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| Todd Ponce Takes Volusia Speedway Park Street Stock Special | Barberville, Fl - It was a hot night and the first special
race of the new season, after a post race engine teardown
#11 Pat Varieka won the Street Stock 50 lap special with
$1,000 to win. It was a first win in 2002 for Late Model
#33 Bill Kopka. Other winners for the night Hobby
Stocks #29 Tom Hughes, Mini Stocks #k9 Mike Cawood and
Pure Stocks #9 Rick Picard.
Action Performance Street Stocks Special - With 7 lead
changes between 6 drivers and only 5 cautions #007 Todd
Ponce was the last leader and the winner of the 50 lap
Street Stock Special.
One of the early leaders #5 Kevin Zahnen lead 5 laps but
ended with a 13th place finish. Zahnen had trouble and
spun on lap 22 in turn 4. Zahnen was able to restart the
race but was out of contention for the win.
#11 Pat Varieka got around the leader #5 Kevin Zahnen on
lap 8 and held on to the lead for the next 13 laps. #00
John Ripley passed Zahnen and was giving Varieka a fight
for the lead. A battle between #54 Tim Hughes and #007
Todd Ponce for third ended as Hughes held on to third.
On lap 20 Ripley went low and took thelead from Varieka.
At the same time Ponce made a charge for third and took
the spot from Hughes.
After a caution on lap 22 for #5 Kevin Zahnen, it was a
single file restart. Ripley held on to the lead until
lap 25 as Varieka passed Ripley taking Ponce with him for
second. There was a several car spread between third
and fourth, Ripley and Hughes.
The worse caution of the night came as fourth place #54
Tim Hughes drifted high in turn 3 and fire erupted from
the entire underside of the racecar. Hughes maneuvered
his car around turn 4 as fire still could be seen. The
fire safety crew followed Hughes to his pits as Hughes
climbed from the car the fire was extinguished although
his race night was finished, he was safe.
Another strong running racecar was the #10 Steve Shead.
Shead started in the rear of the field and fought his
way to fourth place by lap 34. After a brief battle
with #57 Wally Schneider, Shead settled for a great 5th
place finish with #47 Wally Schneider fourth.
The lead changed for it's last time on lap 34. #007
Todd Ponce took the lead from #11 Pat Varieka. As the
leaders pulled away from the field, the battle for
sixth place between #4 James Peters and #07 Landon
Lungren. Lungren was smoking as he came out of the
turns, it seemed to be tire smoke and it definitely
didn't stop him from gaining ground and finishing
a srong 6th.
With only 3 to go #74 Michael Lanich lost control and
hit the outside wall in turn 2. Lanich was able to
climb out of his car on his own and was ok but his car
was finished for the night.
It was #007 Todd Ponce, #11 Pat Varieka, #00 John Ripley,
#57 Wally Schneider and #10 Steve Shead in the top
5 spots. After a post race teardown, #11 Pat Varieka
was awarded the win, taking the big money and trophy
home for the first Street Stock Special of 2002.
#007 Todd Ponce was found to have illegal parts in his
engine and was disqualified.
Action Peformance Street Stock 50 Lap Special (1) 11 Pat
Varieka (2) 00 John Ripley (3)57 Wally Schneider (4)10
Steve Shead (5)07 Landon Lungren (6)4 James Peters *7)
88 Billy Wright (8)73 Rick Swank (9)74 Mike Lanich
(10)66 Frank Sharp.
DeLand Truck Center Late Models - Late Models are the
ground pounding fastest cars on the track and #33 Bill
Kopka led the entire 30 lap feature race and put his
racecar in victory lane for the first time in 2002.
Kopka began lapping cars on lap 7 and continued to gain
real estate as he put his car out to a l/2 race track
lead in front of #99 Brent Chilson. #53 John Rankin had
a strong racecar in the early laps of the race but had
engine problems and put his car in the pits for the
night.
The leaders were contending with lap traffic and fighting
for every inch they could get. Kopka had the lead
locked up and Chilson was in second with several car
lengths between him and third place #17 Joe Kump. The
battle was for 4th #88 Paul George and #07 David Clegg
wee close every lap and it was anyones race, George
ended the race with a 4th place finish and Clegg
settled for fifth.
