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| Rahman Tops Classics at Orlando SpeedWorld | By Dave Westerman
Clermont's Jim Rahman spent much of his time before
Rriday night's races at Orlando SpeedWorld helping other
drivers et their cars repaired from problems in warm-
ups, then a bad break for another driver put Rahman on
the pole for the 20-lap feature and he made the most of
the opportunity, leading every lap to post his first win
in the Classic Auto Racing Series for 2002.
Friday's event was sponsored by Auto Parts of Taft, the
South Orlando Bumper to Bumper Auto Parts affiliate.
Door Operating Systems of Vero Beach, the master
distributor for Genie Garage Door Openers in South
Florida, also signed on as the Rookie of the Year
sponsor for the Classic Auto Racing Series beginning
with the Orlando race.
The practice sessions weren't good for several of the
23 drivers on hand as Dave Nunes blew an engine and
E.B. Carr broke a transmission. Rahman quickly called
his shop, and another transmission was brought to the
track to get Carr running again. Keith Roberts and
Mike Samples both had engine problems. Roberts missed
his heat race, but made repairs and ran well in the
feature, while Samples (despite some help from Rahman)
could not get his coupe to run properly and parked it
for the night.
Ed Yates looked to be a runaway winner in heat one but
Dennis Gilliam tracked Yates down and passed him on the
last lap to take the win. Eddie Thornton, the 2001
Champion, led all ten laps from pole to win heat two,
despite some late race pressures from Rahman.
That win earned Thornton the pole for the feature, but
his crew discovered a broken shock mount just as the
cars were being called to line-up with no time to make
repairs. Thornton jumped into his back-up car, slated
to be driven by Rodney Eary, and tagged the rear of the
field.
Nineteen cars took to the track for the main event. Along
with Nunes, Samples, and Thornton's primary car, young
rookie Kyle McGill was also unable to make the call when
the starter broke on his machine.
Rahman wasted little time asserting himself out front as
the green flag dropped. Patrick Sanders got loose at the
start-finish line causing a wild scramble, but everyone
managed to avoid a major catastrophe and the chase was
on.
Dennis Gilliam made a good move to avoid the near crash and
quickly moved to fourth spot behind Rahman, Harvey Ewing,
Ed Yates and Bud Spencer.
Ray Frazee spun in turn two on lap four to bring out the
caution flag. On the restart, Gilliam quickly moved
into third spot only to see the caution again on lap
five for the smoking car of Wayne Ashton. The smoke
was determined to be from his rear bumper being bent in
on the left rear tire after an altercation with another
car.
On the restart, Frank Conrad and Patrick Sanders got
together in turn three, with Sanders spinning and being
hit by the car of George Hall, Jr.
All three continued, but Hall dropped out just after
the restart. Repairs were made to Ashton's car and
he came back out without losing a lap.
The race resumed with Gilliam on the charge again as
he got around Ewing for second bringing Ed Yates, Spencer,
and Mike Albert with him. Thornton, up from the rear
of the field, also got by Ewing to take over sixth
spot.
E.T. McGhee brought out the caution again when something
broke on his car and he spun on the backstretch.
As the race resumed, Sanders was black-flagged for a
draging side nerf bar and went to the infield on lap 13.
A lap later,Spencer and Albert tangled in turn one
while battling for fourth to bring out the final caution.
Both blamed the other for the incident, but most on-
lookers agreed it was jsut good, hard racing and "one
of them deals."
Rahman was able to get a big advantage on the restarts,
but Gilliam was looking for the win as he took his
South 40 Motorsports sedan to the outside with two laps
to go. Rahman was up to the challenge and took the
checker first, while Gilliam slid high coming out of
turn four allowing Yates to sneak by for second.
It was Rahman's first win of the year in his Westmont
Homes/West Orange Lumber/Magic Electric/Copies plus/
Hugh Cotton Insurance coupe and he was joined by his
family in Victory Lane. His win, plus point leader
Yates' second place finish, again tightens up the season
point chase between the two drivers.
Gilliam's third place earned him the Door Operating
Systems Rookie of the Race Award. Gilliam has only run
two of the four races this year, but has been the top
finishing rookie in both. It was a good night for
Gilliam's South 40 Motorsports team as Michael Williams
drove the South 40 modified to victory in the 50-lap
FASCAR Modified Tour event held later in the evening.
Thornton did a masterful job bringing his backup machine
in for a fourth place finish while Ewing took the fifth
spot for his best finish in the Series to date.
Keith Robeerts also did a great job coming from the back
of the starting grid to place sixth in the Black Jack
Mulligan Special, thus placing three rookie drivers
in the top six.
David King, who had never sat in a Classic machine before
the feature event, drove Simeon Spagnuolo's car to
seventh place while George Hall III had a great run to
grab eighth spot. Albert and Spencer battled back from
their late-race altercation to round out the top ten.
The Classic Auto Racing Series now heads for the high
banks of New Smyrna Speedway next Saturday night on a
card that will also feature the TBARA Winged Outlaw
Spring Cars.
OFFICIAL FINISH - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 4/19/02
1) Jim Rahman, Clermont #5
2) Ed Yates, Orlando #74
3) Dennis Gilliam (R), Mims #42
4) Eddie Thornton, Orlando #4x
5) Harvey Ewing (R), Brooksville #17
6) Keith Roberts (R), Groveland #31
7) David King, Orlando #21
8) George Hall III, St. Petersburg #9
9) Mike Albert, Winter Springs #24
10) Bud Spencer, Palm Harbon #7
11) Wayne Ashton, Ft. Pierce #78
12) E.B. Carr, Okeechobee #90
13) Frank Conrad, Ft. Pierce #11
14) Mark Rowan, DeLand #2
15) Al Hagan, Merritt Island #6
16) E.T. McGhee, DeLand #3
17) Patrick Sanders (R) Winter Garden #8
18) George Hall, Jr. St. Petersburg #32
19) Ray Frazee (R) Oak Hill #43
20) Kyle McGill (R) St. Cloud #44 - DNS
21) Mike Samples (R), Orlando #0 - DNS
22) David Nunes, Orlando #54 - DNS
23) #4 Primary Car for Eddie Thornton - DNS
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