| Boatwright outlasts Florida Pro Rivals for Win at Columbia Motorsports Park | by Dave Westerman
Making no mistakes along the way, Doyle Boatwright was in the right place at the right time to get his second career Florida Pro Super Late Model Series win Saturday night at Columbia Motorsports Park near Lake City.
For the second straight race here, young Tallahassee ace Marc Mitchell set quick time only to lose it in tech, this time due to an improper carburetor. Chris Turner, up from Naples and making his first visit to the fast half-mile, ended up with quick time at 16.876 seconds over the 16.979 clocking of Plant City's Jeff Scofield.
The top six re-drew for starting positions with Scofield picking the pole and Boatwright outside. Houma, LA visitor Chet Morrison and Turner made up row two while Mitchell changed carbs and started from the rear of the line-up.
Scofield jumped out to a quick lead as the field took the green for a 100-lap race that would be full of highs and lows for many drivers.
As the field raced into turn one, 12th starting Michael Faulk got turned around but kept going although he was nearly a lap down to the field.
Faulk would gain all the distance he lost right back on lap four as David Froelich and Jimmy Britts touched on the front straight with Froelich spinning wildly into turn one. Froelich got his Florida Fresh special pointed in the right direction without hitting anything as the caution came out and he got going before the leaders came around.
Scofield continued to set the pace, but on lap 10, several cars got into some dirt kicked up on the track in turn four with Rich Pratt spinning and David Hodges, Jr. heading out into the boondocks to miss everything. All cars restarted in the positions they were in prior to the incident.
As the race returned to green flag conditions, all eyes were on Marc Mitchell who had moved all the way up to sixth by lap 25.
Caution would slow the field two more times on laps 28 and 34 for stalled cars on the track.
With Scofield and Boatwright still setting the pace, it wasn't long until things got heated again as Jimmy Britts got into Chris turner as they battled for fifth spot with Hodges again taking a trip out in the grass to avoid the incident. Britts received a trip to the rear of the field as racing resumed again.
On lap 46, third running Jay Middleton slowed and headed to the pits with a broken top link on the rear end of his car. A lap later, Turner headed to the pits with mechanical troubles and dropped out as well.
Mitchell, who had worked his way up to fourth, all of a sudden lost the handle and slipped back to eighth.
Taking advantage of everyone else's problems and a good-handling car despite his two off-track excursions, David Hodges, Jr. had now worked his way to third place.
The race was finally settling into a green flag mode when suddenly, on lap 56, Scofield's car slowed with a broken pulley and he coasted to a stop in turn one, done for the night.
The restart lineup at lap 60 found Boatwright out front with Hodges now second. Chet Morrison, who was having an up and down evening including a scary situation early in the race that saw him almost head out into the sand dunes in turn two, seemed to have his act together and was running a strong third. Faulk had driven a steady race following his lap one mistake and was now fourth with Fain Skinner, Froelich, and Mitchell lining up in order.
As the green flew, Morrison began to fall back, unable to keep his car in the low groove of the race track.
Going into turn three on lap 66, Mitchell apparently had a tire go down and spun getting hit hard by Jimmy Britts in the process. Mitchell's car flew off turn three and out into the field as Britts took his car to the pits for repairs. The red flag was thrown, but fortunately Mitchell was unhurt although his car was done for the night. Britts made repairs and returned, still on the lead lap.
Hodges made several efforts to track down Boatwright, but the Starke driver had just too much for the rest of the field. Two late cautions for problems involving John Namour's car allowed Hodges to get additional shots at Boatwright, but he pulled away over the last few laps to take the win in his Henry Hodges Construction Ford Taurus.
"The car was pushing just a little bit late in the race," said Boatwright. "But I was able to make up for any lack of horsepower I had because it handled so well in the turns. We're building a new addition to our house, so this money will come in handy," he said.
Hodges, who brought his Pontiac Grand Prix to the track with the primary intention to sell it in order to get "a better car for the longer races" was showing a bit more love to his old horse after the race and took his best ever Florida Pro finish in second.
Faulk showed tremendous patience working back up from his early miscue to nab third spot while Froelich also shrugged off his earlier wild slide to claim fourth place money. Fain Skinner finally got his car to stay together for a full race and he took the checker a solid fifth.
Rich Pratt also ran a steady race to get sixth while Britts came back from two incidents to get seventh. Louisiana driver Morrison battled an ill handling car late, but managed an eighth place showing in his first Florida start with Al Beckelheimer ninth and the last car on the lead lap. Hollywood's Craig Seewald drove his "ancient" Ford T-Bird to tenth, one lap down.
The next scheduled race for the Florida Pro Series is July 19th at Hialeah Speedway.
RESULTS - FLORIDA PRO SERIES - COLUMBIA MOTORSPORTS PARK - 5/31/03
1) Doyle Boatwright, Starke #57
2) David Hodges, Jr., Valdosta, GA #16
3) Michael Faulk, Gainesville #25
4) David Froelich, Loxahatchee #22
5) Fain Skinner, Live Oak #1
6) Rich Pratt, Anthony #0
7) Jimmy Britts, Orange Park #92
8) Chet Morrison, Houma, LA #86
9) Al Beckelheimer, Ft. White #31
10) Craig Seewald, Hollywood #44
11) David Hussey, St. Marys #32
12) John Namour, Miami #27
13) Jody Turner, Jacksonville #7
14) Marc Mitchell, Tallahassee #17
15) Jeff Scofield, Plant City #07
16) Jay Middleton, Lake City #74
17) Chris Turner, Naples #94
DNS Steve Lamb, Miami #99
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