Love defeats Griffith in Dramatic World Series Race

It takes a lot of respect and patience to race the way Jesse Love and Derek Griffith did on Tuesday night in Race 4 of the World Series of Asphalt.

The two Super Late Model drivers exchanged the lead several times at New Smyrna Speedway, the finished product looking like a Midget race at nearby Ocala Speedway, with Love eventually taking the win by .812 of a second.

Love first took the lead away off a Lap 10 restart, but Griffith fought back on the outside for three laps, and eventually took the spot right back. Love battled back to the bottom again and they again raced side-by-side for another seven laps and were joined by Gabe Sommers behind them in third.

The battle calmed down over the final 10 laps, but Griffith and Love came away with a lot of respect and admiration for each other once the dust settled.

"It's hard," Love said of racing that way without it resulting in a crash.

"I have a lot of respect for Derek and I think it goes a long way. There's been races where I've come up on him, and he lets me go, and it's come back around too. On a night like this, obviously, we raced really, really hard and what I gave to him, he gave right back to me and it was tough and fair. That's what it's all about, man."

That respect was mutual from the two-time and defending World Series champion, even if he came out on the short end of the results on Tuesday.

"There's not a lot of guys that you can race like that for 10-15 laps at a time and not get torn up or taken advantage of, anything more than a donut so I got to thank him for that," Griffith said. "I ran him up once, he ran me up once and then we raced side-by-side for almost 15 laps. It was a blast and I’ve fun.

"He’s become a really good race car driver over the past year, he’s maturing and it’s fun to see his progression."

Griffith was just too free to fend Love off.

Even when he would retake the lead, his car would drift off the bottom on entry and open the door, preventing him from driving off on corner exit.

"I could roll the center way better than he could, but I had a problem getting in and off, and he just had way more drive than I did."

Once he lost the lead, that issue prevented him from mounting a late charge.

Sommers felt like he a chance to win but he lost the brakes over the final laps and also wasn’t able to mount a charge and accepted second straight podium as a result.

"I was definitely tracking them down, had that problem, and third place is what it was tonight," Sommers said.

This is the second World Series of Asphalt win for Love following his first in 2020.

1. Jesse Love
2. Derek Griffith
3. Gabe Sommers
4. Jake Finch
5. Justin Mondeik
6. Sammy Smith
7. Brad May
8. Ryan Preece
9. Michael Hinde
10. Memphis Villarreal
11. Austin Thom
12. Joey Miller
13. Bubba Pollard
14. Patrick Thomas
15. Steve Weaver, Jr.
16. Justin Drawdy