Racecontrol: 2nd Annual Georgia Spring Nationals in Watermelon Capital
CORDELE, Georgia (March 22, 2022) – Round two of the 2022 Southern Super Season marches on to Cordele, Georgia’s Crisp Motorsports Park on March 25-26th for the second running of the Georgia Spring Nationals. Watermelon Capital Speedway’s Budweiser Pro Late Models and a full slate of local divisions all have a place on the agenda in a jam packed weekend.
Coming on the heels of the 46th Rattler 250, where Ty Majeski snagged his fifth rattlesnake, the stars and cars of the Southern Super Series travel from the peanut farms to the watermelon farms to continue their season-long battle in a 125 lap contest on the Georgia four tenths mile oval.
It’s the series’ second trip to Cordele this year. In January, Bubba Pollard bested a hard charging Chandler Smith to take the victory in SpeedFest 2022; a co-sanctioned event between the Southern Super Series and the CRA Super Series. Michael Hinde pulled off a break out victory in the Pro Late Model portion of the weekend in his first trip to the speedway. Both Pollard and Hinde return to compete in Cordele this weekend.
With Majeski and Smith running the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event in Austin, Texas this weekend, names like Pollard, Stephen Nasse and defending series champion Jake Garcia come to the forefront as championship favorites with contenders like Hinde, Jake Finch and Jackson Boone all ready to capitalize on any opportunity possible.
Pollard goes into Cordele technically third in the points standings, but Majeski and second place Austin Nason are not expected to enter this weekend, making Pollard the de facto top contender. Pollard’s victory in January’s SpeedFest was his second in the racing season, the first coming at New Smyrna Speedway in the Red Eye 50/50.
Stephen Nasse was quiet, but solid in the Rattler 250, coming away with a top ten finish. The Florida driver won a super late model feature during the World Series of Asphalt Racing in New Smyrna Beach in February. At Cordele in January, Nasse was in the mix with under 10 laps to go before a tangle with Michael Atwell ended his chances at a SpeedFest victory.
Jake Garcia, coming off of a top five in South Alabama, is riding high on the solid start as he defends his 2021 Southern Super Series championship. Garcia finished fourth in January behind Carson Hocevar. The young veteran driver recently announced plans to race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Bill McAnally.
Corey Heim picked up his third career super late model win in last year’s Spring Nationals after rebounding from a penalty following contact with race leader Jett Noland. After climbing back up through the field, Heim passed Hunter Robbins with 25 to go, then had to fend off a challenge on the race’s final green-white-checkered overtime to get the win. Hiem doesn’t have a return visit to Cordele listed on his racing schedule at the time of this article, but if he does he will be doing so after picking up his first NASCAR Truck Series win this past Saturday in Atlanta.
Extra money is on the line for the Southern Super Series drivers as this weekend marks the first installment of the Southern Super Stars program.
Super Late Model Drivers inside the top 12 in series points following the 46th Annual Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway on March 15th qualify to enter the Southern Super Stars for the next series points event, where they will compete against the other drivers in the top 12 of series points for up to $750 in additional prize money for the highest finisher.
The action kicks off Friday afternoon with pro and super late model practice from 2pm to 7pm. Then, the local hotshoes take their turn on track with practice, qualifying and featuring racing rounding out the evening.
On Saturday, the Southern Super Series takes center stage, and is surrounded by a host of feature races before and after the 125 super late model main event.
Feature racing begins at 5:30pm with the Southern Super Series set to roll at approximately 8pm.
Racing America, powered by Speed51.tv, will have live broadcast coverage of the event, and of course, PixelatedSPEED will be on hand capturing the day’s action.
For more information, log on to crispmotorsportspark.com
- Daniel Vining, Twitter: @danielvining
- Photo: Daniel Vining/PixelatedSPEED.com
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