PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (April 19) - Bobby Beauchemin of Hollywood won his first race at Charlotte County Speedway in nearly five years, taking the checkered flag in Saturday nights Limited Late 100.
"The last time I won here was when I won the 6-Pack championship in 98, said Beauchemin, who hails from Hollywood. This was one of the most memorable races Ive ever won."
On a restart on lap 95, Beauchemin's No. 74 was all the way back in fourth place. He charged past Scotty Kleibers 94 car to move into third and sat behind the two cars battling for the lead Glenn Morris and Joe Sumasky.
On the next lap, Sumasky made his move to get around Morris. As the two fought for the lead, Beauchemin sneaked his way through for the lead and the checkered in a wild finish.
Kleiber, who had a strange night himself, followed Beauchemin through and finished second. Glenn Morris of Pine Island placed third, Wayne Morris of Mulberry got fourth and Mike Hovis of North Fort Myers fifth.
Sumasky originally crossed the stripe fourth but he was disqualified for running into the Glenn Morris car after the checkered fell. Both Glenn Morris and Sumasky had words on the front straightaway before order was restored.
Wayne Morris led the most laps, taking the lead on lap 19 and holding it all the way up to lap 88. His 56 car got high going through four and four cars got underneath him.
That left Glenn Morris in front with Sumasky hot in pursuit. Kleiber moved up to third despite having spun out two times earlier in the race.
Beauchemin was not really a factor in the middle of the race, running middle of the pack.
"They were getting away from me", he admitted. "We just waited it out and see what would happen. I think the others wore themselves out a little. You always dig a little deeper the last lap. I'm just real happy to win here again."
There were five other divisions that raced Saturday night at CCS.
In the Super Stock 25 lapper, Danny Caylor won out in a dogfight over Brian Richardson and Billy VanDevender. All three had a shot to take the checkered in a tight finish.
Road Warriors also saw an exciting finish with Jesse Gargus of North Fort Myers holding off hard-charging Chris Oncken of Fort Myers. Regular competitor Larry Rudd of North Port recorded his first top three finish ever in the 88 car.
In Thunder Trucks, points leader John Garrett of North Fort Myers made it look easy in his No. 22 Chevy. Port Charlottes Mike Bialecki took second. Bob Charette was third.
Steve Duerr of Cape Coral won his first Open Wheel Modified feature in two years. The No. 93 Marty Motors car survived an early run-in with Punta Gordas Phil Morrison, who finished fourth. Kurt Riley of Cape Coral was second and L.B. Skaggs finished third.
The speedway's new Front Wheel Drive 4-Cylinder division made its long-awaited debut Saturday night. Michelle Riley was the winner in the No. 31. Bobby Fischer, a 13-year-old out of Naples, was second. Punta Gordas Walter Forbes was third in the No. 15 car.
Late Models 1. 74 Bobby Beauchemin 2. 94 Scott Kleiber 3. 107 Glenn Morris 4. 56 Wayne Morris 5. 29 Mike Hovis 6. 127 Karo Vaughan 7. 96 Frank Welch 8. 62 Buzz Martin 9. 71 Dave Duncan 10. 10 Steve Doer 11. 100 Jim Keating 12. 00 Ronnie Heard 13. 95 Richie Anderson 14. 92 Scott Crisafulli 15. 88 Randy Fox 16. 12 Joe Sumanski - DISQUALIFIED 17. 36 Al Fradette - DISQUALIFIED 18. 07 Troy McNabb - DISQUALIFIED 19. 19 Steve Arnold - DISQUALIFIED
Open Wheel Modified 1. 93 Steve Duerr 2. 31 Kurt Riley 3. 71 L. B. Skaggs 4. 63 Phil Morrison 5. 80 Chris Dean 6. 19 Bart Corlieto 7. 98 Johnny Allen 8. 2 Kevin Brinkley
Best Coast Super Stock 1. 7 Danny Caylor 2. 23 Brian Richardson 3. 84 Billy Vandevender 4. 19 Greg Anderson 5. 10 Eric Smith 6. 11 Doug Spitzer 7. 31 Elbert Butts 8. 38 Joe Reese 9. 83 John Hanuschik 10. 33 Mike Loney 11. 56 Walt Korkiner 12. 8 George Tanner 13. 99 Greg Baker 14. 91 Ander Jackson
4 Cylinder 1. 31 Michelle Riley 2. 2 David Fischer 3. 15 Walter Forbes 4. 73 Beau Crandall 5. 47 Brad Shanaway 6. 28 Chris Libak 7. 03 Riley Lowe 8. 19c Bart Corlieto, Jr.
Road Warrior 1. 1 Jesse Gargus 2. 61 Chris Oncken 3. 88 Larry Rudd 4. 31 Willard Hedden 5. 11 Robert Hendry 6. 30 Chris Huntoon 7. 09 Doug Raastad 8. 7 Jonathan Abraham 9. 29 Rob Popkin 10. 92 Richard Dupont 11. 19 Brandon Anderson 12. 17 Fred Wilson 13. 5 Bob Waltz 14, 18 Shane Leonard
Thunder Truck 1. 22 John Garrett 2. 8 Mike Bialecki 3. 56 Bob Charette 4. 37 Cheryl Weaver 5. 14 Randy Layman 6. 44 Raymond Tucker 7. 24 Justin Bryant 8. 00 Ronnie Grimes 9. 13 Jay Bryant 10. 33 Don VanAcker 11. 31 Harlan Wilson
