Colangelo 2nd at New Smyrna Where He’s Found Success All Season
Mark Martin Development Driver Continues Streak of Success in Late Model
Jeremy Colangelo has had four top-three finishes in the Brighthouse Challenge Series races he’s run this season at New Smyrna Speedway (FL). As the Colangelo Motorsports team headed back to New Smyrna this past weekend, they had just the momentum they needed behind them to continue that streak as Colangelo brought home a second-place finish.
Jeremy Colangelo (51 Sports Photo)
The Florida driver spent his practice time focused on race conditions instead of worrying about qualifying. Once the green flag flew, his preparation paid off.
“We didn’t run very well in qualifying,” explained Colangelo. “We ended up fifth but we knew we had a good car going into it. We only ended up getting two rounds of practice because of the rain but we spent most the first session running long runs just to see what the car was going to do. So we had a pretty good idea what it would do on the long run with the heat as bad as it was. The second round we made a few changes and went after the same thing and ended up making the car really good on the long run and just never had a chance to work on the qualifying setup. But it turned out okay. We started fifth and even with the invert we stayed fifth.”
After struggling a bit in qualifying, the 22-year old driver knew that they would have what it took to be successful in the laps that count at the end of the race.
“The first 30 laps were rather boring,” commented Colangelo. “We rode in second for most of the race then with about 18 laps to go, we really started pressuring the leader. And then it turned crazy from there with a couple of late race restarts, several laps we were three wide and at New Smyrna that tends to not work out too well. After the race, the car ended up looking like we destroyed it, but it brought us home to a second place finish so it was good.”
Due to the excitement at the end of the event, Colangelo made an observation about the track that he’s grown so familiar with this season.
“That was one of the most fun races we’ve had there in a long time,” observed Colangelo. “It seemed almost like you could run both grooves there, which was interesting because it seems for the past few years it’s been a one-groove track.”
Heading into the final Brighthouse Challenge Series event, the Governor’s Cup, which has been announced as a double points race, Colangelo feels that with these successes behind them, the team can make a strong run for the championship.
“Running all of those doubleheader weekends at Pensacola and Mobile [Blizzard and Miller Lite Super Late Model Series], we’ve actually missed 2 weekends,” explained Colangelo. “But right now we’re either tied for fourth or in fifth by just a few points so it’s still possible for us to pull something out and get the championship. All in all it’s been a good year, we’ve had a couple of top-three finishes. We haven’t gotten that ever elusive win that we’ve been chasing but we’ve had a couple of second place finishes and a third place so it’s still been a decent year for us.”
Jeremy Colangelo and his #05 Super Late Model will be back on track for the rain delayed finale of the Miller Lite Series at Mobile International Speedway on October 24th.
