Hot Action on a Humid Night at New Smyrna Speedway
by Jane Smith
Samsula, Fla (August 30, 2003) The night air was very humid but not one nasty black cloud appeared as racers got a full program in Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway. With plenty of cars in the pits and a good crowd, it was a very pleasant evening for drivers and fans.
Tim Clark had the pole for the Late Model feature race and jumped to the lead on the green followed by Jason Boyd, Mike Murphy, Doug Samion, and Brian Bellaw. Clark, who has a few feature wins under his belt already this year, looked like he was the one to beat and Boyd was in hot pursuit. But on lap 8, Joey Pletka brought out the yellow when he spun on the backstretch. This realigned the cars with Boyd right on the tail of Clark.
Clark took the point on the restart but he slipped up just alittle and enough for Boyd to pass and take over the lead. With no further cautions, Clark was able to get right behind Boyd but could never get the power to pass him. Boyd took the checkered followed by Tim Clark, Doug Samion, Mike Murphy annd Brian Bellaw.
Tim Clark won the heat race.
James Wagner had the pole for the Mod Lites feature but it was Ron Towles who took the lead on the green. Following Towles was Wagner, Mark Landis, Bill Burback, and Allen Davis. As Towles and Landis raced each other hard and kept taking the lead over from the other, the yellow came out on lap 11 when Doug Parlamento spun coming off the frontstretch going into turn 1. The field was realigned with Towles in the lead but a side-by-side duel for the point was going on with Towles and Landis. Landis was finally the one who got the lead and held on for the checkered followed by Ron Towles, Bill Burback, Alen Davis, and Mike Belusar.
James Wagner and Mark Landis took the heat wins.
Jeff Colburn debuted his new Super Stock as he sat on the pole for their feature race. Colburn quickly took the point on the green but a bad start realigned the race for the second green.
Colburn took the point on the second restart with Ron Whaley, Todd Driscoll, Jack Lenzem and Rich Clouser in the top five. On lap 4, Driscoll takes over the second place spot of Whaley dropping Whaley to third. By lap 7, Charlie Collins moved into the fifth place spot with Clouser sliding back to seventh.
Lap 12, the caution comes out for Ron Whaley and Henry Rader. Rader was in turns 1 and 2 and Whaley had a small fire under his hood. Both drivers were fine but out of the race. The race was restarted with Colburn in the lead taking the checkered followed by Todd Driscoll, Jack Lenzen, Charlie Collins, and Robert Skinner. In tech, Todd Driscoll was disqualified changing the top finishing order to Jeff Colburn, Jack Lenzen, Charlie Collins, Robert Skinner, and Mike Amatto.
Charlie Collins and Jeff Colburn won the heat races.
Bobby Blake had the pole for the Open Wheel Modified feature and jumped to the point on the green followed by Andy Saffotti, Rob Underwood, Mark Vandevender, and Ed Kuhel. Underwood quickly powered pass Saffotti and took over second putting Saffotti third.
On lap 5, Underwood is hot on the leader Blake when he gets very squirelly coming off 4 while going under Blake for the lead. Underwood makes a great save, slides back to second, and goes after Blake again.
By lap 7, Underwood is able to make the pass and take the lead from Blake. Underwood gets his second win after returning to racing crossing the checkered followed by Bobby Blake, Aandy Saffotti, Mark Vandevender, and Ed Kuhel.
Barry Willoughby made a surprise but very pleasant visit to New Smyrna Saturday night with his Pennzoil No. 74 Chevy. Willoughby sat on the pole and took the lead on the green followed by David Rogers, Mike Good, B.J. McLeod (in his brand new modified from the heat race) and Brent Hobbs.
Willoughby was able to hold off hard charging David Rogers until lap 5 when the caution flew for Joe Fitos, Brent Hobbs, Art Cross, and Jim Rider who all spun avoiding the spun Mark Vandevender in turns 1 and 2. The field was realigned and it was Rogers who took the point on the green followed by Willoughby, Good, McLeod and Vandevender. By lap 8, Hobbs had dropped out of the field and retired to the pits. Lap 20 the caution came out again for Jim Rider and Joe Fitos who spun on the backstretch. Rogers holds the point on the restart and takes the checkered followed by Barry Willoughby, Mike Good, B.J. McLeod, and Joe Fitos.
David Rogers took the heat race.
Rod Sanders had the pole for the Pro Challenge cars and took the point on the green and lead from green to checkered. With no cautions in this feature at all, it was a free-for-all to the end with Sanders taking the checkered followed by Brad Sanders, Howard Brennan, Tim Hart and Mike Lego.
Rod Sanders took the heat win.
Mike Trocki sat on the pole for the Sportsman feature and lead from green to checkered. Following Trocki on the green was Dale Clouser, Steve Redditt, Ron Lufcy, and John Nusbaum. But before a lap was down, Mitch Dougherty spun in turn 3 bringing out the caution.
The field was realigned for the second restart with Trocki taking the point on the green. But it took one more restart before the race stayed green with Trocki still leading the way. By lap 10, it was Trocki, Clouser, Lufcy, Redditt and Billy Spade in the top five. Spade was able to pass Redditt putting Redditt fifth and Spade fourth. Trocki took the checkered followed by Dale Clouser, Ron Lufcy, Bill Spade and Steve Redditt.
