Two nights after making contact while battling for the lead at New Smyrna Speedway (FL), Steven Wallace and Harrison Burton once again found themselves at the front battling for the win on Friday night. Only this time around, the roles were reversed. It was Burton chasing down Wallace in the closing stages of the race and eventually making a late pass for the lead to score his second Super Late Model win at the 49th Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.
“Our car has been really, really fast all week,” Burton told Speed51.com powered by JEGS in victory lane. “Tonight was definitely the best it has been all week, so I had a good feeling about our car. It was a good, clean race.
“I hope that is the highlight between me and Steven instead of what happened two nights ago. Me and Steven have had good races in the past and obviously there’s more to come. I just can’t wait to get out and race with him, as well as the other competitor out here, some more.”
On Wednesday night, Burton was leading Wallace in the closing stages of the race before Wallace used an aggressive move off of turn four to take the lead. Burton responded the next time around by tagging Wallace in turn three sending him spinning from the lead. Burton would be penalized for his role in the incident, while Wallace would get his spot back and go on to win.
Although both drivers deny any sort of World Series rivalry building between the two, Burton was able to breathe a sigh of relief after he was able to finally complete the pass on Wallace on Friday night.
“We started running Steven down and it was one of the best feelings in the world to finally get by him,” said Burton. “I can’t describe him. I really can’t. He drove me right where he needed to be to cut off my line and it was just a lot of fun.”
Surprisingly enough, despite finishing second, Wallace agreed with Burton that the battle for the race lead was a prime example of good, hard, clean and fun racing between two drivers.
“I roughed up Harrison up a couple nights ago to win and he roughed me up a little bit tonight,” Wallace said on the FansChoice.TV powered by Speed51.com broadcast. “I didn’t wreck him, though. That was some good hard racing.”
As Wallace watched Burton continue to grow larger in his rear view mirror, what happened on Wednesday night wasn’t even on his mind.
“Not shit,” Wallace said when asked about what was going through his mind as Burton closed in. “Hell, he was just getting off the corner a little bit better than I was. Everyone is making this big deal about it. Who cares?”
Both drivers will now switch their focus to the biggest race of the week for the Super Late Models, the 2nd Annual Bruce Gowland Memorial on Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway. Zane Smith takes a two point lead over Garrett Jones in the point standing heading into the final event of this year’s World Series.
To watch all of Friday night’s action, check out the FansChoice.TV powered by Speed51.com broadcast of the race on-demand beginning Saturday morning at 8 a.m. ET. Fans can also view a live lap-by-lap recap of the event, as well as photos from the race by viewing NASCAR Home Tracks Race Central Live powered by Speed51.com.
-Brandon Paul, Speed51.com Editor – Twitter: @Brandon_Paul51
-Photo credit: Speed51.com
Super Late Model Official Results – World Series Night #8
1 | 12 | Harrison Burton | 35 |
2 | 66 | Steve Wallace | 35 |
3 | 77 | Zane Smith | 35 |
4 | 51 | Christopher Bell | 35 |
5 | 8 | Dave Garbo, Jr. | 35 |
6 | 7S | Paul Shafer, Jr. | 35 |
7 | 88 | Garrett Jones | 35 |
8 | 08 | Drew Brannon | 35 |
9 | 00 | Denver Foran | 35 |
10 | 45 | Joey Mucciacciaro | 35 |
11 | 129 | Spencer Davis | 35 |
12 | 04 | Natalie Decker | 35 |
13 | 01 | Claire Decker | 35 |
14 | 28 | T.J. Duke | 35 |
15 | 11 | David Rogers | 35 |
16 | 36 | Alex Labbé | 35 |
17 | 9 | Derek Kraus | 35 |
18 | 24 | Rico Abreu | 35 |
19 | 17 | Chuck Tuck | 35 |
20 | 56C | Josh Collins | 34 |
21 | 56 | Gus Dean | 31 |
22 | 91 | Ty Majeski | 23 |
23 | 20 | Anthony Sergi | 17 |
24 | 4M | Kyle McCallum | 17 |
25 | 112 | Steve Weaver | 11 |
26 | 2 | Brad Bowman | 6 |