Derek Griffith continues to be the standard of consistency in the World Series of Asphalt.
The defending Super Late Model champion charged from fourth to the lead in eight laps on a night where track position was key and claimed his third career Speedweeks victory and retook the points lead after a third place on Opening Night.
It was his seventh podium finish over his last nine starts over the past two seasons.
The Hudson, New Hampshire native launched from the initial start and quickly took second, needing just eight laps to overtake Connor Mosack, maintaining a one second lead for a majority of the 35-lap main event.
“The outside really rolled and I knew if I could get clear of (Justin Mondeik), I would have a good shot at racing (Connor Mosack). I caught him off Turn 4 a couple of times, and it seemed that he needed a lot more of the racetrack than I did, and once I got by him, I wanted to set my own pace. No yellows. That outside groove rolled and I was happy to start fourth.”
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Griffith started fourth because time trials were rained out and the starting lineup was set based on an inversion of the Night 1 finish. Ryan Moore won on Opening Night and drew a ‘six,’ meaning that he was flipped to sixth with Griffith inverted from third to fourth.
“Yeah, I drew the wrong pill tonight,” Moore said. “We had a couple of issues on some things we just found. All told, it was a good run given some of the issues we found. We’ll fix them and should be in a good place for tomorrow night.”
Griffith finishing third and first gives him the championship lead over Jett Noland with finishes of second and fifth with Moore finishing first and sixth. The championship is decided by the seven races in nine nights that concludes next Saturday night with the annual Orange Blossom 100.
Noland started fifth and just couldn’t complete the pass on Jacob Goede for fourth with both cars lacking the traction needed to make their way towards the front of the field.
“It was beneficial for us to have a long green flag run to learn some stuff for the rest of the week,” Noland said. … We were a little bit free and everyone had that problem when they got up behind someone.”
Moore and Griffith have both captured World Series championships, but Noland is already thinking about what he needs to earn the accomplishment.
“We’re just trying to keep the big picture in mind,” Noland said. “We’re just trying to take care of the race car and make it to the finish every night.”
Mosack has finishes of fifth and second to open his debut Speedweeks effort.
“I was just trying to hit my marks and run a little different line, pick up throttle a little differently and try to gain a little speed where I could,” Mosack said. “Some things seemed to be working, but eventually I think I just wore the tires out. Just a little too tight, I couldn’t roll into the corner like he could. Hopefully we get this thing turning a little better tomorrow and we can be over [in victory lane].”
Due to the cancellation of time trials, several expected heavy hitters were forced to start at the rear of the field after being involved in crashes on Opening Night. With a slick racetrack and just 35 laps to get it done, Jake Finch, Nick Panitzke, Kody Swanson and Bubba Pollard ran largely where they started and finished 18th to 21st.
Their goal was to make sure the car had long run speed and no ill-effects of their crash damage in anticipation for a full day of racing with qualifications on Sunday.
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RESULTS
- Derek Griffith
- Connor Mosack
- Justin Mondeik
- Jacob Goede
- Jett Noland
- Ryan Moore
- Sammy Smith
- Brad May
- Jake Garcia
- Dan Fredrickson
- RJ Braun
- Kris Wright
- Stephen Nasse
- Jesse Love
- Kelly Moore
- Daniel Dye
- Michael Hinde
- Jake Finch
- Nick Panitzke
- Kody Swanson
- Bubba Pollard
- Jaden Cretacci
- Steve Weaver
- Patrick Thomas
- Travis Wilson
Doug Elliott (DNS)
Mike Stacy (DNS)
Peyton Sellers (DNS)
Tovia Grynewicz (DNS)
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