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| THORNTON IS HOT!!.. TAKES SPEEDWORLD SOUTH 40 CLASSICS WIN | by Dave Westerman
It may be August, but Orlando's Eddie Thornton is hotter than the Fourth of July. Thornton won for the fourth time in his past six races as he took the measure of the field Friday night at Orlando Speedworld as the South 40 Motorsports Classic Auto Racing Series made its second appearance of the year at the three-eighths mile speedplant. Thornton opened up the evening by winning the first heat, placing him seventh on the grid for the feature. The second heat was a wild affair as Bud Spencer blew the engine in his car putting him on the trailer for the night.
Once the track was cleaned up, Al Hagan and Jim Rahman tangled on the backstretch following the restart with Rahman's car doing a "tommy tipover" roll on its roof. Both Rahman and Hagan would return for the feature. George Murphy, driving the new South 40 Motorsports "house car" recently aquired from now-retired Mo Davenport, started dead last and drove to the front in heat two thus earning the pole for the 15-lap feature.
As the field came on the track for the main event, Murphy was nowhere to be found. His car refused to start, a problem eventually diagnosed as a short in the on/off switch. Murphy eventually made it on the track, seven laps down, but later dropped out with transmission problems. Danny Shearer moved up to the pole slot but it was outside polesitter Rodney Eary who took the early lead driving Thornton's back-up AMSOIL machine.
Eary looked strong at the beginning, but Shearer took the point after three laps with Thornton getting around his teammate for second a lap later. Thornton made quick work of Shearer for the top spot and looked to be on his way to a comfortable win. E.T. McGhee spun on lap seven to bring out the only caution of the race. Ricky Wood, driving vacationing Mike Albert's coupe, moved into second and dueled Thornton all the way to the finish pulling even with him on several occasions. Thornton held his ground to take the win in his Mike List AMSOIL sponsored coupe. Thornton now has four wins and two seconds in his last six races. Thornton also moved into second place in the point standings as second-running Dan Hammerbeck did not race. He also closed considerably on point leader Ed Yates who finished fourth behind Shearer. David Nunes came back from problems in his heat to get fifth with a steady run. But the big move of the night came from Jim Rahman, who shook off his heat race rollover to come home sixth after starting 16th to earn the Action Performance Hard charger Award. Simeon Spagnuolo, making only his second start of the year, dusted off the cobwebs and was seventh with Eary taking eighth. Patrick Sanders was ninth and took his first Fastwax Rookie of the Race Award of the year.
George Hall, Jr. rounded out the top ten. The evening's feature event was sponsored by Bryant Heating and Cooling Products.
The South 40 Classics head south next week for their first run of the year at Charlotte County Speedway on Saturday, August 25th.
OFFICIAL FINISH - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD 8/17/01:
1. Eddie Thornton, Orlando #4
2. Ricky Wood, Orlando #24
3. Danny Shearer, Melbourne #77
4. Ed Yates, Orlando #74
5. David Nunes, Orlando #54
6. Jim Rahman, Clermont #5
7. Simeon Spagnuolo, Vero Beach #21
8. Rodney Eary, West Bithlo #4X
9. Patrick Sanders, Orlando #30
10. George Hall, Jr., St. Petersburg #32
11. Steve Mitchell, Orlando #00
12. Al Hagan, Merritt Island #6
13. Frank Conrad, Ft. Pierce #11
14. E.T. McGhee, Deland #1
15. George Hall III, St. Petersburg #9
16. E.B. Carr, Okeechobee #90 (DNF-Mechanical)
17. Wayne Ashton, Ft. Pierce #78 (DNF-overheating)
18. George Murphy, Mims #42 (DNF-transmission)
19. Bud Spencer, Palm Harbor #7 (DNS-engine)
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