CORDELE, Ga. — Bubba Pollard turned in a dominant performance to win Saturday afternoon’s SpeedFest 2023 super late model feature at Watermelon Capital Speedway at Crisp Motorsports Park.
The 150-lap event was co-sanctioned by the ASA/CRA Super Series and the ASA Southern Super Series and run before a packed house.
Pollard led early and pitted for two tires just past the halfway mark in the race. He regained the lead when Corey Heim pitted for his two fresh tires with only 24 laps remaining. He led the rest of the way and held off Heim, who charged back to the front and challenged Pollard on a series of restarts during the final 20 laps of the race.
“I drove my ass off,” Pollard said. “I was a sitting duck out there with 20 to go. He had good tires and I had old ones and it shows you what kind of race car we had. It’s fun to race like that when you have a good race car like that.
“I was ready. I wanted it bad.”
Pollard won the event for the second consecutive year and the third time overall.
Heim, who won the event in 2020, finished second, .173 seconds behind Pollard. Jake Garcia, Casey Roderick and Timmy Watson rounded out the top five.
Augie Grill took the lead from Katie Hettinger on lap 40 and led the remainder of the 100-lap event for the JEG’S CRA Pro Late Model Tour. Caden Kvapil finished second, with Michael Hinde, Cale Hall and Dylan Fetcho rounding out the top five. Hettinger finished sixth.
Former NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Chad Chaffin won the Southern Outlaw late model feature.
The finish:
Bubba Pollard, Corey Heim, Jake Garcia, Casey Roderick, Timmy Watson, William Sawalich, Collin Allman, William Byron, Steve Dorer, Matt Craig, Gio Ruggiero, Billy VanMeter, Michael Goddard, Hunter Wright, Tony Elrod, Michael Atwell, Jett Noland, Michael Hinde, Chase Elliott, Johnny Sauter, Nicholas Naugle, Stephen Nasse, Carson Hocevar, John Coffman, Dusty Williams, Jason Lester.