For Jeff Choquette on Monday night at New Smyrna Speedway (FL), some good fortune paid off on a last-minute plan.
Choquette did not initially plan on running his Super Late Model on the fourth night of the 52nd Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.
“We qualified second with no practice, so we felt good going into the race,” Choquette said on the FansChoice.TV broadcast. “It was a last-minute decision to come up here and use this as a test for the 50-lapper tomorrow. We came out, qualified second, just a tenth off of Harrison [Burton].”
During the first half of the race, the battle for the lead was between Ty Majeski and Harrison Burton. That ended on lap 25 of the 35-lap race, as Majeski spun from the lead after contact with Burton. Race control sent Burton to the rear of the field after the incident, ending their shot at victory.
“When we got to racing, the 91 [of Majeski] and the 12 [of Burton] checked out on the rest of us.,” said Choquette. “They got into a little incident there, and both went to the rear. I’d rather be lucky than good any day.”
Burton asserted it was a racing incident, and felt he had the run and position entering turn three before the fateful contact.
“It was one of those racing deals,” Burton told Speed51.com. “I got under him, I got a run. I watched the replay, and I think I was there on entry. I’ll stand by that. I feel like I was there and he felt like I wasn’t there. That’s when we met, and in the center of the corner he spun around.”
“I definitely didn’t mean to spin him,” Burton added. “I don’t race like that. I’d never, ever mean to spin someone out. If he’s mad, I don’t really know what to say.”
Ty Majeski had pointed remarks following the incident.
“I thought it was pretty clear,” Majeski said. “Not really sure exactly what happened. I’m sure if we check out his mom’s Twitter, we’ll find out the truth. It’s part of it. I know he was trying, and I’m sure somehow it was my fault.”
Burton's mother Kim did indeed Tweet an explanation of the incident.
Just watched a video of the spin. @HBurtonRacing had a run and went to go under 91 then 91 went to clear himself down at same time it was not intentional for sure and IMO was just racing
— Kimberle A Burton (@kimburton12) February 13, 2018
Burton raced his way through the field to finish fourth in the final 10 laps, while Majeski took a seventh-place finish.
Brad May has improved each night of the World Series. With a ninth-place finish on Friday and an eighth-place run on Saturday, May jumped to the second spot on the podium Monday night.
“The car was really good,” May said. “We’ve been getting better and better each night. It was a little tighter in the middle of the corner. We’ve been struggling on long runs, but we are getting better each night.”
While Sam Mayer has not made it to victory lane yet in the World Series, he continues to impress as a young driver breaking into the Super Late Model ranks. Mayer finished third on Monday night, backing up his runner-up finish on Saturday.
“We definitely have to learn, that’s what we’re here to do,” said Mayer. “We’re also here to have fun, that’s the biggest thing. Hopefully we can get this thing to victory lane and continue getting 1-2-3 finishes. It’s just a lot of fun being out here.”
David Rogers suffered a heavy incident on lap 27, taking a head-on impact into the outside wall entering turn three. Rogers walked away from the incident, and a member of his crew informed Speed51.com that they have a back-up car and could return to action this week. However, a decision will not be made until tomorrow, based on how Rogers feels at that time.
The 50-lapper Choquette “tested” for on Monday night will open Tuesday night’s racing program at New Smyrna Speedway. The green flag is scheduled for 7:30 P.M., and Speed51.com will provide live Trackside Now coverage for race fans who are not in Central Florida for Speedweeks and able to attend.
Race fans can relive the action from Monday night by visiting our Trackside Now updates, presented by Anthony Campi Racing and Riverhead Building Supply. Click here to visit the Trackside Now page from Night Four of the World Series.
-By Zach Evans, Speed51.com Southeast Correspondent - Twitter: @ztevans
-Photo credit: Speed51.com
World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing - Super Late Model Unofficial Finish
New Smyrna Speedway (FL) - February 12, 2018
| Pos. | # | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9C | Jeff Choquette |
| 2 | 9M | Brad May |
| 3 | 22 | Sam Mayer |
| 4 | 12B | Harrison Burton |
| 5 | 51 | Stephen Nasse |
| 6 | 6 | Matt Wallace |
| 7 | 91 | Ty Majeski |
| 8 | 74 | Ryan Moore |
| 9 | 9 | Derek Kraus |
| 10 | 15 | Gabe Sommers |
| 11 | 12G | Derek Griffith |
| 12 | 20 | Anthony Sergi |
| 13 | 12J | Joe Graf, Jr. |
| 14 | 112 | Steve Weaver |
| 15 | 11 | David Rogers |
| 16 | 68 | Russ Shaw |
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