On a night when on-track suspense hovered above Five Flags Speedway, Augie Grill broke the tension by adding another chapter to his legacy at Snowball Derby week at the Pensacola, Florida half-mile.
The Hayden, Alabama native became the most decorated driver in Derby history Friday when he won the 75-lap Modifieds of Mayhem Derby feature, the season finale for the open-wheel series, for the third time in a row.
He now owns eight Derby wins, including three Allen Turner Hyundai Snowflake 100 and two Snowball Derby victories.
“It feels pretty neat,” Grill said. “That was a fun race.”
Grill led three times on Friday, the last for the final 30 laps after he passed fast qualifier Cody Stickler.
Stickler, whose qualifying lap of 17.314 seconds was less than a half-second off the track record, took the lead from Grill on lap 58 but settled for runner-up honors. Bruce Bennett Jr. rounded out the podium.
“I saved it at the beginning, trying to have something at the end,” Stickler said. “We finished second to (Grill), so that ain’t that bad. It’s a good way to end the season.”
Perhaps, Grill’s biggest challenger of the night was once again Kyle Purvis. The two battled door-to-door in this same race last season with a similar result, Grill going on to win and beat Purvis.
On Friday, Purvis muscled his way around Grill on lap 57 and appeared, for a few seconds at least, to have bested the iconic racer a year after Grill had nudged out Purvis for the crown. But three laps later, the Ohio driver’s No. 13 was up in smoke and Grill reclaimed the lead.
“I wish we could’ve raced the 13 (Purvis) more,” Grill said. “I’m not entirely sure what happened to him.”
Bruce Bennett finished the feature in third, with Korey Ruble in fourth and Johnny Walker in fourth.
While there were a handful of cautions, nothing was as scary as the eight-car crash that occurred between Turn Nos. 1 and 2 with less than 10 laps remaining. Eight cars were collected in the “big one” after Zachary Knowles and Brandon Bendele made contact and the rest of the field failed to avoid them.
Grill will go for his third career Derby championship Sunday afternoon at the 52nd annual Snowball Derby. Grill qualified 21st while California driver Derek Thorn scored the pole in Friday’s qualifying.
Thorn toured the half-mile in 16.277 seconds to earn the right to lead the field down to the green flag in Sunday’s big race.
Cole Butcher will start from the second spot, with NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie third, Marietta, Georgia’s Kyle Plott in fourth and Senoia, Georgia’s Bubba Pollard in fifth.
Josh Berry, Matt Craig, Jeff Choquette, Casey Roderick of Lawrenceville, Georgia and Chandler Smith of Jasper, Georgia rounds out the top ten qualifiers.
The 52nd annual Snowball Derby race weekend continues on Friday, as the Pro Late Models take center stage, with qualifying and the running of the Snowflake 100. The late chance race for the Super Late Models and the Outlaw Stock feature will also be on tap.
The race weekend culminates with the 52nd annual Snowball Derby for the Super Late Models on Sunday.
For more information, visit 5FlagsSpeedway.com.
5 Flags Speedway – Pensacola, FL
Snowball Derby – December 6, 2019
Modifieds
1. 112 Augie Grill
2. 99 Cody Stickler
3. 24 Bruce Bennett
4. 66 Korey Ruble
5. 72 Johnny Walker
6. 96 Brandon Bendele
7. 41 Rocky Rogers
8. 26 Bill Burba
9. 88S John Sarppraicone
10. 81 Christopher Hogan
11. 88H Larry Hughes
12. 18 Kevin Peel
13. 51 Zach Knowles
14. 50 Ty Roberts
15. 5 Chase Oliver
16. 17 Chris Cotto
17. 131 Jeff Letson
18. 77 Kevin Doran
19. 13 Kyle Purvis
20. 91 Jim Wall
21. 48 Hunter Evans
22. 31 Parker Pugh
23. 07 Blake Ferguson
24. 55 Todd Cooper
25. 10 Okie Mason
26. 71 LB Skaggs
27. 5C Donald Crocker
28. 6 Nick Pressler
29. 95 Derrick Griffin
5 Flags Speedway – Pensacola, FL
Snowball Derby – December 6, 2019
Friday’s Qualifying Results*
1. 43 Derek Thorn 16.277
2. 53B Cole Butcher 16.379
3. 7 Corey LaJoie 16.381
4. 4 Kyle Plott 16.387
5. 26P Bubba Pollard 16.398
6. 57 Josh Berry 16.401
7. 54C Matt Craig 16.412
8. 9C Jeff Choquette 16.419
9. 22 Casey Roderick 16.427
10. 51S Chandler Smith 16.454
11. 30 Jesse Dutilly 16.457
12. 21P Jeremy Pate 16.461
13. 48 Preston Peltier 16.476
14. 81 Giovanni Bromante 16.480
15. 35 Jake Garcia 16.497
16. 10 Kaden Honeycutt 16.497
17. 18 Hunter Robbins 16.510
18. 7D John DeAngelis Jr 16.528
19. 75 Jeremy Doss 16.533
20. 12G Derek Griffith 16.534
21. 112 Augie Grill 16.545
22. 54G David Gilliland 16.553
23. 91 Ty Majeski 16.556
24. 51A Michael Atwell 16.558
25. 14C Connor Okrzeisk 16.563
26. 20M Cole Moore 16.570
27. 78 Corey Heim 16.572
28. 2 Derek Kraus 16.579
29. 119 Dalton Zehr 16.582
30. 26B Travis Braden 16.590
31. 14H Carson Hocevar 16.619
32. 99 Casey Smith 16.624
33. 1 Michael House 16.640
34. 71 Johnny VanDoorn 16.642
35. 21B Trey Bayne 16.659
36. 51N Stephen Nasse 16.672
37. 36 Dan Fredrickson 16.679
38. 12B Harrison Burton 16.682
39. 5M Mason Mingus 16.689
40. 15 Rodrigo Rejon 16.699
41. 50 Jett Noland 16.701
42. 79B Kyle Bryant 16.710
43. 16 Lucas Jones 16.722
44. 11 David Rogers 16.725
45. 9M Brad May 16.725
46. 14N Austin Nason 16.748
47. 20D Jack Dossey III 16.751
48. 45 Rich Bickle 16.753
49. 14D Chris Davidson 16.772
50. 53J Boris Jurkovic 16.808
51. 88 Jordan Anderson 16.809
52. 97 Steven Davis 16.835
53. 5A Jerry Artuso 16.841
54. 8 Colten Nelson 16.856
55. 90 Tim Curry 16.934
56. 37 A.J. Wernette 17.904
*Top 30 locked in on time. Final four qualifiers to be determined Saturday in the Last Chance Race.
