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Butcher leads all 100 Laps to Win Blizzard

Butcher Continues Torrid Start to ’25, Wins Pensacola Sports 100 at 5 Flags

By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter

The theme of Friday night at Five Flags Speedway was utter domination.
Four classes thrilled the Five Flags faithful. Each division saw a winner flex their respective muscles against talented fields and easily collect checkered flags.

Perhaps none was more impressive than Cole Butcher in the Deep South Cranes Blizzard Series and Southern Super Series. The Nova Scotia driver—fresh on the heels of his March victory at Five Flags in the Sunshine State 200 and another ASA STARS National Tour win at Dominion Raceway in Virginia—captured the Pensacola 100 on Friday for his third big Super Late Model triumph in less than a month.
Butcher battered the 18-car field, leading every lap and never breaking a sweat until he finally exhaled in Victory Lane.
“It’s good to be back,” Butcher said. “(Five Flags) is really tough. Clean air means everything.”
He wasted no time getting out front Friday. Starting on the outside of Row 1, Butcher was side-by-side with polesitter Jackson Boone as the pair flew down the back stretch.
As the pair hit Turn No. 3, Butcher blasted by Boone on the outside and quickly built a hefty lead that at one point nearly reached 2 seconds.
Teenager Carson Brown finished runner-up and Boone rounded out the podium.

“It’s not a bad finish but we just needed a little bit more,” Brown said. “We didn’t quite have enough. We’ll get this thing dialed in a little more.”
Boone: “Everyone worked really hard to get me in this car. I’m just proud of this team. I’m honored to get a top-3 for them.”
For those keeping score, it was the second fastest race in Blizzard Series history. Seven states and two countries were represented with three Canadians in the field, including Butcher.
Five-time Blizzard Series king Bubba Pollard qualified fourth, but the redraw put him eighth and the Late Model icon struggled to get anything going en route to a ninth-place finish.

Speaking of ninth, that’s where Stephen Nasse started. The long-run specialist was licking his chops when he cracked the top-five just after the midway point of the race. Unfortunately, fifth is where the 2024 Snowflake 100 champion finished. Nasse finished just behind Jake Finch, who started fourth and finished in the same position.

The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen
Chad Robinson is inevitable.
You must account for him no matter where he is on the racetrack. Often, he’s out front leading races. But even in those rare instances when he’s not, Robinson’s presence can be felt.
He started fifth in Friday night’s The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen 25-lap feature. No problem. Robinson took the lead from Parker McDonald just before the halfway point and never relinquished it.
“It’s been treating me good since the Derby,” Robinson said of the red No. 32 he wheels. “I have to give it some love.”
Robinson has now won six out of the last seven features at Five Flags, including the Sportsmen Snowball Derby last December.
B.J. Leytham finished second and Jim Pokrant came away with third. The race saw one caution when the McDonald brothers—Daryl and Parker—collided with each other down the back straightaway.
Despite not getting the win, Leytham was tickled with his result.
“We’re lucky tonight—we had a fourth- or fifth-place car,” he said. “Sometimes, it pays to be lucky. I don’t know what else to do (to catch Robinson). We’ll go back to the drawing board.”

Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks
Mason Johnston is tired of being the bridesmaid.
He has his sights set on a track championship this season after two close calls in back-to-back years. Johnston took a big and encouraging first step toward that goal Friday night at the famed half-mile asphalt oval.
He led every lap of the season-opening Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks 20-lap feature.

“The year before I had some bad luck. Last year, Maddox just beat me,” Johnston recounted. “This year, I knew I had to do my homework.”
The reigning Pure Stocks Snowball Derby champion has now won three features in a row at Five Flags, including the big one last December.
Johnston stays motivated by focusing on the losses and near-misses rather than the victories.

“I don’t look at wins,” he said. “I look at the times I’ve gotten beat. We just come out here, race and compete.
“I knew I had a good car at the Snowball. I made some minor changes and it’s still quick.”
Indeed, it was. Cameron Leytham finished runner-up and Robert Barber came home third.

