Wallace wins Clyde Hart Memorial 100 at New Smyrna

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FL - The weather was the big factor Thursday evening at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, FL, but in the end, it was Steven Wallace scoring the win in the 13th annual Clyde Hart Memorial race for the Brighthouse Challenge Series Super Late Models.<br /> <br /> Stephen Nasse would start the night on the pole alongside Wallace. Wallace was lucky to even be at the track after a hard crash late in Wednesday night practice nearly destroyed his car. Local driver Jerry Symons came to the rescue and made room for Wallace's car in his shop where both crews thrashed on the wounded machine all night and much of the day, just making it to the track before practice with the car ready to go.<br /> <br /> On the drop of the green, Nasse wasted little time in showing the field the fast way around the high-banked half mile as he pulled steadily away from second-running Wallace as the race ran green for the first 32 circuits before a three car tangle in turn two involving David Green, Jake Perkins and Ray Black, Jr. Three laps later George Gorham, Jr. and Chris Fontaine got together in turn one to bring out the second yellow flag.<br /> <br /> Nasses continued to lead after the restart but the fans were beginning to turn their attention to David Rogers, who took fourth spot from Rich Clouser on lap 41 and seemed to have the fastest car on the track after coming from his tenth starting position. Lap 43 saw fast qualifier Bobby Good slow suddenly and head to the pits with something amiss on the right front of his machine. After a quick check, Good's night was over as his crew pushed the car back to the pits.<br /> <br /> At the half-way mark it was Nasse leading Daniel Keene, Jr., Wallace, Rogers, T. J. Duke, Joe Boyd, Clouser, Anthony Sergi, Perkins and Travis Cope, who had pitted under the lap 35 caution for adjustments. Former Hart Memorial winner Tim Russell slowed on lap 61 and headed pit side, out of brakes.<br /> <br /> What the fans did not know was that the leader Nasse was also losing his brakes as well. Going into turn one on lap 77, Nasse lost control while trying to lap Johanna Long and spun backwards into the wall. Although not needing assistance from a wrecker, Nasse's car was shortened up considerably and he was done for the night. Nasse blamed himself for the incident saying he simply "lost it" while trying to lap Long's car.<br /> <br /> On the restart, Wallace drove into the lead as Keene's car began to fade just a bit. Rogers quickly drove into second spot and dogged Wallace the remaining distance but could never get close enough to mount a serious challenge. Wallace took the checker about two car lengths in front of Rogers. T. J. Duke crossed the stripe in third after a great late-race charge but was disqualified in tech later for too much left side weight. That moved Keene to third in the final running order ahead of Cope who had a great run after<br /> pitting earlier.<br /> <br /> Perkins, Clouser, Ray Black, Jr., Fontaine and Anthony Sergi rounded out the top ten.<br /> <br /> Both the Open Modified and Mini Stock feature races were cut short by rain. The Mini Stocks ran first and it was pole sitter David Russell getting the jump on the field - too much of a jump - as he was black-flagged for jumping the initial start and had to come down pit road for a pass-through penalty that dropped him well back of new leader Brad Blanton. Jeff White spun on lap six closing up the field and giving Russell the yellow flag he needed to catch back up.<br /> <br /> Pat Wells got the measure of Blanton on the restart and began to pull away while Russell got back up to third. Reid Christiensen hit the wall coming off turn four on lap 20 to bring out the second caution of the event. As his car was brought back to the pits a light rain began to fall. With the rain continuing, track officials decided to call the race complete at 20 laps with Wells taking his third win of the year and second in a row. Blanton was second trailed by Russell while White came back from his earlier spin to claim fourth. Daniel Brown was fifth.<br /> <br /> Track crews kept vehicles on the track during the persistent drizzle in hopes of getting the scheduled 50-lap Modified race in the books. Eventually the rain quit and the track was dried after about a half-hour.<br /> <br /> Alan Bruns led the opening four laps of the Modified race but Jerry Symons was strong and took over the lead on the fifth circuit just before Art Kunzeman spun in turn one. Symons led easily on the restart only to see the rain return just after the half way point. With 28 laps in the books, the drivers and spotters agreed to call the race complete at that point.<br /> <br /> Symons took his second win of the year ahead of Josh Todd, Bruns and Ricky Moxley. Matt Wheeler was fifth.<br /> <br /> The Strictly Stock feature fell victim to the rain.<br /> <br /> <strong>New Smyrna Speedway - New Smyrna Beach, FL</strong><br /> <strong> Clyde Hart Memorial - June 3, 2014</strong><br /> <br /> 1. #66 Stephen Wallace<br /> 2. #11 David Rogers<br /> 3. #5K Daniel Keene Jr<br /> 4. #26 Travis Cope<br /> 5. #5 Joe Boyd<br /> 6. #59 Jake Perkins<br /> 7. #9 Rich Clouser<br /> 8. #19 Ray Black, Jr<br /> 9. #47 Chris Fontaine<br /> 10. #20 Anthony Sergi<br /> 11. #33 Daniel Webster<br /> 12. #51 Michael Atwell<br /> 13. #30 Jesse Dutilly<br /> 14. #10 George Gorham<br /> 15. #7 Johanna Long<br /> 16. #51 Stephen Nasse<br /> 17. #36 Tim Russell<br /> 18. #12 David Green<br /> 19. #27 Bobby Good<br /> 20. #14 Mario Maresca<br /> 21. #79 Dakotah Stephens<br /> DNS: #57 Michael Lira DNS<br /> DQ: #28 T.J. Duke<br /> <br /> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Modifieds</strong></span><br /> 1. #66 Jerry Symons<br /> 2. #0 Josh Todd<br /> 3. #4B Alan Bruns<br /> 4. #38 Ricky Moxley<br /> 5. #96 Matthew Wheeler<br /> 6. #11 Earl Beckner<br /> 7. #27 Arnold Mills<br /> 8. #9 Art Kunzeman<br /> 9. #51 Chris Harvey<br /> 10. #38 Robert Glover<br /> 11. #21 George Dahm<br /> 12. #90 Mike Dahm<br /> DNS: #15 Robert Deal<br /> DNS: #9 Kurt Jett<br /> <br /> <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Mini Stocks</strong></span><br /> 1. #23 Pat Wells<br /> 2. #14 Brad Blanton<br /> 3. #31 David Russell<br /> 4. #15 Jeffery White<br /> 5. #33 Daniel Brown<br /> 6. #6 Mark Broat<br /> 7. #176 Michael Seay<br /> 8. #30 Reid Christensen<br /> DNS: #115 Tyler Simpson

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