DeLand Truck Center Late Models (1)33 Bill Kopka (2)99
Brent Chilson (3)17 Joe Kump (4)88 Paul George (5)88
Chris Vogel (6)71 David Shugart (7)11 Roho Sims (8)
6 Scott Singler (9)81 Steve Pratt (10)07 David Clegg.
OB's Resturant and Lounge Hobby Stocks-A-Main. Green to
checker for #29 Tom Hughes. The top spots were tight
but Hughes was able to hold off #01 Jimmy Heffner every
lap.
With only 2 cautions it was a clean fast race. At half
way Heffner was on the back bumper of Hughes and Heffner
didn't have enough to get past the leader. #64 Trevor
Gamble battled with #88 Dennis North but was able to
hold onto his third place position.
OB's Resturant and Lounge Hobby Stocks -A-Main (1)29
Tom Hughes (2)01 Jimmy Heffner (3)64 Trevor Gamble
(4)88 Dennis North (5)3 Kenny Waters (6)19 Joe Belkey
(7)12 Rick Friend (8)19 Kory Bush (9)18 Richard Price
(10)46 Travis Gamble
Mini-Stocks - After fighting to get to the front, Points
Leader #k9 Mike Cawood was able to pass the leader on
lap 14 and carry his lead to the finish.
The #99 Charlie McNichol lead the first 13 laps of the
race with a strong racecar it seemed he had the race
wrapped up. McNichol didn't have it easy as #02 Scott
Mark hammered him every lap. Mark kept his racecar
right on the back bumper of McNichol. The Cawood
brothers were closing in on the leaders as last weeks
winner #6 Matt Cawood had car trouble and slowed on
lap 7 ending up in the pits. #k9 Mike Cawood was side
by side with #02 Scott Mark all the time Mark was trying
to take the lead from McNichol. Cawood got around Mark
on lap 14. Mark slowed with engine trouble.
The #29 Drew Smith spun bringing out the first caution.
Smith was able to limp off the track with a flat tire.
On the restart, #k9 Mike Cawood went low and took the
lead from McNichol. McNichol drifted high and #27 Joey
Haslauer grabbed 2nd, it was McNichol and Haslauer side
by side and by lap 17 #99 Charlie McNichol took 2nd and
Haslauer settled for a 5th place finish. With 2 laps
to go #k9 Mike Cawood put a several car lead and took
the checker flag in front of #99 Charlie McNichol,
#888 Jamie McCague, #97 Jackie Rhames and #27 Joey
Haslauer.
Mini Stocks (1)k9 Mike Cawood (2)99 Charlie McNichol (3)
888 James McCague (4)97 Jackie Rhames (5)27 Joey Haslauer
(6)9 Michael Quick (7)27 Joey Haslauer (8)15 Gary Bell
(9)23 Jim Nichols (10)66 Donnie Ashford.
Pure Stocks - The Pure Stocks are a fast growing division
and to win in this division is no little task. The
competition is tough and #9 Rick Picard proved he could
do it again as he passed #5 Chris Mark for the lead on
lap 6 and held on to the lead to the checker flag.
On lap 6 #75 Shawn Pawlak did a great job of keeping his
car off the wall as he got loose coming out of turn 4,
the caution was averted and the race continued. On the
restart #5 Chris Mark couldn't hold on to his lead and
Picard passed Mark for the lead. #8 John Blood with
a fast racecar tried to pass a strong running #18 Chris
Shead, they got together and Shead spun in turn 2. #27
Marsha Edmunds spun as she tried to avoid Shead on the
track.
At halfway, Picard got loose as he went into turn 1 on
the restart. Picard was able to hold it together and
hold on to his lead. Shead had a fast racecar in the
beginning but had problems and settled for a 9th place
finish. The top five were #9 Rick Picard, #8 John
Blood, #5 Chris Mark, #27 Marsh Edmunds, and #69
Brad Fender.
Pure Stocks (1)9 Rick Picard (2)8 John Blood (3)5 Chris
Mark (4)27 Marsh Edmunds (5)69 Brad Fender (6)23 Mark
Reiter (7)75 Shawn Pawlak (8)77 Shannon Cleveland (9)
18 Chris Shead (10)07 Craig Lungren
Next night of racing
May 11, Stock Car Racing 5 Divisions - Late Models,
Hobby Stocks, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks and Pure
Stocks PLUS THE POWDER PUFF RACE FOR LADIES ONLY!
Grandstands open at 5 pm, racing starts at 7:30 pm.
General Admission $8.00 children 12 and under FREE
plus Senior and Student discounts. Information (386)
985-4402 www.volusiaspeedwaypark.com
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