New Moon Proves to have effect on racing at New Smyrna Speedway
by Jane Smith
Samsula, Fla (April 5, 2003) - We have all seen the effects of a full moon on racing but this weekend it was the curse of the new moon. After a wild night at New Smyrna's sister track Orlando SpeedWorld, thoughts of another night like that was not what was hoped for but what we got.
Charlie Merz had the pole for the Late Model 15 lap feature and lead briefly but it was returning 2002 Champion Brian Bellaw who quickly took over the point and never looked back.
Bellaw, who had all his equipment up for sale due to lack of money to run in 2003, came back with a new sponsor, a new attitude, and the will for winning. Once Bellaw got the lead, no one was going to take it from him even though Kenny Crites did a good job of chasing Bellaw around the track.
Bruce Lawrence II took his Late Model out of mothballs after a year's storage to run a strong third for the entire race. Bobby Orr, who debuted his new white car, so new that no numbers were on it yet, ran a solid fourth for the race.
With no cautions, it was Bruce Gaskins who had the only real fight in the field as he held fifth until Merz worked his way up to the fifth position, challenged Mertz and won sliding Gaskins back to eight.
Bellaw crossed the checkered taking his first win with his new sponsor for 2003 followed by Kenny Crites, Bruce Lawrence II, Bobby Orr and Charlie Merz.
Bobby Orr and Kenny Crites were the heat winners.
Polesitter Bill Spade took the point for the Sportsman feature and lead for the first lap until a caution came out for a spin on the backstretch. When the race restarted it was Paul Colgan to the point follwed by Bill Spade, Mike Trocki, Dale Clouser and Dennis Gillam.
As Spade and Trocki went side-by-side for several laps for the second place spot, they touch coming off turn 4 causing damage to both cars. Checking up to avoid the two wrecked cars, a number of drivers were caught into another tangle. Bill Love was on top of Chris Pedulat and Ron Lufcy also suffered some damage. The race was red flagged with Trocki, Pedulat and Love coming in on the dreaded hook with toasted cars and done for the night.
Colgan holds the point on the restart. On lap 7, Earl Beckner's hood comes up and starts flapping in the wind. Beckner is black flagged for the flapping hood and retires to the pits. Colgan holds his lead on the restart followed by Clouser, Gillam, Danny Shearer and Ron Lufcy.
On lap 14, Gillam takes over the second spot putting Clouser third. Colgan takes the checkered followed by Dennis Gillam, Dale Clouser, Danny Shearer, and Ron Lufcy.
Bill Spade and Paul Colgan took the heat wins.
Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulipus had the pole for the Mini Stock feature but it took two starts to get it right. On the second start, Vulipus jumped to the lead over Tim "Missileman" McPhail, Wayne Clark, Chris Jones and Rex Christensen.
Vulipus and McPhail race each other hard for the lead but on lap 3, Vulipus suddenly slows and goes into the pits, done for the night, giving the lead over to McPhail. But Wayne Clark is right on McPhail's bumper and is able to make the pass, make it stick and take over the lead putting McPhail second.
Chris Jones, who was running a strong fourth, brought out the caution on lap 13 when he hit the backstretch wall. Jones was fine, his car was towed in, and his hopes for a good finish were gone for the night.
Clark holds strong on the restart as Rex Christensen passes McPhail for second putting McPhail now third. Clark takes the checkers for his first win in 2003 followed by Rex Chrstensen, Tim "Missileman" McPhail, Bob Delmastro and Ben Hutto.
Ted "Mr. Mini Stock" Vulipus took the heat win.
The "big boys" are up next as Joe Fitos sat on the pole for the Super Late Model 25 lap feature. B.J. McLeod quickly jumps to the lead followed by Bruce Lawrence but the race goes red as there is a pile up on the backstretch as cars tried to go 3 wide. Justin Drawdy comes into the pits and comes out with a new modified. Lawrence also retires to the pits for some crew attention going a lap down but returning to the racing surface.
A total restart is in order with McLeod, Wayne Parker, David Rogers, Justin Drawdy and Joe Fitos in the top five. By lap 2, Rogers has moved into second putting Parker third. Lap 3, Brent Hobbs brought out the yellow as he spun on the front stretch. And at the same time, B.J. McLeod retires his car from the race turning the lead over to David Rogers.
Lap 6, Hobbs spins on the backstretch for another yellow. On the restart, it is Rogers, Parker, Drawdy, Guy Thomas and Joe Fitos. The field remains the same for the rest of the laps with David Rogers taking the win.
Bruce Lawrence and Justin Drawdy took the heat wins.
