| B.J. McLeod Wins Red Eye 100 at New Smyrna Speedway | by Jane Smith
 Samsula, Fla. ( January 3, 2004) B.J. McLeod of Wachula, Fla. made 2004 a very special New Year as he won the Red Eye 100 in the last eight laps Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway in the first race of the New Year.
Justin Drawdy of Ft. Pierce started off the new year by setting fast time with a 17.956 followed by B.J. McLeod with a 18.038. Jacob Warren of Orlando came in third with a 18.039 with Billy Bigley Jr. of Naples, Fla. with a 18.155. Completing the top five fastest qualifiers was David Rogers of Orlando, Fla. with a 18.215.
Fourteen cars came out for the Red Eye 100 with two failing to make the field due to mechanical problems. Art Cross of Tampa, Fla. and John Kennedy of Deltona, Fla. Drawdy drew a six in the inversion draw putting Fain Skinner of Live Oaks, Fla on the pole for the 100 lap event. A nice crowd came to watch the first race of the new year and eagering waved the drivers on for the green flag.
Jack Cook of Ormond Beach, Fla. quickly jumped to the lead on the green followed by David Rogers, Billy Bigley Jr., B.J. McLeod and Fain Skinner. On lap 7 with Cook in the lead, Skinner gets around McLeod for fourth with Drawdy coming in fifth on Skinner's coattail. McLeod slides back to sixth. Lap 19 saw a very good save by Ricky Wood of Orlando, Fla. coming off four very loose and not losing control. Woods got the car going straight again and continued on.
Tate Pierce of Zephyrhills, Fla. retires to the pits after 27 laps with mechanical problems. In the meantime, Rogers is looking every way he can to pass Cook for the lead as Drawdy is all over Skinner for fourth and McLeod is all over Drawdy. Lap 38, Skinner slides high giving Drawdy and McLeod the pass to take over fourth and fifth. Rogers passes Cook taking over the number one spot with Billy Bigley Jr latching on to Roger's coattails and taking second with Cook settling in the third spot.
On lap 42, Drawdy puts the pedal to the metal and passes Cook for third with McLeod and Skinner taking fourth and fifth and Cook in sixth. Lap 48, Drawdy takes second from Bigley.
By lap 52, Drawdy is giving Rogers little "love kisses" but Rogers holds strong. On lap 54 on the backstretch, Bigley develops a problem and slows but Skinner has no time to let off and goes over part of Bigley's car and is airborne. Skinner comes back down and is okay but done for the night. Bigley has to pit for crew attention a number of times but does continue racing. This was the first caution of the race.
The race goes back to green on lap 59 with Rogers, Drawdy, McLeod, Cook and Jacob Warren of Orlando in the top five. Lap 61 sees the yellow again as Drawdy has hit the turn 2 wall hard but he also is fine, just the car is done for the night.
Lap 67 sees the restart with Rogers, McLeod, Cook, Warren, and Bruce Lawrence of Sorento in the top five. Bigley makes his way from the rear of the field and takes over fifth from Lawrence.
For a number of laps, McLeod is right on Rogers's rear bumper giving him little "love kisses". McLeod is looking every way he can to pass Rogers and on lap 91, McLeod and Rogers are going side-by-side, door-to-door.
Lap 92, McLeod finally gets the pass and takes over the lead with Rogers second, Cook, Bigley, and Warren in the top five. Rogers tries to comeback and retake the lead but McLeod holds strong.Bigley takes over third with Cook sliding to sixth.
McLeod takes the checkered for the first win of the New Year followed by David Rogers, Billy Bigley Jr., Jacob Warren, and Bruce Lawrence.
In the Winner's Circle a very tearful Mary Jane McLeod gave her son a well deserved hug. "This was a great way to start the year for McLeod Motorsports" said an extremely happy B.J. McLeod. "It was a great race and alot of fun."
In other racing action, Scott Reeves had the pole for the Mini Stock feature. Rex Christensen jumped to the lead on the green followed by Pug Puglisi, Brian Bellaw, Scott Reeves, and Michael Seay.
Reeves slowly moves up to second with Bellaw in third, Seay in fourth and Puglisi settling in fifth. By lap 9, Christensen has his hands full with Reeves as they go side-by-side for the lead. One lap later, lap 10, Reeves takes the point as Christensen goes back to second.
The only caution came out for Rick Gamache who blows an engine going down the frontstretch. The race goes back green and it is Scott Reeves taking the checkered for his first win in 2004. Following Reeves to the checkered was Rex Christensen, Brian Bellaw, Michael Seay, and Pug Puglisi.
Only four Late Models were in the field for their feature race but they still offered plenty of action. Mike Murphy had the pole for the feature event and quickly jumped to the lead followed by Tim Russell, Bruce Lawrence Jr., and Troy Atkins.
Murphy and Russell put on a great show as Russell chased Murphy for the lead doing some really good side-by-side action but Murphy held strong and would not budge. Atkins had problems and retired from the race on lap 12, his first race in his new Late Model after competing in the Bandolero division at Orlando SpeedWorld.
Murphy takes the checkered followed by Tim Russell, Bruce Lawrence Jr. and Troy Atkins.
Donnie Williams had the pole for the Sportsman feature and quickly took the lead on the green followed by Dale Clouser, Cory Kaiser, Dennis Gilliam and Mike Soukup.
Clouser passes Williams for the lead and never looks back taking the checkered followed by Donnie Williams, Mike Soukup, Dennis Gilliam, and Cory Kaiser.
