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Bubba Pollard had not raced on pavement in close to two months, but that didn’t slow him down at all on Saturday night in the 150-lap Southern Super Series presented by Sunoco season finale at Pensacola, Florida’s Five Flags Speedway.

For much of the race it appeared as if nothing would slow Pollard down except for the occasional caution flag, but that changed with about 10 laps to go.

Pollard started to struggle behind lapped traffic, which allowed Harrison Burton to close in.  With just a few laps to go it appeared as though Burton might have a shot at Pollard, but he was unable to make the move.

Pollard, a new dad, was able to hold off the hard-charging Burton to score the win in the final Super Late Model race (combination event with the Blizzard Series) at Five Flags Speedway before December’s Snowball Derby.

“We took two months off there, but we hadn’t quit working,” Pollard said on the Speed51.com  live broadcast, which was presented by PFC Brakes.  “We’ve been running dirt and building race cars.  This is one heck of a fast race car right here.  This is a brand new one.  I’m looking forward to coming back for the Derby.  I’ve won a lot of races, but none like this.  This is a bad machine and I’m looking forward to taking it to the Derby.”

The victory was Bubba Pollard’s 12th triumph in the Southern Super Series.  The Georgian is the only driver to win in all four years of the series existence.

Donnie Wilson, the 2016 Southern Super Series presented by Sunoco champion, finished fourth to continue his streak of incredible consistency that clinched him the championship one race ago in the Alabama 200 at Montgomery Motor Speedway.

Five Flags’ Blizzard Series championship also came to an end on Saturday night.  Contender Zane Smith saw his championship hopes crash to an end when he was caught up in an incident in turn three of the first lap.

With Burton running as strong as he did, it seemed for a while that he may be able to walk out of Pensacola as a surprise champion of the Blizzard Series, but Casey Roderick’s fifth-place finish was good enough to clinch him the title.

“I don’t know what happened tonight, but the car just wasn’t in the race track,” said Roderick.  “I’m just proud of all my guys and their hard work.  We’ve got them two Blizzard Series championships now so we’ll move on to next year and hopefully have another good year.”

While the Southern Super Series presented by Sunoco is complete, many series regulars will begin preparing for the 49th Annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway from November 30 – December 4 in Pensacola, FL.

Official Results

1. Bubba Pollard
2. Harrison Burton
3. Christian Eckes
4. Donnie Wilson
5. Casey Roderick
6. Garrett Jones
7. Chris Davidson
8. Corey LaJoie
9. Logan Boyett
10. Cole Anderson
11. David Rogers
12. Chandler Smith
13. Connor Okrzesik
14. Kenzie Ruston
15. Korbin Forrister
16. Dennis Schoenfeld
17. Jeff Choquette
18. Allen Karnes
19. Jacob Gomes
20. Kyle Bryant
21. Trevor Noles
22. Mike Garvey
23. Wayne Niedecken Jr.
24. Ryan Luza
25. Tim Martin
26. Zane Smith
27. Tyler Ankrum
28. Todd Jones

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