Mike Trocki and Dale Clouser took the heat wins.
Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulpius had the pole for the Mini Stock feature but it was Ron Debeau who took the point on the green followed by Vulpius, Tim "Missileman" McPhail, Rex Christensen, and Chad Ashley.
Robbie Storer, the last feature winner in the Mini Stocks, came from the rear of the pack to take third by lap 4. McPhail had passed Vulpius who had gotten back the lead to take over the lead. By lap 7, McPhail found his mirror full of Robbie Storer right on his tail. By lap 10, Storer passed McPhail coming down the frontstretch taking over the lead and taking the checkered for his second win at New Smyrna Speedway.
Following Storer to the checkered was Tim "Missileman" McPhail, Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulpius, Ron Dubeau, and Rex Christensen.
Robbie Storer and Tim "Missileman" McPhail took the heat wins.
Tim Edmundson had the pole for the Strictly Stock feature but it was Travis Scott who took the point and lead from green to checkered for the win. Following Scott across the checkered was Curtis Smith, Tim Edmundson, Jeremy Hovencamp, and Farris Crews.
Jeremy Hovencamp and Travis Scott took the heat wins.
Eight cars came for the V-8 Demo Derby with the No. 225 Futrell winning the derby and No. 611 Slaughter in second.
Next Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway, the Pro Modified will race 50 laps plus Super Lates, Lates, Super Stock, Mini Stock and Strictly Stocks. Sportsman will have the night off.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
SUPER LATE MODELS:
1. #11 David Rogers 2. #74 Barry Willoughby 3. #27 Mike Good 4. #78 B.J. McLeod 5. #63 Joe Fitos 6. #81 Art Cross 7. #57 Jim Rider 8. #7 Mark Vandevender 9. #9 Brent Hobbs 10. #2 Guy Thomas (DNS)
LATE MODEL
1. #15 Jason Boyd 2. #8 Tim Clark 3. #04 Doug Samion 4. #26 Mike Murphy 5. #77 Brian Bellaw 6. #18 Nolan Wilson 7. #57 Chad Pierce 8. #43 Randy Dye 9. #7 Charlie Mertz 10. #48 Mark Smith 11. #23 Joey Pletka
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #09 Rob Underwood 2. #75 Bobby Blake 3. #1 Andy Saffotti 4. #15 Mark Vandevender 5. #20 Ed Kuhel 6. #9 David Hite 7. #1W Jim Cloverdale
SUPER STOCKS
1. #3 Jeff Colburn 2. #211 Jack Lenzen 3. #23 Charlie Collins 4. #50 Robert Skinner 5. #2x Mike Amato 6. #L3 Rich Clouser 7. #20 Justin Reynolds 8. #57x Butch Pierce 9. #17 Sean Bass 10.#01 Rob Gauthier 11.#11 Nick Vogler 12.#3x Steve Detwiler 13.#58 John Vanwagoner 14.#2 Ron Whaley 15.#38 Randy Jones 16.#28 Henry Rader 17.#5 John Castro 18.#34 Pat Buckley 19.#31 Rich Lindner 20.#21 Josh Wronkowski 21.#37 Steven Metts 22.#01x Chuck Smity 23.#91 Todd Driscoll (DQ'D)
SPORTSMAN
1. #46 Mike Trocki 2. #30 Dale Clouser 3. #07 Ron Lufcy 4. #15x Bill Spade 5. #1 Steve Redditt 6. #70 John Nusbaum 7. #55 Jim Snyder 8. #48 Cory Kaiser 9. #2 Bill Love 10. #75 Scott Stone 11. #18 Bryan Dulla 12. #6 Bruce McGonigal 13. #19 Mitch Dougherty
MINI STOCK
1. #9 Robbie Storer 2. #7 Tim "Missileman" McPhail 3. #71 Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulpius 4. #4 Ron Dubeau 5. #v3 Rex Christensen 6. #7x Rex "Boneman" Hollinger 7. #0 Chad Ashley 8. #20 Chris Jones 9. #40 Shawn Reiss 10.#49 Jason Skovren 11.#38 Ben Hutto 12.#15 Wayne Clark (DNS)
PRO CHALLENGE
1. #1 Rod Sanders 2. #12 Brad Sanders 3. #56 Howard Brennan 4. #10 Tim Haart 5. #25 Mike Lego 6. #22 David Hall
MOD LITES
1. #1 Mark Landdis 2. #01 Ron Towles 3. #77 Bill Burback 4. #74 Allen Davis 5. #82 Mike Belusar 6. #17 Jaames Wagner 7. #20 Mike Landisss 8. #40 Todd Diers 9. #3 Doug Parlamento 10. #96 Wayne DeClark 11. #68 Nick Sheetist 12. #15 Kenny Anderson 13. #49 Rick McFarland 14. #5 George Landis
STRICTLY STOCKS
1. #91 Travis Scott 2. #92 Curtis Smith 3. #66 Tim Edmundson 4. #39 Jeremy Hovencamp 5. #8x Farris Crews 6. #10 Roger Ladieu 7. #6 Mark Bieat 8. #21 Jason Chheuch 9. #X Richard Benzi 10. #22 Bruce McGongial Jr. 11. #13 Ralph Jones 12. #94 Rusty Boyer
