Jeff Choquette celebrates with his team after winning Sunday’s Governor’s Cup 200 at New Smyrna Speedway. Photo by Joe VanHoose
For much of Sunday afternoon at New Smyrna Speedway, Jeff Choquette looked like he could lead every lap of the Florida Governor’s Cup 200. But the Florida Late Model ace who paced the field for the first 130 laps had faded to fourth when the caution flag waved on lap 161.
Then came a restart that no one – Choquette included – saw coming.
On the final restart of the race, Choquette jumped to second around Senoia, Georgia’s Bubba Pollard and Stephen Nasse. On the next lap, he muscled his way past Anthony Sergi in a paint-trading battle to retake the lead and grab the win. Nasse finished second, with Sergi, Raphael Lessard and Pollard rounding out the top five.
“I will be 100-percent honest with you, I have no idea where that last restart came from,” Choquette said in victory lane. “I drove it down there in the corner like I did every other lap, and that time the car stuck, and it cut.”
Choquette led the 21-car field to the green flag and proceeded to lead the first two-thirds of the race. Challengers were always nearby.
First came Brad May, the 2018 New Smyrna Speedway Late Model Champion who hounded Choquette for the lead in the race’s early stages. To counter the ongoing attack, Choquette moved up a lane on the race track, a move that proved too much for a steady stream of challengers.
May, Lessard and Nasse all made it up to the runner-up position and tried to pass Choquette, but no one had enough grip in their car to complete the move. Every time a challenger drew side-by-side with Choquette, Choquette used the momentum from his outside lane – particularly off turn 4 – to hold his position.
But Anthony Sergi, who started ninth and methodically moved his way to the front, had more speed than the others. By lap 104, he was third. On lap 115, he moved by Lessard for second.
After battling side-by-side for a few laps, Lessard finally squeezed under Choquette and began to drive away. But his lead evaporated as the caution flag waved for the fifth and final time on lap 161 after May lost an engine.
Choquette lined up behind Sergi on the double-file restart, and the two were able to break away from Pollard, Lessard and Nasse as the field rounded off turn 2. As Sergi moved to the Choquette-preferred higher line in turn 3, Choquette rifled his car to his inside. The two made contact, leaning on each other down the frontstretch as the packed grandstand rose to its feet.
By turn 2, Choquette had the lead again.
“It took forever for my new tires to come in, but when they did I was able to stabilize in fourth,” Choquette said. “My goal on the restart was to get back to second, but then I was able to get under Sergi and put some tire marks on him.
“It was a bit rougher than I wanted it to be.”
Choquette picked up his third Governor’s Cup crown and the $15,000 winner’s purse, adding to an autumn to remember for the late model veteran. He drove to victory in the Winchester 400 in October.
Several drivers who raced Sunday used the Governor’s Cup as their last tune-up before December’s Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. Lessard, a 17-year-old from Quebec, Canada, will pilot a Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports in Pensacola. On Sunday, he never fell out of the top five, climbing as high as second in the middle stages of the race.
“When we put new tires on, we just tightened up too much,” Lessard said. “I couldn’t roll the center (of the corner) as fast as I liked, so I had to move up and look for different lines.”
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Looking ahead, momentum may be the only thing that carries over from New Smyrna to Pensacola, Nasse said.
“You race Pensacola different than you race here, but it’s still nice to have a good day as a team and build a little patience,” Nasse said afterward. “This is our third good race in a row, so hopefully we can go to Pensacola and just be one spot better.”
New Smyrna Speedway – New Smyrna Beach, FL
Governor’s Cup 200 – November 11, 2011
Unofficial Race Results
1. Jeff Choquette
2. Stephen Nasse
3. Raphael Lessard
4. Anthony Sergi
5. Bubba Pollard
6. Chris Dilbeck
7. Harold Crooms
8. Michael Atwell
9. Corey Heim
10. David Rogers
11. Jeff Gordon
12. Spencer Davis
13. John Coffman
14. Mark Wilkins
15. Brad May
16. Chris Hettinger
17. T.J. Duke
18. Doug Elliott
19. Austin Nason
20. Jett Noland
21. Harold Fair, Jr.
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