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2001
NEWS ARCHIVE
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| Bontrager Claims FASTRUCK Championship at "X" Games | BY Dave Westerman
Under bright sunny skies that turned into a clear, cool evening, racing was hot and heavy during the Xtreme Halloween Race Clash and Motorsport X-Games Saturday at Orlando Speedworld.
Twenty-one FASTRUCKS were able to make it to the green flag for their season-ending 50-lap race with polesitter Kelly Caudill leading the first four laps before Jeff Guilbault got around him for the lead. On lap ten, Caudill spun going into turn three with a number of trucks getting jammed up trying to avoid him.
Shawn Icely got the worst end of the deal being forced out with a leaking radiator.
Guilbault took off as the green was displayed again as an all out war was taking place behind him for second. Meanwhile, all eyes were on points leader Todd Bontrager and James Wright III as they were moving up through the field after starting on the last row.
Bontrager avoided disaster on lap 26 as he narrowly avoided being involved in a multi-truck tangle that ended the evening for Eddie Hamby, Charlie Worth and Gary Foxworth.
As the green flew, it appeared Guibault had lost his edge and was coming back to the field as veteran Paul Grynewicz led a seven truck brigade up to Guilbault's bumper.
The eight trucks raced nose to tailgate over the final laps as Grynewicz tried everything in his arsenal to get by Guilbault.
The Bradenton driver was up to the task as he held on for the win with Grynewicz and John Mitchell right behind him.
The win proved a bit costly to Guilbault as he broke the rear axle on his truck trying to do doughnuts on the straightaway and had to be towed off the track after the victory lane celebration.
Jimmy Gill took the checker in fourth just in front of Danny Foster and Bontrager, whose sixth-place finish was good enough to earn him the FASTRUCK points championship for 2002. Bontrager was "crowned" champ in victory lane as fireworks were going off in the background.
Rounding out the top ten in the race were Gus Coorsen, James Wright III, Paul Grynewicz III, and Jason Seekins.
Heat races for the FASTRUCKS went to James Wright III, Eddie Hamby and Danny Foster.
The FASTSPRINTS lined up 21 strong for their 30-lap finale after Dude Teate, Joe Melnick and Sport Allen had taken heat race wins.
USAC driver Dave Steele got the lead at the drop of the green only to see the caution out on lap three for a spin by John Sambor. Just after the restart, Jeff Daneau's car stalled on the backstretch for yellow flag number two.
As green flag racing resumed, it was obvious that Dude Teate had the car to beat as he began working over Steele lap after lap as the leaders dodged much slower lapped traffic.
Teate made an incredible move in lapped traffic on lap 17 to snare the lead from Steele as Sport Allen came up to challenge the former Tampa resident.
On lap 22, Skeeter Faulconer spun in turn three. Lee Cipray went high to avoid Faulconer and slammed the turn four wall. Cipray was OK but his car was done for the night.
On the restart, Kevin Cahill and Jimmy Alvis crashed going into turn one. Cahill's sprinter smashed backwards into the wall with enough force to knock the fuel cell loose while Alvis also tagged the concrete hard.
Both drivers were badly shaken, but fortunately were able to walk away.
The race was restarted and Teate again proved to be the class of the field has he drove to an easy win over Steele and Allen.
Joe Melnick crossed the line in fourth followed by Todd Schmidt. Tommy Nichols, Sambor, Bobby Rose, Tommy Gainey and Shane Miller rounded out the top ten.
The Classic Auto Racing Series 30-lap race went all the way under green with Ft. Pierce's Wayne Ashton leading every lap to claim the win.
Eddie Thornton crossed the line in second just in front of Ben Booth, Dennis Gilliam, and Joey Strehle. Ed Yates, Jim Rahman, Rodney Eary, Bud Spencer, and Harvey Ewing rounded out the top ten.
A special "King of the Bullring" race between the FASTRUCK and Classic Auto Racing series drivers was taken by the truck of Paul Grynewicz.
James Wright III and Jimmy Gill passed the Classic of Eddie Thornton for second and third, but Gill spun on the final lap giving third and fourth spots to the Classics of Thornton and Dennis Gilliam.
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