Travis Cope turned a late charge into a trip to victory lane with a win in Sunday’s Florday Governor’s Cup 200 at New Smyrna Speedway. Photo by Jim Jones Photography
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FL – Travis Cope had to battle Mother Nature and Bobby Good to score the victory in Sunday’s Florida Governor’s Cup 200 at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, FL.
Cope made his way around Good with a couple of laps to go, and held on to score a come from behind victory in the famed event.
After being pushed back to Sunday due to wet weather, 37 cars took the green flag, but the first start of the race was aborted quickly when 24th starting Dusty Cornelius pounded the turn two wall ending his day before it began. Rick Maguire also began having trouble under caution and eventually pulled out with a faulty clutch.
The second attempt at a start went more according to plan as Jeff Choquette roared out to an early advantage over pole sitter Harrison Burton. Choquette had things pretty well in hand when the caution flew on lap eight. The large field of cars was creating so much turbulence that part of a billboard blew off and landed on the back stretch approaching turn three.
On the restart, Brandon Johnson had something let go on his car and he popped the turn one wall. Stephen Nasse had also come in contact with another car during the restart and pitted with significant damage to the front of his machine. He would not return to competition. Daniel Keene, Jr. also pitted under the yellow flag with what looked to be a transmission issue, but his crew got him back on track for the next restart.
As the green flew again, Choquette again began to put some distance on the field while Augie Grill moved to fourth on lap 30. Brian Finney spun off turn two to bring out the caution on lap 34 and then immediately retired from the event. Grill got a great jump on the restart and zipped into second spot a few car lengths behind Choquette. Lap 54 saw Dustin Dunn loop his car in turn two with Cope also getting spun onto pit road just as the yellow flag flew. Several cars, including Cope, pitted under this caution period to make adjustments.
Choquette continued to hold off Grill as the next yellow flew on lap 60 for a turn two tangle involving Anthony Cataldi, Dakotah Stephens and Derek Griffith. All three pitted for repairs and continued. Shortly after taking the green, the caution was back out again on lap 69 for a spin by David Green, who got the car pointed in the right direction and continued.
On the restart things started getting racy for the top spot as Grill really began to pressure Choquette. Grill made a bold move going into turn three on lap 75, bumping Choquette and forcing him up the track as Grill took a lead that would last only until turn two when Choquette slammed his car into Grill’s putting Grill into the wall. Grill was done for the day while Choquette’s car had just minor damage from both altercations. However, track officials parked Choquette for unsportsmanlike conduct. That ended the efforts of both drivers in their quest for a third Governor’s Cup win.
While all this was going on nobody was really noticing the great effort being put in by T.J. Duke. The young driver had put his car in third place before the Choquette/Grill incident and now found himself in the lead. Duke made the most of it as he sped out to a big advantage on the restart. Lap 82 saw Daniel Keene, Jr. back hard into the turn one wall, ending his afternoon. Duke continued to have a solid run and had built up another comfy advantage before David Rogers, with something amiss with his car, spun in turn two on lap 99.
The field took the halfway signal under caution with Duke leading Wayne Anderson, Burton, Bobby Good, Steven Wallace, Joe Boyd, Cody Coughlin, Brad May, Anthony Sergi and Rich Clouser rounding out the top 10. Cope had now worked his way up to 11th spot.
Duke continued to lead only to see Green spin a second time on lap 105. After this spin, Green retired from competition. With still 20 laps remaining until the competition caution for refueling and tire changes, Joe Boyd ran out of fuel, rolling to a stop in turn.
On the restart Wayne Anderson forged his way to the point bringing Steven Wallace with him as Duke slipped back to third. Anderson would hold the lead to the competition caution.
On the restart, Anderson began to check out on the restart as Bobby Good moved to second place. Caution flew again on lap 131 when Jordan Ives got into the turn one wall after tangling with Campbell. During the caution there were reports that Anderson’s car was leaking oil. Anderson pulled his car on pit road where officials determined there was indeed oil leaking from the machine. Anderson’s crew jacked up the car but, after a few moments, determined the problem could not be fixed quickly and a dejected Anderson drove his car into the pit area.
On the restart, trouble broke out off turn two. Duke got into the back of Rich Clouser, sending Clouser into a spin. Cope spun to miss everything and stayed out of trouble but Ray Black, Jr. nailed Clouser’s car as Joe Boyd also slammed into the fray. Cody Coughlin tried to slip by up high but grazed the wall. Clouser pitted and continued after repairs were made. Boyd also pitted but was not so lucky as his machine was too badly hurt to continue. Black’s car need a tow from the track ending what had been a very good run.
Coughlin pitted and his crew made some minor repairs, but his car refused to refire and he too was out of the running. Duke continued but was sent to the back of the restart line-up for turning Clouser.
With just over 60 laps to go, Good rocketed to a huge lead on the restart while a resurgent Cope moved up to second place on lap 155.
As the laps wore down, Cope began to inch his way closer to Good. With ten laps remaining, Cope had closed the gap to just a few car lengths, not knowing that Good’s brakes were fading. Going into turn three on the next-to-last lap, Good drove in a bit too hard and, with no brakes, slid high allowing Cope to assume the point and take the white flag as the leader. At that point, Good could only watch as Cope drove off to the checker to get his name placed on the Governor’s Cup trophy alongside his uncle Jimmy Cope and many other great names.
Good held on for second, with Burton in third, Wallace in fourth and Chris Davidson in fifth.
In other action, Roger Blevins took the initial lead in the 50-lap Sportsman feature from his outside pole starting spot only to see caution fly on lap four as Timmy Todd, Jr. spun in turn four. Todd Allen zoomed by Blevins for the lead on lap 11, just as another yellow flag flew when Jamie Kennedy hit the turn one wall.
With Allen out front a huge crash took place on the back stretch on lap 13. When the dust cleared, the cars of Scott Bramlett, Michael Williams, Jr., Colin Allman, David Williamson, Phil Luizzo and Todd were all out of the race with damage.
On the restart, Daniel Conlin, Jr. moved to the high side to battle Allen for the lead and the pair tangled coming off turn two sending Allen’s car head-on into the wall.
As Allens’s car was towed to the pits, a light rain began to fall. The rain began to get heavier and at that point it was decided to call the race complete with the finish reverting back to the way the cars crossed the start-finish line on the last green flag lap. That gave Allen the victory despite having a badly wrecked race car.
Conlin would be credited with second trailed by George Gorham, Jr., Ron Gustafson and Blevins.
For more info on New Smyrna Speedway, visit NewSmyrnaSpeedway.org.
New Smyrna Speedway – New Smyrna Beach, FL
Florida Governor’s Cup 200 – Nov. 23, 2014
1. #26 Travis Cope
2. #27 Bobby Good
3. #12 Harrison Burton
4. #66 Stephen Wallace
5. #14 Chris Davidson
6. #36 Alex Labbe
7. #11 David Rogers
8. #81 Brian Campbell
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10. #10 Brad May
11. #99 Michael Self
12. #9 Rich Clouser
13. #10 George Gorham
14. #00 Anthony Cataldi
15. #20 Anthony Sergi
16. #79 Dakotah Stephens
17. #84 Wayne Anderson
18. #19 Ray Black, Jr.
19. #5 Joe Boyd
20. #1x Cody Coughlin
21. #18 Jordan Ives
22. #12G David Green
23. #12D Derek Griffith
24. #5K Daniel Keene, Jr.
25. #29 Jeff Choquette
26. #112 Augie Grill
27. #7 Johanna Long
28. #59 Dustin Dunn
29. #26 Bubba Pollard
30. #12F Brian Finney
31. #57 Michael Lira
32. #40 Danny Esposito
33. #51 Stephen Nasse
34. #41 Brandon Johnson
35. #18 Zack Jarrell
36. #119 Rick Maguire
37. #22 Dusty Cornelius
DNS: #36 Tim Russell
DNS: #77 Jeff Scofield
DNS: #87 Danny Foster
Sportsman 50
1. #211 Todd Allen
2. #11 Daniel Conlin, Jr.
3. #03 George Gorham, Jr.
4. #10 Ron Gustafson
5. #51 Roger Blevins
6. #13 Aaron Williamson
7. #71 Earl Beckner
8. #67 Collin Allman
9. #111 Donny Willams
10. #29 Bobby Mobley
11. #17 Austin Howell
12. #25 Patrick Thomas
13. #12 David Williamson
14. #9 Michael Williams
15. #22 Scott Bramlett
16. #06 Wesley Keller
17. #25 Timmy Todd, Jr.
18. #27 Phil Luizzo
19. #49 Jason Foster
20. #63 George Alexander
21. #21 Mike Dahm
22. #45A Adam Soukup
23. #07 Scott Garrity
24. #99 Jamie Kennedy
25. #33 Derrick Wood
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