Choquette Beats And Bangs His Way To 5 Flags PLM Win

Earning a victory at Pensacola, Florida’s Five Flags Speedway, regardless the division, can be a career-defining milestone for any driver.

Rarely does a hotshoe come along and tame the magnitude of the famed half-mile asphalt oval.

And few late model drivers have ever had Five Flags under their spell quite like Jeff Choquette has this summer.

The 29 year old ran his streak of Allen Turner Hyundai Pro Late Model wins to five by capturing the Allen Turner Tuneup 100 on Sunday at Pensacola’s high banks. The race was postponed from Saturday night because of periodic showers.

“The cards have fallen our way these last five races,” Choquette said. “Hopefully, this continues, and we keep riding the momentum. It kinda threw us a curveball with the daytime weather and the track being slicker, but we prevailed.”

He and runner-up Casey Roderick wrote another chapter in their never-disappointing soap opera, as each driver engaged in some good, old-fashioned racing tactics while they battled for the lead in the final four laps.

Roderick, from Lawrenceville, Georgia, took clean air from then-leader Cole Anderson on lap 77 following a restart for the only caution of the day.

Ten laps later, Choquette was second and within a car length of Roderick. The pair deftly navigated two-wide lapped traffic in front of them before Choquette pulled back onto Roderick’s bumper.

Choquette bumper to perfection, nudging Roderick just enough to slip into the lead on lap 96. Roderick almost immediately returned the favor and reclaimed the lead a lap later in Turn No. 2.

“Every time we get around each other, we gotta hit each other it seems,” said Roderick, bemoaning this budding rivalry with Choquette. “I don’t like racing like that. But, time and time again, when you get hit, you gotta retaliate. I don’t agree with racing like that, though.”

Choquette was once again hounding Roderick almost immediately after he surrendered the lead to the No. 18 Ronnie Sanders machine.

As they came to the flagstand with three to go, the duo was sliding all over the place down the front stretch.

Choquette was the first to right the ship and surged back into the lead in coming out of turn 1.

He cruised home for his fifth victory in a row. In the process, Choquette moved past Junior Niedecken for second in the season’s final standings and an automatic berth in the Snowflake 100 this December during the 49th annual Snowball Derby festivities.

“It’s up to that man over there,” Choquette said, pointing to car owner Pat Jett. “I’ll do whatever he tells me.”

Joining Choquette this December will be Allen Turner Hyundai PLM track champion Bret Holmes. Holmes finished eighth Sunday, but already had the title locked up before the opening green flag dropped thanks to a consistent year.

“I really enjoyed racing here this year,” said Holmes. “We had a great car each race. We never finished off the podium except for today. I wish we would’ve done a lot better today so that I could enjoy this to its full extent, but at the same time, I’m tickled we won the championship here.”

The other news to come from Sunday was the resurgence Ryan Paul. Paul, a champion driver who has stepped away from driving recently, came home with a third-place finish.

“It has been a long, hard fight to just get back here to this point,” Paul said. “Those two guys (Choquette and Roderick) did a heckuva job in front of us. It was a good race to watch from third.”

Cole Anderson dominated early on, leading 46 laps until that caution flew on lap 76 when Kody Jett went for a spin on the back stretch.

None of the leaders, all the way back to Jeremy Pate back in fourth, had been hard on their tires and a push toward Anderson’s lead was immediate on the restart.

Pro Trucks

If you blinked during the 40-lap Pro Trucks season finale, you missed the moment the track championship was decided.

It happened that quickly. So quick, in fact, that Howard Langham barely had time to react to the freight train that rumbled by.

He went from second to fifth place in a matter of seconds on lap 16 and helplessly watched Taylor Jorgensen seal the title with another podium finish.

Jorgensen, a Pro Trucks rookie from Stockbridge, Georgia, is in her first season behind the wheel of a full-bodied racecar or truck after a decorated career driving Legends and Bandoleros.

