Emerling Keeps Title Hopes Alive, Denies Williams in Final-Lap Thriller

After trailing for much of the night Thursday, Patrick Emerling edged Ronnie Williams in a contact-filled final lap to win his second consecutive Tour Type Modified feature of the week at New Smyrna Speedway in the World Series of Asphalt, denying Williams his first win at the track after he led 56 of 60 laps.

“He was a little faster than us, some cautions came out and all heck broke loose,” Emerling explained in victory lane. “It was freaking crazy. We kind of we got moved a little bit. We had a good run off the bottom and then he threw the block and then it’s like, well, it was kind of fair game ’cause we got shoved a few times there.”

“We ran really clean last night together but a little aggressive there. I hope it was a good one to watch, that was a pretty wild finish for how that race went. We had some fun out there again tonight.”

Ronnie Williams set quick time in qualifying but started third due to inversion, while Paulie Hartwig III led the field to the green flag.

As Hartwig III led the field at the start, Williams and Trevor Catalano moved forward as Emerling faded to fourth place early on.

Williams moved past Hartwig III for the lead on lap 7, with Catalano briefly applying pressure for multiple laps before fading from contention. At one point, the top four ran within a second of each other.

As the field settled into a long green-flag run, Emerling passed Hartwig III for third and later cleared Catalano for second. Despite the charge, he could only trim the deficit to 1.6 seconds as the two turned similar lap times.

On lap 56, while running in third, Catalano spun in Turn 1, bringing out the race’s first caution, erasing Williams’ lead and set up a late-race shootout in the final five laps.

On the ensuing restart, Hartwig III lost power while running in third and his No. 73 rolled to a stop in Turn 3, triggering the second caution of the night. A 14th-place finish, his second straight DNF, dealt a significant blow to his championship. He entered the evening second in Tour Type Modified points, just four behind Andrew Krause. He now sits sixth in standings, -26 points adrift with one race remaining.

The late-race caution set up a three-lap shootout. As the green flag waved once more, Emerling surged around the outside and overtook Williams going into Turn 1. The pair remained in lock step as they crossed the line to take the white flag.

Entering Turn 1 on the final lap, Williams made contact with Emerling to reclaim the lead. As they entered Turn 3, Williams blocked the low lane, but Emerling tagged his rear bumper, knocking him out of the groove to capture the win. The victory kept Emerling’s title hopes alive, leaving him six points behind in the championship with one race remaining.

For the second straight night, Williams suffered another near-miss at New Smyrna as Emerling celebrated in Victory Lane, falling short in his 33rd attempt to win at the half-mile track.

“I dove it in there expecting to make contact to get myself to turn and have a shot at the win,” Williams reflected. “Patrick’s one of the hardest guys to pass, I’ll say that about him. I knew that was going to be my one chance with him just being a little tight. Of course I’m blocking, trying to just protect my spots so I can get to the line first. He probably got to my left rear because I was blocking. So it is what it is. We’ll move on and hopefully one spot there tomorrow.”

Williams expressed frustration with the late-race restarts.

“My problem was more of the restart. The first one, he clearly beat me to the line. Second one, he clearly beat me to the line. I thought he also fired first. Last time I checked, the leader should control the race and get to the line first.”

With yet another second-place result, Williams moved into a tie with Andrew Krause for the championship lead at 204 points.

“Did we have one of the best race cars? Yeah, I would say so. But I guess the best race car doesn’t always win. Just sucks ’cause we were that close and that happened. So it is what it is and hopefully we can finish that one spot better come tomorrow.”

Finishing in third is Super Modified racer Jeffrey Battle. The Massachusetts native raced within the top 10 all night long before taking advantage of track position during the late race restarts as he took the final step of the podium.

“Yeah, I felt pretty good.” An elated Battle said. “Obviously you can only do as good as a car you get. I really have to thank Bobby Webber and the whole Webber family for this opportunity. My uncle led me and him put this car together, we worked very, very hard to get it here. This is this is like a win to us. I have to give a shout out to my grandfather back at home. I wish he was here with us right now, without him, I wouldn’t be be here or be who I am. I really hope he is watching this.”

James Blewett and Mark Stewart rounded out the rest of the top-five.

Krause entered the evening as the points leader, starting 12th and worked his way into the top 10 and finished sixth, keeping himself firmly in the title fight.

1. Patrick Emerling
2. Ronnie Williams
3. Jeffrey Battle
4. James Blewett
5. Mark Stewart
6. Andrew Krause
7. Jimmy Blewett
8. Tyler Catalano
9. Jeffrey Goodale
10. Jon Puleo
11. Norman Newman
12. Christopher Hatton
13. Trevor Catalano
14. Paulie Hartwig III
15. Tommy Catalano
16. Rich Parker
17. Jack Handley Jr
18. Timmy Solomito

Heading into Friday’s Richie Evans Memorial 100 finale, three drivers remain in contention for the Tour Type Modified Championship with Krause, Williams and Emerling separated by just six points.