Canadian Late Model Drivers Excelled in Florida, February 2026
#83 Cory Hall lining up on a grid of elite Super Late Model talents at New Smryna Speedway
March 10th, 2026
Introduction:
Each February, the racing world turns its attention to Florida for New Smyrna Speedway’s Speedweeks: tucked just south of Daytona lies one of short track racing’s most demanding proving grounds.
The annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at NSS once again brought together many of the top short-track racers in North America for nine nights of intense competition during the 2026 edition of the event.
For decades the half-mile Florida oval has served as a meeting ground where seasoned veterans, NASCAR prospects, and regional standouts test themselves against some of the deepest fields in grassroots motorsports.
Among the hundreds of drivers who raced across the various divisions this year, numerous Late Model drivers representing Maritime Canada and the broader Canadian racing scene made the trek south this year. Some competed in the Pro Late Models, some in the Super Late Models, and one in both. The first 7 nights featured either the Pro Late Models, Super Late Models, or both, and the week also featured the marquee ASA STARS National Tour 200-lap (and season opening) Clyde Hart Memorial feature.
From breakout performances to hard-fought learning experiences, the 2026 World Series once again showcased both the challenges and opportunities that come with competing at one of the most competitive short-track events in North America.
Night 1:
Super Late Models & Pro Late Models, both 60 lap features. Temperatures were low, speeds were high.
The Super Late Models kicked the week off with an impressive field of 27 supers, with none other than #83 Cory Hall starting on the pole after qualifying 4th and being the lucky recipient of the 4-car invert. Joining him from Ontario was #22 Kyle Steckly, making his debut with Donnie Wilson Motorsports, crew chiefed by Bond Suss. Starting inside of the 5th row, and #08 Nicholas Naugle on the outside of row 10.
Hall, who was getting a race in before the ASA feature looked to be a top threat for the win, until the caution flag fell 11 laps into the race. During the lane-choose portion of the pace laps where drivers pick between the inside or outside lane, Hall failed to do so, which resulted in a black flag. Unfortunately it seems that a radio issue was what caused this, and by the time another caution came out several laps later, he would have been scored numerous laps down, and would need to start at the rear of a deep field, prompting him to pull off of the track for the night, and set his sights on the ASA race a few days later.
At the half-way point of the race, Naugle, despite a spin 11 laps into the race, was able to work his up to 13th place, with Steckly running in 6th.
When the dust settled, Wisconsin's #15 Gabe Sommers took home the checkered flag, trailed by Steckly in 4th place, and Naugle in 9th.
The Pro Late Models were not to be outdone by the large field of Supers, starting 32 cars. Maine's #29 Cole Robie ran for King Competition, and qualified a stout 6th. #17 Josh Stade of Ontario rolled off 8th, Quebec's #48 Raphael Lessard in 12th, #54 Jarrett Butcher 18th, #25 Gage Gilby 19th, with Quebec's #83 William Roberge, and Quebec's #42G Eric St-Gelais rounding out the back end of the field. #08 Nicholas Naugle, and Ontario's #22 Todd Delisle were listed as Did Not Start.
This race was very chaotic. Unfortunately for many, before the first lap was completed, the track turned into a junk yard of torn up cars. Among the many that were damaged, 5 strong runners were not able to continue at all, including Lessard who was going for the points, and would be scored with a 31st place finish in race #1 of the week.
The story of this one was trying to stay out of trouble, a feat that almost no one completely achieved. Lacking enough green flag stretches to gain a good rhythm, the race switched to a single file restart pattern late, and finally had the checkered flag thrown 43 laps in, after 60 minutes of green/yellow flag time (red flag time was not counted, which extended this race to nearly 90 minutes).
It was King's Robie who would cross the line first on that all important lap, followed by California's young stand-out #27 Vito Cancilla in 3rd. Gilby was able to keep it together, finishing in an impressive 4th place, Stade was 7th, Butcher 8th, and Roberge 11th. St-Gelais registered a 21st place finish with 37 laps run.
Night 2:
The Pro Late Models fortunately had a much needed night off by chance, giving teams extra time for repairs. The Supers were back in action for 60 laps, starting 27 cars, including Steckly who qualified 3rd. Naugle qualified 11th, with a strong effort of his own.
At the half-way mark Donnie Wilson Motorsports' #24 Jade Avedisian looked like the car to beat, leading many laps, and with a large lead. Steckly and Naugle were running strong in the top-10: 6th and 9th, respectively. The rest of the top-10 was fleshed out by top tier Super Late Model veterans.
