3/30/2025
New Smyrna Speedway
Nonstop Action on Family Fun Night!!
An amazing World Series sized crowd gathered for the March edition of Family Fun Night and were treated to an amazing night of racing on the high banks of the New Smyrna Speedway!
After some exciting heat racing and an on-track autograph session, the feature events lived up to the hype and a solid field of Bomber A cars would kick things off. The usual suspects would work their way to the front giving the fans a great battle for the lead for much of the event. While drivers battled each other and the 24 second break out rule, the race was a clean one. The “speeding police” would ruin a couple driver’s races but the top 5 would stay close all race long. Last year’s champion Caleb Jones and Steven Wright would swap the lead a couple times late in the race with Wright eventually getting the advantage and hanging on for his first win of the year. Caleb Jones would come home second with Dustin Higdon working his way from the back of the field to finish in third.
The 602 Modifieds made their regular Season debut and as usual the race was exciting and unpredictable. Matt Montineri started in the 3rd position and took the lead early and was looking to drive off and dominate the 20 lap main event. However, When Shain Held and Chris Hatton Sr. tangled with a handful of laps to go, the restart changed everything. Leader Matt Montineri did not get going on the restart and as the field scrambled around him, Hank Baker Jr would take the lead. Baker would then have to hold off a hard charging Matt Jarrett as the two made contact several times in the closing laps. Hank Baker Jr. would hold off Jarrett’s challenge to pick up his first career win in the 602 Modifieds after several close calls last year!
As always, the Super Stocks did not disappoint! Rookie Chase Symons would start on the pole and battle with Tyler Presnesti for the lead early. But it would be “The Mallot” Chase Symons who would dominate early. As the field settled in, Justin Spears driving his beat-up car affectionately named “Wrinkles” would work his way to the front. After a clean battle, Justin Spears would be too much to handle for Symons, leading to Justin Spears picking up his first win of 2025 in this caution free affair. Symons Would settle for a career best second place finish, with Tyler Prenesti hanging on for 3rd.
A huge field of Bomber B cars were on hand for their second race of the year. During the drivers meeting, one of the visiting racers offered some extra cash for the winner if the race could be extended to 30 laps and that is exactly what happened! 22 cars would take the green flag, with Zachary Curtis starting in the rear as the most recent winner. He would quickly knife his way through the pack and close in on the lead battle with Thomas Peet, Coty Gray and Eric Sharrone. The entire complexion of the race would change when Noah Torres would spin in turn 3 with the leaders not far behind. As the field tried to avoid a major incident broke out. Eric Sharrone would spin trying to avoid Torres and this would lead to Zachary Curtis getting rear ended by Lindsey Samion. Curtis would end up with rear end damage and a broken shock but would continue, once again from the back of the pack. After the clean-up, several cars were torn up, but most would continue. As the race resumed Peet and Gray would again battle for the top spot, but all eyes were on Curtis who was trying to work back in to contention with his banged up and ill handling race car. Things would get exciting with a couple to go as Curtis would catch the leaders and battle door to door with Coty Gray for the win. Curtis would make the winning pass on the apron of turns 3 & 4 as Coty did everything he could to keep Curtis at bay. Once again Zachary Curtis found his way to victory over coming many obstacles and some very strong competition. It was a drive for the ages for Curtis and one of the gutsiest wins of his storied racing career. Gray would cross the line third but was DQed in post race tech with a locked rear end. This would move last year’s champ Jason Skovran to 3rd behind runner up Thomas Peet!
A strong field of Ashley Homes JAX Trucks would wrap up the evening with an intense battle between rivals. After the 7 Truck Invert Nick Provost would lead the field to green however, the story in this one would be Jeffery White vs George Gorham Jr. The two would rekindle their rivalry from another track a while back as they gave each other no room on the very important restarts. The Two would touch several times coming to green trying to get the advantage and would ultimately point the finger at each other when the dust settled. On the final restart it would be Gorham who would get said advantage and drive away to pick up his first win of the year after a runner up finish on opening night. Jeffery White would come home 2nd with Wilson Martins Jr. claiming the final spot on the podium. In victory lane Gorham and White would have words and agree to disagree and things were “civil” until the crews got involved. After a few tense moments and a couple of “not so nice” words things would calm down and this thrilling night would come to a close.
We want to thank EVERYONE who came out to Family Fun Night and made this night a great success. Without the drivers, crews and fans none of this would be possible. You are the ones keeping short track racing alive and well and we look forward to another great night next Saturday with the Season Opener for the Hoosier Pro late Model Challenge Series Twin 50s. The Super Stocks, Bomber A and Sportsman divisions will also be in action too. It all gets started at 6 PM BE THERE!
Full Race Results: https://www.newsmyrnaspeedway.org/schedules/event/544236
Full Event Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@SpeedwayVideo
Event Photos: https://jimjonesphoto.photoreflect.com/
Submitted By: Ryan Stevens
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