(New Smyrna Beach, FL) – Teenager Derek Griffith will be returning to New Smyrna Speedway (NSS) to compete in the 200-lap Florida Governors Cup on November 23, 2014.
Griffith, a Hudson, New Hampshire native will make the more than 1,000 mile trip with the intent of competing with some of the best Super Late Model (SLM) drivers in the United States. The 49th running of the Governor’s Cup has an impressive entry list and Griffith feels he belongs with that group of drivers.
“We had a great season up here in the Northeast and we are very eager to return to NSS for this race. We went to New Smryna Speedway’s Speedweeks in 2012, when I was 15 years-old. I really didn’t feel totally comfortable with the SLM at that point but we were able to come away with some good finishes before getting caught up in somebodies wreck, which ended our Speedweeks on day 4. I feel getting some seat time at NSS prior to the 2015 Speedweeks will certainly help. I have a couple more years of experience with the high-horsepower cars, I really think we have a great shot at a solid top-10 in the Governor’s Cup and that will propel us to have a solid Speedweeks at NSS in February”, stated Griffith.
Derek had a great run at Thompson Speedway at their World Series event back in October, Griffith started 23rd and finished 8th. That event, made the No. 12 MOM’s/LCM Racing Toyota Camry team ponder the Governor’s Cup, Derek explains, “Our finish at Thompson, made us think, we should really explore more races down at NSS as it’s a sister track to Thompson Speedway and races very similar”.
John Griffith, Derek’s father also went on to say, “Getting Derek to race against some of the nation’s best talent will only make Derek better. We also have connections down in Florida, which will allow us to keep this car down there in preparation of the New Smyrna Speedweeks event in February, 2015”.