“This season has been a complete dream season to me,” an ecstatic and emotional Jorgensen said. “I came in, first year in a full-bodied racecar, and I never thought I would’ve won a championship at Five Flags Speedway. It has always been a dream just to race here. It’s a total dream come true. This is unbelievable. I just wanna cry.”

She finished third Sunday, as Jarrett Parker won for the second time at Five Flags in 2016. Rick Pollaro finished in second.

Jorgensen became the first female to win a Pro Trucks crown at Pensacola’s high banks and the first female to win a series, period, at Five Flags since Johanna Long did it two years ago in the Pro Late Model division.

She came into Sunday leading Langham by a meager four points. That meant, the 49-year-old Langham only needed to finish three spots ahead of Jorgensen to take the track crown.

For the opening laps, the gameplan worked to perfection. Langham started second and shot to the lead on the opening lap while Jorgensen toiled back in eighth.

Parker, running second, maneuvered around Langham with a power move and screamed to the lead on lap 8 and never looked back on his way to victory lane for the second time this season.

“We’re finally getting this little truck figured out and getting better,” said Parker, who got his first career Pro Trucks win in June. “I hope we can do just as good during Snowball week.”

While Parker was pulling away, Jorgensen was getting impatient riding sixth, as were the three other cars that were trying to figure a way around Langham.

If those positions had held, Langham would’ve finished four spots ahead of Jorgensen. That would easily have been good enough to clinch the title.

Instead, Pollaro was the first of the bunch to pull the trigger. He got by Langham on lap 15, just before Jorgensen found Langham a lap later.

The season’s two top Trucks battled side-by-side momentarily before Jorgensen slid inside Langham for fourth, Jorgensen rattling her way to a crowning destiny.

Sportsmen

Mark Barnhill certainly made up for lost time — burnouts and all.

It had been some time since the veteran short-track driver had raced in the Sportsmen division at Five Flags Speedway.

While Barnhill raced in last December’s Snowball Derby for the Pro Trucks, his last Sportsmen race at Pensacola’s high banks came at the Sportsmen Snowball Derby in 2014.

That night Barnhill crossed the start-finish line first for an apparent victory. But his celebration was premature as the win was eventually tossed out in technical inspection, handing Brannon Fowler an historic win.

At Sunday’s 25-lap feature, delayed from Saturday because of storms, Barnhill got a chance to celebrate in style at the famed half-mile asphalt oval.

Barnhill won after taking the lead on Lap 11 and lit up the tires in victory lane with a couple of 360-degree turns down the front straightaway.

“It feels good,” Barnhill said. “It has been a while since I’ve been back over here for a run. It feels good to finish it off with a win.”

With only Saturday’s season finale remaining before the 49th annual Snowball Derby in December, 12 cars were in Sunday’s field with one car conspicuously absent.

Points lead Steve Buttrick was nowhere to be found. Jim Pokrant, second in points, took advantage of that fact by finishing fifth and carving into Buttrick’s lead, which was more than 60 entering Sunday.

Someone who did race was Fowler, the past Sportsman Snowball king who has won multiple division track championships.

Fowler, who won a feature earlier this season, had been missing in action since April 29 when an awful wreck sidelined his run at another points title.

He finished runner-up to Barnhill on Sunday after starting near the back on the pack.

“My dad put in some long hours to get this thing right,” Fowler said. “We showed up late, didn’t get a chance to qualify, started at the tail end, but it was all right. This was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

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Bombers

Judging by the finish in the Bombers’ 20-lap feature Sunday, next Saturday’s Night of Champions at Five Flags Speedway should be awfully juicy.

B.J. Leytham had to work for every inch of his ninth feature win of the season, his ninth overall.

Robert Balkum, who finished runner-up for the eighth time in 2016, made sure Leytham wouldn’t have an easy time of it.

Leytham’s win means he’ll carry a 19-point lead into Saturday night.

“I guess since that last race, the car has been a little off,” Leytham said. “I’ve got all the confidence in my crew chief that he’ll get all of that worked out. I did everything I could do to win (Sunday).”

