The Southern Sportsman Series rolled into New Smyrna Speedway Saturday night for a 50 lap shoot-out, in conjunction with the ASA Late Model Series.
Patrick Thomas, in the Specialty Construction entry, set fast time with a lap of 19.864 seconds. Craig Cuzzone, in the Racecar Engineering entry, bounced back from a big crash in the last race to set second fastest time with a lap of 20.014 seconds. Mark Peterson drove the Digital Homes entry to the third fastest time with a lap of 20.015 seconds.
After the fast qualifiers cleared tech inspection, Thomas pulled a 7 for the inversion. This placed Aaron Williamson and Michael Soukup on the front row, followed by Richard Elkins Jr, Steve Gainey, Mark Peterson Cuzzone, Thomas, Arthur Conquest, Tommy Conquest Jr, and Ronnie Heard Jr in the top ten starting positions.
When the field took the green flag to start the race, Williamson and Soukup raced side by side into turn 1,fighting for the lead. The pair raced side by side for nearly 3 laps before Soukup was able to take the lead. This was especially satisfying for Soukup, as this was the debut of his brand new racecar, which he had been working on for nearly a year.
As Soukup held the lead, the battle for second heated up with Gainey putting heavy pressure on Williamson for second position. The battles throughout the field were heated, and the fans were getting a great show. Unfortunately, for Soukup, his run was ended prematurely with mechanical problems. Gainey had moved into second and was shadowing Soukup when the lead was turned over to him by Soukups’ dropping out.
Thomas had moved into second position by the halfway mark, and was beginning to catch the leader. The battle for third was hot and heavy, with several drivers taking turns holding the position. The race was slowed only slightly by a few cautions for minor incidents. The long green flag runs were very conducive to some great racing through out the field. One of the entertaining things about this series is that no matter what position you are in, you have to race somebody for that position.
As the laps wore down, Thomas was able to catch Gainey, end the race for the lead began to really heat up. Catarelli, Conquest, Williamson, and Peterson were all racing for third, right behind the leaders. With only 6 laps remaining, Thomas went to the outside, and raced for the lead. As Gainey and Thomas exited turn 4, the two cars got together, and Thomas got into the outside wall very hard, bringing out the caution flag.
Both Gainey and Thomas were sent to the rear of the lead lap for the restart, but the car of Thomas was damaged too badly to continue. As the green flag waved, Catarelli held the lead, with Williamson, Conquest, and Peterson right on his Bumper.
Catarlli, running in his first season with the Southern Sportsman, has been close to the front in every race, but never was able to seal the deal. Tonight would be different, however, as Catarelli drove a perfect line around the fast ½ mile, making no mistakes, and collecting his first Southern Sportsman Win. Williamson finished a strong second, followed by Arthur Conquest and Mark Peterson.
