Josh Brock took the best shots Donnie Wilson had on Sunday
at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville and emerged the winner of the North-South
Super Late Model Challenge 100.
He did so by leading wire-to-wire ahead of some of the
biggest names in the country as the event was a tri-sanctioned race co-promoted
by the Southern Super Series, CARS Tour and CRA Super Series.
Wilson had several good runs at Brock in the closing laps,
dive-bombing into the corner and into the back of Brock’s FURY Race Car but he
never wavered. The reigning CRA Super Series champion simply adjusted his line,
moved a few inches up the race track and continued driving off the corner
better than the 2016 Southern Super Series champion.
There was a caution with eight laps to go but it ultimately
didn’t matter as Wilson was forced to defend against Matthew Craig, allowing
Brock to drive away unchallenged.
“When you come to a race like this with the three main
series, you’ve got to come into this knowing you’re going against the best, and
he is one of the best,” Brock told a pair of reporters after the race.
“I hope it really opened up some eyes to people, to show how strong we
really are. There are some places we
haven’t performed like we should, but this is one hell of a way to start out
the season.”
The victory carried additional significance for Brock as it
featured a battle between FURY and a pair of brand-new Rowdy Manufacturing entries
driven by Wilson and Craig. The Kyle Busch owned chassis manufacturer founded
from the assets of Hamke Race Cars have enjoyed a successful first couple of
months in Super Late Model racing.
That was a point of
pride to the 26-year-old.
There’s always a social media war but at the end of the day,
you see what’s in victory lane,” Brock said. “It’s a FURY Race Car.
It’s a Wimmer Motorsports car and these things are fun to drive.”
The importance of winning at The Fairgrounds is also not
lost on Brock. He’s finished top-five in every start at the world famous 0.596-mile
short track but really wanted a guitar.
Mission accomplished.
“This is amazing,” Brock said. “I have
finished second, third and fifth every time I’ve come here. I’ve raced here for eight years. I can’t wait
to get home and really soak this in … This is Nashville. The legends have
raced here, the legends have walked across this stage. It’s absolutely
awesome.”
Wilson cited unpredictable weather as a challenge to his
performance, but also conceded that everyone had to deal with it. The sun came
out for the first time all weekend near the midway point in the way and that
made for a far slicker track that Wilson had anticipated.
“We all had to deal with it,” Wilson said. “Ultimately,
we were pretty even and I just couldn’t get there. I was going to try but I wasn’t
going to wreck him. Everyone knows me enough to know that’s true. He was better
on restarts than I was and I was better in traffic. I just needed to be a
little tigher at the end to get off the corner better.”
This was Wilson’s first race of the season since waiting during
the spring for his Rowdy car.
“We didn’t get enough practice with it,” he said. “But
these cars are good. We had to work through some new car bugs. But we’ll have a
notebook on it soon. It was a good weekend. We’ll take it.”
The complete results can be found below.
- Josh Brock
- Donnie Wilson
- Matt Craig
- Johnny VanDoorn
- Jared Fryar
- Anthony Sergi
- Jack Dossey III
- Giovanni Bromante
- Jeremy Pate
- Austin Kunert
- Casey Roderick
- Stephen Nasse
- Molly Helmuth
- Cole Williams
- Nolan Pope
- Scotty Tomasik
- Jett Noland
- Hunter Jack
- Justin Crider
- Logan Runyon
- Tim Hollis
- Chris Davidson
- Connor Okrzesik
- Kyle Bryant
- Trey Bayne
- Lee Tissot
- Wayne Grubb
- Michael House
- Christian Rose
- Greg Van Alst
- Spencer Wauters
- Johnny Brazier
- Colten Nelson
Read more Short Track Scene:
Scott
May 6, 2019 at 4:42 pm
What do you think about Nasse’s behavior…When I was down near the track other drivers and crews had choice words about him…..
Matt Weaver
May 6, 2019 at 6:02 pm
I wrote about him here last fall.
https://www.shorttrackscene.com/2018/08/02/stephen-nasse-inside-the-mind-of-super-late-model-racings-most-polarizing-driver/
Scott
May 7, 2019 at 8:26 am
Yea during the North/South Shootout he pulled next to two separate drivers and raised a fist to them….