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| FAULK TOPS SARA LM, THOMPSON RETIRES IN STYLE AT ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD | By Dave Westerman
For several years, Orlando Speedworld was the home track of veteran racer Lee Faulk and he has many wins to his credit here. Friday night, Lee played the role of crew chief and watched as his son Michael Faulk rode to victory in the Executive Racing School SARA Late Model 100 lapper in impressive style.
It looked as though Faulk would have to play second fiddle to another young gun, Jason Boyd. Boyd set fast time among the 40 teams entered with a new track record for the SARA series of 13.898 sec. at just over 97 MPH on the three-eighths mile.
Boyd then drew the #1 pill and sat on the pole for the race which he immediately began to dominate from the drop of the green. The field of 28 did some great racing in the early laps avoiding the usual early-race crashes that tend to happen here.
The first caution flew on lap 19 as Jimbo Bjorkland tagged the frontstetch wall and spun to a stop in turn one. Racing resumed with Boyd still showing the way by a big margin as Faulk worked his way into second spot, leading a freight train past Richard Baer who had been gamely holding on to second up to that point.
Just like Winston Cup at Talladega, you knew something was bound to happen sooner or later with so many cars running so close together, and the "big one" finally took place on lap 44 while cars racing for position in the middle of the field ran up on several lapped machines.
Someone got loose on the front straightaway and before the smoke cleared, the cars of Kevin Ingram, Martin Pierce, Chris Lawrence, and Tony Amico were done for the night. Several other cars received damage including that of Wayne Morris. Morris, winner of the two previous SARA events, spent several laps in the pits making repairs and returned to complete at total of 59 laps, good for a 20th place finish.
Another victim of the crash was leader Jason Boyd. Boyd ran over some debris and cut down a tire forcing him to pit. Boyd returned at the tail end of the field for the restart.
Faulk made the most of his good fortune, opening up a decent lead and surviving a rash of caution flags over the final 50 laps.
Boyd was the show from this point as he attempted to work his way back to the front. In doing so, he was involved in three seperate incidents including a wild, smoky spin at the start-finish line. Despite all this, Boyd still managed a ninth place finish.
No one was going to catch Faulk as he raced to a comfortable win in his Pierce Motorsports Monte Carlo. Rookie contender Brad Barkis did an excellent job of holding off 2000 SARA champ Bobby Beauchemin for second.
Kenrick Gomez seemed to come from out of nowhere in the closing laps to get fourth spot ahead of Joe Boyd. Joe Sumansky, Kevin Durden, Chip Shell, Jason Boyd, and Larry Osteen rounded out the top ten.
"It felt like we were racing slot cars," said Michael Faulk's dad Lee, commenting on sitting next to his old nemesis Leroy Porter in the grandstands while Lee was on the radio with his son and Porter was doing likewise with Jason Boyd.
Chip Shell won the Hard Charger Award for the race while Kevin Ingram raced his way into the 100-lapper with a victory in the B-Main.
Jason Boyd had even more disappointment in the Modified feature. Trying to win his third in a row, Boyd tangled with leader Hank Sanders sending both to the rear of the field.
That handed the lead to veteran Bruce Thompson who held off the late challenges of '99 track champ Gary English to take what would be his first, and only win of the season as Thompson announced his retirement from racing in victory lane.
Boyd raced back to third at the finish only to be set back a spot for jumping a restart. However, he still ended up in third place when Ted Head's car came up light in post-race inspection. Ironically, Head's car is owned by head tech inspector Donnie Lewis. "Make sure you tell everybody that the tech inspector disqualified his own car tonight," said Lewis. "When you're right, you're right... When you're wrong you're wrong," he said.
Frank Polly took the checker in third place followed by Shain Held. Tim "Missleman" McPhail took his second win of the year in the Mini Stockfeature holding off a determined effort by newcomer Tony Elrod, Jr.Rae Williams took third spot in front of Jeff Davis and Rose Dickerson.
Dale Clouser took the measure of the Sportsman field outrunning Doug Samion, Bill Loomis, Tommy Johnson, and Kelly Jarrett to the checker.
"Mr. Outside" Carl Peters used his patented third groove passes to net his second Super Stock win of the year. The defending champion easily raced to the win with Bill Loomis earning place money. Big Bob Wines came from deep in the field to get third over rookie contender Tim Russell and Doug Gould in his Racin' Ralph special.
First timer Charlie Pitts drove to a win in the Strictly Stock class topping John Stevens, Steve Hoerner, and Rob Vernon.
Next week it's the first race in the Mini Stock Challenge Tour for 2001. The four-bangers will duke it out for 50 laps and $500 to win.
-Dave Westerman
See related link: FAULK SHOWS PATIENCE DOES WORK
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