After 60 quick, clean laps it was Avedisian who crossed the line first, and a hard charging #26 Dawson Sutton running out of laps to close the gap. Steckly would finish 7th, and Naugle would improve his 9th place finish from the night before by 1 spot, ending up in 8th.
Night 3:
This time it was the Supers’ turn to take the night off, with 32 Pros lining up for a 60 lap feature. Lessard qualified 6th, Robie 10th, Stade 11th, Butcher 12th, Naugle 16th, Roberge 19th, St-Gelais 20th, Delisle 27th, and Gilby linking up at the rear of the field, starting in 32nd.
7 laps into the race, Lessard ran 2nd, with Butcher in 5th, and Naugle in 6th. Half-way through, the story of the race had been the lead battle between Lessard and #31 Brody Monahan; of note, Monahan was DQ'd after the race. Naugle rounded out the top-5, with Roberge in 8th, and Butcher just outside of the top-10, in 11th.
In the late stages of the race, a similar, but not quite as severe amount of chaos unfolded compared to Night 1. Butcher had been fighting his car, requiring numerous pit stops, and Naugle who restarted in 3rd with 14 to go was racing hard, and got too close to the wall - paired with some contact, aero forces dragged him up into it, ending his night with 7 to go. That would also be when the race was called finished, due to the time limit being reached again.
Lessard, regardless of Monahan's DQ was able to best him on that final restart, crossing the line first. With so much chaos, Cancilla's 3rd place finish put him in a strong points position, as he was the only driver with back-to-back podium finishes. Roberge was able to stay out of trouble and navigate his way all the way up to a 4th place finish, with Stade in 6th, Gilby with another top-10 finishing in 8th, Robie 10th, St-Gelais 13th, Butcher 15th, Delisle 16th, and Naugle 17th.
Very impressively, Brazillian driver (not late models) #96 Gabriel Casagrande made the trip from his country which has only 1 oval track and put on a clinic, starting 3rd, going to the back early on, and carving his way all the way up to a 2nd place finish.
Night 4:
The format was shaken up a bit with this one, seeing 38 Supers take on qualifying for the ASA STARS race the following night, along with a 20 lap last chance race. On the Pro side, they would take their 3rd try at a 60 lap complete feature.
Qualifying was stacked; in 2025 the ASA STARS Tour 200 lap feature that was part of this 9 day event had what turned out to be the strongest field of late models all year long, until being lightly surpassed by the biggest race of the year, the Snowball Derby, a full 10 months later. This year's entry list was similarly stacked, and has a strong chance of remaining the strongest field until at least the Derby once again this year.
Hall just barely made the 22 car qualifying cut-off, avoiding the last chance race. Steckly was able to have a very strong 6th place qualifying effort, while Naugle was 37th.
In a last chance race that looked like a small, top tier Super Late Model field, Naugle finished towards the middle of the pack, good enough to make the show.
On the Pro side of the event, Lessard qualified in 2nd (starting 7th after an unlucky 8-car invert), while Stade qualified 10th, Butcher 11th, Delisle 13th, Gilby 15th, Roberge 17th, and St-Gelais 20th. 21 cars started.
Going into this race, Vito Cancilla led the points, trailed by Robie, Stade, Gilby, and Roberge with very narrow gaps between them, or ties. 2nd place being a King car, followed by 3 Canadians!
This one was an action packed affair, with some of the similar suspects running very strong again - Lessard, Monahan, Cancilla, Robie, and Jones stood out. Bear in mind that some drivers did not run all of the races, like the Brazillian driver from the prior race. Unfortunately Gilby was caught up in a wreck on lap one, causing him to finish 21st.
In a race featuring a lot less cautions, but still plenty of attrition, Lessard came out of a hard fought night of battling at the front in 4th. Cancilla had another podium result, finishing behind winner Monahan, and Robie had another strong finish in 6th. Butcher took home 10th, Roberge 13th, Stade 18th, St-Gelais 19th, and Delisle 20th.
Night 5:
The Super Late Model ASA STARS National Tour Clyde Hart Memorial 200!
Note: This one did not count points wise towards the World Series of Asphalt Racing Super Late Model title.
Just 22 laps into the race, there was quite a large wreck, one that #51 Stephen Nasse expertly avoided at the last second, and Hall also abruptly escaped getting caught up in.
