5/4/2025
Crate Racin' USA
Steele Leads Flag-to-Flag at Swainsboro!
(Swainsboro, GA – May 3, 2025) – York, South Carolina driver Jeremy Steele became the third different winner in three races—and the third consecutive first-time series winner—after Saturday night’s Pine Tree 100 at Swainsboro Raceway. Steele managed multiple early caution flags and led all 50 laps of the $10,000-to-win main event at the J.J. Williams-owned facility.
After the feature, Steele said, “It feels like it’s finally about time. We’ve kept coming to these big races, we’ve had a lot of seconds and thirds, and I told my dad eventually everything is going to fall our way—and it did tonight.” It was Steele’s third straight podium finish in as many races. He entered Swainsboro as the points leader and will leave still atop the standings, heading to Waycross with a 28-point lead over Pearson Lee Williams.
Joining Steele on the podium was defending series champion Jimmy Thomas, who started ninth and earned his second Top-5 and Top-10 finish of the season. Thomas noted the importance of the final two restarts: “I was trying to pay attention to what everybody was doing. Them last two restarts were the most crucial. I didn’t get a good one on the one before the last, so I tried to keep the other guy out a little bit so I could get that spot in the end.” He also explained why he never moved to the top side of the track: “I was really too tight to make the top work, and everyone kept opening the door, so I just took it.”
Bubba Roling collected his first Top-5 and first podium of the 2025 season at Swainsboro. Starting from the outside front row, Roling stayed within the Top-5 all night. Explaining his early race struggles, he said, “I was just too tight at the beginning.” He added how the track came back to him: “I tried to open my corner up to help clean off the top of the track. We just needed a few more guys to go up there and help clean it off.” The young driver now sits fourth in the points standings heading into Waycross Motor Speedway next weekend.
It was a tough night for several series regulars, including Joseph Brown, Jake Rainey, Caleb Gay, and Koulten Herbert, all of whom saw their nights end before completing the 50-lap feature.
All eyes now turn to Waycross Motor Speedway next Saturday night for the next $10,000-to-win main event. It will mark only the second time the series has visited the Waycross, Georgia facility—and the first since 2015, when Chase Edge held off Cecil Eunice in a 40-lap feature. Teams are invited to an open practice on Friday, May 9th, followed by the one-day show on Saturday night.
The Rogers-Dabbs Performance Parts Crate Racin’ USA Dirt Late Model Series will be joined by the CRUSA Late Model Sportsman (602), CRUSA Street Stock, Factory Stock, Super Streets, and Crown Vic divisions. If you can’t make it to Waycross, you can watch all the action live on Crate Racin’ USA TV.
Official Race Results – Pine Tree 100 - Swainsboro Raceway (May 3, 2025)
1-22S-Jeremy Steele[1]
2-22-Jimmy Thomas[9]
3-515-Bubba Roling[2]
4-27-Ben Faircloth[6]
5-11S-Allen Styck[22]
6-21-Pearson Williams[24]
7-32M-Bobby Mills[25]
8-24L-Zach Leonhardi[4]
9-22H-Matt Henderson[17]
10-4-Dustin Watkins[18]
11-77-Josh Ray[23]
12-58-Trent McLeod[3]
13-24-Austin Bloodworth[27]
14-12C-Chase Giddens[26]
15-18B-Austin Yarbrough[12]
16.-1E-Ty Ellis[8]
17-611-Koulten Herbert[16]
18-9-Ches Chester[10]
19-16-Caleb Gay[13]
20-5-Colby Quick[20]
21-21A-Joey Armistead III[7]
22-257-Skylar Marlar[5]
23-42-Cla Knight[15]
24-87-Jake Rainey[21]
25-23T-Ethan Toedter[11]
26-G4-Blake Craft[19]
27-92-Joseph Brown[14]
Additional Awards & Highlights
Scorpion Race Cars - Hard Charger Award:
#21 Pearson Lee Williams (+18) 24th to 6th
#32 Bobby Mills (+18) 25th to 7th
Columbus Sports Card - Tough Luck Award:
#16 Caleb Gay - Crashed on lap-32 (Came into the weekend 2nd in points)
MyRacePass / Fantasy Racing - Hot Laps:
22-Jeremy Steele-York, SC| 15.313
Bama Sheds & Pole Barns - Pole Award:
257-Skylar Marlar-Winfield, TN | 15.615
Heat Race Winners – Sponsored by Chevrolet Performance
Heat 1 | 22-Jeremy Steele
Heat 2 | 515-Bubba Roling
Heat 3 | 58-Trent McLoud
Heat 4 | 24-Zach Leonhardi
B-Main Winners – Sponsored by Rogers-Dabbs Chevrolet
B Main 1 | 22-Matt Henderson
B Main 2 | G4-Blake Craft
CRUSA Points Standings (Following Swainsboro)
1-22-Jeremy Steele | 290 (-)
2-21-Pearson Williams | 262 (-28)
3-22-Jimmy Thomas | 260 (-30)
4-515-Bubba Roling | 248 (-42)
5-16-Caleb Gay | 240 (-50)
6-18B-Austin Yarbrough | 240 (-50)
7-22-Matt Henderson | 234 (-56)
8-27-Ben Faircloth | 218 (-72)
9-611-Koulten Herbert | 218 (-72)
10-87-Jake Rainey | 214 (-76)
Next Event
May 10 – Waycross Motor Speedway (Waycross, GA)
$10,000 to Win
(Open Practice - Friday, May 9th)
A special thanks to our partners: Rogers-Dabbs Performance Parts, Chevrolet Performance, Hoosier Racing Tires, VP Racing Fuels, VP Racing Lubricants, Knowles Race Parts and Bodies, Competition Racing Equipment, Cruise with the Champions, Savage Chassis, Velocita by Melissa Markewitz, Bama Sheds & Pole Barns, MatMan Designs, O'Reilly Auto Parts, WesPro JCB, Scorpion Race Cars, Columbus Sports Cards, and MyRacePass for their continued support of the series.
For more information, visit our official website or follow us on social media.
Article Credit: Cody Earley