Ron Whaley lead from green to checkered as he also sat on the pole for the 15 lap Super Stock feature. Following Whaley was Charlie Collins, Jeff Colburn, James Smith and Bob Thombley.
Only one caution in this race on lap 8 for Robbie Garthier who spun. Alittle slicing and dicing between the second and fifth place cars with Whaley taking the win followed by Charlie Collins, Bob Thombley, Jeff Colburn and James Smith.
Ron Whaley and Bob Trombley took the heat wins.
Jerry Symons, the 2002 Pro Mod Champion, lead from green to checkers and also sat on the pole for the Open Wheel Modified 15 lap feature. Before the cars got a lap down, David Castello brought out the yellow as he spun coming down the backstretch. Castello retired to the pits for some crew attention and returned to the race a few laps down.
David Rogers did double duty as he drove the #2x modified and quickly worked his way to second followed by Skip Honaker, Jared Allison and Mark Vandevender. With no more cautions, it was a free-for-all.
On lap 6, Jim "Hoot" Flynn retired to the pits. Symons crossed the checkered followed by David Rogers, Mark Vandevender, Jared Allison and Matthew Wheeler.
Jerry Symons and Jim "Hoot" Flynn took the heat wins.
Tim Edmundson sat on the pole for the Strictly Stock feature but it was James Smith Sr. who took the point and never looked back. Eventually, Ed Rickhold took over the second place spot from Edmundson putting Edmundson third.
James Smith Sr. took the checkered followed by Ed Rockhold, Tim Edmundson, Michelle Dyal, and Nick Boley.
Tim Edmundson won the heat race.
Next week at New Smyrna Speedway, April 12, the Tommy Patterson Memorial Pro Mod race. Classics Cars, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Super Stocks and Strictly Stocks. The Super Late Models and Late Models are off due to the race at Lakeland's USA International.
OFFICIAL FINISHING ORDER - NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY APRIL 5TH
SUPER LATE MODELS
1. #11 David Rogers 2. #3 Wayne Parker 3. #12 Justin Drawdy 4. #2 Guy Thomas 5. #63 Joe Fitos 6. #16 Bruce Lawrence 7. #17 Robert Jenkins 8. #8 Brent Hobbs 9. #78 B.J. McLeod 10. #7 Mark Vandevender 11. #04 John Daziel 12. #18 Jared Allison DNS
LATE MODEL
1. #77 Brian Bellaw 2. #lx Kenny Crites 3. #16 Bruce Lawrence II 4. #30 Bobby Orr 5. #7 Charlie Merz 6. #17 Aaron Dreher 7. #47 David Green 8. #46 Bruce Gaskins 9. #48 Mark Smith 10. #39 Russ Moore 11. #28 Steve Smith DNS 12. #43 Randy Dye DNS
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #66 Jerry Symons 2. #2x David Rogers 3. #7 Mark Vandevender 4. #18 Jared Allison 5. #96 Matthew Wheeler 6. #5 Bryan Campbell 7. #75 Bobby Blake 8. #9 David Hites 9. #4b Alan Bruins 10. #20 Skip Honaker 11. #16 Justin Henderson 12. #57 Jim "Hoot" Flynn 13. #1 David Castello
SPORTSMAN
1. #31 Paul Colgan 2. #40 Dennis Gillam 3. #30 Dale Clouser 4. #77 Danny Shearer 5. #07 Ron Lufcy 6. #19 Mitch Dougherty 7. #18 Bryan Dila 8. #3 Earl Beckner 9. #15x Bill Spade 10. #46 Mike Trocki 11. #28 Chris Pedulat 12. #2 Bill Love
MINI STOCK 1. #15 Wayne Clark 2. #v3 Rex Christensen 3. #7 Tim "Missileman" McPhail 4. #33 Bob Delmastro 5. #38 Ben Hutto 6. #20 Chris Jones 7. #71 Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulipus
SUPER STOCK
1. #2 Ron Whaley 2. #23 Charlie Collins 3. #8 Bob Trombley 4. #3 Jeff Colburn 5. #57s James Smith, Jr. 6. #57R Brent Brown 7. #17r Lee Wagner 8. #91 Todd Driscoll 9. #01 Robbie Garthier 10. #17b Rob Watford 11. #22 Jim Dyson 12. #72 Alan Bultemeier 13. #46 Bobby Riley 14. #1 ?
STRICTLY STOCK
1. #65 James Smith Sr. 2. #64 Ed Rickhold 3. #66 Tim Edmundson 4. #26 Michelle Dyal 5. #88 Nick Boley 6. #10 Roger Ladieu 7. #58 Steve Santupietio