Similarly to the 2025 iteration of this race, Hall stood out as one of the best all race long, as well as one of the hardest chargers. Despite starting in the 20s, he rallied to 10th place less than 30 laps in.
With 163 laps to go, #81 Carson Brown for Anthony Campi racing took the lead from young polesitter #5 Tristan McKee, for what would be the only lead change of the race.
By about 1/3rd of the way into the race, Hall had himself restarting in 5th, while Naugle had battled his way up to 14th, with Steckly remaining in the mix, in 6th.
In the late stages of the race, Steckly began to fade a bit, while Brown, McKee, and #26 Dawson Sutton all remained in the top-5 all race long - often top-3.
When the dust settled, Hall finished in the top-10 in all 3 stages, including a 6th place result. Steckly slid to 13th after doing very well in stages 1 and 2, and Naugle came home in 21st place.
On the Pro Late Model side, going into the race Cancilla had the points lead with a pretty good gap over Robie, and Robie had a large gap between him and Roberge, as well. Credit to Roberge for the consistency through chaos, as he had not really looked to potentially challenge for a win yet, but he was able to sneak his way into consistently good finishes. Stade was 4th in points, Lessard managed to rally to 5th after the worst case scenario in race 1, and Gilby slid back to 7th after the worst case scenario in the prior race. Towards this part of the standings, there were some really small point gaps.
In the race itself Stade qualified 2nd, Robie 5th, Lessard 8th, Butcher 9th, Gilby 16th, Roberge 19th, and St-Gelais in 21st, with 24 entries.
As with the previous race, there was a lot of hard racing, and some attrition again, but much less cautions than the first 2 races. Monahan, Stade, Cancilla, Lessard, and Jones were battling near the front once again in this one, with Butcher having his best night so far, and quickly getting into the mix in 6th place. It really was impressive how much incidents and beating and banging Robie and Stade had been involved in all week, and many others running well.
Lessard ran out to a lead on a restart with 7 laps to go, but unfortunately another caution was immediately brought out. On the ensuing restart, something broke in Lessard's car, causing him to rapidly drop back, after what looked like a win moments earlier.
Butcher would go on to cross the line 4th, but was unfortunately DQ'd for a left-side weight infraction.
Cancilla won the race, with Stade finishing 3rd, and Gilby who crossed the line behind Butcher, ended up with 4th place. Gilby again was able to be there at the end, after slowly (or, slowly for a 60 lap race) improving his track position for much of the race.
Roberge took home 6th, Robie 7th, Lessard 16th, and St-Gelais 18th.
With ASA in the rear view, drivers reset their focus to continue on pursuing the World Series
Night 6:
Another double-header Pro & Super 60 night, with the Supers kicking things off first.
Going into the race, #96 Spencer Davis led the way points wise, trailed by Avedisian, #69 Michael Hinde, Steckly to complete the top-4, and Naugle who sat in 9th (although tied with 8th, and 1 point behind 7th).
After the big ASA race, the field trimmed down, with only 12 competitors this time. Naugle qualified 9th, while Steckly did not compete.
Avedisian took a strong lead early, as #51 Anthony Bello joined the regular front-runners of Davis, Jones, and #18 Max Reaves. Similarly to Reaves, Jones was fast all week, but they both toed the line of aggression pretty close, and sometimes it burnt them.
Seemingly unaffected by the attrition of the week, Avedisian and Davis were the class of the field, with Davis reeling her in right at the end for the win, with Avedisian finishing 2nd. Bello had a bit of a gap, and then Naugle was in the mix with the next group of cars front to tail, although he fell off a little at the end. He would maintain his qualifying position, and finish in 9th.
With the Pros, Casagrande from Brazil was back, and the field size showed no decline: with 31 entries, and 26 running the feature.
The points situation going into the race saw Cancilla with a commanding lead, followed by Robie, then Stade & Roberge tied for 3rd/4th, Gilby in 5th, and Lessard in 9th.
Robie qualified 3rd, Stade 10th, Lessard 12th, Roberge 16th, Butcher 17th, Gilby 18th, St-Gelais 24th.
Early on, a lot of themes from the week were presenting. Stade with some trouble despite running well, Reaves getting shot out of a canon and aggressively moving for the front, and Robie needing pit time. Butcher made an early pit stop as well, struggling during the week to get the car exactly where they wanted it. A lot of crews did an excellent job for these short races, with a lot of contenders needing lots of pit attention.
