Casey Roderick led flag-to-flag to win Saturday night’s Snowflake 100 at 5 Flags Speedway. Photo: Casey Roderick Motorsports/Facebook
Casey Roderick’s long exhale summed up Saturday night at 5 Flags Speedway.
The Lawrencville, Georgia native led the 36-car Allen Turner Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model field off the grid a few minutes after 7 p.m. Saturday at the Pensacola, Florida raceway.
Six painstaking hours later — just after 1 a.m. Sunday with thick fog rolling in — Roderick breathed sighs of relief and utter joy after leading all 100 laps and winning his first career Snowflake in his fifth start.
The race was delayed more than five hours because of pesky light showers and a lengthy track-drying process, made more difficult by the humidity.
“Leading flag-to-flag, that’s pretty cool,” said Roderick, who put the Anthony Campi Racing Pro Late Model in victory lane. “I tell you what, I don’t think I’ve ever sat in something like this. This is a well-prepared car and Campi’s guys are all in sync with each other. At this level of racing, it’s always a team effort and they did a heckuva job. I’m thankful to get this victory for not only myself, but this team.”
It marked Roderick’s second victory in three nights at the 55th annual Snowball Derby after winning the Pro Trucks feature on Thursday.
Roderick got the seat only because of a big domino that fell just last week. When defending Derby champion Chandler Smith decided he would be unable to pilot Campi Racing’s Super Late Model in Sunday’s Snowball Derby, the team shifted young Gio Ruggiero — its regular PLM driver — to the Derby seat. That opened the door for Roderick, who made the most of his opportunity.
Roderick, who has three career SLM track championships and two PLM titles at Five Flags, had just two top-fives between the Derby (fifth, 2018) and the Snowflake (third, 2008) coming into Saturday.
“It’s so cool to be able to come here and win the Snowflake 100,” he said. “We’ve come here a lotta years, and things had not gone our way. But for once, something did. I got a Snowflake win and we’ll see what we can do (today).”
Monroe, Georgia’s Jake Garcia, who also sports SLM and PLM track titles at Five Flags, finished runner-up for the second consecutive year, with Jackson Boone coming home third.
“I seem to finish second in December here quite a bit,” said Garcia, who also finished second in the 2019 Derby. “Hopefully, that changes (today).”
California driver Derek Thorn, who was seeking his third Snowflake crown in four years, was a figurative thorn in Roderick’s side all night. Roderick captured the pole (16.762 seconds). Thorn started directly behind him inside the second row in third position and proved to be the biggest threat.
After hounding Roderick all night, Thorn lost the handling of his No. 43 following a restart with 79 laps complete. Thorn began sliding between turns 1 and 2 while trying to fall in line under Roderick. The earlier rain washed away any built-in rubber and Thorn couldn’t find the grip to stay with Roderick. He avoided slamming into the wall but could not avoid the freight train passing him. That ended his chances to join Chase Elliott and Augie Grill as the only drivers to win a hat trick of Snowflakes.
“I don’t know if it was the dew or what, but it went sailing toward the wall,” said Thorn, who finished 26th after calling it a night a few laps later. “We saved the racecar and lived to fight another day.”
Roderick gradually distanced himself from Thorn and the field, using lapped traffic to his advantage. Roderick was dialed in each time on a series of late restarts and never allowed the competition to sniff clean air.
“I was a little worried the last few laps, but it was good enough to hold on,” he said.
For more information on the Snowball Derby race weekend at 5 Flags Speedway, visit 5FlagsSpeedway.com.
5 Flags Speedway – Pensacola, FL
Snowball Derby – December 3, 2022
Snowflake 100 Pro Late Models
1. 81R-Casey Roderick
2. 35-Jake Garcia
3. 7-Jackson Boone
4. 75-Jeremy Doss
5. 89F-Dylan Fetcho
6. 48-Preston Peltier
7. 2-John Bolen
8. 12S-Bryson Shaffer
9. 51-Stephen Nasse
10. 44-Conner Jones
11. 91-Jim Wall
12. 54-Jarrett Butcher
13. 24C-Brent Crews
14. 9H-Leland Honeyman
15. 11C-Dylan Cappello
16. 90-Trevor Cristiani
17. 89-Chase Spradlin
18. 30-Alex Guenette
19. 00-Anthony Cataldi
20. 10-Johanna Long Robbins
21. 5M-Jeremy Miller
22. 22KS-Kyle Steckly
23. 10Z-Brittney Zamora
24. 25-Jake Bollman
25. 4A-Andrew Grady
26. 43T-Derek Thorn
27. 33S-Dustin Smith
28. 69-Michael Hinde
29. 70-Gavin Graham
30. 112-Augie Grill
31. 15H-Mike Hopkins
32. 67-Colin Allman
33. 22S-Evan Szotko
34. 33G-Weston Griffith, Jr.
35. 77CO-Connor Okrzesik
36. 18P-Ryan Paul
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