Gavan Boschele won the Orange Blossom 100 and claimed the Super Late Model World Series of Asphalt championship.
Boschele started on the pole after qualifying got rained out, and entered the night as the points leader. The Mooresville, North Carolina driver led flag to flag to secure the win and the championship, winning by nearly four-seconds.
“It’s amazing,” said Boschele. “Going into this, if you told me I’d be the champion and win the ASA race and run this good with this guys, I’d be kind of in disbelief. This car was on rails tonight. I’m just the lucky one that gets to drive it. I’m so blessed. I can’t thank all these guys enough.”
The points battle came down to Boschele, Derek Griffith, Cory Hall and George Phillips, with the four drivers separated by eight points heading into the night. The close battle took its toll on the champ.
“It’s brutal,” Boschelo remarked. “It’s some of the best of the best racing, besides the Snowball Derby, obviously. The field on Tuesday was stacked. Every single day was stacked. You’ve got to be on your toes, and these guys won’t cut you a break. I loved it, and we’ll be back next year.”
While Griffith fell just 2 points short, he had plenty of reasons to be happy. He made his return to racing after battling health complications near the end of 2024, Griffith was proud to have competed for the title and fought through the week.
“I would really like to win some races, but I didn’t expect to be here,” said Griffith. “To come home second, we’ve been on the podium a bunch, three times. It’s a new car for us.“I’ve said it a bunch of times, the last few months have been tough. I didn’t think I’d make the 200-lappers, I didn’t think I’d make one of the 35-lappers. We kind of toughed it out. My crew has been awesome about it. They’ve been really, really working hard. I wanted one, but I can’t be that upset.”
Griffith, who is a two-time World Series champion, tipped his cap to the newly-crowned champion for the incredible week he had.
“Gavan did a hell of a job all week,” said Griffith. “He’s going to be a star. That’s a hell of a race car driver. It looked easy. Mine was not easy, so I was a little jealous but congrats to those guys and the whole Donnie Wilson team. Looking forward to watching him race some more, because he’s going to be good.”
Cory Hall’s championship hopes came to a dramatic end just 36 laps into the Orange Blossom 100. Carson Brown and Hall made contact in turns one and two, and then again on the backstretch Hall got into Brown’s right rear. Brown careened into the outside wall after the second contact, and Hall was parked by race officials for his role in the incident.
“I was trying to chase him down from falling back on that initial start,” said Brown after the incident. “I got to him in one and two, and he just parked it in the center. I got into him a little bit, and then he just right-hooked me down the backstretch.”
Hall was remorseful, saying the secondary contact was not intentional, and added he has no ill will towards Brown or his Anthony Campi Racing team.
“I want to apologize to Anthony Campi and all of his guys,” said Hall. “They lent us a rack earlier in the week when we needed it. Honestly, if I had the money, he’d be the first guy I’d go to if I was wanting a car.
“That whole deal was taken out of context. I went into one, hit oil, the next thing I know I was sideways, trying to gather it up. I was pointed at the wall, then I was pointed at him. The next thing I knew, we were all tore up.
“I’m completely appalled by everything that went on. Obviously, none of it was intentional on my part at all. I have no ill feelings towards Carson or anybody on that whole entire crew. I have the greatest respect for them. I’m still in shock with what happened. I don’t really know what to say.”
