In only his second pro late model start with Anthony Campi Racing, Pennsylvania native Matt Mead captured a career best second place finish on Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida. Mead’s result came after starting on pole by virtue of a small invert following the qualifying heat race.
While many drivers make trips to see family on Easter weekend, the Meads went south to Florida for Matt to compete in his second career pro late model race at the storied half-mile in New Smyrna. As is customary with newer drivers, Mead spent most of the day on Friday testing and learning, adding more information to his internal database about the car, the track, and how various scenarios and situations affected each.
Friday night’s field was set via preliminary heat racing where Matt finished third and was part of an inversion which placed him on the pole for the first time in his career. As a developing driver, Matt took the opportunity to learn from the veterans around him and quickly settled into third after the initial start of the event. Following a tangle by the top two, Matt once again was tasked with leading the field to green on the green-white-checkered restart.
Ultimately, Matt finished second in the feature event, his career best result in only his second start. Despite the stellar run, Matt is cautious about his optimism, knowing that he still has much to learn about late model competition.
“It was a good weekend with lots of improvements from our first outing,” Mead said after the race. “We ran consistent lap times throughout the whole weekend and that translated to a good result in the race. I know I’m going to continue working on learning the size of the car and getting closer to the wall and other cars when passing and in traffic. Those are a couple of the biggest hurdles and differences between these cars and the Legend cars I grew up with.”
Matt’s next race with Anthony Campi Racing’s pro late model team is May 13, scheduled again at New Smyrna Speedway in a pro late model.
For more information on Matt Mead, visit his website at MeadRacingTeam.com and follow him on Facebook (@meadracingteam), Twitter (@mead_24) and Instagram (@mattmead24).
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