Special from Speed51.com – Entering Saturday’s CRA SpeedFest 2018 at Crisp Motorsports Park, Bubba Pollard had won just about everywhere. But one event he had not won was a Pro Late Model race at SpeedFest. Saturday afternoon Pollard was able to cross that one off his list after taking the lead late from Justin South.
South had led much of the 125-lap affair, but Pollard was able to get by the Alabama native with less than 40 laps to go. South still had a couple of chances as a result of a few late cautions, but Pollard’s No. 26 was too much for South’s No. 43 machine.
“Bubba is really good. I knew we were going to have to beat him and we didn’t,” said a dejected South after the race. “Last year it was Casey that I had to beat and I ended up getting wrecked. The year before that it was something else. This year, Bubba ends up running the Pros again. And that’s a good thing because I want the competition. But I think that we were absolutely the best that we could be. We just got beat.”
Pollard is now three-for-three with this particular Pro Late Model with wins coming at the Florida Governor’s Cup at New Smyrna Speedway, the Snowflake 100 at Five Flags Speedway and now at CRA SpeedFest.
“It was pretty good (today),” Pollard said. “We were a bit tight so when we got behind guys it was hard to pass. We had to run a little harder than we wanted to, but it was good out front.”
Although Pollard and South were able to cross the finish line as the top two finishers, Pollard was left a little disappointed with the way they raced each other.
“That’s nothing new. I was up the race track as far as I could go. You just have to adjust to the people you’re racing against and know who you’re racing against. That’s all you can do.”
South didn’t seem to feel like there was anything wrong with how the two top finishers raced each other. Instead, he said he enjoyed the racing.
“I had fun. That was fun. I don’t know how he feels about it. I got into him a couple of times when I kind of wish that I didn’t, but it was 20 to go,” South explained. “I knew that if he got by me I wasn’t going to be able to pass him back.”
Casey Roderick completed the podium for the 125-lap JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour feature. Jeff Choquette finished fourth and 14-year-old Dawson Fletcher finished fifth in his first Late Model start.
For an on-demand replay of Saturday’s Trackside Now coverage presented by Jett Concrete, Five Star Race Car Bodies and JRi Shocks, click here.
Speed51.com will have more from CRA SpeedFest still to come on the Speed51 Video Network.
-By Rob Blount, Speed51.com Southeast Editor – Twitter: @RobBlount
-Photo credit: Speed51.com
CRA SpeedFest 125
Crisp Motorsports Park, Cordele, Georgia
Unofficial Results
1 26 Bubba Pollard
2 43 Justin South
3 18 Casey Roderick
4 9 Jeff Choquette
5 71 Dawson Fletcher
6 78 Corey Heim
7 10 Steve Dorer
8 20 Jack Dossey, III
9 9 Jeff Choquette
10 5P Kyle Plott
11 17 Josh Brock
12 19 Brandon Jones
13 24 Christopher Tullis
14 32 Harold Crooms
15 17H Blaise Hetznecker
16 1 Josh Adkins
17 21 Brandon Johnson
18 41H Taylor Holdaway
19 22 Brandon Herbert
20 16 David Hodges
21 7 Billy Nipper
22 27 Joe Ross
23 76 Jerrick Johnson
24 41 Hayden Sprague
25 23 Chris Koslek
26 5 Daniel Keene, Jr.
27 4 Kyle McCallum
28 38 Hunter Byrd
