Sean Bass (Auburndale) was Florida's best in ASA Late Models
The teams, all 42 of them, came to Cordele on Friday from seven southern states, to begin to prepare in earnest for the Watermelon Bowl 125. After a long day of practice, the usual stiff teching by ASA officials, and then a lengthy rain delay in the evening, race fans saw their local guys steal the show.
Florida may have dominated the field with 25 entries but Georgia drivers took top two spots with three racers coming in the top ten. When all was said and done, the cautions all counted, all thirteen of them, Beau Slocumb of Juliette Georgia stood on the top step of the podium.
Teams began practice at the 4/10 mile Watermelon Capital Speedway on Friday night and took two practice sessions in the 95 degree heat of Saturday afternoon. By the time the race began at 11:15 pm, thanks to some much needed showers which drenched the track for couple of hours, the track was a completely different one than the teams had qualified and practiced on.
Twenty-six teams were awarded entry into the 125 feature by qualifying speed or by provisionals. The winner of the first ASA Southern Division race at Bronson failed to qualify and had to use a provisional awarded to the top ten points leaders.
An early qualifier, Ryan Lawler set a time of 16.371, which stood for quite a while until Florida's Jeff Choquette, one of the Sunshine State's most dominant drivers in the last few years, clocked a 16.369 and looked to have the fast time. However Beau Slocumb shortly thereafter stole Choquette's thunder posting a 16.323.
The ASA officials decided to allow the top two teams in the GM Performance Parts Shootout to enter the feature event setting the field at 28 teams. The abbreviated 15 lap Shootout was won by a fourteen year old driver from Milner, GA. Max Gresham. Logan Dernoshek from Harrisburg, NC followed Gresham the whole race to take second.
With all the preliminaries out of the way, it was show time at Watermelon Capital as the 28 cars roared toward turn one with Sean Bass (28) side by side with polesitter Anthony Campi (81). In only his second race in a late model the sixteen year old Campi got the pole due to the inversion of 6-10 spots according to ASA rules.
The pair ran side by side until Bass finally took the lead on lap 4 with Matt Hawkins of Canton, GA following Bass closely and taking over the top spot one lap later. Devan Hall, Ryan Lawler,Anthony Campi and Wes Burton all left the race six laps in with serious damage to their cars after a wrecking on lap 6.
The field returned to green flag racing on lap 15 with Hawkins out front, the position he held for until lap 122. A total of 13 cautions, accounting for 41 laps and nearly all caused by teams running in the rear of the field, kept the pace down and didn't allow for long runs. Starting ninth, the fast qualifier Slocumb went to the fifth position by lap 6 and with Hawkins pulling away from the field Slocumb took the second spot from Bass on lap 68.
The cautions caused by rough driving prompted serious talk from officials, but they helped Slocumb get on Hawkins bumper and by lap 91 one trying to work underneath the number 22 going down the front straight. Slocumb repeatedly tried to get a run on Hawkins, the two would run side by side making contact several times.
Finally Slocumb got under Hawkins on lap 117 and made the pass with Bass following and Hawkins slipping up the track, but Matt Hawkins was saved by the thirteenth yellow of the race. Brian Blum, Michael Seeright and Fain Skinner got together coming off turn four bringing out the caution flag.
After lap 100 the ASA officials quit counting caution flags. On the lap 117 restart Slocumb was right back at it, quickly got underneath and raced Hawkins side by side for 3 laps.
With the fans on their feat screaming for their local favorites the two Georgia drivers battled until on lap 122 Slocumb got clear and pulled away to ride the last three laps out front.
(Left to right) Sean Bass, Beau Slocumb and Matt Hawkins
The fans could easily be heard over the roar of the late model motors as the cars crossed the finish line. The popular win was followed by Slocumb doing a burnout up against the front straight wall.
Sean Bass brought home the third place trophy and topped a Florida field that included 18 out of the 28 starters. Bass said after the race, "I think we finally found out the trick to these tires, and we qualified eighth.
Georgia late model fans can catch the next installment of the ASA Southern Division on June 2nd at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Complete details at www.asalatemodels.com
Watermelon Bowl 125 UNOFFICIAL Results Pos Start Car #/Driver .Laps Status 1 ..9 ..08 Beau Slocumb 125 ..Running 2 ..3 . ..22 Matt Hawkins 125 ..Running 3 ..2 ..28 Sean Bass-R 125 ..Running 4 .12 .41 Brandon Johnson-R 125 ..Running 5 .21 .33 Dillon Oliver 125 ..Running 6 .15 .62 Travis Wilson .125 ..Running 7 .4 ..47 Chris Fontaine-R ..125 ..Running 8 .10 .09 John Wes Townley .125 ..Running 9 .19 .119 Dalton Zehr 125 ..Running 10 ..20 .16 Tommy King-R ..125 ..Running 11 8 070 Jeff Choquette-R ..125 ..Running 12 6 83 David Wilson-R 125 ..Running 13 28 .10 Logan Dernoshek-R..125 ..Running 14 13 .38 Bo Miller ..125 ..Running 15 16 .93 Rob Partelo-R 125 ..Running 16 23 59 Dustin Dunn-R ..125 ..Running 17 14 .12 Tyler Townsend-R 125 ..Running 18 24 3 Brian Blum-R 125 ..Running 19 18 56 Wayne Morris-R 124 ..Running 20 22 8 Michael Seeright-R 116 ..Accident 21 25 21 Fain Skinner-R 116 ..Accident 22 27 711 Max Gresham-R ..104 ..Mechanical 23 26 11 Cody Pitts-R .79 .Mechanical 24 17 86 Jimmy Lang-R 35 .Suspension 25 11 .6 Devan Hall-R .6 Accident 26 7 ..131 Ryan Lawler 6 Accident 27 1 81 Anthony Campi-R .6 Accident 28 5 ..5 Wes Burton-R 6 .Accident
Twenty-six teams were awarded entry into the 125 feature by qualifying speed or by provisionals. The winner of the first ASA Southern Division race at Bronson failed to qualify and had to use a provisional awarded to the top ten points leaders. 
With all the preliminaries out of the way, it was show time at Watermelon Capital as the 28 cars roared toward turn one with Sean Bass (28) side by side with polesitter Anthony Campi (81). In only his second race in a late model the sixteen year old Campi got the pole due to the inversion of 6-10 spots according to ASA rules. 
The cautions caused by rough driving prompted serious talk from officials, but they helped Slocumb get on Hawkins bumper and by lap 91 one trying to work underneath the number 22 going down the front straight. Slocumb repeatedly tried to get a run on Hawkins, the two would run side by side making contact several times. 
