Bubba Pollard hasn’t run full-time with the Southern Super Series this season but his sporadic appearances are usually one-sided beat-downs.
The Watermelon 125 on Saturday night at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia was no exception. The 2014 champion qualified third and started fourth after a post time-trials starting position re-draw but that was as far back as he would fall.
Pollard took the lead from Chandler Smith on a Lap 40 restart and never looked back. It was the 100th victory of his career in races 100 laps or longer.
“It’s pretty cool to get our hundredth win here, especially in the state of Georgia,” Pollard said. “I raced Legend cars down here for years, but there’s not much racing left in the state. This is where I grew up and I always enjoy coming back.”
Championship leader Stephen Nasse had several looks at Pollard with restarts on Laps 114, 114 and 116 but was again unable to outduel his weekly rival.
“I didn’t have it easy by any means,” Pollard said. “Those guys were breathing down my throat. We had a good race car tonight, but so did those guys. All those restarts at the end made it tough, that’s for sure.”
This is the second Southern Super Series race in a row that Nasse finished second to Pollard and it’s put an asterisk next to his championship margin. Nasse has said that he wouldn’t embrace his championship unless he gets a victory to back it up. He extended that lead on Saturday night but has just one more chance to win this season on the tour on September 23 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.
He has an 11 point lead over Smith.
“Obviously, [Pollard] was the class of the field tonight,” Nasse said. “It’s been that way the last few races, but the good thing is we’ve about the only car that can halfway keep up with him. We’re going to keep on gaining on it. Hopefully, we can pull off a win in this last championship race.”
Overall, Pollard has made nine starts in the Southern Super Series and has won five of them. That does not count big national victories in the Money in the Bank 150 and Slinger Nationals.
The complete results can be found below.
- Bubba Pollard
- Stephen Nasse
- Chandler Smith
- Casey Roderick
- Connor Okrzesik
- Kason Plott
- Anthony Sergi
- Colin Allman
- Dustin Dunn
- Garrett Jones
- Jordan McCallum
- Riley Thorton
- Kyle Bryant
- Paul Kelley
- Jeff Choquette
- Kyle Plott
- Matthew Wragg
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.