Weston Roper picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Snowflake career in the Snowflake 100 at the Five Flags Speedway when his #53 unsponsored Chevrolet completed 97 of the 100 laps.
For the second time in the seven year history of the SCRL, the SCRL would be holding the Snowball Derby at the historic Five Flags Speedway. The Snowball Derby is a 300-lap super late model stock car race that is held annually at the Five Flags Speedway, a half-mile paved oval track in Pensacola, Florida, United States. The event had never come across the SCRL until 2020 when league driver AJ Jones suggested the offer of running another event, that being the first ever SCRL Chili Bowl event that will be coming in January. The talks would soon move over to holding another event, that being the Snowball Derby, and unlike many other leagues who do a version of the event, the SCRL decided that if they were going to hold it, it would be done right, and so the distance of the race would be the full 300 lap event.
For the second year in a row, 50 drivers would sign up for a change to compete in the event. The rules of the event stated that in qualifying the first 20 drivers would automatically lock themselves into the main event, while the remaining 30 drivers would battle in a qualifying race, known as the Snowflake 100, with the top 11 transferring to the main event.
In qualifying, the debuting Chase Abbott would score his first ever pole in his first start with a time of 19.575 seconds, while Roper would struggle in qualifying, posting a time of 20.079, 0.504 seconds behind Abbott's pole winning time. Posting the slowest time in qualifying was the #57 Triad Racing Chevrolet of Hale Hyatt, who didn't get a chance to post a time, as he suffered a blown engine going into Turn 1 on his first lap, forcing him to try and make his way into the Snowball Derby by transferring in the Snowflake 100.
When the race started, Hyatt would trail for the first lap before knocking the #00 unsponsored Chevrolet of Allen Noel into last for the first time on Lap 2. Noel would trail for only one lap before he would knock the #01 Clarence's Steakhouse Chevrolet of David Byers into last on Lap 3. Byers would remain in last for two laps before knocking the #4 CAT Chevrolet of Brian Fox into last on Lap 5, with Fox trailing for two laps as well before knocking the #09 Fivestar Racecar Bodies Chevrolet of Chase Chryst into last on Lap 7, a position he would hold for two laps as well before knocking the #75 NAPA Chevrolet of Mike White into last on Lap 10.
White would struggle to gain any momentum as he remained in the final spot as the race entered Lap 20 before he would finally rebound and knocked Chryst back to last on Lap 23. Chryst would remain in the tire tracks of the field for the next four laps before knocking the #69 Norton Transport LLC. Chevrolet of Chakat Duskwatcher into the final spot on Lap 28. Duskwatcher, in hir first ever attempt at the Snowball Derby, would struggle around the track as shi drove around in the final spot over the next nineteen laps as leader Reeves Montgomery was right behind hir as Duskwatcher made a move for position and knocked Chryst back to last on Lap 50.
White would struggle to gain any momentum as he remained in the final spot as the race entered Lap 20 before he would finally rebound and knocked Chryst back to last on Lap 23. Chryst would remain in the tire tracks of the field for the next four laps before knocking the #69 Norton Transport LLC. Chevrolet of Chakat Duskwatcher into the final spot on Lap 28. Duskwatcher, in hir first ever attempt at the Snowball Derby, would struggle around the track as shi drove around in the final spot over the next nineteen laps as leader Reeves Montgomery was right behind hir as Duskwatcher made a move for position and knocked Chryst back to last on Lap 50.
Just three laps later, Chryst would become the first driver to lose a lap when he was lapped by Montgomery on Lap 53, the same lap that Chryst would make a move on the backstretch and knocked White back to last on Lap 54. White's stay in the final lap as he would quickly rebound when green flag pit stops happened as Chryst would pit on Lap 59. Chryst would remain in the final spot for two laps before knocking the #2 Wilson Ford Parts Ford of AJ Jones into last on Lap 61, a position that Jones would hold for only two laps before Roper would enter the battle when his team had a long pit stop, losing two laps to the leaders during that time.
Roper would get back out on track two laps down, and with no cautions flying during the event, Roper would actually lose a third to the race leaders by the time the Checkered Flag waved, meaning that Roper would fail to make the field for the Snowball Derby.
Finishing in 29th was the #5 Durobyte Chevrolet of Ryan Prior, who was the only other driver to finish on the same lap as Roper, having lost three laps during the event as well, but finished a full half straightaway over Roper.
Finishing 28th was the aforementioned #2 of AJ Jones, who would lose two laps to the race leaders due to his slow stop, preventing him from competing in his second straight Snowball Derby.
The remaining Bottom Five would struggle and finished a full lap behind the race leaders; 27th was the #59 unsponsored Chevrolet of Owen Carvin and 26th was the #07 Chevrolet of Heath Wilton.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #53 has finished last in the Snowflake 100.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
30) #53-Weston Roper / 97 laps / running
29) #5-Ryan Prior / 97 lap / running
28) #2-AJ Jones / 98 laps / running
27) #59-Owen Carvin / 99 laps / running
26) #07-Heath Wilton / 99 laps / running led 1 lap
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