PENSACOLA, Fla. – Stephen Nasse earned a bit of redemption on Friday night at Five Flags Speedway by scoring a $10,000 victory in round one of the Southern Super Series/Blizzard Series Rowdy Energy Twin 100s.
The victory for Nasse comes a little more than six months after Nasse crossed the finish line first in the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway only to be disqualified in post-race technical inspection.
Friday’s race was dubbed the #Forever11 Tribute 100 in honor of the late David Rogers, a veteran of the Florida short-track scene who died in March at the age of 64 after a battle with cancer.
Nasse took the lead from Hunter Robbins on lap 65 and never looked back, leading the rest of the way despite never quite being able to get away from Robbins. Nasse now has a chance to earn an additional $25,000 through the winner’s share and bonus money should he win Saturday’s second 100-lap feature.
Bubba Pollard, driving the car previously driven by the late Rogers, finished third. Jeremy Pate and Carson Hocevar completed the top-five in the stacked 35-car field.
The finish:
Stephen Nasse, Hunter Robbins, Bubba Pollard, Jeremy Pate, Carson Hocevar, Willie Allen, Connor Okrzesik, Jake Garcia, John DeAngelis, Logan Bearden, Jackson Boone, Kyle Plott, Perry Patino, Daniel Dye, Kodie Conner, Boris Jurkovic, Austin Nason, Bob Lyon, Colton Nelson, Chris Davidson, Jesse Dutilly, Michael Atwell, Casey Roderick, Nick Neri, Kyle Ivey, Kaden Honeycutt, Friday Hassler Jr., Terry Senneker, Preston Peltier, George Gorham Jr., Hudson Halder, Kyle Sieg, Jack Dossey III, Donnie Wilson, Shefflon Clay.