That’s quite the understatement.

Leytham took the lead with three laps completed following a caution and never surrendered the top spot despite Balkum’s best efforts.

For the last three laps, the two did everything but wreck.

They first made contact on lap 17, as Leytham pinched Balkum down on the apron coming out of turn 2. Leytham spun, but somehow managed to hang onto the steering wheel and the lead exiting the turn.

As they came to the flagstand with the white flag out, signaling the final lap, Balkum avoided the inside wall by hopping onto Leytham’s back left side wheels.

Leytham survived it all, much to Balkum’s chagrin.

“Blocking’s racing,” Balkum said, tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Five Flags Speedway – Pensacola, FL
Race Results – Sept. 17, 2016

Pro Late Models
1. Jeff Choquette – West Palm, FL
2. Casey Roderick – Lawrenceville , GA
3. Ryan Paul – Mobile , AL
4. Cole Anderson – Northfield , MN
5. Cole Daffron – Pell City, AL
6. Jeremy Pate – Pensacola, FL
7. Connor Okrzesik – Grand Bay, AL
8. Bret Holmes – Munford , AL
9. Luke Christian – Dacula , GA
10. Anthony Cataldi – Umatilla , FL
11. Justin Wakefield – Ellijay , GA
12. Dustin Smith – Mobile , AL
13. Wayne Niedecken, Jr. – Milton , FL
14. Zachary Knowles – Houston , TX
15. Josh Adkins – Cumming , GA
16. Ronnie Osmer – Pearl River, LA
17. Ryan Herbert – Cumming , GA
18. Kody Jett – Middleburg , FL
19. Trevor Noles – Fuquay-Varina , NC
20. Christopher Tullis – Dacula , GA
21. Troy Grisaffi – Kenner , LA
22. Brandon Curren – Dora , AL
23. Ron McDonald – Pensacola , FL
24. Brandon Herbert – Cumming , GA
25. Rusty Sanford – Seminary , MS

Pro Trucks
1. Jarrett Parker – Molino , FL
2. Rick Pollaro – Canyon Lake, TX
3. Taylor Jorgensen – Stockbridge , GA
4. Ryan Luza – Cypress , TX
5. Darryl Rudd – Chipley , FL
6. Curt Britt – Mcdonough , GA
7. Howard Langham – Irvington , AL
8. Brian Weimer – Cumming , GA
9. Daniel Bradford – Huntsville , AL
10. Brandon Burks – Milton , FL
11. Mark Lindley – Katy , TX
12. Lori Lindley – Katy , TX
13. Shanna Ard – Milton , FL
14. Rocky Taylor – Slidell , LA

Sportsmen
1. Mark Barnhill – Theodore , AL
2. Brannon Fowler – Molino , FL
3. Jason Huffmaster – Irvington , AL
4. Jonathan Langham – Irvington , AL
5. Jim Pokrant – Milton , FL
6. Lee Reynolds – Mobile , AL
7. Hunter Lambert – Pensacola , FL
8. Hunter McNair – Cantonment , FL
9. John Ward, Jr. – Pensacola , FL
10. Paul Mathis – Pensacola , FL
11. Johnny McNair – Pensacola , FL
12. Dayton Sidner – Pensacola , FL

Bombers
1. B.J. Leytham – Mobile , AL
2. Robert Balkum – Pensacola , FL
3. Robert Loper – Irvington , AL
4. Tommie Blocker – Irvington , AL
5. Derek Long – Bay Minette, AL
6. John Kevin Merritt – Pensacola , FL
7. Sarah Dority – Pensacola , FL
8. Tony Boyd – Pensacola , FL
9. Shawn Moseley – Theodore , AL
10. Brandin Sidner – Cantonment , FL
11. Jay Whalen – Pensacola , FL
12. Caleb Burkett – Pensacola , FL
13. Robert Riley – Gulf Breeze, FL