On a night where just 13 of the 32 starters finished on the lead lap, Cole Robie survived a calamity-filled Pro Late Model race to win on the opening night of the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway.
Robie lined up second on what would be the final restart and when the leader, Jimmy Renfrew’s car, stumbled, Robie was the benefactor.
From there, Robie held off Brandon Lopez and took the checkered flag under caution as the 60-minute time limit expired, scoring the victory in the first of six Pro Late Model features during the World Series of Asphalt.
“Man, what a race. We had a little mishap there,” Robie said on the FloRacing broadcast. “Couldn’t get it into third gear and got stuck between second and third for a bit — but I’m just glad we were able to get our spot back. I can’t thank New Smyrna Speedway and all the officials enough for everything they do and everybody back home watching. I know my grandparents and my mom are watching — that means a lot.”
Starting from outside pole, Robie was a bit over zealous on the initial start, jumping out ahead of Pole Sitter, Evan McKnight, this didn’t go unnoticed from the tower as the start was waved off. The second attempt was smooth for the front row but as they exited Turn 2 contact between Jimmy Renfrew, Brad May and Brody Monohan triggered a big crash that took out several drivers including Conner Jones who took exception to the lap 1 contact.
“It’s just typical Jimmy “Two Grooves”, I guess,” Jones told FloRacing. “He goes into one three-wide like he did the first lap. I don’t know whether he took him out or not, but it definitely caused it. So, I don’t know what we’re thinking on the first lap, diving three-wide on the apron. I mean, he threw sparks out of the back of the car. He drove it in there so hard on the apron. So, I mean, it’s just, it sucks. It’s the first night. I mean, why, I don’t, I just don’t get why we’re being so aggressive the first night, especially because we got five or six more to go.”
Despite the contact, Renfrew would take the lead on the ensuing restart and after another caution for the No. 9S of Wesley Slimp and the No. 42 of Eric St. Gelias getting together, Renfrew would retain the lead and the field would settle in until just prior to the half way point.
After two quick cautions on lap 29 and 31, Renfrew led the field to green with Weston Mathaler to his inside and Cole Robie on the outside of row two. Mathaler eked up into the outside lane into the path of Robie, making contact with the left front corner of Robie’s No. 29, sending Mathaler’s No. 100 car head on into the outside wall. Extensive damage was done to the FHR machine, the team elected to withdraw from the remainder of the World Series.
Just as Mathaler had merged into the outside lane triggering the crash that ended his night, eventual second-place finisher, Brandon Lopez mimicked Mathaler, again making contact with Cole Robie causing a stack up that would end the night for Hunter Wright and Evan McKnight.
Whether it was single car spins or cars stopped on track, cautions continued to plague what was supposed to be a 60 lap or 60 minute event. With still more than 20 laps to go, time was running out and with the abundance of caution laps, so was the fuel in the tank for race leader Jimmy Renfrew. As they came to the restart with 22 laps to go the No. 00 didn’t accelerate and just like that, the dominant car of the race fell by the wayside.
Cole Robie inherited the lead and when the caution fell with 17 laps to go for Kevin Folan No. 17 car careening into the Turn 4 wall, time expired and that was the end of it. Robie took the win, Brandon Lopez came home in second and 14-year-old Vito Cancilla rounded out the podium
The full finishing results for the first night of the World Series of Asphalt can be viewed below.
World Series of Asphalt Pro Late Model Race 1
New Smyrna Speedway
February 6 2026
- Cole Robie
- Brandon Lopez
- Vito Cancilla
- Gage Galby
- Jayden Johnson
- Ben Mack
- Josh Stade
- Jarrett Butcher
- Kevin Folan
- Wesley Slimp
- William Roberge
- Ryan Pawloski
- John Weitz
- Jimmy Renfrew Jr.
- Evan McKnight
- Hunter Wright
- Toro Rodriguez
- Brad May
- Chad Rutherford
- Will Robinson
- Eric St. Gelias
- Chloe Mazzagatti
- Chet Monawek
- Weston Mathaler
- Buddy Head
- Thomas Krasonis
- Brody Monahan
- Kyle Benjamin
- Max Reeves
- Conner Jones
- Raphael Lessard
- Presley Johnson