Story & Bleich Roofing Crown Stocks
They’re only two races in, but the Story and Bleich Roofing Crown Stocks have a storyline emerging: Doug Thorpe vs. the Salter Brothers.
While the Pensacola driver and the boys from Andalusia, Ala.—Adam and Chris Salter—have great mutual respect for each other, they are battling for checkered flags often at Five Flags Speedway.

It was Adam Salter’s turn to rattle Thorpe’s cage Friday. After building a 1.9-second lead, Thorpe withstood a late fury from Salter and thick lapped traffic to win the 20-lap feature.

“I need some oxygen,” the 62-year-old Thorpe joked. “That was a tough race. Anytime you see 6 (Adam Salter’s car) and the Salter boys come to town, you know you’re gonna have your hands full.”
Adam Salter was on Thorpe’s bumper for the final three laps and had several shots to force the issue as Thorpe navigated the lapped Crown Stocks in the 20-car field. Thorpe shut the door each time on Salter, who showed respect and fell in line.

“I couldn’t get going at first,” Salter said. “I tried really hard to close the gap. He got way out there and then all those lapped cars helped us get back.”
Salter finished second and Ryan Bleich rounded out the podium.

Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks
1 6 Mason Johnston, Eight Mile, AL
2 34 Cameron Leytham, Mobile, AL
3 97 Robert Barber, Mobile, AL
4 30 Bobby Suarez, Pensacola, FL
5 2 Connor Odom, Pensacola, FL
6 24 Caleb Burkett, Pensacola, FL
7 28 Dayton Sidner, Pensacola, FL
8 98 Payton Guy, Pace, FL
9 80 Zack Jordan, Cantonment, FL
10 24 Gary Burkett, Pensacola, FL

Pensacola Sports Authority Blizzard 100
1 28 Cole Butcher, Porters Lake, NS, Canada
2 81 Carson Brown, New London, NC
3 7 Jackson Boone, Franklin, TN
4 51 Jake Finch, Lynn Haven, FL
5 51 Stephen Nasse, Pinellas Park, FL
6 8 Jace Hansen, Evans, CO
7 24 Gavan Boschele, Mooresville, NC
8 96 Spencer Davis, Statesville, NC
9 26 Bubba Pollad, Senoia, GA
10 18 Colby Howard, Simpson, NC
11 33 Dustin Smith, Mobile, AL
12 54 Matt Craig, Mt. Pleasant, NC
13 22 George Phillips, Charlotte, NC
14 2 John Bolen, Jasper, AL
15 14 Chase Pinsonneault, Belle River, ONT, Canada
16 8 Nicholas Naugle, Dartmouth, NS, Canada
17 1 Kasey Kleyn, Quincy, WA
18 5 Dylan Armstrong, Canton, GA

Story and Bleich Roofing Crown Stock 20
1 62 Doug Thorpe, Jr. Pensacola, FL
2 6 Adam Salter, Andalusia, AL
3 17 Ryan Bleich, Sr. Pensacola, FL
4 44 Tyler Young, Pensacola, FL
5 26 Blaise Boykin, Pensacola, FL
6 91 Caleb Sanford, Coden, AL
7 25 Cameron Adams, Milton, FL
8 11 Cody Griggs, Pensacola, FL
9 83 Noah Carter, Cantonment, FL
10 38 Lance Ellis, Elba, AL
11 39 Charles Ellis,
12 75 Colton Rutherford,
13 37 Tim Hudson,
14 12 Dee Davis, Walnut Hill, AL
15 25 Cody Hobbs, Pace, FL
16 80 Matthew Jarrett, Hurlbert Field, AFB, FL
17 42 Lance Elliott, Laramie, WY
18 1779 Dayton Sidner, Pensacola, FL
19 97 Hunter Lambert, Pensacola, FL
20 3 Lee Fussler,

Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen
1 32 Chad Robinson, Mobile, AL
2 8 B J Leytham, Mobile, AL
3 7 Jim Pokrant Pensacola, FL
4 1 Jonathan Langham, Mobile, AL
5 29 Parker McDonald, Theodore, AL
6 19 Daryl McDonald, III, Theodore, AL
7 99 Billy Hoover, Pensacola, FL

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