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2001
NEWS ARCHIVE
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| Sometimes Big Things Do Come In Small Packages | 'The Little Track that Could'
(KNS)Approximately one thousand race fans saw the Auburndale Street Stock feature begin with a full field of 21 cars on the 1/4 mile track, with Bob Gorsuch on the pole. Gorsuch came into the race still looking for his first trip to the Winner's Circle. Before the final checkered flag of the night he would take home two first place trophies and $800.
After a couple of fist lap cautions and the necessary cleanups Gorsuch found himself with a car fast enough to hold off Johnny Gamble in the #9 and Jim Orisich in the #08. With the front three separating themselves from the pack, the real battle was for fourth place, which raged for last 20 of the 25 lap event. James Wright, Paul Gibbs, Jeff McCaw, David Williamson and Mike Wilson beat and banged each other for the spot, with more than one lapped car getting eaten alive by the hard charging fivesome. Points leader James Wright finally earned the spot beating out Paul Gibbs at the line.
Bob Gorsuch with Lindsay Beard
A lot of the races on this night had the best battles back in the middle of the pack, on a track where passing can take a tremendous amount of patience. The Limited Late Model feature demonstrated what can happen when that patience wears thin.
 We counted around a hundred cars in the field of Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, Limited Late Models, 4 Cylinder and 8 Cylinder Bombers, with 12 Mini Cups. Not bad considering this "little race track that could' was competing against the Bristol Winston Cup race. When the KARNAC.com crew gave a bunch to toys to about 100 kids, we realized we hadn't brought enough for every youngster and it was clear from that little episode the track is a family oriented racing facility where on this Saturday evening at least 300 kids had brought mom and dad out for a night at the races.
When the Limited Late Models hit the track with their thunder echoing around the speedway, all eyes quickly turned to the #56 of Wayne Morris, an old hand at the Battle of Auburndale. Morris started well back in the field and immediately started scratching his way to the front, using the outside, inside and on more than one occasion the middle of turn one with cars on both sides of him. Caution on lap one, followed by another on lap two involving Morris and the Late Model Demolition was on. Lap four saw Gregg Kilma's #20 climb atop the #46 of Tommy Caveney in turn two, leaving fans holding their breath for a few minutes. But when the wrecker lifted Kilma's car upwards, Caveney drove off with his bronze colored Late Model now resembling one the 8 Cylinder Bombers, but no one was hurt, except for Kilma's machine, which was done for the night.
After racing resumed Jason Bennett had the lead followed by Richard Elkins, Jr., and once again the Auburndale fans were treated to a real battle as Morris fired his Late Model on the outside doing battle with the #32 of Shane Guy. But not for long, as one lap later the two got together coming out of four and as they both fought for the same spot the contact was hard and loud as they slid down the front straight wall tangled up together, chaos all around cars flying sideways and backwards. Travis Roland's #75 caught fire briefly but the Safety crew swiftly took care of that, with the real fire in front of the main grandstands as fans lined up to give the "guy they love to hate" the what for. Morris was out of his car giving his opinion of the situation, and the fans giving theirs. Both drivers were sent home for the evening, leaving only 10 cars in the field after only 6 laps, then after a few more cautions the field was narrowed to eight cars with #63 Wesley Bass taking the win followed by #5 Jason Bennett and veteran #71 Dave Dunkin. Nope, Bristol didn't have anything on Auburndale tonight.
 While part of the KARNAC.com crew was dealing with the stampede of children collecting their 'alien' toys, Rick Anges and owners J.T. Beard and Debi Beard brought out the drivers who were going to run the $500 to win Street Stock Dash for Cash later in the show. Amazingly Bob Gorsuch, who had won his first feature event an hour earlier pulled the pole pill, giving him a huge advantage in the Dash. The race had originally been planned to be a six-car race, but Rick Anges added two cars at the last minute, giving a KARNAC.com provisional to Chris Kingham and Black Flag Provisional to Donnie Hart. Hart has been black flagged in the Street Stock Dash two weeks earlier.
In a very scary twenty minutes during heat races, Chris Kingham's drive shaft came off his #63 catapulting him into the front straight wall, and ripping the wheels and rear axle completely off the car.
The Mulberry Fire and Rescue team along with the Polk County EMS crew worked for 15 minutes to carefully free Kingham and secure him on a waiting stretcher and place him in the ambulance. It was indeed a surprise to all to see the young man back to race in the Dash.
James Wright again put on a show as he drove from the 7th starting spot to finish second behind Gorsuch followed in third by Sam Cressman who drove all the way from the rear in the six-lap race.
 At the driver's meeting and also at Intermission a special tribute was paid to Jan Mason, driver of the #24 4 Cylinder Bomber. Mason recently suffered a neck injury in an automobile accident and is recovering in hopes of getting back in the race car. She was in the crowd enjoying a great night of racing at Auburndale Speedway, and it was very nice to see the respect shown to her from the fans and drivers.
J.T. And Debi Beard, in their first full year as speedway owners, took over control of the track in October 2000. From all accounts they have done an excellent job with getting the speedway headed in the right direction.
 Audio--the amazing story of how they caught the racing bug and bought Auburndale Speedway, their summary of accomplishments to date and plans for the future.
One of the first things that strike first time visitors about Auburndale Speedway is the sparkle in the air that surrounds the 1/4 mile track. There is a feeling that this is a really cool place to have some fun, and after a few trips around the facility, exploring the pits and all the nooks and crannies, one is impressed with the cleanliness and simple organization that frames the Saturday night show. The staff, from the red shirted Security Team, the concessions people to the Mulberry Fire Rescue team, is as friendly and well oiled as any we have seen this year in Florida.
This coming Saturday night, September 1, the wild TBARA sprints return to Auburndale.
For more on this and other events at the track the locals call 'Awesomedale' check out their website at www.auburndalespeedway.com
-By Jack Smith
4 CYLINDERS:
1ST 12 Aaron Williamson
2ND 63 Donald Gatlin
3RD 06 George Gorham Jr.
4TH 33 Billy Barstow
5TH 68 David Purvis
V-8 BOMBERS:
1ST 75 Carl Thompson Jr.
2ND 00 Rodney Peterson
3RD 46 Randy King
4TH 18 Matt Bozeman
5TH 37 Rob Hockaday
STREET STOCKS:
1ST 69 Bob Gorsuch
2ND 9 Johnny Gamble
3RD 08 Jim Orisich
4TH 56 James Wright III
5TH 2 Paul Gibbs
MINI-STOCK:
1ST 5 Chuck Frazier
2ND 9 Robbie Storer
3RD 77 Lee Davis
4TH 04 Jason Rendell
5TH 7 Jay Kaminski
LIMITED LATE MODEL:
1ST 63 Westley Bass
2ND 5 Jason Bennett
3RD 71 Dave Dunkin
4TH 1 Bart Weatherford
5TH 80 Kevin Boykin
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