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| LEFFLER LEADS MOPAR SWEEP AS 2002 WINTERNATIONALS OPEN AT ORLANDO | Great weather and a great field of NAMARS midgets high-
lighted night number one as the 2002 Florida Winternationals
got under way Tuesday evening at Orlando SpeedWorld.
Of the 37 midgets in the pits, three have Mopar power.
When the checker flew at the end of the 30 lap feature,
the Mopars were l-2-3 headed by surprise entry Jason
Leffler.
The night got off to an awesome start as five drivers
broke Nick Fornoro's track record of 14.320 set back in
1985. Indianapolis, IN driver Shane Hollingsworth, just
16 years of age, toured the 3/8 mile SpeedWorld oval
at 13.160 sec. to set fast time followed by another 16
year old Bobby East at 13.172 sec.
Hollingsworth and East would not have much luck after
that though. Hollingsworth failed to finish in a trans-
fer spot in his heat, then started the Semi from the
pole and was running away with that race when he spun
in turn four. He worked his way back to fifth before
mechanical problems sidelined him from a spot in the
feature.
East finished second in his heat and was on the move in
the feature, but got caught up in a couple of minor
incidents and dropped out near halfway in the race.
John Nervo, Paul Perkins, Teddy Beach, and Dave Steele
won the heats, while Aaron Pierce topped the Semi
as the 20 car feature field was set with Rich Corson
and Steve Thinnes on the front row.
Corson took off like a rocket and build up a quick
lead as the field jockeyed for position behind him.
Tracy Hines and Jason Leffler were on the charge from
their 6th and 7th starting spots with Hines leading
Leffler past Corson for the lead on lap 15.
East spun on lap 19 to bring out the first caution. On
the restart, Leffler dove inside Hines and took over
the top spot. A lap later, East spun again to bring
out caution number two.
On the restart, Aaron Pierce and Sondi Eden tangled
with Pierce tagging the frontstretch wall. Unable to
avoid the melee, Mike Roselli ran over the front end
of John Nervo's car, hit the wall and flipped bringing
out the red flag.
All the drivers were OK, but only Eden was able to
continue where she eventually wound up 13th.
Leffler led Hines and Dave Steele, all in Mopar
powered cars, the remaining nine laps as the crowd
focused on a later charge by Justin Overfelt, who
came from nowhere to pass six cars in the last eight
laps to finish fifth behind Corson after starting
16th.
Teammates Teddy Beach and Matt Westfall were sixth
and seventh with Steve Thinnes, David Gough, and Dave
Baumgartner rounding out the top ten.
Leffler, a surprise entry in this event, was driving the
Keith Kunz Special sponsored by Mopar, Keco, Advanced
Racing, and Gary Stanton Racing Engines with a Kunz
chassis. Hines was behind the wheel of the Wilke/Pak
Motorsports Beast sponsored by Mopar, Penray, Seco,
and Hoosier Tire, while Steele steered Dino Tomassi's
Stanton/Mopar Beast with sponsorship from Mopar Parts,
Finish Line Towing and Penske Shocks.
In Suport Class action, Rick "Sock-It" Tumey opped a
wild Mini Stock Feature that saw numberous leaders,
spins, and wild action. Tumey worked his way up from
the tenth in a field of 14 to take the lead late in
the race, leading the Dodge of Matt Watts to the line.
Charlotte, NC driver Waylon Flynn, who learned to
race on this track, was third in his Toyoto while
Bobby Orr came back from a penalty that sent him to the
rear of the field to checker fourth. Corbin Gibbs was
fifth.
Rich Clouser dominated the Super Stock field in his
Oldsmobile taking an easy win over Mike Peppler, Big
Bob Hines, Ron Whaley, and Bomber Bill Loomis.
Brian Gingras took the lead from Michigan driver Rob
Roney with two laps to go and won the Dwarf Car
feature. Roney held on for second ahead of Rick
Lundeen, Tom Sliwa, and Dany Nyhan.
Action continues Wednesday night at 7:30 PM.
Heat One: 1) Nervo, 2) Leffler, 3) Coy, 4) McCune
Heat Two: 1) Perkins, 2) East, 3) Nuetzel, 4) Hines
Heat Three: 1) Beach, 2) Overfelt, 3) Eden, 4)
Corson
Heat Four: 1) Steele, 2) Price, 3) Roselli, 4)
Westfall
SEMI: 1) Pierce, 2) Thinnes, 3) Gough, 4) Baumgartner,
Did Not Make A-MAIN: Norris III, Kenyon, Manson, Willis,
Batts, Craig, Libby, Hollingsworth, Kobelarz, Gibson.
A-MAIN FEATURE (30 Laps)
1) Jason Leffer #67
2) Tracy Hines #11
3) Dave Steele #29
4) Rich Corson #15C
5) Justin Overfelt #78
6) Teddy Beach #26B
7) Matt Westfall #25W
8) Steve Thinnes #48
9) David Gough #5
10) Dave Baumgartner #38
11) Roy Price #99
12) Paul Perkins #63P
13) Sondi Eden #15E
14) Aaron Pierce #26
15) John Nervo #21N
16) Mike Roselli #98
17) Bobby East #4
18) Adam Nuetzel #17
19) Jimmy McCune #21M
20) Joey Coy #77M
MINI STOCK (15 laps)
1) Rick Tumey #55
2) Matt Watts #3
3) Waylon Flynn #6
4) Bobby Orr #30
5) Corbin Gibbs #2
6) Rick Sirmans #05
7) Chris Thornton #24
8) Tom Rose #43
9) Tim McPhail #7
10) Tom Clark #99
12) Mike Gonzalez #46
13) Tim Clark #15
14) Mark Gonzalez #47
SUPER STOCKS (15 Laps)
1) Rich Clouser #8
2) Mike Peppler #81
3) Bob Wines #7B
4) Ron Whaley #2
5) Bill Loomis #32
6) David Gould #16
7) Rob Watford #17
8) Dean McGlothin #66
9) Scott Tyler #27
10) Rip Dyal #79
11) Clint McKean #79X
12) Dick Owens, #1
13) Darren Gould #67
14) John Hodge #00 DNS
DWARF CARS (15 Laps)
1) Brian Gingras #21
2) Rob Roney #911
3) Rick Lundeen #04
4) Tom Silwa
5) Dan Nyhan #09
6) Phil Krauhoff #2
7) Bill Burback #77
8) Bob Quick #06
9) Jim Biglin #07
Dave Westerman
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