NEW SMYRNA, Fla. - Harrison Burton wasn’t going to be denied twice in a row.
The 16-year-old from Huntersville, North Carolina, led every lap en route to the Super Late Model Victory Monday in the 35-lap feature at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway. It was his first victory of the week at the 51st World Series of Asphalt Racing and comes on the heels of finishing second in last Friday’s opening race.
The race was slowed for just one caution and set up a restart duel between Burton and defending World Series champion Ty Majeski. The two ran side-by-side briefly for two laps before Burton was able to clear the 21-year-old from Seymour, Wisconsin.
“We had a really, really great restart there,” said Burton. “And Ty raced me clean, which is awesome. It’s fun to race people clean like that. We just got a great jump off the line, being the control car really helps a lot with that, and held him off as long as I could.”
From there, Burton cruised to the win by .745 seconds.
“Tonight to get some redemption and get the checkered flag is awesome,” said Burton, the son of former Monster Energy NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Burton. “It’s been an incredible ride. Hopefully we can keep some more wins going.”
Stephen Nasse finished third, followed by Dawsonville, Georgia’s Spencer Davis in fourth and Dalton Armstrong in fifth.
Martin Latulippe, David Rogers, Brandon Watson, Jeff Choquette and Brad May rounded out the top 10.
On Friday, Davis led the entire way, while Burton charged from his 10th starting position, only to come up one spot short.
The Super Late Model division will be back Tuesday for a 50-lap extra-distance race.
“We’ve just got to keep working,” said Burton. “Never stop working no matter how good you are. As good as this car was, we can still make it better. We’ve got great drive off. We just need to get through the center a little better and I’m confident that my guys can do that for me.”
The tour-type Modifieds had their opening race of the World Series and the stacked field included a trio of drivers who are expected to contend for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title this year in Ryan Preece, Justin Bonsignore and Timmy Solomito. But it was JR Bertuccio who took home the first checkered flag.
Bertuccio grabbed the top spot from Jimmy Zacharias, and then fended off a late challenge from Ryan Preece to win at New Smyrna for the first time since 2002. Preece, the 2013 Whelen Modified champion, is the defending tour-type Modified champion at the World Series. Matt Hirschman got past Preece for second in the closing laps but was unable to get to Bertuccio. Jon McKennedy and Ron Silk were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Other winners on the night included Jeff Choquette in Pro Late Models and Camron Ray in Florida Modifieds.
World Series of Asphalt Racing
New Smyrna Speedway – New Smyrna Beach, FL
Super Late Models (Unofficial) – Feb. 20, 2017
1. 12 Harrison Burton
2. 91 Ty Majeski
3. 51 Stephen Nasse
4. 29 Spencer Davis
5. 4 Dalton Armstrong
6. 84 Martin Latulippe
7. 11 David Rogers
8. 9w Brandon Watson
9. 9c Jeff Choquette
10. 9m Brad May
11. 5 Daniel Keene, Jr.
12. 12g Derek Griffith
13. 97 Cole Anderson
14. 94 Garrett Hall
15. 56D Gus Dean
16. 74 Ryan Moore
17. 36 Dan Fredrickson
18. 112 Steve Weaver
19. 9k Derek Kraus
20. 24 Mason Diaz
Tour-type Modifieds (Unofficial)
1. 2 JR Bertuccio
2. 60 Matt Hirschman
3. 6 Ryan Preece
4. 29 Jon McKennedy
5. 82 Ron Silk
6. 54 Tommy Catalano
7. 16 Timmy Solomito
8. 71 Jimmy Zacharias
9. 45 Jimmy Blewett
10. 64 Amy Catalano
11. 22 Chuck Hossfeld
12. 70 Jeremy Gerstner
13. 63 Austin Pickens
14. 70G Shawn Balluzzo
15. 40 Calvin Caroll
16. 33 Ricky Moxley
17. 23D Joe DeGracia
18. 32 Tyler Rypkema
19. 51 Justin Bonsignore
20. 73 Paul Hartwig, Jr.
21. 10T Tom Tohn
22. 71M T.J. Zacharias
23. 2X All Ermmarino
Pro Late Models (Unofficial)
1. 9C Jeff Choquette
2. 6 Matt Wallace
3. 51P Kyle Purvis
4. 407 Jason Vail
5. 44 Steve Laking
6. 76 Ryan Millington
7. 12 Joe Graf, Jr.
8. 26 Bill Burba
9. 1X Todd Stone
10. 29K Mason Keller
11. 5 Carter Stokes
12. 28 Jeff Marcum
13. 11 David Weaver
14. 80 Monte Gress
15. 117 Bessette Phillip
16. 10 R.S. Senter
17. 63 Doc McKenney
18. 8 Hope Hornish
Florida Modifieds (Unofficial)
1. 9 Camron Ray
2. 15T Tank Tucker
3. 9C Jeff Choquette
4. 78 Travis Eddy
5. 71 L.B. Skaggs
6. 46 Doug Moff
7. 99 Cody Stickler
8. 26 Gordon Watson
9. 15D Robert Deal
10. 4B Alan Bruns
11. 9K Ant Kunzeman
12. 5 James Glover
13. 57 Tim Moore
14. 22 James Ellis
15. 1W Wayne Parker
16. 43 Ben Bosowski
17. 66 Jerry Symons
