| Eddie VanMeter Gets the Win in World Figure 8 100 Lapper | By Phil Schryver - KARNAC Media
Auburndale, FL - Night 2 of the World Figure 8 Championship races was a huge success, with lots of fans and some great racing action.
The car count for the feature event was a bit smaller tonight, but that was due to some major wrecks happening on the first night of racing, and they still put on a great show for the large amount of fans that showed for the 100 lapper event.
Some of the local Florida drivers that were on hand included James Crawford Jr. who had brought a car out that used to be the #3 Wrangler Street Stock at Sunshine Speedway. James' motor blew in practice on Friday unfortunately. Another local on hand, who actually brought 2 cars was the #65 of Bobby Towe. He had his old Sunshine car, but also had a brand new car that he was still working some bugs out of. Jimmy Thompson was on hand with a brand new car, plus many others.
Top qualifier of the night, was the #41 of Casey White. In the heat races, the winners were the #23 of Eddie VanMeter, the #42 of Tommy Anderson, and the #13 of Neil Herne III.
They also had a 4 lap dash for cash shoot out for the top 4 qualifiers, in which the #41 of White came out on top for.
Some of the biggest excitement of the night came on the first couple of laps. Starting on the pole was the #89 of Rodney Davis, who makes Auburndale his home track. On the outside, was the #0 of Jimmy Thompson.
As soon as the green flag dropped, it seemed to be a mad dash for the finish line. By the time the leaders, had reached turn 3, absolute mayhem occurred with multiple cars spinning out. The only car to get serious damage was the #41 of Casey White, who was the winner of the 1st night of racing. Casey's night was ended and had to be towed from the track.
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On the restart, it was again a mad dash and the #42 of Tony Anderson, collided with the #89 of Davis going into turn 1, spinning both cars out. When the #89 of Davis restarted his car, he proceeded to seek out the #42 and actually started to ram the side of his car with his car. Davis was of course disqualified and his night was over. The #42's night was also done due to damage.
On the 3rd restart, the real racing got underway with the #14 of Wayne Calkins now on the pole and the #65 of Bobby Towe on his outside. The #65 was able to take the lead while Calkins had to battle it out with some of the Northern cars. Soon after, the #5 of Ben Tunny was able to take the lead away, followed by the #3 of RJ Norton III.
Even though we were only in the first few laps still, there were already some close calls happening in the X making for some great excitement for the fans.
By lap 25, the #5 of Tunny was still leading the way, but the #23 of VanMeter had moved into second and was biting at his heels.
Lap 40 brought on some mechanical problems for the #5 of Tunny and he had to slow on the front stretch, giving the #23 of VanMeter the lead.
By lap 50 the top 5 included #23 of VanMeter, #55 of Cherry, #69 of RJ Norton JR, and the #14 of Calkins.
VanMeter continued to lead the race till the checkered flag, but the #55 of Michael Cherry put on a impressive show by staying with him and gaining some ground, even while having to battle with lapped traffic.
The World Figure 8's will be at Auburndale for 1 more day of Racing and I recommend getting out there for the last 50 lap race if you can. Auburndale has a great facility that all of the Figure 8 drivers really like and I'm sure they will put on a great show once again tomorrow.
Finish Start Name Number
1 14 Eddie VanMeter 23
2 13 Michael Cherry 55
3 9 RJ Norton Jr. 69
4 8 Wayne Calkins 14
5 10 Ben Tunny 5
6 3 Jimmy Thompson 0
7 1 Charles Herne 29
8 5 Neil Herne III 13
9 4 Bobby Towe 65
10 17 RJ Norton III 3
11 15 Ron Sorenson Jr. 84
12 7 John Baranauskas 27
13 6 Tony Anderson 42
14 23 Rodney Davis 89
15 12 Gary Bedell 11
16 18 Bobby Mobley 29m
17 11 Casey White 41
18 DNS Tim Taylor 28
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