Bubba Pollard became the first three-time winner of the Pro Late Model Rattler 125 this past Saturday night at South Alabama Speedway in Opp, Ala. The short track veteran came back through the field to win the event.
The Senoia, Ga. driver started sixth and worked his way up to second by lap 50 and started to chase down early leader Brandon Morris. A lap later, Pollard went to the inside of Morris for the lead coming off of turn four. The two made contact and slowed on the frontstretch, allowing the top 10 cars to slip by the pair.
Pollard fell back to 10th but didn't waste any time as he charged his way back into the top five by lap 58.
With 20 laps to go, Pollard powered by Justin South for the lead and never looked back to take the win for the second year in a row.
"Them guys up front were running hard," Pollard said. "We had a really good racecar. We were just trying to ride there early in the race, but then we wound up running the engine a little too hot. We started off with too much tape. So I was pushing for the lead when I got into the 56 (Morris) there because I felt like I needed to get up front to try to cool the car down. I hate it for those guys but we were rolling the middle of the corner so good and when he came down on corner exit I tried my best to avoid him. What can I say? The car is fast and it wants to win races.
"After that, we just had to exercise patience. The car was still just as fast but being patient is all you can do sometimes. We made our way forward, made our moves where we needed to and came away with the win. It was fun racing with those guys though, they all ran a good hard race."
Pollard was hoping to make it two in a row in the Southern Super Series Rattler 250 on Sunday afternoon. But he was one of many drivers caught up in an incident on the second lap of the 250-lap race.
The team was able to make repairs and get him back out without losing a lap. He would work his way up to 13th before a mechanical issue sidelined him for good on lap 120 giving him a 24th-place finish.
"We just ran hot there. We tried to put a front end on it and had a real good racecar with everything being bent on it," Pollard said after he exited his car. "My guys worked hard to get it back out there. We tried to do what we could do and make something happen.
"I sure wish we could have raced with a car that wasn't bent up. I think we would have had something for them. Just hate it for the guys who worked on my car all weekend."
Outside of the incident, Pollard did see a silver lining to the overall weekend.
"It wasn't a bad weekend. We had fast racecars. We will put them back together and head to Kenly."
South Alabama Speedway - Opp, AL
Rattler 125 - March 14, 2015
1. Bubba Pollard
2. Korey Ruble
3. Harrison Burton
4. Ryan Luza
5. Bret Holmes
6. Justin South
7. Riley Thornton
8. Matt Mills
9. Perry Patino
10. Derek Scott, Jr.
11. Dalton Grindle
12. Casey Smith
13. Hunter Baize
14. Brandon Morris
15. Steven Davis
16. Brandon Brilliant
17. Brandon Odom
18. Ryan Paul
19. John Hunter Nemechek
20. Josh Adkins
21. Clayton Green
22. Dustin Smith
Thursday
December 26th, 2024
6:15AM
