It will be teen day on the front row Sunday for the 42nd annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway. Blizzard Series champion Johanna Long, all of 17 years old, and Ross Kenseth, a 16-year-old are the two fastest drivers for the prestigious race. Long, the popular track champion, blasted the old track record on a cold night Friday with a lap of 16.463 seconds.
Ross Kenseth, the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Matt Kenseth, had a time of 16.488 seconds. They will start Sunday’s race in front of Sprint Cup star Kyle Busch, who was third fastest. Starting fourth will be two-time defending Snowball Derby champion Augie Grill.
The top 14 drivers broke the previous record of 16.629. The top 30 were locked in Friday night. Twenty-eight other drivers will have to qualify in the last-chance race on Saturday.
Former Snowball Derby champions also made the field including Eddie Mercer (7th) and Steve Wallace (18th). Chase Elliott, the son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, qualified 10th. Bubba Pollard, who finished third in the Blizzard Series, was the 31st fastest in a backup car, just missing qualifying for the field.
10 Johanna Long 16.463
25 Ross Kenseth 16.488
51 Kyle Busch 16.513
112 Augie Grill 16.521
99 Casey Smith 16.552
20 Brian Campbell 16.553
1 Eddie Mercer 16.562
14 Cale Gale 16.563
39 Ryan Sieg 16.573
9 Chase Elliott 16.575
16 Brian Scott 16.579
42 Dennis Prunty 16.598
72 Scott Hantz 16.603
31 Tyler Millwood 16.628
38 Josh Hamner 16.640
1 Stephan McCurley 16.650
15 Brian Ickler 16.654
66 Steve Wallace 16.658
33 Jeff Choquette 16.665
48 Cecil Chunn 16.681
09 Randy Gentry 16.685
35 David Stremme 16.686
2 John Bolen 16.695
82 Grant Enfinger 16.720
10 Danny Bagwell 16.723
11 David Rogers 16.733
93 Shane Sieg 16.736
21 Scott Carlson 16.738
99 Wayne Niedecken Jr. 16.740
12 Justin Drawdy 16.742
Did not qualify
26 Bubba Pollard 16.752
67 Jeff Fultz 16.758
43 Dennis Schoenfeld 16.759
27 Jason Young 16.777
02 Matt Smith 16.786
05 Jeremy Colangelo 16.808
91 Heath Hindman 16.813
11 John Wilkinson III 16.818
711 Max Gresham 16.820
16 Tom Thomas 16.828
6 Hunter Robbins 16.834
49 Ryan Lawler 16.851
10 Ryan Crane 16.890
5 Jerry Artuso 16.899
51 Bobby Gill 16.900
41 Chris Davidson 16.902
45 Dwayne Buggay 16.909
14 Ken McFarland 16.958
97 Jimmy Garmon 16.965
1 Tim Martin 16.965
31 James Buexcher 16.966
44 Gary Helton 16.984
167 Tim George Jr. 17.025
88 Roger Reuse 17.055
82 Donnie Wilson 17.130
17 Josh Brock 17.244
25 Rocky Boyd Sr. 17.546
61 Johnny VanDoorn NT
Scotty Anderson of Opp, Ala., passed Jody Henderson with one lap remaining to capture the 50-lap Super Stock feature. It was an interesting path that Anderson took to get to Victory Lane. Midway through the race, he dove low in Turn 1 to pass Henderson for the lead. But a lap car was running on the bottom. Anderson clipped the car and a few laps later, his tire blew from the damage and he hit the wall. But he replaced the flat during a caution period and worked his way back to the front. He caught Henderson on Lap 39, pulling alongside him. He took the lead in Turn 4 as he took the white flag for the final lap.
Jessie Reid finished third. The top two contenders took themselves out on the first lap. Track champion and polesitter Shannon Jackson and Chris Cotto were running side-by-side after just one lap when they both got together, spun and hit the wall. Jackson’s night was over, while Cotto lost some speed because of the damage.
Henderson took over the lead.
On Lap 22, Earl Polk, who was running second, was spun when he was tapped by Paul Jean. They both spun in turn 4 and about eight other cars piled into them.
Mark Chrudimsky won the rain-shortened Modified feature when the race was called after 36 of the 50 laps. Chrudimsky took the lead for good on Lap 30 when he went low in Turn 4 and used a lap car to pass Brian Nester. Bubba Gale then passed Nester for second four laps later. The rains then started two laps later. Nester started on the outside pole and led the first lap until Chrudimsky passed him on a restart. Nester retook the lead on Lap 13 and held it for the next 17 laps.
Super Stock – 1. Scotty Anderson; 2. Jody Henderson; 3. Jessie Reid; 4. Darryl Rudd; 5. Randy Thompson; 6. Sean Goodwin; 7. Mike Moore; 8. Tommy Rollins; 9. Steve Britt; 10. Howard Langam; 11. Allen Alexander; 12. Earl Polk; 13. Paul Jean; 14. Stuart Dunn; 15. Chris Cotto; 16. Michael Ledlow; 17. Charlie Skipper; 18. Lewis Iwsley; 19. Shannon Jackson; 20. Roger Cain
Modified – 1. Mark Chrudimsky; 2. Bubba Gale; 3. Brian Nester; 4. Mike Stacy; 5. Ryan Redmon; 6. John Sappralcone; 7. Danny Bagwell; 8. Jeff Letson; 9. Donnie Hamrac; 10. Nathan Ingersoll; 11. Kyle Jones; 12. Tim Martin; 13. John Gerstner; 14. Scooter Grice; 15. Jason Boyd; 16. Gerald Wilkerson; 17. Jeremy Gerstner; 18. Jason Morman; 19. Kevin Peel; 20. Chris MacDonald; 21. Damon Breedlove; 22. Frankie Martin; 23. Randy Haney; 24. Chris Cotto; 25. Scott Barbaric; 26. Josh Goodwin; 27. John Schultz; 28. Bill Melvin; 29. A.J. Winstead; 30. Tuffy Hudson; 31. Jeff Garius; 32. Randy Herrick
