Southern Super Series Rolls into Watermelon Capital

It's the second consecutive bullring to open the 2022 campaign.

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The second race of the Southern Super Series season takes place on Saturday with the Georgia Spring Nationals at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia.

Bubba Pollard enters the weekend as the de facto points leader as Rattler 250 winner Ty Majeski is at Circuit of the Americas with his ThorSport Racing NASCAR Truck Series team. Increasingly fortuitous for Pollard is that he is returning to the site of his most recent Super Late Model victory, Speedfest, back on January 30.

There is very little reason to not treat the 2014 Southern Super Series champion as the favorite.

"I run the same setup basically from here to there," Pollard said. "We kind of struggled early (in the Rattler) and we basically switched to our Cordele set up on Saturday and it was fast. It should be good, but you never know -- different tire game, different weather game and different track."

Defending Georgia Spring Nationals winner Corey Heim is not entered into the field this weekend. Stephen Nasse won the Georgia Summer Nationals in 2020 and should be able to take the fight to Pollard on Saturday night.

"We’ve brought fast cars here," Nasse said. "We’re still chasing the big win here in January, but it’s not been a lack of fast cars. We’ve had good speed and we should here too.

Defending series champion Jake Garcia is excited to be able to race Pollard and Nasse at every stop along the tour this year. The arguable two most notable drivers in the discipline have picked and chosen their starts over the past several years.

The increase in purse size for this race alone has brought both of them back. Every race will pay a minimum of $10,000 this year and that means a more consistent test for Garcia too.

"The series is doing some really impressive things," Garcia said. "I’ve been racing with them for several years now and this is a massive improvement and hopefully we can build on it."

Hunter Robbins won the Alabama 200 earlier in the month in the Ronnie Sanders Racing No. 18 Pro Late Model but conceded that he needs to get better at bullrings like Watermelon Capital Speedway. A fourth-place finish in the Rattler 250 was a positive step towards that goal.

"I know South Alabama and Cordele look similar, but they drive very different," Robbins said. "These kind of tracks just haven’t been too kind to me so I haven’t been the most excited to get back to that place.

"Hopefully, we can just have a good run and that will change how I feel about it."

CURRENT CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (1/13 Races):

1. Ty Majeski (55 PTS); 2. Bubba Pollard (-7 PTS); 3. Austin Nason (-7 PTS); 4. Hunter Robbins (-11 PTS); 5. 83-Jake Garcia (-13 PTS); 6. Stephen Nasse (-15 PTS); 7. Jake Finch (-17 PTS); 8. Casey Roderick (-19 PTS); 9. Jett Noland (-21 PTS); 10. Kyle Plott (-23 PTS); 11. Jackson Boone (-25 PTS); 12. Carson Hocevar (-27 PTS)

ENTRY LIST

1 Michael House
4 Kyle Plott
5 Johnny Sauter
7 Jackson Boone
10 Steve Dorer
18 Hunter Robbins
21a Brandon Anderson
21L Jesse Love
26 Bubba Pollard
33 Albert Francis
35 Jake Garcia
37 Michael Goodard
43 Daniel Dye
50 Jett Noland
51n Stephen Nasse
51a Michael Atwell
54 Matt Craig
67 Colin Allman
69 Michael Hinde
79 Kyle Bryant

SATURDAY EVENT SCHEDULE

11:00: Pit Gate Opens
11:30: Late Model Tire Selection
12:30: Driver Meeting
1:30: Late Model Final Practice (1.4 Hours)
2:30 PLM Tires Released
3:00: Local Division Driver Meeting
3:00: SSS Tires Released
3:20: Local Practice
3:40: Bandolero/Legends Qualifying
4:00 Pro Late Model Qualifying
5:00: Southern Super Series Qualifying
5:30: Local Features
6:30: Pro Late Model Feature
8:00: Southern Super Series Feature

SERIES SCHEDULE AND WINNERS

Rattler 250 | South Alabama Speedway | March 11-13
Winner: Ty Majeski

Georgia Spring Nationals | Watermelon Capital Speedway | March 15-26
Winner:

Blizzard 1 | 5 Flags Speedway | April 8
Winner:

Blizzard 2 | 5 Flags Speedway | April 9
Winner:

North South Showdown | Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway | May 7
Winner:

Name TBD | Greenville Pickens Speedway | May 21
Winner:

Rumble by the River 125 | Montgomery Motor Speedway | Jun 11
Winner:

Name TBD | Tri-County Motor Speedway | Jun 25
Winner:

Heart to Hart 100 | New Smyrna Speedway | Jul 8
Winner:

Blizzard 3 | 5 Flags Speedway |Jul 23
Winner:

Georgia Summer Nationals | Watermelon Capital Speedway | Aug 19-20
Winner: