Super Late Models
Sawalich Snags Win in First Super Late Model World Series Appearance
Feb 13, 2023
Carson Brown competed in his first-ever Pro Late Model race on Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway during the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. One night later, he was standing in victory lane.
Brown, 14, held off Katie Hettinger to score the victory, giving him two top-five finishes in as many starts at this year’s World Series so far.
"We ran a great race, Katie Hettinger ran a great race,” said Brown. “Something let loose in our race car definitely around lap eight and it almost sent us into the wall. We saved it and were able to come away with the win.”
For most of the 35-lap feature, Brown and Hettinger were locked in an intense battle for the lead all while navigating lapped traffic. Hettinger briefly took the lead on lap 28, but a caution for Cory Luciano coming to a stop on the frontstretch reverted scoring to the last completed green-flag lap, led by Brown by 0.006 seconds.
“Lapped traffic definitely made it even better. We were able to navigate through it, and I am happy we were able to do that.”
Brown defended the top spot from Hettinger on the ensuing restart and pulled away to a half-second win while Hettinger battled with Conner Jones for second.
“Hopefully we can keep the momentum going forward. We can work on some things, definitely, going forward, but we’re going to work on it and see what we can do tomorrow.”
While it wasn’t a win, the runner-up finish was huge for Hettinger and her Anthony Campi Racing team. She finished 12th on Saturday after a challenging evening that saw a clutch failure in qualifying and plenty of battle scars on her No. 81.
After a long night and very little sleep for the team, Hettinger and company were in contention for the victory on Sunday.
“This is awesome. I am so glad I could bring home P2 for my Anthony Campi team. They really busted their butt last night, worked hard, didn’t get back to the hotel until 5 a.m. this morning. I can’t thank them enough. We still had a really good car. I wish we got that one, but we’ll try it again tomorrow.”
Jones finished third, with Hunter Wright and Ryan Luza rounding out the top five. With the third-place finish, Jones maintains a slight advantage over Brown in the Pro Late Model World Series points through two races.
The Pro Late Models will take the track again on Monday night, competing for 35 laps before a night off on Tuesday.
PRO LATE MODEL UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY - FEBRUARY 12, 2023
- Carson Brown
- Katie Hettinger
- Conner Jones
- Hunter Wright
- Ryan Luza
- Charlie Keeven
- Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
- Brent Crews
- Gavan Boschele
- Dakota Stroup
- Dawson Sutton
- Jeremie Whorff
- Nicholas Naugle
- TJ DeCaire
- Mitch Haver
- Ryan Kamish
- Gil Linster
- Kent Baledge
- Toni Breidinger
- Johnny Aramendia
- David Weaver
- Glenn Styres
- Mike Mayberry
- Chase Johnson
- John Weitz
- Gus Dean
- Cory Luciano
- Jeff Johnston
- TJ Monroe
