New Smyrna Beach, FL - Monday night's racing at New Smyrna Speedway during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing took drivers to Victory Lane who had already been this week; in fact, Tour Type Modifieds saw Ron Silk go back-to-back while the Pro Late Models watched Dawson Sutton make a timely pass before rain came to shorten the event. Sutton's win was his third in a row.
Anthony Nocella and Patrick Emerling brought the Tour Type Modifieds to the green flag for a 50-lap showdown just one night removed from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour's season opener. The previous event's winner, Silk, rolled off from the fourth spot and settled in moving his way up to second before a caution gave Silk the opportunity he needed to snatch the lead. He and Emerling went side-by-side into turn one, with Emerling electing the outside giving Silk the bottom. Silk washed up the hill in the middle of the corner but gave Emerling room down the backstretch. It would be a moot point as Silk maintained the lead into three and never looked back en route to another win. Ryan Preece finished second ahead of Ronnie Williams in third.
In Pro Late Model action, Katie Hettinger and Hayden Mowery brought the field down for the green flag. Hettinger led the first lap before a caution flew for a two car incident in turn one. On the restart, Jimmy Renfrew, Jr took advantage of his outside starting spot to take the lead from Hettinger. The two lap battle at the front allowed Sutton to close in.
Sutton quickly dismissed Hettinger but had an almost 1.5 second disadvantage to Renfrew with over 25 laps to go. As the threat of weather picked up, so did Sutton's intensity to get to the front. Renfrew led the halfway-mark lap plus one more with Sutton side-by-side each time by the line. Down the backstretch on lap 19, Sutton pulled ahead of Renfrew and crossed the line as the leader on lap 20. Going into turn one after Sutton took the lead, noticeable rainfall was coming down, and as the tail of the field took the lap, the caution flew for weather with 15 laps to go. The remained of the event was subsequently cancelled, giving Sutton his third win in a row at the World Series.
Full Results:
602 Modifieds:
Tour Modifieds:
Pro Late Models:
Story - Zach Hiser
Photo - Rackley WAR
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