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Choquette Beats and Bangs way to No. 5, Holmes Captures Season PLM Title; Jorgensen Finishes Strong for Pro Trucks Crown

By Chuck Corder

Earning a victory at Five Flags Speedway, regardless the division, can be a career-defining milestone for any driver.

Rarely does a hotshoe come along and tame the magnitude of the famed half-mile asphalt oval.

And few late model drivers have ever had Five Flags under their spell quite like Jeff Choquette has this summer.

The 29 year old from West Palm Beach ran his streak of Allen Turner Hyundai Pro Late Model wins to five by capturing the Allen Turner Tuneup 100 on Sunday at Pensacola’s high banks. The race was postponed from Saturday night because of periodic showers.

“The cards have fallen our way these last five races,� Choquette said. “Hopefully, this continues, and we keep riding the momentum. It kinda threw us a curveball with the daytime weather and the track being slicker, but we prevailed.�

He and runner-up Casey Roderick wrote another chapter in their never-disappointing soap opera, as each driver engaged in some good, old-fashioned “rubbin’ is racin’ � tactics while they battled for the lead in the final four laps.

Roderick took clean air from then-leader Cole Anderson on Lap 77 following a restart for the only caution of the day.

Ten laps later, Choquette was second and within a car length of Roderick. The pair deftly navigated two-wide lapped traffic in front of them before Choquette pulled back onto Roderick’s bumper.

Choquette used his No. 9 Jett Racing Team’s bumper to perfection, nudging the No. 18 just enough to slip into the lead on Lap 96. Roderick almost immediately returned the favor and reclaimed the lead a lap later in Turn No. 2.

“Every time we get around each other, we gotta hit each other it seems,� said Roderick, bemoaning this budding rivalry with Choquette. “I don’t like racing like that. But, time and time again, when you get hit, you gotta retaliate. I don’t agree with racing like that, though.�

Choquette was once again hounding Roderick almost immediately after he surrendered the lead to the No. 18 Ronnie Sanders machine.

As they came to the flagstand with three to go, the duo was sliding all over the place down the front stretch.

Choquette was the first to right the ship and surged back into the lead in coming out of Turn No. 1.

He cruised home for his fifth victory in a row. In the process, Choquette moved past Junior Niedecken for second in the season’s final standings and an automatic berth in the Snowflake 100 this December during the 49th annual Snowball Derby festivities.

“It’s up to that man over there,� Choquette said, pointing to car owner Pat Jett. “I’ll do whatever he tells me.�

Joining Choquette this December will be Allen Turner Hyundai PLM track champion Bret Holmes. Holmes finished eighth Sunday, but already had the title locked up before the opening green flag dropped thanks to a consistent year.

“I really enjoyed racing here this year,� said Holmes, a 19-year-old from Munford, Ala., just outside of Talladega, with big career dreams. “We had a great car each race. We never finished off the podium except for today. I wish we would’ve done a lot better today so that I could enjoy this to its full extent, but at the same time, I’m tickled we won the championship here.�

The other news to come from Sunday was the resurgence of Mobile’s Ryan Paul. Paul, a champion driver who has stepped away from driving recently, rediscovered how talented he truly is with a third-place finish.

Paul set the tower abuzz earlier Sunday with his first lap time of 16.726 seconds to snatch the pole in qualifying.

“It has been a long, hard fight to just get back here to this point,� Paul said. “Those two guys (Choquette and Roderick) did a heckuva job in front of us. It was a good race to watch from third.�

Cole Anderson dominated early on, leading 46 laps until that caution flew on Lap 76 when Kody Jett went for a spin all by his lonesome on the back stretch.

None of the leaders, all the way back to Pensacola’s Jeremy Pate back in fourth, had been awfully hard on their tires and a push toward Anderson’s lead was immediate on the restart.

 

Beef “O� Brady’s Pro Trucks

If you blinked during the 40-lap Beef “O� Brady’s Pro Trucks season finale Sunday at Five Flags Speedway, you missed the moment the track championship was decided.

It happened that quickly. So quick, in fact, that Howard Langham barely had time to react to the freight train that rumbled by.

He went from second to fifth place in a matter of seconds on Lap 16 and helplessly watched Taylor Jorgensen seal the title with another podium finish.

Jorgensen, a Pro Trucks rookie, is in her first season behind the wheel of a full-bodied racecar or truck after a decorated career driving Legends and Bandoleros.

“This season has been a complete dream season to me,� an ecstatic and emotional Jorgensen said. “I came in, first year in a full-bodied racecar, and I never thought I would’ve won a championship at Five Flags Speedway. It has always been a dream just to race here. It’s a total dream come true. This is unbelievable. I just wanna cry.�

She finished third Sunday, as Molino’s Jarrett Parker won for the second time at Five Flags in 2016. Rick Pollaro took back to Texas runner-up honors.

Jorgensen became the first female to win a Pro Trucks crown at Pensacola’s high banks and the first female to win a series, period, at Five Flags since Johanna Long did it two years ago for PLMs.

She came into Sunday leading Langham by a meager four points. That meant, the 49-year-old Langham only needed to finish three spots ahead of the 20-year-old Georgian to take the track crown.

For the opening laps, the gameplan worked to perfection for the Irvington, Ala., veteran. Langham started second and shot to the lead on the opening lap while Jorgensen toiled back in eighth.

Parker, running second, maneuvered around Langham with a power move and screamed to the lead on Lap 8 and never looked back on his way to Victory Lane for the second time this season.

“We’re finally getting this little truck figured out and getting better,� said Parker, who got his first career Pro Trucks win in June. “I hope we can do just as good during Snowball week.�

While Parker was pulling away, Jorgensen was getting impatient riding sixth, as were the three other cars that were trying to figure a way around Langham.

If those positions had held, Langham would’ve finished four spots ahead of Jorgensen. That would easily have been good enough to clinch the title.

Things don’t always turn out like you hope for, though — on or off the racetrack. Instead, Pollaro was the first of the bunch to pull the trigger. He got by Langham on Lap 15, just before Jorgensen found Langham a lap later.

The season’s two top cars battled side-by-side momentarily before Jorgensen slid inside Langham for fourth, Jorgensen rattling her way to a crowning destiny.

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