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| Garver and Keller Take Wins at Lake City Speedway | By Shirley Lynch
With beautiful racing weather finally appearing over the speedway Saturday evening, the Street Stocks started off the night with their three heat races. Dean Sands in the #44 car took the win in the first heat, with the #43 of Tommy Merrill driving hard to win the second heat and #27 Jason Garver finishing first in the third heat race.
When the Street Stock Feature race green flag dropped, Merrill and Sands jumped out front to open up a 5 car length lead coming out of turn two. Jason Garver, not to be outdone, closed the gap quickly and made a pass on Sands on lap 6 to drop into second place. The #43 of Merrill experienced problems on lap #9 and retired to the pits, giving Garver the lead with Sands following and the #41 of Randy Smith driving the wheels off his car to challenge Sands for second place. As the #41 of Smith concentrated on getting in front of Sands, the #33B of Adam Bedenbaugh snuck up from 9th starting position and said adios to Smith as Bedenbaugh made the pass on lap 17. The finishing order was the #27 of Garver taking the win, #44 of Sands taking 2nd, #33B of Bedenbaugh having a great run to finish 3rd, #41 of Smith coming across 4th and the #82 of Shane Taylor working his way from 14th starting position to take the 5th place spot after mechanical problems in the heat race gave him a terrible starting position for the feature.
The Late Model Sportsman heat race was won by #55 of Wayne Stevens with the J1 of Jay Johnson finishing 2nd and #21 of Larry Perry taking 3rd. Everett Phillips in the #28 experienced bad karma as his ride was in the pits on lap 1.
When the feature got underway, Phillips had found some good luck in the pits and was present and accounted for. The J1 of Jay Johnson got the jump on the start and the #55 of Wayne Stevens tucked in behind with Perry following and Phillips already moving up to 4th position on lap 1. Johnson needed some of that good luck Phillips had found as Perry, Stevens and Phillips put him in their dust on lap 2 and never looked back. On lap 10, Phillips slipped past Stevens to drop into second place. Finishing order for Late Model Sportsman was #21 Larry Perry taking the checkers, #28 of Everett Phillips coming from the tail to take 2nd, #55 of Wayne Stevens crossing 3rd, #07 of Lee Newsome taking 4th and the J1 of Jay Johnson finishing 5th.
The Modified heat race was won by #18 Derek Crawford with the #90 driven by Jason Garver crossing 2nd and the F1 of Kyle Owen taking 3rd.
Derek Crawford led flag to flag for the Modified Feature and by lap 5 had opened a 1/2 stretch lead that nobody was going to close. The F1 of Kyle Owen battled with #90 of Garver for the entire race, but Garver couldn't make the pass on Owen to take over 2nd place. The finishing order was #18 Derek Crawford crossing 1st, the F1 of Kyle Owen taking 2nd, #90 of Garver finishing 3rd and the #65 of Shane Nichols 4th across the finish.
Next on the Agenda was the Florida Sprint Car Association who gave the fans a thrill with speed plus for their racing program. The first heat race was won by the #20 of Geroge Pedrick, followed closely by the #24 of Scott Boyles. The #8 of Tight Schloss won heat racee #2 with the #42 of Lee Scrape close on his heels.
The Sprint Feature had a rough start with a caution coming out on lap 1 when the #02 of Gene Lasker experienced problems but the order at the start finish line was #20 of Pedrick, #3 of Otto Scrape and #32 of Larry Pickett on the restart of lap 2. Lap 3 saw the #02 of Lasker back in 3rd with the #42 of Lee Scrape running 4th until he put a move on Lasker to take over 3rd position on lap #9. Lasker took advantage of a caution to duck into the pits for a moment and restarted at the tail on lap 13 while George Pedrick, Lee Scrape and Otto Scrape refused to give up any real estate to the guys running behind them. Perhaps Lasker should have stayed in the pits on lap #12, as the race was red flagged on lap 19 when Lasker's car exited turn 2 and flipped upside down. Lasker was unhurt but his car was retired for the night with damage. Finishing order for the feature was #20 of George Pedrick taking the win, #42 of Lee Scrape finishing 2nd, #3 of Otto Scrape crossing 3rd, #04 of Tee Parkinson taking home 4th place money and the #4 of Tim Brinager taking 5th place honors.
The Pure Stocks put on three exciting heat races with the 1st heat won by the #7X of Wesley Keller with #0 of Nevin Gainey fighting hard to pass Keller, but finishing 2nd and the #97 of Joey Rolling crossing 3rd. Heat race two was won by #65J of Mike Havard as #04 of Jack Mosley dropped in behind for 2nd and #65 of Coleman Jandle III finished 3rd.
When the Pure Stock Feature rolled onto the track, the #0 of Nevin Gainey had found some of that bad karma that Phillips had experienced, as he was unable to make the start of the race after a good heat race finish. The 7X of Keller beat the 65J of Mike Havard to the first turn when the green flag dropped and never looked back as he took the win for the feature.
The #04 of Jack Mosley made a pass on Havard on lap 5, taking over 2nd place and bringing the #17 of Gene O'Steen and the #97 of Joey Rolling with him into the 3rd and 4th positions. The finishing order for the Pure Stock Feature was #7X of Wesley Keller taking the checkers, #04 of Jack Mosley crossing 2nd, #17 of Gene O'Steen taking 3rd after last week's feature win, the #97 of Joey Rolling finishing 4th and the #65J of Mike Havard taking 5th.
Lake City Speedway will be running a special 30 lap feature race for $600 to win for the Street Stocks and $500 to win for the Pure Stocks next Saturday night.
Don't forget the "BIG ONE" on September 20th & 21st when we will host the 1st Annual Florida State Championship Late Model Sportsman Series for $10,000 to win, a 100 lapper which will draw most of the biggest names in Late Model Sportsman Series racing, all fighting for that $10,000 purse. We will also have 40 lap, $1,000 to win races for Modified, Street Stocks, Pure Stocks and Ministocks, drawing drivers from across Florida to run for that magic $1,000 that seems to bring them all out of the woodwork and feeling fearless.
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