Power Push: Patrick Emerling Tops Final Lap Duel For Tour Type Mod Win At New Smyrna

With the laps winding down on the Tour Type Modified division feature Thursday at the World Series Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway it looked like an easy cruise to victory lane for Ronnie Williams. 

And then things got a little haywire. 

A late caution eliminated Williams’ 1.7 second lead and a second late caution cost him the victory. 

Patrick Emerling came out on top of a final lap duel with Williams to win the 60-lap Tour Type Modified feature Thursday at New Smyrna Speedway. 

“We missed a little bit tonight,” Emerling said. “We were a little bit too snug. … Some cautions came out and all heck broke loose.” 

It was the second consecutive victory for Emerling, who won Wednesday’s John Blewett III Memorial 76. 

Williams, who held on to finish second, said officials allowed Emerling to jump the lap 57 and lap 58 restarts. 

“I thought it was just good hard racing, us going for the win,” Williams said. “My problem was more the restarts. The first one he clearly beat me the to the line, the second one he clearly beat me to the line and I thought he also fired first. Last time I checked the leader should control the race and should get to the line first. Kind of out of our control. Of course you wish the caution didn’t come out with four [laps] to go. Did we have one of the best race cars? Yeah, I would say so. But I guess the best race car doesn’t always win. It just sucks because we were that close and that happened. It is what it is and hopefully we can finish that one spot better tomorrow.” 

Jeffrey Battle was third. 

Paulie Hartwig III won the 60-lap Monday feature to kick off the week for the division. Ryan Preece topped the Tuesday 60-lap feature. Emerling scored the win in the John Blewett III Memorial 76 on Wednesday. The five-night run for the division closes on Friday with the running of the Richie Evans Memorial 100. 

With Williams holding a 1.7 second lead, caution flew on lap 57 for the spinning car of third place running Trevor Catalano. 

On the ensuing restart, Emerling got the jump into turn one on the outside, but Williams fought back on the inside to regain the lead off of turn two.  

The caution was back out again on lap 58 for the stopped car of Hartwig. 

On the lap 58 restart, Emerling launched into turn one again on Williams and made it stick, taking control at the front. Williams continued to stalk Emerling and was glued to his bumper to the white flag. 

Into turn one on the final lap, Williams made a diving move to get under Emerling through turns one and two. After some contact, Williams came off turn two with the lead. Emerling clawed to Williams’ bumper down the backstretch. Emerling made contact with Williams into turn three, sending Williams up the track. Emerling took the low lane through the corner and drove to the checkered flag. 

“That was freaking crazy,” Emerling said. “We got moved a little bit but then we had a good run off the bottom and then he threw the block and it was kind of fair game because we got shoved a few times there. … A little aggressive out there. We had some fun. I hope that was a good race for everybody watching.” 

Said Williams: “Don’t get me wrong, I dove it [into turn one on the final lap] expecting to make contact to get myself to turn and have a shot at the win. Patrick is one of the hardest guys to pass. … I knew that was going to be my one chance with him being a little tight. Going down to turn three, yeah things happen quick. Of course I’m blocking, trying to just protect my spot so I can get to the line first and he probably get into my left rear because I was blocking. But again, I don’t think any of that happens if the restart is called back.”