Choquette Wins 12th Annual Clyde Hart at New Smyrna

NEW SMYRNA, Fla. (RSE)–The Florida All Stars Tour arrived at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday night, after a month long wait due to rain.  The 12^th Annual Clyde Hart Memorial was run under the sanctioning body of FAST for the first time and the series did not disappoint.

There were enough cars on hand that made it necessary to run a B-main.  Nine cars ran that race with the number 5 of Joe Boyd starting fourth. Boyd put pressure on pole sitter Zack Donatti throughout the race, but was unable to complete the pass for the lead.  Donatti was able to hold Boyd back, winning the B-main.

After 3 preliminary races the 12^th Annual Clyde Hart Memorial was ready to begin.  The top 6 qualify for staring positions, with 4^th fastest Jeff Scofield drawing the number 1 spot.  Series founder Wayne Anderson drew the number 2 spot and was able to pull away from the field from the start.

From the start the number 07 of Jeff Scofield was off the pace, later we learned he had a tire going down, eventually being caught up in a lap 40 caution in turn 3 and 4, ending his night.

As Anderson pulled away from the pack, BJ McCloud, Jeff Choquette, Ben Kennedy, Bobby Good, and Todd Allen fell in line behind.

Lap 27 saw our first caution as Donatti spun out of turn 2, a single car incident.  Cautions tend to breed cautions and the restart was no different as the # 75 of Marty Pierce was hard into the turn one wall on the restart.  By lap 33, Choquette was able to pass the 92 of McCloud, who retired with steering problems, and put pressure on the leader Anderson.  On lap 46, Choquette, who did not know he was going to be in the race until 10 pm the night before, was able to get under Anderson exiting turn 2.

19 year old Jessica Murphy was involved in a 3 car incident out of 4 on lap 72, ending her night.  The final laps saw Ben Kennedy succumb to pressure from Rookie Austin Kirkpatrick and Bobby Good.

In the end four time Clyde Hart Memorial winner Wayne Anderson Finished second to Jeff Choquette, followed by 

Austin Kirkpatrick, driving a Dave Pletcher prepared car, was rookie of the race, finishing 3^rd, followed by Bobby Good in fourth,  in front of Ben Kennedy with last month’s Bright House 50 winner Justin Larson finishing 6^th.