At the half way mark, Reaves led the way, having passed Casagrande about 15 laps in, with Cancilla, Robie, and Monahan once again in the top-5. Lessard was 10th, and appeared to not quite have the pace that he had earlier in the week; this was attributed to suspension issues. Gilby 13th, Roberge 14th, Butcher 18th.
In the end, it was Reaves with a nearly 4.5 second lead over Casagrande, and then another 2.5+ second gap to Robie in 3rd. Cancilla had yet another strong finish with 4th, Lessard finished 10th, Gilby 13th, Roberge 14th, Butcher 15th, and St-Gelais 22nd.
Day 7, Final Day with Late Model action:
This time it was the Pro Late Models' time to shine as the headline division, as they contested their 100 lap Hart to Heart race. The point situation was very simple: If Cancilla finished better than 15th place, or didn't finish more than 15 positions behind Robie, then he would secure the championship.
After a 7 car invert, Lessard, who qualified 7th, started on the pole. Robie qualified 9th, Stade 10th, Butcher 11th, Naugle 12th, Gilby 18th, Roberge 19th, and Quebec's #42G Alex Labbe didn't take to qualifying, but he did start at the rear of the 27 car field.
Of interesting note, the #20 Evan McKnight was making his second start, with his menor, MLB Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. cheering him on at the track.
20 laps in, Max Reaves led Lessard in the front, Cassagrande 4th, Cancilla 8th, Butcher 9th, Stade 10th, Robie 12th, Naugle 14th, Gilby 16th, and a hard charging Labbe in 17th.
Unfortunately for Robie, just moments later he was caught up in a wreck, ensuring the points championship would go to Cancilla.
Once again the general suspects at the very front, were at the very front. With 76 laps to go, Naugle had worked his way up to 7th, Lessard still in 2nd behind Reaves, Labbe in 9th, Stade in 10th, Gilby in 11th, and Butcher who had already been pit side for adjustments, 14th.
With 72 laps to go, Cancilla got caught up in a wreck, but at this point, his consistency and strong finishes allowed him this one time mulligan. A disappointing championship race, but, he had already earned the title.
With 42 left to go, Reaves still led the way, with Monahan challenging Lessard, and Jones rounding out the top-5. Naugle sat 7th, Labbe 8th, Gilby 10th.
In the closing 20 laps, Naugle made a push, getting up into the top-5, with an exciting battle against Jones, including a nice cross-over by Naugle. With 10 to go, Labbe worked his way up to 6th, Gilby 8th, Stade 9th.
At the very end, a back-and-forth battle between Cassagrande and Cones for 3rd ensued, with Lessard finishing 2nd, Naugle 5th, Labbe 6th, Stade 7th, Gilby 9th, Butcher 10th, Roberge 12th.
Going into the Super finale, Davis held the lead in points over Avedisian. Like the Pro finale, the runner-up was the only driver with a potential to dethrone the leader. Naugle was 7th, and Steckly 8th.
In a 35 lap affair with 10 cars, Naugle both qualified and finished 7th. While the field was small, there was still an impressive density of talent. Davis, who also fielded the Cassagrande car in the Pros, dominated this one, wire-to-wire. Reaves took 2nd, and Avedisian 6th.
Final Points Results
When it was all said and done, #96 Spencer Davis won the Super Late Model portion of the series, with #08 Nicholas Naugle taking 5th.
On the Pro Late Model side, #27 Vito Cancilla won the Pro Late Model Portion, with King Competition #29R Cole Robie taking second, Quebec's #83 William Roberge 4th, #25 Gage Gilby 5th, Quebec's #48 Raphael Lessard 5th, and Ontario's #17S Josh Stade 7th.
Canadian Highlights:
Cory Hall - 6th place in ASA STARS National Race
Nicholas Naugle - Super Late Model, 4 top-10s, 5th in standings
Kyle Steckly - 1 top-5, 2 top-10s in 3 Races, 13th in ASA STARS National Race; top-10 in the first 2 stages
Raphael Lessard - Pro Late Model Multi-Race Front-Runner, 1 win, 3 top-5s in 6 races, 6th in standings
William Roberge - Pro Late Model, 4th in standings
Gage Gilby - Pro Late Model, 2 top-5s, 5th in standings
Josh Stade - Pro Late Model, 2 top-5s, 7th in standings
Jarrett Butcher - Pro Late Model, 2 top-10s, Multiple Strong Runs
