9/19/2024
Five Flags Speedway
4 Track Champs to be Determined Saturday Night
Five Flags to Crown Four New Division Kings at Night of Champions No. 1 on Saturday
By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter
Young Carter Taylor has spent the last few weeks hunting opposing quarterbacks and running backs.
When he’s not blossoming into one of the Gulf Coast’s next generation of wheelmen, the sophomore plays defensive end for Resurrection Catholic’s varsity football team.
The 16-year-old Mississippi hotshoe hopes to chase down Logan Boyett in the Faith Chapel Outlaws 40-lap feature and tackle a track title this Saturday night at Five Flags Speedway. Just four points separate Boyett and Carter going into The Dock on Pensacola Beach’s Night of Champions. Carter is ready to let the chips fall and isn’t getting too focused on Saturday night’s outcome.
“Hopefully, we qualify up front and that will help us,” he said. “We’ve been consistent this year, so we’ll see how the race goes. If we end up winning, it was meant to be. If we miss it by a point, two points, we’ll know it wasn’t meant to be this year and go after it next year.”
The Outlaws are one of four divisions that will crown champions. The Gulf Real Estate Group Pro Trucks (30 laps), The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen (30) and Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks (25) are all set to crown first-time series winners.
Pits open at 2 p.m. Saturday and grandstand gates at 4. Qualifying is set for 6:15 with an autograph session slated for 7. Racing is scheduled for 8.
Admission is $15 for adults; $12 (seniors, military, students); $5 (children ages 6-11; and free (kids 5-and-under).
While Maddox Langham did capture a Sportsmen track championship a season ago, the teenager will be looking for his first career Pure Stocks title. He holds a slim, 12-point margin over Mason Johnston. Langham has five wins in six feature races this season behind the wheel of Robert Barber’s car—the same machine that Barber drove to a Pure Stocks championship in 2023.
“It would’ve been nice to win back-to-back championships in the same class, but I really wanted to give my dad a break this year,” Maddox said. “It’s still pretty cool and back-to-back is amazing. Wins are hard to come by; championships are even harder to come by.”
James Patrick and Treyce Capers are zeroing in on immortality.
Patrick, the Mobile veteran driver, will carry a comfortable 38-point lead into the Sportsmen finale Saturday. The 22-year-old Capers hopes his 21-point lead holds up Saturday night and he can return to his native Hurley, Miss., with a big piece of hardware and his named etched into Five Flags history.
Patrick, the two-time Sportsmen Snowball Derby champion (2020, 2023), has pledged to not push the envelope with his overwhelming cushion. Patrick knows drivers will be getting their last taste at the famed half-mile asphalt oval before gathering for the 57th annual Snowball Derby in December.
“There are going to be a lot of drivers who haven’t run the majority of the year, building their Derby notebook,” Patrick said. “I plan to play it cautious and not get tangled up with anyone. I don’t want anything stupid happening. I should be OK with the points lead we have.”
Carter Taylor doesn’t have that luxury. While his deficit isn’t large, he must be the aggressor come Saturday. He has two wins to Boyett’s three this season.
Last year, Carter finished third in the Outlaws points race and third at the Outlaws Derby to champion Derrick Griffin.
“Having more seat time,” Carter said, “and gaining on setups have been the big differences in our results this year.”
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