(NEW SMYRNA, FL) The first round of the Final Four Championship Series for the ASRS Super Late Model Tour hit New Smyrna Speedway. Cody Leland and Jake Douglas led the field to the green flag as eight drivers had championship hopes on the line.
Jake Douglas took the from Cody Leland six laps into the race and appeared to have things under control until Ty Hester put up a fight on a restart, the two made contact on lap 50 and again on lap 52. Hester would get away clean, but Douglas was done for the night as the #49 suffered damage.
Hester saw his lead last a total of 44 laps but it wasn’t enough to get him to the end as he was passed by Ben Nile with a handful of laps remaining. In all five drivers took turns at the lead, changing the lead a total of 10 times. The race was slowed by five cautions for 25 of the 100 laps, which is a big improvement over the previous New Smyrna race. Nile would score his first ASRS win, while Hester would settle for second, Tom Giannini was third, AJ McCall was the highest Finale Four driver in fourth while fellow Final Four driver Jim Foose rounded out the top five.
The Final Four Championship drivers struggled a bit with Matt Vaade, the #1 seed finishing sixth and watching his point lead drop from three to two points over Foose. McCall is third 17 points back, Ernest Smith, Jr,. fourth 20 markers back while Justin Blackdeer sits fifth -24 points.
The Super Late Model Tour heads to Southern National Motorsports Park October 5th for the second round of the Final Four Championship.