(Orlando, FL; 7/15/2000) Not even a persistent night-long drizzle could stop the action Friday, July 14, at Orlando Speedworld on a evening that saw several wacky finishes.

The headline event was a 50-lapper for the Sportsman cars. Rich Clouser set fast time at 14.81 seconds but drew the sixth pill inverting the first half-dozen cars putting Doug Samion on the pole. Samion survived two complete restarts to set the pace in the early going as Clouser was working his way to the front. Bobby Lee Good was Samion's first challenger but his car began to smoke, and he dropped out along with early front-runner Sam Bowman and Tommy Johnson.

Clouser moved up to put the pressure on Samion and finally got around him near mid-race, but broke a driveshaft a few laps later and was forced to pit. Samion regained the top spot only to get turned around by second running Kelly Jarrett sending both to the rear of what was now a very slim field.

Jeff Wright assumed the point, but he and second-running Mike Carr locked horns sending both of them to the tail of the field. Samion re-assumed the lead and held off Jarrett for the win. It was Samion's division-leading sixth win of the season and the first for his new Rainaldi's Air Conditioning Repair Chevy. Following Jarrett's Spectrum Painting/Auto Parts of Taft Monte Carlo to the finish were Jeff Wright, Richard Hight, and Mike Carr.

The Classic Auto Racing series made its second appearance of the year and the evening belonged to Dave Nunes as he took advantage of his pole position to lead every lap of the 20-lap feature. The only slow-down of this one came on lap eight when the engine blew in Randy Harden's coupe dumping a mass amount of oil in turn three.

Nunes again pulled away on the restart but his car developed a push allowing Dan Hammerbeck to close in. Nunes was up to the challenge and took his second Classics victory in a row. Hammerbeck was second for his best finish of the year. While Mr. Consistency, Ed Yates, who had finished second in the last five Classics races, settled for third this time.

Robert Kasper started tenth but charged to fourth at the finish in his Durkee Machine sedan while point-leader Rodney Early came home fifth--his worst finish of the year after taking six wins in his first nine races. Eddie Thornton had a consistent run to sixth while Jim Rahman came from dead last on the 16-car grid to get seventh. George Hall, Bud Spencer, and Frank Conrad rounded out the top ten. Simeon Spagnuolo finished 11th and earned the Big Daddy's towing Rookie of the Race Award.

Back in championship form, Bill "Goldberg" Pratt took the lead near mid-race from Rusty Ebersole and ran away from the Super Late Model field in one of the only races of the evening to go green to checker. It was the second win of the year for the defending Super Late Model Champion in his B & K Used Auto Parts/Eddelman Air Monte Carlo. Ebersole held on for second over Florida West Coast driver Lee Collins, Bryan Mansfield, and Travis Kittleson.

Scott Bramlett took the Late Model victory in Mike Murphy's Central Florida Septic machine when race leader Earl Beckner spun on the last lap. Bryan Mansfield, doing double duty, came home second in this one ahead of Chris Fontaine, Kenny Crites, and Jacob Warren.

"Wild" Bill Gunn led most of the way in his Gunn-Struction Modified to claim his first win of the season in the open-wheelers. Gary English came away with a hard-fought second while Frank Polly took third and a $50.00 bonus from Dick Bennett Motors of Orlando. Aric Almirola and Jason Boyd rounded out the top five.

Lakeland's Kenny Hankins dominated the Mini-Stocks in his VW while point leader Kelly Jarrett tangled with Tim Clark coming down for the checker and pounded the turn four wall. Jarrett had the wind knocked out of him for awhile but was otherwise okay other than being a nervous groom-to-be...Clark came across the stripe second in front of Geoff Williams, Ron Abeles, and Rex "Boneman" Hollinger.

The wildest finish of the night was in the Super Stock class as the top five cars, Charles Fry, Duane Freed, Carl Peters, Bob Wines, and John Smith crashed with two laps to go. Only Smith could get his car running again, but since he went to the infield to inspect his car, sixth running Homer Gordon was awarded the win, his third of the season. Smith was placed second followed by Freed, Fry, and Wines.

The MMRA Super Mini-Cup cars were also on the card, and it was Josh Guy of Auburndale taking the measure of the 15-car field. Casey Smith came from 11th on the grid to second followed by Doug Smith, Steve Smith, and Terry Lee Tullis.

Scooter Carpenter outran Russ Rainaldi and Junior Gould to win the Strictly Stock feature. The Champ Karts race was won by Mike Phelps #9.

-Dave Westerman-

ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD RESULTS ****The Track does not condone or encourage poor sportsman-like conduct, on anyone's part, Driver/Crew/Family/Fan and Officials/Staff, we try to stop it before it starts, but sometimes things happen that we have to handle after the fact...be assured fines are levied and suspensions are given to the guilty parties...we appreciate your understanding in these matters and welcome your suggestions. Please feel free to e-mail, call, or write the FASCAR business office anytime.****

SUPER LATE MODELS
1. #43, Bill Pratt
2. #47, Rusty Ebersole
3. #89, Lee Collins
4. #18, Bryan Mansfield
5. #88, Travis Kittleson

LATE MODEL
1. #26, Scott Bramlett
2. #18, Bryan Mansfield
3. #47, Chris Fontaine
4. # 1, Kenny Crites
5. #11, Jacob Warren

MODIFIEDS
1. #13, Bill Gunn
2. #66, Gary English
3. #34, Frank Polly
4. #14, Aric Almirola
5. #2X, Jason Boyd

SPORTSMAN
1. #04, Doug Samion
2. #97, Kelly Garrett
3. #50, Jeff Wright
4. #23, Richard Hight
5. #41, Michael Carr

MINI STOCKS
1. # 8, Kenny Hankins
2. #25, Tim Clark
3. #17, Geoff Williams
4. #00, Ron Abeles
5. #85, Rex Hollinger

SUPER STOCK
1. #22, Homer Gordon
2. #32, John Smith
3. #11, Duane Freed
4. # 3, Charles Frye
5. #7X, Bob Wines

STRICTLY STOCK
1. # 0, Scooter Carpenter
2. #76, Russ Rinalai
3. #16, David Gould
4. # 9, Ken Reese


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