|
| YOAKAM DOMINATES FMSC RUN AS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD OUTLASTS THE RAIN | by Dave Westerman
The fans who left early during a one hour rain delay have no one to blame but themselves for missing what turned out to be one of the most competitive nights of racing in recent memory Friday night at Orlando Speedworld.
The Florida Mini Stock Challenge Series was back for round number two sponsored by South 40 Motorsports of Mims, and it was Robbie Yoakam of Hernando who put on quite a show. Yoakam set fast time among 23 entries at 15.673 seconds but drew the eight pill for the feature line-up. Rick Sirmans had the pole for the start of the 50-lapper with Lee Davis on the outside. Davis raced into the early lead with Sirmans in tow as Yoakam began to pick off his competitors one by one. Caution flew for the first time on lap seven for Rex Christensen's spin just as Yoakam moved into fourth spot. Davis tapped Christensen while trying to lap him on lap 15 to bring out caution number two. Christensen's night didn't get any better as he tangled with Jamie Dixson just after the restart to bring out the caution again. Davis continued to set the pace but now had Yoakam to contend with. Just as the crossed flags came out to indicate halfway, Davis got into the lapped car of Trisha Gray, spinning her Mustang into the infield for caution number four. Yoakam was now really applying the pressure but had to slow once again as Tim Clark spun while battling Frank Welch for fourth place on lap 27. On the restart, Yoakam took his machine around Davis and into the lead as Welch, who started ninth, got by Rick Sirmans for third. The final caution flew on lap 30 for a spin by Charlie Brown. On the restart Yoakam put the hammer down as Davis and Welch battled it out for second. Welch finally made a pass for second late in the going but Yoakam was long gone as he claimed the victory in his Max's Tractor Service machine. Welch, the winner of the opening race of the FMSC Series, took second followed by Davis and Sirmans. Tim McPhail won out in a great battle for fifth with Matt Watts while Clark, Chris Thornton, Josh Robinson, and Charlie Brown rounded out the top ten.
Eddie King was in the right place at the right time to capture his second Super Late Model win of the season. King was running third behind Bill Pratt and Travis Kittleson when the two made contact sending Pratt spinning. Both went to the tail of the field handing the lead over to King. The former track champ made no mistakes the rest of the way leading Rusty Ebersole to the stripe to make it a 1-2 Ford finish. B.J. McLeod came from last on the starting grid to place third with Russ Thomson fourth and Joel Haas fifth. Kittleson, who damaged his car in a crash during hot laps, plastered the backstretch wall on the last lap of the feature, badly damaging his mount.
The Modified feature was run in two segments as the rains came just before halfway prompting a one hour delay. Not even a little precipitation could slow Tampa's Aric Almirola on this night. Making his first start here since breaking his shoulder in a crash at USA Speedway earlier this year, Almirola was the class of the field racing to a convincing win over Mike Fitch and Jason Boyd. Darren Gould was fourth with Shane Held using the long red flag period to his advantage making repairs from a crash that happened just before the rain came to come back to place fifth.
The Sportsman race was a real barn-burner that saw three different leaders in 15 laps before Bill Loomis put his Ron Jon's Automotive special into victory lane for the third time this year. Richard Hight led several laps and took second over Doug Samion, Kelly Jarrett, and early leader Tracy Jenkins.
The Super Stock feature looked to be a typical battle between front row starters Duane Freed and Carl Peters, but on lap two something happened to Freed's car sending both into the turn four wall and ultimately into the pits. Veteran Rick Johns, back after a three year layoff, took over at that point and raced to the win in his Longfellow's Texaco/Orlando Drum Co. Monte Carlo. John Smith drove from dead-last on the starting grid to get second in front of Tim Russell, Big Bob Wines, and Homer "Lady Killer" Gordon.
Russ Rinaldi just nipped Don "Square D" Smith at the line to get the Strictly stock win. Steve Hoerner, David Smith, and Darryl Morris rounded out the top five.
Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board!
or send a letter to the editor!
|
