NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FL :: Stephen Nasse was victorious in the opening night of the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway as he held off Steve Wallace in a thrilling shootout.
Following a lap nine restart, Nasse successfully held off Wallace from the outside of the front row and held him at bay for the remaining 26 laps. Wallace stuck a nose under Nasse several times, including on the final lap but just couldn’t complete the pass.
Nasse, exuberant with an opening night victory, admitted that Wallace was faster and will remember how clean their battle was for the rest of the World Series.
“He had a faster car than I did tonight,” Nasse said after the race. “There was no doubt about that. He was all over my back bumper during the race, definitely keeping the pressure on me. He drove me clean during the first night of Speedweeks and I’ll definitely remember that later on during the week.”
For his part, Wallace was thrilled just to finish second, taking home good points following the intense opening 35-lap event.
“It was just night one, I believe we have the best car here for sure, it’s just that his car was a little bit better there on the short run and if I wanted to, I could have moved him,” Wallace said. “But I don’t want to start no shit on the first night. It was a good run and I think we have a car that can contend for the championship out here.”
Kyle Benjamin, the 2012 World Series Super Late Model champion qualified on pole but started third due to an invert. He said that he simply ran out of laps to catch the leaders despite having a race-winning car.
“The restarts just didn’t go our way,” Benjamin said. “We got held up on the inside line when the outside line was going… We just tried some different stuff but we’re going to get back to what we had last year.”
Nasse started third and quickly moved to second place by the sixth lap. He made the winning pass, on the outside of Wallace, off a lap 8 restart.
Ross Kenseth, Cameron Hayley, David Rogers, Spencer Davis, Ryan Moore, Matt Tifft and Cody Coughlin completed the top-10. The championship continues on Saturday night with another 35-lapper. Victory Lane interviews, the complete finishing order and the top-five in the championship standings can be found below.
World Series of Asphalt Super Late Model Division Night 1 Results
- Stephen Nasse
- Steven Wallace
- Kyle Benjamin
- Ross Kenseth
- Cameron Hayley
- David Rogers
- Spencer Davis
- Ryan Moore
- Matt Tifft
- Cody Coughlin
- Jake Griffin
- Anthony Sergi
- Joey Mooch
- David Garbo
- Denver Foran
- Joey Miller
- Dwayne Baker
- Mike Maresca
- Natalie Dechel
- Brendan Bock
- Steve Weaver
- Tyler Dippel
- Gary Passer
- TJ Duke
- Jeff Scofield
- Frank Alberson
Championship Standings
- Nasse Ldr.
- Wallace -2
- Benjamin -3
- Kenseth -4
- Hayley -5
