(From Speed51.com) The final race of a season often highlights the emotional highs and lows of a sport at the same time.

For some, it’s the thrill of victory or a surprising run to cap off the season. For others, it’s the agony of defeat or disappointment after a season of false expectations. Charlie Menard won the final ASA Challenge Series race of the season at Five Flags Speedway. However, for Wisconsin’s Charlie Menard, it was a mission of redemption on a track that he has been snake-bitten at for years, the tricky half-mile Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. In Saturday night’s running of the ASA Late Model Challenge Series event, the USA Digital 200, Menard finally claimed that elusive win.

Prior to the event, Menard had not had much luck at the track. In fact, out of the numerous Snowball Derby appearances he’s made, he has only qualified for the event once, finishing 14th in 2003.

At the drop of the green flag, however, none of that history seemed to matter, as Menard charged from his third-place starting spot to grab the lead from the 2006 Five Flags Speedway Pro Late Model Champion Steven Davis on lap 16.

Menard and Davis swapped the lead back and forth before a third competitor wanted a piece of the action, that being Derek Thorn, who grabbed the lead from Menard on lap 64.

“I knew it was a 200-lap race, and I wasn’t going to push it,” said Menard. “I got mixed up with Derek there in traffic, and he got around me, but we got back by him. On the restarts that other guy (Davis) got under me, but we were just not going to do anything dumb in the first 100 laps. I’ve raced way too many races and seen people do that, and we weren’t going to do that.”

A flurry of action just prior to the competition break at lap 100 saw third-place runner Davis’ chances of winning go up in smoke, while Thorn again pressured Menard hard enough to retake the lead.

Steven Davis was one of the locals that raced with the ASA regulars.

The 10-minute intermission between the first and second 100-lap segments allowed the teams to make necessary changes to their cars, and more importantly, put on some fresh tires for the run to the finish.

As soon as the green flag waved again, it was clear that it was Menard’s team that hit the handling just right for the second segment, as Menard zipped past Thorn and rocketed out to a whopping 4.5-second lead over second place, which ironically enough worried Menard because of his history at the track.

“You start to feel all the bumps and everything, feeling like maybe something’s going to bite you,” said Menard. “I felt like we weren’t going very fast but we were catching lapped cars, and the spotter was telling me that we were keeping a pretty equal distance to second-place. I just kept the car straight and I really, really, really tried to do that very hard.”

While Menard was in another zip code, Thorn backed up to as far as fifth before he started making his charge back to the front. Thorn’s car came to life and closed the gap back down to only one second by lap 180, and to only a few car lengths with 10 laps to go.

“In the second 100 laps, as soon as we got out there the car got super tight on sticker tires,” said Thorn. “It took about 30 laps for them to come in, and by the time they came around, he was almost a third of a lap ahead of me. About lap 170, I could start to see him again out of my front window. I think he was stuck behind a lapped car again, so I was able to close to within about four or five car-lengths. It was just a cat and mouse game after that when we were weaving in and out of traffic.”

In the final laps, the two cars frantically scrambled through the traffic to get an advantage on one another, with Thorn hoping to grab the lead one more time, but it was not to be. Menard held on to claim his second ASA Late Model Challenge Series win, and bracketed a season that started with a big win at another Florida track.

“It’s pretty cool, because I thought about it, and we won over at Lakeland and now winning over here,” said Menard. “I like Florida. I haven’t had a lot of luck in the Snowball, and only made the race once so far, so winning this is good for us and good for the team. Coming all the way down from Wisconsin, it feels real good to get a win."

California native Thorn felt the difference between his car and Menard’s was in his handling package on short runs.

“It was so tight in the middle that I had to slow the car down just to run the bottom, and it just took too long to catch back up,” said Thorn. “By the time I caught him my rear tires were shot. This track is just so abrasive, and it’s just hard to get a handle on. I’m just real happy that we did as good as we did, considering. Charlie, he had a great car, and I tried to get up to him, and by the time I did, we caught lapped traffic and I just couldn’t get underneath him.”

Menard attributed consistency and experience as the keys to the victory.

“From the start of practice until the race, we just tried to keep the car straight,” said Menard. “I’ve been racing here before and I know that this place just kills your tires and I had just hoped that some of the younger guys would use up their stuff, and I think some
of them did. I think we kept the car underneath us better than some of those other guys, and we had a great qualifying run, got to the front quick, and it was a good racecar.”

Coming back down in late November for the Snowball Derby and Snowflake 100 was not a priority for Menard entering the event, so does winning change that?

“I probably should, and we got good people here, but I’m getting married in a couple weeks and we’re going on our honeymoon in November, and that darn work gets in the way of everything. If I’m gone too long, Uncle John (Menard, owner of Menards Home Improvement Stores) will probably pull my ride.”