Williams claims Richie Evans Memorial, World Series title

Ronnie Williams won Friday night’s Richie Evans Memorial 100 to claim the 2026 World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing Tour Type Modified championship.

After spending the opening half of the race working through the top 10, Williams positioned himself inside the top five by the midway caution. Following the Lap 50 midway break he seized control of lead from Jimmy Blewett on Lap 64, immediately setting the fastest laps of the race. Fellow championship contender Patrick Emerling climbed his way to second place but could not cut into Williams lead, ultimately finishing in second.

A day earlier, a late-race caution derailed Williams maiden win at the track. He led the most laps, but on the white-flag lap Emerling bumped the Connecticut native up the track to steal the win keeping his title hopes alive.

Twenty-four hours later, there was no bumping and banging or late-race caution. Unlike the night before, Williams captured the flag without issue, able to finally celebrate a long-awaited victory under the Florida stars, clinching the title in the process by 8 points over Emerling.

“It feels good.” Williams said. “We had the whole thing that happened yesterday and things happened for a reason. I’m a big believer of that, it’s why we keep coming back and that’s why we love this sport, right? It’s awesome.”

For Williams it’s his first career victory in his 34th attempt at the World Series, and 50th modified win.

“Going into the last four laps, I was hoping there wasn’t gonna be another caution. I’m like, just get through this minute here. I also think is pretty cool to get that 50 here at the World Series, it’s an awesome feeling.”

“Got the win. That’s out of the way. Got the championship, that’s out of the way. I’ll just keep coming back here and looking forward to next year and also to see what we can do through the Tri-Track series and little stuff we’re gonna do on the tour this year.”

Following qualifying invert, Jeffrey Goodale started from the pole, while Monday’s Mod Tour winner and outside championship contender Paulie Hartwig III set fast time but rolled off ninth.

As the green flag fell for the 100-lap feature, Trevor Catalano showed early speed, leading the first 40 laps before Jimmy Blewett took command.

Behind the leaders, Williams and Emerling each made progress through the top 10. Each were methodically working through traffic reaching the halfway caution in third and fourth respectively. Meanwhile, Krause and Hartwig made up ground but failed to advance any further than sixth and eighth position respectively.

After the lap 50 caution, Blewett tried to drive away from the field but Williams wasted little time asserting control after the restart. He stormed to the race lead and pumped in the fastest laps of the race, running at one point two tenths faster than second place.

Emerling made a pass for second place late in the race but with Williams’ unrelenting pace, his bid for three consecutive wins on the week and the championship come up short. After suffering engine issues that didn’t even see him even race on Monday, he finished no worse than second for the rest of the week, while collecting two consecutive wins, including the John Blewett Memorial 76.

“We had we had a good week”, reflected Emerling. “We started out with a fourth in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race and then broke a motor. Then a second, win, win and a second, solid week for us. I think I finished second I don’t know….probably over five times in this race (Richie Evans Memorial 100) over many years. So this is the one that race I never quite got but we’ll back again next year.”

Blewett finished in third position, tying his best finish of the week. He led 19 laps and held off Williams briefly after the midrace restart before finally finishing on the final step of the podium. With Blewett’s third place finish, it secured him fourth in the final point standings, 26 adrift of the championhip.

“We have nothing to hang our heads about this week”, Blewett said. “We ran up front, pretty much the majority of the week. We were just lacking that little bit after the pit stop, stagger just didn’t come in where I hoped it would. But I compiled some notes, look forward to us being back together shortly. I just want to thank all the fans watching back home, all my sponsors, all our marketing partners and everyone who makes this team go round.”

Cam McDermott finished in fourth, while Hartwig III rallied to fifth in the race and in the championship, 34 points behind. Krause, who entered the night tied for the points lead, finished ninth and ended the week third in the championship standings, 16 points behind Williams.

Richie Evans Memorial 100 Finishing Order:

1. Ronnie Williams
2. Patrick Emerling
3. Jimmy Blewett
4. Cam McDermott
5. Paulie Hartwig III
6. Austin Beers
7. Trevor Catalano
8. Jeffrey Goodale
9. Andrew Krause
10. Timmy Solomito
11. Burt Myers
12. James Blewett
13. Jeffrey Battle
14. Tyler Catalano
15. Mark Stewart
16. Amy Catalano
17. Christopher Hatton
18. Jon Puleo
19. Rich Parker
20. Johnathon Laureigh
21. Christopher Laureigh

Final Point Standings:

1. Ronnie Williams 254
2. Patrick Emerling 246
3. Andrew Krause 238
4. Jimmy Blewett 228
5. Paulie Hartwig III 220
6. Jeffrey Battle 210
7. Jeffrey Goodale 206
8. James Blewett 200
9. Austin Beers 182
10. Trevor Cantalano 177
11. Mark Stewart 176
12. Tyler Catalano 174
13. Jon Puleo 174
14. Cam McDermott 170
15. Burt Myers 152
16. Timmy Solomito 146
17. Ryan Preece 144
18. Rich Parker 126
19. Tyler Rypkema 122
20. Tommy Catalano 110
21. Norman Newman 110
22. Stephen Kopcik 108
23. Christopher Hatton 100
24. Ron Silk 98
25. Luke Baldwin 92
26. Conner Jones 82
27. Amy Catalano 54
28. Mike Bologna 50
29. Jack Handley Jr. 44
30. Steven Reed 40
31. Steve Whitt 20
32. Johnathon Laureigh 12
33. Christopher Laureigh 10
34. Max Handley 1