Saturday night was a big one for Monroe, Georgia’s Jake Garcia.
The 16-year-old took home both the Southern Super Series championship and the Deep South Cranes Blizzard Series title with a sixth place finish in the 100-lap Super Late Model season finale at 5 Flag Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.
Garcia pocketed a cool $10,000 prize for winning the SSS title – all just six months after getting his Georgia driver’s license.
“This is really awesome to get the Blizzard championship and the Southern Super Series, as well,” Garcia said. “These were the two we were eyeing at the beginning of the year.”
Longtime veteran Casey Smith scored his first career SLM victory at Five Flags, pulling away from the 28-car field and leading the final 62 laps of the night. Lawrenceville, Georgia’s Casey Roderick came home in second, with Hunter Robbins in third, Sammy Smith in fourth, and Daniel Dye in fifth.
Garcia’s sixth place result was more than enough to secure the hardware with Stephen Nasse’s evening. Garcia came into the Saturday leading Nasse in the Blizzard Series by four points and trailing him in the SSS by 14. The Blizzard margin grew while the SSS gap tightened after Garcia won the pole in qualifying and Nasse failed to crack the top-10. As Garcia contended with the leaders in the feature, Nasse climbed only as high as seventh before problems parked him around the 75-lap mark.
Garcia has now won both Blizzard and Allen Turner Pro Late Model Series track titles at the famed half-mile asphalt oval. He won the PLM crown two seasons ago.
“That was pretty cool back in 2019. That was a big year for me,” said Garcia, who went on to finish second at that year’s Snowball Derby. “A couple months later, I won the Alabama 200. Hopefully, we can finish this year strong and get some more wins.”
The highly anticipated Night of Champions was delayed for more than 90 minutes Saturday. Rain wreaked havoc and all the moisture exposed a pothole just in front of the flag stand. Five Flags General Manager Tim Bryant and his track officials repaired the divot to ensure the show went on.
Garcia and Roderick battled early until Smith started to assert his dominance. The Texan found clean air at lap 38 and barely broke a sweat en route to his historic win.
Smith dedicated the victory to his mother, who has been battling cancer all year.
“This one’s for her. I love you!” he said, choking back tears. “I thought we had a good car the last time we were here, but you never know what you’ve got. These things are finicky. But this car was awesome. It was bad fast outta the trailer.”
Jett Noland, John Bolen, Senoia, Georgia’s Bubba Pollard and Jace Hansen rounded out the top 10.
For more information on 5 Flags Speedway, visit 5FlagsSpeedway.com. For more information on the Southern Super Series, visit SouthernSuperSeries.com.
Southern Super Series
5 Flags Speedway – Pensacola, FL
Race Results – October 2, 2021
1. Casey Smith
2. Casey Roderick
3. Hunter Robbins
4. Sammy Smith
5. Daniel Dye
6. Jake Garcia
7. Jett Noland
8. John Bolen
9. Bubba Pollard
10. Jace Hansen
11. Boris Jurkovic
12. Michael Hinde
13. Jake Finch
14. Jeff Choquette
15. Johanna Long Robbins
16. Justin Drawdy
17. Derrick Griffin
18. Michael Atwell
19. Stephen Nasse
20. Kyle Plott
21. Troy Grisaffi
22. Connor Okrzesik
23. Ryan Crane
24. Mike Garvey
25. Chris Davidson
26. Jackson Boone
27. Hudson Halder
28. John DeAngelis
