There’s a reason why Brad May has won the Super Late Model track championship at New Smyrna Speedway numerous times. In case anyone forgot that May is quite strong at the Florida half-mile, May reminded everyone on Friday night, dominating the 35-lap opener to the World Series of Asphalt.

May started on the outside of the defending World Series champion, Derek Griffith, and fought hard out there for the first two laps before finally clearing Griffith entering turn three.

After that, May only faced one true challenge. That challenge came from Griffith just past the halfway mark. Griffith was able to get underneath May entering turn one and get to his door, but not any further. May cleared Griffith off turn two and drove off into the February night.

“(Victory lane) is definitely the place I want to be,” May said. “I spend a lot of time here during the year, but when Speedweeks comes around the level of these guys is unbelievable. It’s the greatest teams in the country we’re racing against. I knew I was going to have to fight hard early and try to check out because I knew they’d be coming quick.”

May won the caution-free race by 1.3 seconds over Sammy Smith. Griffith, fast-qualifier Jesse Love, and Gabe Sommers completed the top five.

“I was glad we didn’t have a caution,” said May. “I think that really helped us. The car felt good all night, so hopefully we’ll just keep it going.”

The battle behind May for second was intense throughout the entire second-half of the race. Smith and Griffith both put the bumper to each other, nearly turning each other around, before Smith was able to finally prevail with 10 laps to go.

“I kind of moved Derek and didn’t move him right,” Smith said. “He moved me back, which he had the right to do. It was just tough. I think we had the best car, but it was just track position and we ran out of time. In these 35-lappers you really have to be aggressive. I try to do it without making anyone mad, but sometimes that’s what you’ve got to do.”

Even after the contact and eventually finishing third, Griffith didn’t seem too mad at the end of Friday’s race.

“We were good, but we were just a little bit off,” Griffith said. “Congrats to Brad. That’s awesome to see him win. He’s been here forever. I probably could have roughed him up a little bit to beat him, but I couldn’t do it. I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

The Super Late Models will be back in action on Sunday night for another 35-lap feature live on FloRacing. To watch the full feature from Friday night, click here.