PENSACOLA, Fla. — Casey Roderick ended a long night at Five Flags Speedway in victory lane.
Roderick topped the Allen Turner Snowflake 100 that took six hours to complete. The race was delayed by light rain showers and ended with thick fog covering the half-mile race track.
Still, Roderick led all 100 laps to win his first Snowflake 100 pro late model race in his fifth start in the event.
“Leading flag-to-flag, that’s pretty cool,” Roderick said “I tell you what: I don’t think I’ve ever sat in something like this. This is a well-prepared car and Campi’s guys are all in sync with each other. At this level of racing, it’s always a team effort and they did a heckuva job. I’m thankful to get this victory for not only myself, but this team.”
It marked Roderick’s second victory in three nights at the 55th annual Snowball Derby presented by Hooters. The Georgia native, who lives in Mississippi these days, captured the Pro Trucks Derby on Thursday.
Roderick got the seat only because of a big domino that fell just last week. When defending Derby champion Chandler Smith decided he would be unable to pilot Campi Racing’s super late model in today’s granddaddy of them all, the team shifted young Gio Ruggiero — its regular PLM driver — to the Derby seat. That opened the door for Roderick, who made the most of his opportunity at Snowflake immortality.
Roderick, who has three career SLM track championships and two PLM titles at Five Flags, had just two top-five finishes between the Derby (fifth, 2018) and the ’Flake (third, 2008) coming into Saturday.
“It’s so cool to be able to come here and win the Snowflake 100,” he said. “We’ve come here a lotta years, and things had not gone our way. But for once, something did. I got a Snowflake win and we’ll see what we can do (today).”
Jake Garcia, who also sports SLM and PLM track titles at Pensacola’s high banks, finished runner-up for the second consecutive year and Tennessee driver Jackson Boone hustled home third.
The finish:
Casey Roderick, Jake Garcia, Jackson Boone, Jeremy Doss, Dylan Fetcho, Preston Peltier, John Bolen, Bryson Shaffer, Stephen Nasse, Conner Jones, Jim Wall, Jarrett Butcher, Brent Crews, Leland Honeyman, Dylan Cappello, Trevor Cristiani, Chase Spradlin, Alex Guenette, Anthony Cataldi, Johanna Robbins, Jeremy Miller, Kyle Steckly, Brittney Zamora, Jake Bollman, Andrew Grady, Derek Thorn, Dustin Smith, Michael Hinde, Gavin Graham, Augie Grill, Mike Hopkins, Colin Allman, Evan Shotko, Wes Griffith, Jr., Connor Okrzesik, Ryan Paul.