3/23/2025
New Smyrna Speedway
Brad May Doubles Down to Open Florida Sunbelt Series Season.
Brad May Doubles Down to Open Florida Sunbelt Series Season.
New Smyrna Speedway
3/22/2025
10 David Rogers Super Late Models would take to the track on an unusually cool March evening, knowing Brad May was the man to beat. After a jumbled qualifying session Brad May would prove why, qualifying P1!
After a rare invert of 0, Brad May would lead the field to green and jump out to big lead early! After chatting with Brad may in the pits earlier, he knew George Gorham would be one of his toughest competitors, but there were a couple wild cards in the field last night that would try to catch him off guard. One of those wild cards would be Darren Shaw who would qualify 2nd and have a very solid first race finishing in the 3rd position. Up front it would be Brad May who would scoot away from George Gorham as the first race would go clean and green for 50 laps. When the checkered flag would fly, Brad May would score his first win of the year over George Gorham and Darren Shaw.
Race number 2 would be a little more difficult for Brad May as he would start back in the 5th position. Another one of the “wildcards” in the field Austin Teras, would grab the lead early and after the race’s only yellow for debris, he would establish himself as the man to beat. Over the course of the last 40 laps Brad May would have a great battle with George Gorham to take the second position and then he would set his sights on Austin Teras. Teras would quickly see the white number 9 machine of May grow larger and larger in his mirror and with about 5 laps to go, May would finally slip underneath the 29 of Teras and ride off to victory for the second time of the evening. Teras would cross the line in second but would be disqualified in post-race tech for being too light. This would move George Gorham to the runner up spot and Bryton Horner to a career best 3rd place finish.
Top 3 Race 1:
1 9 Brad May
2 10 George Gorham
3 17 Darren Shaw
Top 3 Race 2:
1 9 Brad May
2 10 George Gorham
3 21 Bryton Horner
The Sportsman division would deliver another great race on the high banks with a very competitive field duking it out for the win. The story would be Donovan Ponder who would wrestle second away from Earl Beckner Jr. and then track down leader Steve Barnes with just a handful of laps to go. Ponder and Barnes would battle for the lead in a thrilling race up front with Ponder getting the advantage and driving away to earn his first career New Smyrna Sportsman win! The real drama in this race would occur off turn four coming to the checkers. Earl Becker would give Steve Barnes a love tap causing Barnes to spin out of 2nd. The two would then have a heated discussion in victory lane after the incident with Barnes revving his engine over Beckner’s post-race interview. Becker would be moved to 9th on the official finish for initiating the incident, moving Dylan LeBeau to 2nd and George Alexander to 3rd.
Top 3:
1 8 Donovan Ponder
2 88 Dylan LeBeau
3 63 George Alexander
A new season of Bomber A racing leads to much of the same with the top drivers still dominating despite the 24 second breakout rule. Dustin Higdon (who seemingly can take any car and drive it to the front), hopped in the Joe Racine 13 machine and would do just that. This was a very competitive race with the top 5 all over each other for most of the 20 lap contest. Only one driver, Stephen Brown, would get nabbed by the “Speeding Police” leaving Higdon fighting for the win against Eddie Evans, Aaron Foye and Brandon Monroe. Coming to the checkers as Higdon let up to avoid breaking out & Eddie Evans almost stole the victory but would have to settle for runner as Higdon would hold on. In victory lane, Higdon was challenged to drive a different car every week to see how many wins he could get!
Top 3:
1 13 Dustin Higdon
2 3 Eddie Evans
3 7 Aaron Foye
The Florida Southern Ground Pounders brought a great field of 14 cars to the track for their season opener and unfortunately a multi car wreck on lap 1 would thin the field considerably. Brandon Blevins spun off turn 4 and landed in the lap of Scott Cutter who had nowhere to go. Several other cars were caught up in the incident as they tried to get through the wreckage. The Cutter and Blevins cars would be destroyed and will take a lot of work to get back to the track. Charles Pashal and Laurie Bonaparte would be able to continue. After the cleanup, Hank Sanders and Art Kunzeman would dominate the race, battling for the win. After a spin with 2 laps to go, Hank Sanders would hold off Kunzeman in a shootout to win the first race of the year. Art Kunzeman, who has been one of the most dominating drivers in the class would declare “there is a new sheriff in town” after Sanders’ convincing victory.
Top 3:
1 90 Hank Sanders
2 9 Art Kunzeman
3 44 Tobi Smith
Class Winners: Modified, 90 Hank Sanders. Stock Car, 9 Art Kunzeman,
Sportsman, 4D Frank Pelkey
Next week, we have our first Family Fun Night of the regular season featuring $5 general admission! The Pro Trucks return after their thriller on oping night, plus the Super Stocks, Bomber A, Bomber B and 602 Modifieds. The always entraining Spectator Races are on the card too. It is value for the entire family that cannot be beat!
Full Race Results: https://www.newsmyrnaspeedway.org/schedules/event/544227
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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