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| TEAM DUCK DOMINATES STREET STOCK AT SUNSHINE ON DOUBLE POINTS NIGHT | by Thom Watson
Mrs. Duck, Jackie Ashley, started in the pole position and led wire-to-wire in the Street Stock division. No one even got close to passing Ashley, #72, even with her muffler dragging and sparks flying for the last four laps. It didn’t take long for the yellow to fly, on lap two, the #8 of Chris Escott spun in turn four. On the restart, Ashley once again took off but on lap five, the #22 of Mike Hill, in second at the time, tried to go underneath Ashley but instead sent both of them spinning in turn four. Hill was sent to the rear, by track officials, while Ashley kept her lead position. By the halfway point, there was a five car train out front and Mrs. Duck’s husband, Harold “the duck” Ashley, in the #27, had moved up to fourth from his eighth place starting position. One lap later, The Duck moved into third place. Now the question was could he pass the Mrs.? Not on this night, in the closing laps he tried inside and outside to get around the #24 of David Cleary but couldn’t get around him to challenge for the win. While Mrs. Duck took the checkers, Cleary finished and The Duck had to settle for third. When told that Mr. Duck was coming hard to challenge her, Jackie said “ I didn’t look in the mirror, every time I do that I screw up”. On a night when points were doubled and the points leader did not make the feature, the points standings are sure to be jumbled.
Also on this night the Late Models were back with 15 cars lining up for the 50-lap, $1500 to win feature. The 11x of Jimmy Thompson had the lucky time and his pill was drawn to start on the pole. Outside pole setter, the #2 of Wayne Bowman, quickly took the lead position. Just like the Street Stocks, the yellow didn’t take long to fly. On lap three, the point’s leader, #15 Dwayne Dempsey and the #82 of Don Neighbor got together in turn four and went through the spin cycle. On lap eight, Bowman went low and slowed in turn three, allowing Thompson to take over the point. By the midpoint, the #73 of “Big Daddy” David Platter had moved into third and looked to be a threat. Coming out of turn four on lap 26, Platter went high and slowed and headed straight to the pits. Meanwhile Thompson, the #0 of “racin” Mason Love and the #5 of “Flyin” Brian Leverock held the top three spots. On lap 31, Leverock went to the low side of Love to take over the second spot. From that point it was a 2-car train, with Thompson and Leverock pulling away from everyone else. Leverock stayed within a car length or two of Thompson and on lap 47 tried to go inside on the front stretch but couldn’t stick it enough to pass. Thompson went on to a one-car length victory to take home the $1500. When asked “you just won $1500 where are you going to eat tonight”? “Anywhere they want to go”, said an excited Thompson from Victory Circle.
In the Mini Stock division, outside pole sitter, the #33 of Ralph Kelley, took the lead on the first lap and went on to lead every lap for the win. Pole sitter, the #40 of Dennis Valdez fell in behind Kelley and was never more than a car length or two behind. It was a two-car battle for the lead by the halfway point of the feature between these two. Coming off the fourth turn on the last lap, Valdez went outside of Kelley but came up about a half a car length short in his bid to overtake him. That was as close as Valdez could get to Kelley the entire race. The #70 of Marty Neikens started in the sixth position and methodically picked his way through the cars to wind up in the third place.
The Open Wheeled Modified division had plenty of action even though pole sitter, Timmy Moore, #57 led wire-to-wire. By lap five, Moore had built a five-car length lead. After the #17, Aaron Dreher, and the #80 of James Houle spun in turn one lap 13. On the restart, the #55 of Herman Brame, Dreher and Houle tangled in turn two with Dreher’s damage being terminal. After a couple of single car spins, Moore went on to the checkers, with the #66 of John Moore in the runner-up spot and the #00 of Pat Grimes finishing third. In true hero fashion, fellow open wheel driver of the #88, Chris Robbins was back at the track, just a few weeks after his second quadruple by-pass surgery in 6 months. Robbins was in the stands greeting his fans and signing autographs.
