Harrison Burton has turned the corner at New Smyrna Speedway.
The 15 year-old beat out Wednesday’s winner, Ty Majeski, to win his second Tower Sealants Super Late Model feature of the week.
The Huntersville, North Carolina, got off to a rough start with a wreck on Night 2 of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing and came home with a 12th-place finish in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race Sunday. But over the last three nights, Burton has two wins and a runner-up finish.
“We definitely found where our race car needs to be to win these races,” said Burton. “It’s such a competitive field, it’s hard to stay on top of it. These guys are always getting better, so we have to keep changing stuff even though we won two nights before. It didn’t quite work out for us last race, but we came back today and got back to work. We had the best car tonight.”
Burton battled with Majeski throughout the 35-lap feature, rocketing into lead on the first lap. Burton continued to put distance on Majeski until a caution on Lap 7 brought the field back together.
While Burton took control on the restart, Majeski was able to get a run off in Turn 2 to pull even and he eventually took the lead in Turn 4. The two continued their back and forth battle until Lap 30, when Burton started to pressure Majeski in Turn 4. Burton’s momentum carried him into the lead only to have Majeski to pull back even. Burton won the battle with two to go and was able to hold off a charging Majeski as the checkered flag waved.
“Once I lost the lead, I was just thinking of ways to get back past Ty. He’s such a fantastic race car driver,” Burton said. “He’s hard to pass. We had the better car tonight, and he just finds ways to take away my line. Once I got to him, it was a pretty even battle for a while. We had a restart earlier, where Ty kind of moved me up the race track a little bit. That’s just a part of short-track racing. Ty’s a really great race car driver; we had a really clean race last night. We have a little bit more donuts on the side of our car tonight, but I’m happy.”
Majeski has had a stellar World Series. The Wisconsin driver has two wins and three runner-up finishes in five races and the points lead heading into Saturday night’s 100-lap finale.
“We knew I didn’t have a car for him,” Majeski said. “He got loose out of Turn 2 and allowed me to get a good run on him, and I ended up getting the lead. He was definitely better once we got a few laps on the tires.
“We didn’t have the car quite where we needed to. We’ll try to make some gains on it tomorrow to be better for the 100 lapper.”
Stephen Nasse was third, followed by Zane Smith and Chad Finely. Steven Wallace, Garrett Jones, Brad May, Quinn Houff and Derek Thorn rounded out the top 10.
Smith, the defending Super Late Model champion, took home the PPG Pro Late Model trophy earlier in the night in the 100-lap extra-distance feature. The 16-year-old Huntington Beach, California, teen emerged victorious in a three-car battle with Daniel Keene Jr. and former NASCAR Camping World Series veteran Mike Skinner.
Keene and Smith battled it out for the win the last 30 laps. Smith beat Keene on a restart on Lap 94 to pull away and was able to hold off the charging veteran the last six laps. Keene and Skinner finished second and third, consecutively. While Jason Boyd and Cole Anderson rounded out the top five, Derek Thorn, Brandon Brilliant, Steve Laking, Matt Wallace and Jake Spillers completed the top 10.
“My adrenaline’s pumping, that was unreal,” said Smith. “It came down to the final restart. I just love racing like that. I’m just glad to put it in Victory Lane.”
Ryan Preece took home the victory in the third Tour Type Modified race of the week, after finishing runner-up to Ronnie Silk and Eric Goodale in each of the previous two nights. The 25-year-old from Berlin, Connecticut, started the 35-Lap feature in sixth but quickly started to pick through the field moving to second on Lap 5. Three laps later, Preece gained the lead and held off the competition through two cautions.
Justin Bonsignore, JR Burtuccio, Eric Goodale and Etienne Cliche completed the top five.
The Modified division finishes its racing Friday with the Richie Evans Memorial 100. The Super Late Models are off Friday and wrap up the World Series with the Southern Paint 100.