Mark Vandevender had the pole for the Open Wheel Modified feature and took the lead on the green followed by Dave Savicki, Tom Root, Jason Boyd and Matt Wheeler.
Vandevender develops a problem and must pit giving the lead to Savicki but it is Tom Root who passes Savicki and takes over the point with Jason Boyd following Root into second and Savicki in third.
On lap 5, Vic Vanlacker and Matt Wheeler bring out the caution as they slightly touch in turns 3 and 4 spinning both out. Both are able to continue. On the second restart coming down the frontstretch, Root finds himself edging towards Boyd and over-corrects avoiding contact by the two and aims straight into the wall. Root is fine but done for the night.
During the caution Vandevender returns to the track with Boyd taking over the lead followed by Savicki, Vanlacker, Wheeler, and Vandevender.
On lap 7, Wheeler passes Savicki for second with Savicki settling into third. Boyd takes the checkered for his first win of the New Year followed by Matt Wheeler, Dave Savicki, Vic Vanlacker, and Mark Vandevender.
Sean Bass had the pole for the Super Stock feature but it was Jeff Colburn quickly taking the lead on the green followed by Bass, Kevin Auger, Mike Soukup and Ron Whaley. Justin Reynolds brought out the caution as he blows an engine going down the backstretch in his new Super Stock. Whaley also pulls into the pits as he has a mechanical problem. Reynolds is fine but not happy that his engine blew and Whaley comes back out.
Colburn holds the point on the restart followed by Bass, Auger, Soukup, and Tim Edmundson. Michael "Rooster" Williams brings out the caution on lap 5 as he takes a little spin coming off turn 4. Williams gets the car back around and the race goes back green.
Colburn holds the point followed by Bass, Soukup, Auger and Jason Foster in the top five. Colburn takes the checkered for his first win of 2004 followed by Sean Bass, Mike Soukup, Kevin Auger, and Jason Foster.
Mike Dohn had the pole for the action packed Strictly Stock race with Roger Ladeau taking the lead on the green followed by Jeremy Hovencamp, Todd McCreary, Farris Crews, and Nick Boley.
Hovencamp passes Ladeau and takes over the point with Ladeau in second. But Ladeau cannot hold back McCreary who passes Ladeau and aims for Hovencamp and the lead. Hovencamp and McCreary, with his "pink" stockcar, put on a great show for the crowd as they go side-by-side, door-to-door and swap the lead several times before McCreary takes the final lead.
Coming off turn 4, McCreary and Hovencamp are side-by-side for the checkered with McCreary high and Hovencamp low. McCreary put the pedal down and takes the checkered over Hovencamp to a standing crowd. McCreary takes the checkered for his first win in 2004 followed by Jeremy Hovencamp, Roger Ladeau, Kerry Payne, and Farris Crews.
On January 13, New Smyrna Speedway will host the Big Brother/ Big Sisters of Volusia County Charity Race with NASCAR drivers Kyle Petty, Bobby Labonte, Ken Schrader, John Andretti, Scott Riggs, Steve Park and Benny Parson in the pressbox.
OFFICIAL RESULTS RED EYE 100 - January 3, 2004
1. #78 B.J. McLeod, Wachula, Fla.
2. #11 David Rogers, Orlando, Fla.
3. #28 Billy Bigley Jr., Naples, Fla.
4. #51 Jacob Warren, Orlando, Fla.
5. #16 Bruce Lawrence, Sorrento, Fla.
6. #96 Jack Cook, Ormond Beach, Fla.
7. #33 Ricky Wood, Orlando, Fla.
8. #34 Bobby Fleckinger, Cocoa, Fla.
9. #37 James Powell, Astor, Fla.
10. #12 Justin Drawdy, Ft. Pierce, Fla.
11. #1 Fain Skinner, Live Oaks, Fla.
12. #81x Tate Pierce, Zephryhills, Fla.
LATE MODEL
1. #26 Mike Murphy
2. #36 Tim Russell
3. #16 Bruce Lawrence Jr.
4. #14 Troy Atkins
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #2x Jason Boyd
2. #96 Matt Wheeler
3. #70 Dave Savicki
4. #1 Vic Vanlacker
5. #7 Mark Vandevender
6. #19 Tom Root
SPORTSMAN
1. #30 Dale Clouser
2. #111 Donnie Williams
3. #28 Mike Soukup
4. #40 Dennis Gilliam
5. #48 Cory Kaiser
6. #5 Lonnie Cole
7. #7 Tom Gamache
MINI STOCK
1. #21 Scott Reeves
2. #v3 Rex Christensen
3. #1 Brian Bellaw
4. #10 Michael Seay
5. #11 Pug Puglisi
6. #61 Rick Gamache
SUPER STOCK
1. #3 Jeff Colburn
2. #17 Sean Bass
3. #45 Mike Soukup
4. #07 Kevin Auger
5. #49 Jason Foster
6. #17x Michael Williams
7. #66 Tim Edmundson
8. #7 Michael Poole
9. #03 Ron Whaley
10. #20 Justin Reynolds
STRICTLY STOCK
1. #24q Todd McCreary
2. #39 Jeremy Hovencamp
3. #10 Roger Ladeau
4. #11x Kerry Payne
5. #8x Farris Crews
6. #88 Nick Boley
7. #007 Chuck Rush
8. #21x Mike Dohn
9. #75 Tim Logue
10. #77 Chris Ridley
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