A first time feature winner emerged in the Enduro division. The #11 of Jeffrey Porter led from the first lap and outlasted the #98 of Randy Spicer and the #44 of Craig Montgomery to take the checkers. On lap 11, Spicer briefly took the lead, but regained it the following lap. The #58 of Ashley Larson steadily moved up through the field, but just past halfway, she was taken out by the #66 of Michael Breske.
Troy Johnson in the #7 led the first lap in the Outlaw Late Model division, but gave way to the #112 of Corky Craver on the following lap. Craver went on to lead the remainder of the way for the feature win. #56 of Robby McAuliffe started last and was able to work his way to the runner-up spot by the time the feature was over. The #20 of Steve O’lone was able to grab the third spot on the opening lap and was able to on to finish third.
In the fan favorite Figure 8 feature, the Plum Crazy #40 of Mark Thomas jumped out to a quick lead. Although the action at the “X” was fairly non-existent, the action elsewhere on the track was fierce. The #9 had a couple of solo spins before finally calling it a night. Just before the halfway point the #04 of Ron Veller and the #7 of Wayne Calkins got together in turn two and the #31 of Donnie Thomas slammed hard into Calkins. The black #3 had built a six car length lead before the #21 of J.R. Meyer and the #15 of Joey Caterelli got together hard in turn one with the right rear tire of Caterelli pointing towards the grandstand while the rest of the car was point down the track. On the restart, the #40 of Mark Thomas took the lead and went on to take the checkers. The #89 of Ron Davis came in second with the “Master” Art Calkins in the #11 finishing third
50 LAP LATE MODEL FEATURE:
#11X JIMMY THOMPSON
# 5 BRIAN LEVEROCK
# 0 MASON LOVE
#82 DEN NEIGHBOR, JR.
#15 DWAYNE DEMPSEY
#22 SAM COGHILL
# 3 BOBBY BALDWIN
#21 DUANE HAINES
#25 TOM CHAMBERS
# 2 WAYNE BOWMAN
50 LAP OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED FEATURE:
#57 TIMMY MOORE
#66 JOHN MOORE
#00 PAT GRIMES
#13 MIKE LEACOCK
#28 PHILLIP KESSLER
# 7 DARREN JACKSON
# 8 RANDY RHODES
#09 STEVE HARBUCK
#41 MIKE KOWALKE
#76 DOUG CATALANO
20 LAP OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED FEATURE:
#40 MARK THOMAS
#89 RON DAVIS
#11 ART CALKINS
#28 SHANE GRIGSBY
#59 JACK BOSWELL
#31 DONNIE THOMAS
# 3 CLIFF ROUSSEAU
#15 JOEY CATARELLI
#21 J.R. MEYER
#04 RON VELLER
20 LAP MINI STOCK FEATURE:
#33 ERIC CUCHTA
#40 DENNIS VALDEZ
#70 MARTY NEIKENS
# 3 MATT ROTKIS
#65 JOEY CATARELLI
#11 MARY MONGOLD
#32 TROY MEREDITH
#41 MARK MONIZ
#24 CHRIS THORNTON
#49 SKIP BUCHANAN
20 LAP OUTLAW LATE MODEL FEATURE:
#12 CORKY CRAVER
#56 ROBBY MCAULIFFE
#20 STEVE O'LONE
# 7 TROY JOHNSON
#69 TIM HENAULT
# 6 ED KIDD
# 1 SCOTT HOLLY
#77 RICK HAUGH
#85 JIMMY BILLERA
#15 RICK MCMEHAN
20 LAP STREET STOCK FEATURE:
#72 JACKIE ASHLEY (FIRST FEATURE WIN)
#24 DAVID CLEARY
#27 HAROLD ASHLEY
#82 JIMMY KRUSE
# 2 JACKIE DZIDUAL
#12 JAY COLEMAN
#43 MARK COOPER
#92 MARK WALTERS
#50 JAMES ELLERSHAW
#22 MIKE HILL
15 LAP ENDURO FEATURE:
#11 JEFF PORTER
#98 RANDY SPICER
# 44 GREG MONTGOMERY
# 1 DENNIS CANTARIA
#99 WHITNEE SHAFFER
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