East Independence Weekend double-header. Spartanburg, South Carolina's Jeff Cooke asserted the power of his recently acquired Hamrick's of Gaffney ride by setting fast time and then leading every lap enroute to his first Series victory since 2007. Cooke however was not unchallenged in his victory. Defending Southern All Stars East Champion and Friday night's Cherokee Speedway winner Casey Roberts hounded Cooke for much of the race. But in the end it was Cooke crossing the checkers first to earn the $4000 pay day.

Cooke bested the other twenty-five drivers on hand in Sunoco Race Fuels Race for the Pole Qualifying with a fast lap of 13.487 seconds (88.885 MPH). Local favorite and Southern All Stars regular Ethan Hunter tripped the clock at 13.658 seconds to capture the outside of the front row. Jamie Oliver, Roberts, Shawn Chastain, Danny Ledford, Russell Thomas, Colby Cannon, Randy Nichols and Gabe Wilson rounded out the top ten drivers who were locked-in from qualifying. A pair of eight lap B-Mains set positions eleven through twenty-two for the feature. Bruce Taylor scored the win in the Hoosier Race Tires B-mail ahead of Rodney Weeks and Monk Gulledge. David McCoy, Glenn Barnett and Larry Blankenship also finished in transfer positions. The Simpson Race Products B-main saw Tony Knowles take the win over David Payne, Kip Cochran, Dusty Ch!twood, Joey McCoy and Roger Lankford. Point provisional starts went to Zach Cox and Ronald Blankenship.

At the drop of the green Cooke lurched to the point as the field headed off into turn one. Hunter and Roberts went door to door for second with Oliver looming in fourth. Hunter cleared Roberts and set after Cooke. However, with just four laps complete, the caution waved for the first time when David McCoy's machine pulled up lame with a flat right front tire. McCoy went pitside and returned with a fresh Hoosier to rejoin the field. On the lap four restart attempt Dusty Ch!twood tangled with Joey McCoy just before the flagstand. The resulting contact catapulted Ch!twood's machine into an end-over-end flip with the car coming to rest on all four wheels just past the start-finish line. After a couple of tense minutes passed Ch!twood emerged from his battered machine uninjured however his first career Southern All Stars East start was over very early.

The field was yet again reset with Cooke out front all alone while Hunter and Roberts fell into double-file for the restart. The second running Hunter opted for the outside on the restart. When the green flag reappeared Cooke opened a slight advantage on the pair of 101 machines that were chasing him into turn one. Roberts nosed ahead of Hunter as they spilled onto the back straightaway. Hunter tried to rally on Roberts' outside but rolled up over the turn four cushion yielding the position to Roberts. Roberts, with a clear track ahead of him, set his sights on Cooke and another win. A lap eight caution allowed Roberts to catch up to the leader's rear deck for the restart. 

Cooke was unable to open up the distance on Roberts that he had previously held. Roberts took a peak to the bottom a few times over the next several laps but to no avail. The caution flag slowed the field yet again on the fifteenth circuit when Bruce Taylor's machine lost a rear-end. The restart started a long green flag run during which Roberts threw everything he had at Cooke looking to take the lead. On every occasion Cooke answered Roberts' challenge and repelled the Georgian. As the laps waned away the leaders entered back-marker traffic. Cooke disposed of the lappers with relative ease as did Roberts until he got hung-up behind Larry Blankenship. Roberts and Blankenship were utilizing nearly identical lines around the race track making it difficult for Roberts to give chase to Cooke. The delay also allowed Oliver to move in on Roberts for second.

But with just two laps remaining Roberts was able to overtake Blankenship and refocus his efforts to chase down the leader. However Cooke had built a lead that Roberts was unable to overcome. Cooke flashed by the checkers to take the five car length win over Roberts, Oliver, Hunter and Danny Ledford. "I really like this little track. We had a great race car tonight. This Bloomquist Chassis is just really solid and will stay underneath you. We probably had a little to much motor for the track. I knew if we could just get the lead on the start that we could probably win the race. And thats what we did. I saw Casey down there a few times but I was just letting the car roll in and then picking it up off the corners. Mr. Hamrick has given me another great opportunity to race his cars and I am real happy we could get him another win tonight. I hope its the first of many more to come." Cooke said after the event. 

Cooke's Bloomquist Race Car Ford Fusion is powered by a Cornett Thunder Racing Engine and is sponsored by Hamrick's of Gaffney, Big A's Custom Graphics and Hoosier Race Tires. 

Official Finish

1 - 99 Jeff Cooke - Spartanburg, SC
2 - 101 Casey Roberts - Toccoa, GA
3 - 38 Jamie Oliver - Murphy, NC
4 - 101 Ethan Hunter - Tiger, GA
5 - 4 Danny Ledford - Warne, NC
6 - 16 Colby Cannon - Greenwood, SC
7 - 57 Russell Thomas - Morganton, GA
8 - 441 Tony Knowles - Tyrone, GA
9 - 8 David Payne - Murphy, NC
10 - 03 Randy Nichols - Clayton, GA
11 - 2 Kip Cochran - Franklin, NC
12 - R12 Rodney Weeks - Blue Ridge, GA
13 - 12 Zach Cox - Lumberton, NC
14 - 104 Monk Gulledge - Batesburg, SC
15 - 32 Larry Blakenship - Mooresville, NC
16 - 57 David McCoy - Franklin, NC
17 - x15 Shawn Chastain - Murphy, NC
18 - K70 Roger Lankford - Millers Creek, NC
19 - 8 Bruce Taylor - Toccoa, Ga
20 - 22 Ronald Blakenship - Mooresville, NC
21 - 15 Dusty C hitwood - Hiram, GA
22 - 75 Joey McCoy - Franklin, NC
23 - 34 Glenn Barrett - Murphy, NC
24 - 12w Gabe Wilson - Andrews, NC 

DNQ: George Mashburn and Steve Pearson

Yellow Flags: 4
Red Flags: 1 (Ch!twood - 12 minutes)
Time of Race: 32 minutes 24 seconds (10:51 - 11:23)