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Spencer Davis was victorious in what might have been the cleanest Super Late Model opener in the 51-year history of the World Series of Asphalt on Friday night at New Smyrna Speedway.

The 18-year-old NASCAR Next driver benefited from a lucky invert and led all 35 green flag laps to take an early championship lead in the seven-race Speedweeks showdown. Harrison Burton posted the fastest speed in time trials but drew a 10-car-invert which placed him 10th for the green flag.

Meanwhile, Davis started second after qualifying ninth but led wire-to-wire. Burton gained four spots on the very first lap but could only close to second before the checkered flag.

“I knew right from the get go that (Burton) and (Ty MajeskI) were going to be fast,” Davis said after passing technical inspection. “I’ve been on both ends of the invert and we lucked out tonight. We got to start up front and knew we were better than what we showed in qualifying.

“I got about six car-lengths and just rode until they said (Burton) and (Majeski) were coming. Even though it’s 35 laps, you have to manage your tires just in case there’s a green-white-checkered so I played it conservative.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Burton said this was the most disappointed he’s ever been with second-place in his life. He was routinely a tenth of a second faster than Davis but just needed a caution to close the gap once they ran 1-2.

“Clearly, we had the dominant car,” Burton said. “We were fastest in practice and sat on the pole but just got unlucky. It’s easy to point the finger and blame the invert but we know that we could stand to be a little better. If you start to rely on that, you’re already behind.”

Majeski finished third and was a little short of his championship pace from 2016. He won that Super Late Model Speedweeks championship with three wins and three second-places and his P3 was his worst finish at New Smyrna since 2015.
He believes his No. 91 needs to be faster to compete against Davis and Burton.

“We need to work on our race car a little bit,” Majeski said. “The balance is a little off from normal here. We’ll get to work tonight and make it better for tomorrow.”

And perhaps it’s too early to think about championships, but Majeski is satisfied with how this sets up his championship defense over the next eight night.

“If we finish top three every night, we’ll have a pretty good shot at the championship,” Majeski said. “That’s the mindset you have to have. We haven’t had the best of opening nights the first two years here so we’re happy with it. We just have to get better.”

The complete Super Late Model results from Night One of the World Series of Asphalt can be viewed below.

  1. Spencer Davis
  2. Harrison Burton
  3. Ty Majeski
  4. Martin Latulippe
  5. Stephen Nasse
  6. Chase Purdy
  7. Daniel Keene, Jr.
  8. Brad May
  9. Jeff Choquette
  10. Mason Diaz
  11. Derek Kraus
  12. Brandon Watson
  13. Tyler Dippel
  14. Dalton Armstrong
  15. Derek Griffith
  16. David Rogers
  17. Garrett Hall
  18. Chase Purdy
  19. Russell Shaw
  20. Steve Weaver

Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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