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Pollard Hoists Deep South Cranes 150 Title; Roderick, Johnson, Buttrick, Leytham Secure Titles on Night of Champions

 

By Chuck Corder

They don’t call it the famed half-mile asphalt oval for nothing.

Every time you look around Five Flags Speedway, it seems history is being made. It doesn’t matter the night, doesn’t matter those behind the steering wheel, one of short-track racing’s iconic venues never ceases to disappoint.

And what better setting to carve more history than at Saturday’s Night of Champions.

Bubba Pollard, fresh off a two-month hiatus away from asphalt racing, made a triumphant and historic return Saturday by winning the Deep South Cranes 150, the Deep South Cranes Blizzard Series and Southern Super Series season finale.

It was the 29-year-old’s fifth Southern Super Series victory at Five Flags, making him the all-time SSS leader for wins in Pensacola.

“We’ve been working hard. These guys, we worked them this weekend,� Pollard said of his No. 26 team. “We may have taken two months off, but we haven’t quit working. This is a brand new car and one heckuva fast car right here, I’ll tell you that.�

It showed from early Saturday when he was the fast qualifier (16.420 seconds) and rolled late into the evening, as Pollard stood on his window with a wide smile and delivered a festive fist pump after swiping the checkered flag.

Pollard won his first Blizzard Series race since last year. He took the lead following a restart with 25 laps completed and withstood three subsequent cautions, including a “competition yellow� at Lap 100, to outlast the 27 other cars in the final tune-up before the 49th annual Snowball Derby in December.

“It’s almost good enough to park,� Pollard, still looking for his first Derby win, said of his ride. “I’m looking forward to coming to the Derby. This is a bad machine right here.�

A pair of teenagers rounded out the podium behind Pollard. Harrison Burton, the 15-year-old son of NASCAR legend Jeff and who outdueled Pollard for a Blizzard Series win back in May, finished second and 14-year-old Christian Eckes came home third.

The other piece of history made Saturday was Casey Roderick being crowned Blizzard Series champion for the second consecutive season.

Roderick, who finished fifth in Saturday’s race, became the first repeat winner in the SLM series since Pensacola racing legend Eddie Mercer went back-to-back during the series’ fledgling years (2004-05).

“It feels great,� said an ecstatic Roderick, who helped secure the championship with two Blizzard Series victories in 2016. “Two in a row is pretty awesome. It’s hard to do in the Blizzard Series. We’ve had a good year here. I’m proud of my guys.�

Roderick, 24, came into Saturday tied in points with 17-year-old Zane Smith. But Smith was dealt a string of blows all night that sucked any mystery away from a potential photo finish.

After Roderick outqualified Smith and before the 150 lapper began, Smith and his Crooks Racing Team removed his No. 77 from the impound line to work on the car.

Because of that decision, Smith started at the back of the 28-car field pack. On the opening lap, Smith was involved in a big crash and was forced to the pits the rest of the night.

Oklahoman Donnie Wilson, who had already locked up the SSS title earlier this month, finished a respectable fourth to build steam heading into the Snowball Derby, short-track racing’s crown jewel that has long eluded him.

Garrett Jones (sixth), Corey LaJoie (eighth) and Cole Anderson (10th) were among those in the top-10 who will be ones to watch come December.

 

Faith Chapel Super Stocks

Todd Jones was left to play the what-if game following the Night of Champions Saturday at Five Flags Speedway.

The Pace veteran driver won his fourth 30-lap Faith Chapel Super Stocks feature of the season Saturday night, but was forced to settle for second in the season’s standings after a suffering a disqualification Sept. 2.

Instead, the Faith Chapel Super Stocks track championship went to Moss Point, Miss., driver Jason Johnson. Johnson’s consistent year of podium and top-six finishes took a hit Saturday night after he pulled his No. 95 to the pits midway through the 30 lapper. His lead was insurmountable, though, and he returned to Victory Lane following the race to celebrate his first career track title at Pensacola’s high banks.

