6/1/2025
New Smyrna Speedway
NSS Safety Team Shines on First Responders Night (5/31/2025 Race Recap).
Family Fun Night never disappoints, and we couldn’t be more thankful for our First Responders on THEIR night. They came in clutch to take care of one of our drivers after a scary crash. This night had a little of everything; great racing, photo finishes, crashes and even some fist-to-cuffs. The crowd was definitely entertained to say the least.
An unusually short field of Sportsman kicked off the feature action with point leader Donovan Ponder taking the race lead early. It looked like he was on cruise control and heading to victory when Steve Barnes had apparent electrical issues and shut down on the track bringing on the yellow. On the restart Will Robinson tried his best to take the top spot from Ponder but he would come up just short when the checkers flew. Donovon Ponder would claim another victory and extend his point lead but he was not impressed with the late race caution but said they are coming for the championship. Will Robinson settled for runner up and an emotional Sean Fitzgerald scored a career best 3rd place run!
It may have been his 3rd different car of the year, but it was the same result for Zachary Curtis who dominated the Bomber B race. We have now challenged Mr. Curtis to win with at least 6 different cars this season just to spice it up! His biggest challenge in this caution free race was navigating traffic and he even made that look easy. Dustin Higdon finally got the monkey off his back and ended up with a good run, coming home 2nd and Ben Seay gave the” Black Pony” its best ride of the season taking his smoking number 3 machine up to 3rd at the race’s end!
A solid field of 14 Bomber A machines took to the track next and had another great race. Mike Austin driving for his late best friend Tim Soares, took the orange number 17 machine to the front and dominated most of the race. Mike was doing all he could to stay out front to win one for Tim, but with just a few to go his car stumbled and Dustin Higdon would pounce and take the lead. Aaron Foye worked his way from the back of the field to glue himself to Higdon’s back bumper on the final lap. As they came down the front stretch looking for the checkered flag, Foye pulled up alongside Higdon at the line and in a photo finish, Dustin Higdon would hang on for the win! This race had plenty of comers and goers, but no one broke out and the field stayed close, it was a heck of a race for the Bomber A division! Steven Davila would follow Dustin and Aaron across the line to score his career best finish in a backup car!
The 602 Modifieds had the tough task of following the fantastic showing from the bomber A division and it did not take long for things to go array. Hank Baker Jr. would lead lap 1 and Matt Jarrett jumped to his outside heading down into turn 1 and the two touched wheels sending Jarrett hard into the outside wall. The New Smyrna Safety team was quickly on the scene and stayed with Matt as EMS transport arrived. After catching his breath Matt was able to get out and was transported to a nearby hospital for further evaluation as a precaution (see the update from his team below).
Once the race resumed the remaining racers collected their heads and put on a great race. Things would get wild again with just a handful to go as the lapped car of Jason Hansen spun Infront of the leader Hank Baker Jr who has Chris Hatton Sr. all over his back bumper. Thankfully all would avoid contact and race on. When the dust settled Hank Baker Jr. would get the win, with John Hatton charging up to 2nd in the closing laps and Chris Hatton Sr. posting his best effort on the year in 3rd.
• From his team: Matt Jarrett remains in the hospital (as of Sunday morning) but is awake and alert. He is very sure and is working with the hospital staff to make sure there are no lingering effects from the crash. We will provide further updates here as we get them.
The Super Stock field was trimmed from 7 to 5 for the start of the final feature of the night. Mike Amato retired due to crash damage in the heat and Tyler Prenesti had motor issues, but this may have been the most exciting 5 car race ever. After plenty of slicing and dicing through the pack, Chase Symons emerged as the leader and looked like he was going to run away with it until a Brandon Gaither spin changed everything. After several restarts with just a few to go, everyone had a turn up at the front and no one knew who was going to come out on top. There was contact and there were spins, but it would be George Spears who would come through the chaos to take the lead after everyone in front of him got sideways off turn 4 with a couple to go (Seriously go watch this incredible save on Speedway Video). Spears would hold of the charge from Chase Symons to get back to victory lane after a mid-race spin and he was the only happy camper in victory lane.
As victory lane celebrations wrapped up things got a bit “chippy” on both the front stretch and the infield as Super Stock guys were mad at each other, mad at race control and even mad at the fans. While that was going on the 602 guys were mad at each other in the infield. After everyone was separated things would calm down and another wild Family Fun Night would come to a close. For just $5 there was a season worth on entertainment crammed into one night and we will do it all again next week with the J&C Gradall Modified Challenge Series, Sportsman, Bomber B and Florida Southern Ground Pounders all in action!
Justin Otterholt scored the win in a fun round of Spectator Racing to score his 50th career spectator race win spanning many different racetracks!
Full Race Results: https://www.newsmyrnaspeedway.org/schedules/event/544287
Full Event Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@SpeedwayVideo
Event Photos: https://jimjonesphoto.photoreflect.com/
Article Credit: Ryan Stevens
Submitted By: Ryan Stevens
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