Modifieds: Tank Tucker was back on his game Saturday night and won going away. Symons reportedly had differential problems, and made it back for the feature, but there were more problems, and he was not up to speed.
Super Late Models: A close but follow the leader race for the late models. Anthony Sergi, David Rogers, and Brad May ran nose-to-tail for much of the latter half of the race, and finished in that order.
(Late Model) Sportsman: Once again Patrick Thomas prevailed, and from the pole, but there was much more to the story than that. Patrick runs a “crate” motor, and one that has seen many laps to boot. At different times of the race he was challenged by #09 of John Emerson and actually passed by #71 of Earl Beckner, who led a significant portion of the event. Beckner was fast down the straights, and fast into the turns, but apparently intentionally loose coming off, a set up that is popular right now at NSS, especially by the modifieds. But Thomas stayed in the hunt and kept the pressure on, and eventually his tire management payed off, and he got back by for the win.
Sean Bass was there and very quick in the beautiful #28, but an early altercation with Emerson resulted in a spin and then the car was collected by the #11 of Daniel Conlin Jr., who tried hard to avoid him. Conlin was able to continue and finished 5th, Bass was not. I did not see the incident, but “the word” in the pits was that Bass felt Emerson intentionally spun him out. “The word” further was that Emerson felt similarly about a move that Bass made on him in a recent race at NSS.
The Move of the Night: Although super late model driver Brad May drove a hard race, his car owner Bobby Sears indicated the car was seriously loose. That said, he worked on getting under the #56 of Gus Dean for several laps. Within moments of clearing him going into three, a lapped car spun and was moving up the track in four. Brad smoothly moved high and cleared the still-moving lapped car, the hole then closed up for the unfortunate Dean.
But Wait, There’s More: A “grudge match” was held during intermission between Sean Bass and Patrick Thomas which involved rolling a race tire down a portion of the front stretch and back. Sean is younger and more… aerodynamic, but Patrick is very experienced and cagey. Thomas asked about the rules and was told there were none.
The green was waved and after an altercation between racing tires Bass pulled out to an early lead, but Patrick lifted his tire, ran a portion of the distance, and then threw a hail mary and his tire crossed the line first. He was promptly disqualified, but everyone was nevertheless happy with the “results”.
Props to New Smyrna: There was rain everywhere and it rained for the last 5 miles on my way to the track, but NSS was committed to getting the show in and they did.