“It’s been a hard year, but this feels great,� Johnson said. “These guys helping me, they mean the world to me.�

Johnson’s championship was well-deserved, and Jones was congratulatory in defeat. But, Jones, the 2014 Faith Chapel Super Stocks track champion at the famed half-mile asphalt oval, felt a second title slip through the cracks earlier this month when his motor was ruled illegal in post-race technical inspection.

“We didn’t make it through the ‘tech shed’ last time we raced,� said Jones, who took the lead on Lap 19 from Charlie Skipper and never looked back Saturday night.

 

The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen

Steve Buttrick’s season didn’t end the way he imagined.

He missed the penultimate feature last weekend for a family reunion in Alaska. Back on Saturday for the Night of Champions, Buttrick got taken out on the first lap and nearly watched The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen track championship slip through his hands.

Turns out, though, it didn’t matter. Buttrick still was able to clinch his third career Sportsmen track title by six points when his nearest competitor, Jim Pokrant, finished fifth.

“It was a good year,� Buttrick said. “I had fun all year racing with all of these guys. It’s a good group to run with.

“I never had much chance to work on the car this season. Literally, it would sit in the shop two weeks and then we’d go racing. But it was a lotta fun. The only reason to come out here is to race and have fun.�

Pokrant needed to win the 30-lap to move past Buttrick in points and claim his first career track cown.

Instead, that honor went to Lee “Red Dog� Reynolds, who promptly handed off his winner’s trophy to Buttrick in Victory Lane. Reynolds felt like Buttrick should be rewarded for his magical season that saw him win six times.

“Man, I forgot what it felt like to win over here,� Reynolds said. “I had to ask where Victory Lane was. I had forgotten. This night was gonna determine whether we were gonna return for the Snowball. I guess we’ll be back.�

Jason Huffmaster and Brannon Fowler rounded out the podium in second and third, respectively.

It was Huffmaster, who made slight contact with Buttrick on the back stretch on the opening lap, pushing the familiar blue No. 33 hard into the inside guard rail.

“I got pushed down the track,� Buttrick said at the scene of the accident during the feature. “Te front end got hit coming out of Turn No. 2 and we ended up here.�

Buttrick’s wreck was the first of six cautions for the 13-car field.

 

Butler U-Pull-It Bombers

It was a rivalry that carried through all season.

Most nights at Five Flags Speedway, it was one filled with tension and a lot of paint swapping. And the feud between B.J. Leytham and Robert Balkum in the Butler U-Pull-It Bombers class never seemed settled on the racetrack, as the two threw barbs at one another through social media and the press.

On the Night of Champions on Saturday, however, it ended in a tie and a long-overdue handshake in Victory Lane.

While Robert Loper won the 25-lap feature, the race for the track championship wasn’t ultimately determined until well after the feature ended.

“That was an awesome race,� Loper said. “That was crazy!�

Balkum, who finished as the runner-up, came into the feature after qualifying trailing Leytham by 18 points, meaning he needed to finish 10 spots ahead of Leytham on the famed half-mile asphalt oval to steal the title.

“I gave it all I could,� Balkum said.

Leytham had an uncharacteristic night because a right front flat tire early in the race derailed him. He incurred a two-lap penalty for stopping on the speedway, but he somehow, someway managed to rally home 11th, nine positions behind Balkum.

Official scorers frantically crunched the numbers, as the drivers waited with bated breath for a decision.

Ultimately, it was determined that Leytham and Balkum tied for the season in points. The tiebreaker went to victories, which easily gave Leytham the track title as he won nine times in 2016, six consecutively coming into Saturday.

“I want to shake this man’s hand,� Leytham said of Balkum before addressing the packed house. “I guess wins do count, don’t they? We really just wanted to stay outta trouble. I didn’t like the two-lap penalty, but it is what is. It all worked out.�

It was the third consecutive season that Leytham’s team, led by crew chief Darryl Jackson, has won a track championship, i

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