Monday, September 1, 2003 Michael Faulk Wins Gaylon Roberts Memorial "Workingman's 100" at Columbia Motorsports Park by Dave Westerman For the second straight Florida Pro Series Super Late Model race, Gainesville's Mike Faulk claimed the win but was not the driver to celebrate in victory lane at Columbia Motorsports Park near Lake City. Friday night practice was washed out by a severe thunderstorm that literally flooded the pit area with over three inches of rain in less than an hour. High winds also twisted the Armstrong Racing Teams tent into a pretzel. However, dry conditions greeted teams and fans for Saturday as 21 Florida Pro series machines made their way into the speedway. Archer's Patrick Williams set quick time in the Armstrong Homes/Dave's Towing Chevy and started third in the field after the top ten in qualifying drew for position. Rich Pratt of Anthony and Florida Pro point leader Jay Middleton of Lake City had the front row spots for the start of the Gaylon Roberts Memorial "Workingman's 100" with the first try at starting this one setting the tone for the rest of the night as Donnie Oden, Chuck Hiers and David Browning got tangled up going into turn one at the drop of the green flag. All three were able to continue as the field assembled for a complete restart. Pratt quickly assumed command as the race got under way with Middleton, Williams and Dwayne Dempsey in tow. David Hodges, Jr. was looking strong in the early going but got tapped from behind and spun on lap three. No caution was thrown as Hodges got under way nearly a lap down. By lap ten, Pratt had opened up a several car length lead over Williams in second and Middleton in third. Lap 15 would see an incident that would create some controversy later on. The caution was tossed for fluid on the track in turn one, apparently gasoline. The red flag was thrown so that the track could be cleaned up. At this point, David Froelich was assessed a penalty for jumping the original start. As the field took the green flag, Froelich drove into the car of Mike Faulk, lifting the rear end of Faulk's car into the air and sending him into a spin in turn one. Froelich was disqualified for rough driving while Faulk was given his place back in the line-up. Although the leader had passed Faulk while he sat on the apron of the track, Faulk was not shown a lap down because the full field had not completed a lap under green, so the restart line-up reverted back to the way the cars were running on lap 15. Later several drivers would contest that Faulk was a lap down at the finish, however, since caution laps were not counting after the original red flag was flown on lap 15, the red flag situation did save Faulk from losing a lap at the time. Again it took two more tries to get the race back under way, but once the field actually took the green, Pratt was getting incredible restarts, putting several car lengths on Williams even before they crossed the start-finish line. Middleton made a pass of Williams for second on lap 29 with Williams slipping all the way back to sixth on lap 33 as Dempsey moved to third ahead of Faulk and Fain Skinner. Action was getting hot and heavy behind Pratt as Skinner passed Faulk for fourth on lap 39. Three laps later, Dempsey made a move on Middleton for second. On lap 45, Skinner made an inside move on Middleton for third coming out of turn four and the two made contact doing everything but crash heading into turn one. However, a piece of debris on the front stretch off of Skinner's car brought out the caution. The field was set for a restart at lap 50, with the top ten at the halfway mark consisting of Pratt, Dempsey, Middleton, Skinner, Faulk, Williams, Doyle Boatwright, Brian Finney, Kevin Durden, and Hodges. Things would get totally crazy at this point. As the field took the green, Brian Finney tagged Doyle Boatwright's car with Boatwright spinning down the frontstretch collecting the cars of Hodges, Durden, David Browning and Steve Throop and bringing out the red flag. All drivers were OK but Boatwright, Hodges, Throop and Browning were done. Third running Middleton pitted at this time too but returned to the track at the back of the field. The next try to get the race started was negated when Fain Skinner was slow to come up to speed with Chet Morrison and Patrick Williams getting together and keeping the caution out. The field came down to take the green once more, but again Skinner's car balked on the restart. Kevin Durden slowed and Todd Ponce ran up and over Durden's machine. Despite having the entire left side sheet metal torn off his car, Durden was able to drive back to the pits although both he and Ponce were also done for the evening. The restart line-up continued to revert back to the last completed green flag lap (lap 45) but the top ten had changed considerably with Pratt and Dempsey still one and two, now followed by Skinner, Faulk, Williams, Morrison, Middleton, Finney, Al Beckelheimer and Craig Seewald. Finally the field got back to green flag racing, but not for long as Beckelheimer spun in turn four on lap 52 for what would be the final caution of the race. Pratt continued to set the pace but Dempsey was playing a veteran driver's waiting game staying right on the Groeb Farms Chevy's bumper with Faulk moving by Skinner for third. Middleton worked his way past Skinner's damaged car to take fourth on lap 73. Pratt appeared to have his first Florida Pro win in the bag, but the handle was going away on his car. Dempsey made his move with two laps to go and slipped past for the lead. Faulk got by Pratt for second as the white flag came out. Dempsey zipped by the checker for the apparent win followed by Faulk, Pratt, Middleton and Skinner. For the second race in a row, the apparent winner did not meet the proper weight rule for the type of heads on the engine, and Dempsey was disqualified. Just as happened at Citrus County Speedway, Faulk's engine was checked and pronounced legal and he was awarded his second straight win although he has never been able to accept the accolades he'd like in victory lane with his Blake Construction/Eatmon Racing Engines Monte Carlo. Pratt moved up to second with point leader Middleton third but losing a bit of ground again to race winner Faulk who continues to gain in the championship standings. Fain Skinner brought his well-initiated new car home fourth while Patrick Williams wound up fifth. Chet Morrison was sixth with seventh going to Finney. Craig Seewald was eighth and the last car still running. Ninth and tenth spots were awarded to Doyle Boatwright and Kevin Durden although neither driver actually made it past lap 50!!! In local Columbia Motorsports Park action, Kevin Durden had a better time in the Modifieds as he took the open-wheel win, Will Jerkins, Jr. topped the Street Stock field and Wesley Keller was the best of the Pure Stocks. RESULTS - FLORIDA PRO SERIES - COLUMBIA MOTORSPORTS PARK - 8/30/03: 1) Mike Faulk, Gainesville #25 2) Rich Pratt, Anthony #0 3) Jay Middleton, Lake City #74 4) Fain Skinner, Live Oak #1 5) Patrick Williams, Archer #57X 6) Chet Morrison, Houma, LA #86 7) Brian Finney, Merritt Island #80 8) Craig Seewald, Hollywood #44 9) Doyle Boatwright, Lawtey #57 10) Kevin Durden, Archer #56 11) David Hodges, Jr., Valdosta, GA #16 12) Al Beckelheimer, Ft. White #31 13) David Browning, Jacksonville #6 14) Todd Ponce, St. Augustine #32 15) Steve Throop, West Palm Beach #35 16) Donnie Oden, Lake Butler #21 17) Chuck Hiers, Jacksonville #21X 18) Dr. Al Berry, Alachua #53 19) Steve Lamb, Miami #99 DQ Dwayne Dempsey, St. Petersburg #7 DQ David Froelich, Loxahatchee #22 Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!