Brian Nester scored the Modified feature victory Friday night at 5 Flags Speedway. Photo by Fastrax Photos/Tom Wilsey/Loxley, AL
Friday night was another hot night of racing for competitors at 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida in the lead up to the 44th annual Snowball Derby.
Modifieds and Super Stocks took center stage Friday night, with Brian Nester and Regan Baker taking the victories, respectively.
Modifieds
Brian Nester is a quick study.
In two previous appearances at the Snowball Derby in his Modified ride, the Indiana driver didn’t qualify well. It cost him both times and he ended with a pair of thirds.
Not this year. Nester qualified second in the 32-car field, took the lead on the first of 50 laps and never gave it up to win this edition of the Modifieds Derby.
“I’ve won a lotta races, but it doesn’t get better than this,” said Nester, who boasts two other prestigious Modifieds races on his resume.
Nester was never challenged despite several restarts throughout the evening. Two-time winner Mark Chrudimsky, who was looking to defend his championship, couldn’t even put a sweat into Nester and finished second.
Late model star Augie Grill made a surprise appearance and took home third.
“We qualified bad, and that’s on me,” said Chrudimsky, who started 16th. “I had to pass a lotta cars to get to him. I just needed a little bit more.”
Perhaps, a lot more. As cars spun, collided, beat and banged, Nester watched the asphalt in front of him.
It wasn’t always pretty throughout the 50 lapper, but the best racing all night happened in laps 30 to 35.
Grill, Chrudimsky and Donald Crocker put on a brilliant show for third place between laps 30 and 32 until a caution came out. On the restart, Grill slipped by Korey Ruble for second.
It was short-lived, however. Chrudimsky made a courageous move, passing Grill moments later on the back stretch. Grill was caught off guard and had to fall in line before yielding any more positions on the track.
As the hard racing played out to chase him down, Nester flexed his muscles out front.
“The big thing here is qualifying well,” he said. “You don’t wear your tires out and it keeps you outta the fireworks.”
Lesson learned.
Regan Baker led the final 10 laps in the Super Stocks feature to score the victory. Photo by Fastrax Photos/Tom Wilsey/Loxley, AL
Super Stocks
Steam billowing off a head full of perspiration, Regan Baker breathed a long sigh of relief.
So good in qualifying for the Super Stocks Snowball Derby on Friday, Baker surrendered his lead and slipped as low as fourth throughout the 50 lapper.
Turns out, he was just lying in the weeds, ready to pounce.
Baker, 45, got back out front in the final 10 laps and withstood a late rally from Bubba Winslow to write his name in the Derby record books.
“That was on purpose,” Baker said of his winning strategy. “This track is very aggressive on tires. I knew if I didn’t conserve for something at the end, my night would be done.”
Instead his night ended just as well as it began.
Baker topped his own track record in time trials with a blazing 18.733-second circuit. He was almost a full tenth of a second faster than Jessie Reid, who started second in the 23-car field.
Baker, though, yielded his position to Paul Jean and the Cordova, Ala., drive appeared to have the car to beat except for one important exception.
Jean was absolutely horrific on restarts. He eventually finished third, but spun tires and a possible clutch issue certainly cost him his shot at glory.
Jean’s woes opened the door for Baker.
“I got pretty good aggressive on the restarts,” Baker said. “That second-to-last restart, I knew I had to get to the front. I decided to put the hammer down.”
There several cautions in the final laps, including a scary sequence with 40 complete. Initially, hearts raced when a fire spread on the back straightaway, surrounding Joe Mahuron’s No. 84.
While track officials were extinguishing those flames, emergency medical personnel were called for the second consecutive night for a spectator in the infield.
After the long delay, Baker certainly seemed to be the fastest car once again on the track. With Jean’s miserable restarts, it was Baker’s recipe for Derby success.
His only problem was keeping Winslow at bay. The young newlywed collected his second runner-up finish in as many nights. Winslow came up just short against Steve Buttrick in the Sportsmen Derby on Thursday.
“We had a really good car tonight,” Winslow said. “I gotta thank my team. If we could work on our qualifying, I might get to lead one of these things wire to wire.”
Baker paid great respect to his rival.
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“That (No.) 44 was tough all night,” he said.
Fortunately, for him, though, Baker was a bit tougher.
The 44th annual Snowball Derby weekend continues Saturday, with the final qualifying race for Sunday’s Snowball Snowball Derby, along with the running of the Allen Turner Snowflake 100.
Sunday will feature the 44th running of the Snowball Derby Super Late Model feature, with the green flag slated to fall at 2 pm.
For more information or ticket info, visit 5flagsspeedway.com.
5 Flags Speedway – Pensacola, FL
Snowball Derby Thursday – Dec. 1, 2011
Modifieds
1. Brian Nester
2. Mark Chrudimsky
3. Augie Grill
4. John Sarppraicone
5. Bradley Riethmeye
6. Donald Crocker
7. Korey Ruble
8. Brandon Howell
9. Nathan Davis
10. Todd Jones
11. Jake Moore
12. Scooter Grice
13. Shawn Balluzo
14. Maverick MacDonald
15. Mike Maddox
16. Nathan Ingersoll
17. Brandon Curren
18. Robret Deal
19. Nick Martin
20. Billy Melvin
21. Trevor Edwards
22. Ian Webster
23. Kevin Peel
24. Jason Morman
25. Chris Cotto
26. Eldon Zacek, Jr.
27. Jeff Letson
28. Josh Goodwin
29. Scott Gay
30. Chris Brown
31. Tim Martin
32. David Brown
Super Stocks
1. Regan Baker
2. Bubba Winslow
3. Paul Jean
4. Jessie Reid
5. Darryl Rudd
6. Cameron Henderson
7. Mike Moore
8. Randy Thompson
9. Shannon Jackson
10. Cory Jones
11. Dennis Thomas
12. Steve Buttrick
13. Johnny Greene, Jr.
14. Jeremy Tassin
15. Charlie Skipper
16. Josh Wise
17. Darin Matthews
18. Joe Mahuron
19. James Alonzo
20. Eddie Hamrac
21. Okie Mason
22. Jeff Pressott
23. Don McCay
24. Chris Vallett
