Races in the World Series of Asphalt are easier to win when you’re not tasked with passing nine drivers in 35 laps.
Just ask defending champion Harrison Burton.
The 17-year-old finished second to Stephen Nasse on Friday night after starting ninth due to a 10-car inversion. He simply ran out of time to make the winning move during Night One. After posting the fastest speed in time trials in Night Two on Saturday, he drew a six for the invert, and found that challenge a much simpler task than what he encountered the night before.
It took the K&N East champion only 13 laps to move-up five spots and begin pestering Nasse for the top position. He completed the pass a lap later, sliding into Nasse in Turn 4, beating the veteran to the start-finish line.
Despite a pair of cautions and restarts, Burton never relinquished the lead.
“It was just racing, man,” Burton said. “The racing here is so tough. I didn’t mean to get into Stephen, and I don’t think I did too much. That’s part of it. You have to do what you have to do to win and it’s the nature of the beast here.”
Two spins within the final five laps bunched the field back up, but neither Sam Mayer nor Paul Shafer Jr. had anything for Burton over the course of a short run.
“There just wasn’t enough laps,” Mayer said. “We only had two laps to go on that last caution, and we worked our way up from eighth on the high side, and I just think there was something wrong on the bottom — oil or something.”
Amongst the spinners on Saturday included Ty Majeski and David Rogers – both former World Series champions.
Burton had a hard battle with Shafer over the final two laps, but not without a little bit controversy.
“He ran me up the track under yellow, door slamming me, so I don’t know what his problem was,” Burton said. “Now we’ve got some work to do on the left side of the car. But it was a fun night and it’s what we expected of last night too.”
For his part, Shafer contends he was just trying to get out of the oil slick. He leaves New Smyrna with a second and third place run to his name. He’s currently third in the standings but will not compete for the remainder of the World Series.
“We came here to win,” Shafer said. “And I’m bummed I’m not going to be here for the rest of the week. But I’ve got school stuff I need to do.”
Burton leads Nasse (whom finished fifth) by two points in the Super Late Model World Series championship standings.The Super Late Model portion of the World Series resumes on Monday night. The Pro Series East will take center stage at New Smyrna on Sunday night.
The complete results from Race Two can be found below.
- Harrison Burton
- Sam Mayer
- Paul Shafer, Jr.
- Jeff Choquette
- Stephen Nasse
- Derek Griffith
- Derek Kraus
- Brad May
- Ty Majeski
- Matt Wallace
- Gabe Sommers
- Ryan Moore
- David Rogers
- Chet Morrison
- David Russell
- Steve Weaver
- Anthony Sergi
- Russ Shaw
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