Not so Nasse, here comes Brooks

Kyle Benjamin (71) and Stephen Nasse ran top two nearly the whole, crossed the line Nasse first and Benjamin second.  Nasse too heavy, Benjamin too light (photo by Rodney Meyering)

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FLA.–The 47th Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna started Friday night and the Super Late Models ran a 35 lap feature event.  The was race was great but the biggest drama was after the finish.Stephen Nasse started on the pole, led every lap and took the checkered flag, but did not win.  Nasse started strong and ran away from David Rogers, Renato Jader, Kyle Benjamin and the rest of the field.  The youngster from Pinellas Park survived numerous restarts, and virtually unchallenged from Rogers who ran second most the night.  As Nasse drove away,  Rogers seemingly settled for second. Fast Qualifier Kyle Benjamin, who started 5^th, was working his way towards the front.  Benjamin raced hard against first Renato Jader, then Russell development driver Devin McLeod, and and finally Rogers for second.

Ryan Moore (74) finishes 4th ahead of Austin Luedtke (photo by Rodney Meyering)

With five laps to go Benjamin would root Rogers out of the way in turns 3 and 4 and set his sights on Nasse the leader only one second ahead.  Driving a clearly faster car, Benjamin catches Nasse with 2 laps to go and pulls alongside on the inside.  Benjamin and Nasse would run side by side the final 2 laps with slight contact being as they exit turn 4 towards the checkered flag.  A drag race to the finish has Nasse winning by a nose. Victory for Nasse!

But wait…

Here comes Rickey Brooks the infamous tech inspector.  The first victim of Brooks’ notoriously tough tech inspections was Stephen Wallace, who was found to have the nose of his car to low in qualifying and had his time disallowed.  Second to come under the gun of Brooks would be Nasse.  The winner of the race was found to have too much left side weight. Unbelievably, third to fall victim to Rickey’s “Room of Doom” would be Benjamin, who’s car was found to be to light.

After running a conservative race, knowing there are seven more nights of racing this week, was David Rogers (11) would inherit the victory by crossing the line third with Devin McLeod (36) finishing 4th (photo by Rodney Meyering)

Rogers, Nasse and the rest will have a lot of work to do to beat Benjamin this week, as he had the fastest car by far.

UPDATED, OFFICIAL Super Late Model Finish
Presented by Racecar Engineering

1          11        David Rogers  35

2          36        Devin McLeod            35

3          03        Dylan Kwasniewski    35

4          74        Ryan Moore    35

5          6          Austin Luedtke           35

6          129      Spencer Davis 35

7          2          Joey Coulter    35

8          28        T.J. Duke         35

9          37        Larry Gelinas  35

10        67        Denver Foran  35

11        3          Gary Terry       35

12        17        Gary Passer     35

13        18        Bill Catania     35

14        73        Cole Powell     35

15        12        Derek Griffith 35

16        13        Frank Alberson           34

17        66        Stephen Wallace         19

18        81        Renato Jader   3

19        20        Anthony Sergi 3

20        25        Brandon Lynn 3

21        26        Jessica Murphy            3

22        18        Bruce Gowland           3

23        19        Rusty Ebersole            3

24        68        Russell Shaw   2

25        112      Steve Weaver, Jr.        1

DQ      51        Stephen Nasse 35

DQ      71        Kyle Benjamin            35 

Third place #03 Dylan Kwasniewski  (photo by Rodney Meyering)

Spencer Davis (129) and Joey Coulter (photo by Rodney Meyering)

Larry Gelinas (37) and TJ Duke (photo by Rodney Meyering)