Second. Second. Second.
First.
Brad May entered Race No. 4 of the World Series of Asphalt on Wednesday with a sizeable championship lead over Bubba Pollard, winner of the previous two races this week, but that’s not how drivers are wired.
The World Series championship is a big deal to Super Late Model drivers, but simply winning is even bigger.
That’s how May viewed his week thus far, really wanting a win, and getting it to validated his championship aspirations with just two races remaining.
May was both lucky and good, qualifying second and acquiring the pole when Jared Irvan drew a ‘2’ in the invert. That simply flipped the front row and gave May control of the start. From there, he led 35 laps straight up and won his first race of Speedweeks.
“It’s not really fair to say finishing second is getting the monkey off your back, but I really wanted a win,” May said. “Three seconds in a row maybe made up work harder and I’m just happy to be here in first.”
With starting spots of 10th, fifth and fifth, it was a relief for May to be able to start on the front row. He has had a good car all week and at last, he had track position.
“We’ve had rough draws all week and it’s about time to get a good one, because it made it much easier tonight,” May said.
May beat fastest time earner Jared Irvan to the line, but the son of Cup Series veteran Ernie Irvan failed post-race technical inspection for left side weight. With a spool, the left side of a Super Late Model must account for 58.5 percent of total weight. Irvan’s No. 28 was scaled at 58.8 and was tossed.
READ MORE: Complete World Series of Asphalt coverage
Carson Kvapil inherited second after the Irvan disqualification. Kvapil finished 16th on Tuesday night after a late-race incident with Derek Griffith.
By virtue of Bubba Pollard’s seventh-place finish, May leads Pollard by 24 points in the championship battle.
And May’s thinking about it.
“Coming in, the championship was on the back burner and I just wanted wins,” May said. “I want achampionship bad now. Getting the win was a major first step.”
The complete results can be found below.
- Brad May
- Carson Kvapil
- Jett Noland
- Derek Griffith
- Ryan Moore
- Travis Braden
- Bubba Pollard
- Gabe Sommers
- Anthony Sergi
- Sam Mayer
- Colin Garrett
- Alex Labbe
- Derek Kraus
- Nolan Pope
- Brandon Herbert
- Spencer Davis
- Logan Seavey
- Clay greenfield
- Christian Rose
- Patrick Thomas
- Jared Irvan
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