Wright wins Pro World Series race after Renfrew, Jones tangle

Hunter Wright extended his Pro Late Model World Series of Asphalt championship lead with a victory on Sunday after race leaders Jimmy Renfrew Jr. and Conner Jones came together on a late restart to the benefit of the defending champion.

Renfrew and Jones started on the front row and were the fastest cars of the night. With two laps remaining, Treyten Lapchecich would hit the wall off of Turn 4, breaking the rear end and laying fluid down. After a lengthy cleanup, Jones chose the outside and Renfrew chose the inside for the green, white, checkered restart.

Heading into turn one, Renfrew would wash up the track, making contact with Jones and pushing them both up the banking. Night one winner Hunter Wright would slip past on the bottom to take the lead and the win, while Renfrew finished third, and Jones would fall to ninth.

During the cool down lap, Jones would drive back up the Renfrew to show his displeasure, eventually stopping in Renfrew’s spot on the frontstretch for interviews and lighting his tires up in front of him.

Renfrew would not hold back in his interview, saying that the track did not do a good enough job cleaning the fluid, and that it caused him to get into Jones.

“One of the cars bounced off the wall on the frontstretch wall and left six quarts of oil on the frontstretch,” Renfrew would say post-race. “I saw them come past my pits this morning with a gallon of speedy dry but I didn’t see them put any down.

“Pretty slippery out there. If you guys want to take the camera and look right down here, barely a mark on there,” Renfrew said, pointing towards his right front fender. “I’m even sure where I hit him. I was sideways in the oil and I think he was wrecking loose himself. I was telling them the track wasn’t going to be good. Shame on the track and shame on the race director for making us race on that.”

While it did not end the way Renfrew wanted it to, he kept the car mostly clean, and once again had good pace.

“We’ll come back. We wrecked a car last night, this is the backup car. We worked real hard all day on this thing. No intentions of hitting Conner, he was the better car. He had the race won and I was happy finishing second. Unfortunate. I apologize to him. Definitely not on purpose but at the end of the day, nothing you can do in the oil.”

Jones would have little to say post race.

“We had it won. We tried to race clean this week, trying to take on a new persona. Maybe it’s time to let the beast back out.”

Jones needed to be physically restrained by his Mike Darne Racing crew from going after Renfrew.

Both drivers would have restrained words with each other after technical inspection but officials sent them on their way before it could get animated.

Wright added to his points lead over Brody Monahan, now 10, as well as getting his second win of the week in a more traditional form than Night One where he inherited the win after the Jones disqualification.

“It was a little crazy,” Wright said. “They got a little rowdy on the restart before that, so I told dad, who was spotting for me, they were probably going to do it again. They got rowdy [again] and this time we came out on top. It’s awesome, I’m glad we finally got one on the racetrack. We’ve got two but they’ve been in tech. Finally crossed the line first. Got to take them how you get them. These races are hard to win, there’s a lot of competition out there. Thankful for all involved; all our sponsors and everybody who helps out.”

Before the late race restart, Jones and Renfrew would dominate the race. Both started on the front row and would battle for a lap until a caution came out for Max Reaves spinning off of Jade Avedisian’s front nose. Jones would secure the lead on the restart before another crash in turn one as Max Reaves would drive over Beto Monterio’s left rear, ripping Monterio’s door off and crashing them both.

Renfrew would take the lead on the outside on the ensuing restart. Another lap would tick off until Brandon Lopez and Ryan Phipps made contact off of turn two, sending them both hard into the outside wall and ending their days.

On the following restart, Isaac Kitzmiller would get into Wright, almost spinning the points leader out. Wright saved it, but Kitzmiller’s hood would be ripped off, drawing the yellow again. Renfrew retained the lead on the next restart for a few laps before Jones got by him and started to set sail. Then the caution with two laps left would set up the chaotic restart.

Jade Avedisian would also get by the duo to take home a runner-up finish after finishing third on Saturday night.

“First off I apologize to the 18 of Max [Reaves],” she said post-race. “He kind of checked up, obviously I can’t make an excuse but I rolled in there with a lot of speed and accidently spun him. I take all the blame for that one, that was clearly my fault. It’s cool to be on the front straightaway again. Third last night, second tonight, just need to be one spot better. I feel like it was a very messy race for me, put myself in a lot of bad spots. I kept thinking ‘time to go, time to go.’ I just needed to calm down and get in a rhythm. We have the speed to win, just got to go execute and do my job a little better.”

The Toyota Racing Development driver has two podiums in three races so far during Speedweeks.

“It’s been great; it’s just repetition,” Avedisian said. “Back to back nights is awesome for me, especially early in the season. I just need laps and this is the perfect week to do that. For the rest of the week, I want to win. That’s my goal and I feel like I’m more than capable of winning, but ultimately I need to set myself up for a good season. [I] need to finish the races and get as many laps as I can.”

Randy Sargent and Taylor Reimer would complete the top five.

Pro Late models will race again on Monday alongside the Tour-type Modifieds, 602 Modifieds and Florida Modifieds.

Pro Late Model World Series of Asphalt Race 3
New Smyrna Speedway
February 9 2025

1. Hunter Wright
2. Jade Avedisian
3. Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
4. Randy Sargent
5. Taylor Reimer
6. Brody Monahan
7. Isaac Kitzmiller
8. Mike Scorzelli
9. Conner Jones
10. Eric St-Gelais
11. Beto Monteiro
12. Glenn Styres
13. Toro Rodriguez
14. Travis Stearns
15. Treyten Lapcevich
16. Anthony Bello
17. Raphael Lessard
18. Ryan Phipps
19. Brandon Lopez
20. Cole Robie
21. Max Reaves

Updated championship standings

1. Hunter Wright
2. Brody Monahan -10
3. Cole Robie -12
4. Jade Avedisian -16
5. Jimmy Renfrew Jr -18
6. Anthony Bello -24
7. Brandon Lopez -26
8. Isaac Kitzmiller -34
9. Max Reaves -36
10. Treyten Lapcevich -40