Points Race Gets Tighter as McLeod, Hight, Foerg, Whaley and Storer see the Winner's Circle at SpeedWorld
by Jane Smith
Bithlo, Fla (September 19, 2003) The night could not have been more perfect to pay tribute to Ray "the gas man" Crews who passed away last Sunday.
Crews was part of the FASCAR family and if you ever needed a smile at the end of a hard night, it was Ray Crews who gave it. Friday night at SpeedWorld, Ray Crews got smiles back from his racing family.
Josh Williams had the pole for the Bandolero Bandits but before a lap was down in the books, Derrick Wood and Gerald White, Jr. tangled on the backstretch with White being towed into the pits.
A complete restart was in order with Williams on the point followed by Matthew Jarrett, Derrick Wood, Chad Akins and Ryan Rust.
Ryan Rust was making some good moves towards the leader and had worked himself into second when the caution was thrown for Matthew Jarrett and Blake Eden who spun in turns 3 and 4.
Williams holds the point on the restart followed by Ryan Rust, Derrick Wood, Chad Akins and Blake Eden. One more caution would be thrown when Matthew Jarrett and Blake Eden spun on the frontstretch. Williams takes the point on the restart and the checkered followed by Chad Akins, Ryan Rust, Derrick Wood, and Blake Eden.
Josh Williams won the heat race.
It was Brandon Thompson from green to checkered in the Bandolero Young Guns.
With no cautions in this feature, it was a game of cat and mouse to see who could catch Thompson. Following Thompson to the checkered was Kevin Henry, Scott Jarrett, Blake Diecks and Chelsea Schilling.
Brandon Thompson won the heat race.
Legends saw Patrick Conrad and Jason Reisman take the heat wins. Reisman had the pole for the feature and lead for most of the race until Patrick Conrad put the moves on and took the lead and the checkered. Following Conrad to the checkered was Jason Reisman, Sam Watts, and Kevin Abbott. A complete finish was not available.
Donnie Smith had the pole for the Sportsman feature but before a lap was down, Cory Kaiser and Justin Hall brought out the yellow as Kaiser spun Hall on the frontstretch. A complete restart was in order with Smith taking the lead followed by Justin Hall, Cory Kaiser, Danny Shearer, and Richard Hight.
The caution comes out for Cory Kaiser who spun at the bottom of turns 3 and 4. Smith holds the point on the restart followed by Hall, Hight, Shearer and Joe Adams. Hall is really loose and slips back to fifth as Hight takes over second. Kaiser takes advantage of Hall's loose condition and slips into fifth with Hall falling backwards fast. Hight finally says enough is enough and passes Smith for the lead taking the checkered once again. Following Hight to the checkered was Donnie Smith, Joe Adams, Danny Shearer and Cory Kaiser.
Donnie Smith won the heat race.
Lynn Dicandio had the pole for the Open Wheel Modified feature but it was last year's champion John Foerg, visiting from Ocala Speedway, who took the point on the green. But before a lap was down, Shane Held brought out the caution as he spun in turn 4.
Foerg once again took the point on the green followed by Dicandio, Larry Osteen, Mark Emberson and Dink Sullivan. Terri Bryant brought out the caution as she spun in turns 1 and 2. The field was realigned with Foerg on the point followed by Dicandio, Osteen, Emberson and Sullivan. Matt Wheeler, points leader for the Open Wheel Modifieds, passes Sullivan taking over the fifth place position. Suddenly the yellow comes out for Glen Bradley and Ken McCracken who have spun in turn 1 and 2. McCracken was fine but Bradley had to be towed into the pits.
Foerg holds the point as Osteen does everything he can to shake Dicandio out of second but Dicandio holds strong and gets his best finish of the year. Foerg takes the checkered followed by an extremely happy Lynn Dicandio, Larry Osteen, Mark Emberson, and Matt Wheeler.
Shane Held took the heat win.
Now it is time for the "big boys" to come out. B.J. McLeod had the pole for the Super Late Model feature and lead from green to checkered. But it took two starts before a lap was down as Chuck Birkhultier spun in turn 1 with Ronnie Roach and Rick Lyons spinning to avoid Birkultier.
A complete restart as McLeod takes the point followed by Ricky Wood, Rusty Ebersole, Eric Deffendial, and Ronnie Roach. Ebersole slips backwards as Deffendial takes over third and Roach fourth with Ebersole fifth.
Rick Bates brought out the yellow as he spun at the bottom of turns 1 and 2. On the restart, McLeod takes the point but Ebersole somehow misses a shift and ends up at the rear of the field. Now Ebersole definitely has his work cut out as he is not in his regular Super Late Model but his friends.
After running in the top five, Eric Deffendial has to retire to the pits with mechanical problems. McLeod still leads with Wood, Roach, Birkheltier and Bo Jackson in the top five. On the last lap of the race, Jackson taps Birkheltier coming into turn 1 putting Birkheltier in the wall. McLeod takes the checkered with Ricky Wood, Ronnie Roach, Rick Bates and Rusty Ebersole in the top five.
In tech, Birkheliter and Jackson were each penalized two spots because of an after race encounter. Instead of finishing fourth and fifth, they were sixth and seventh. B.J. McLeod and Ricky Wood won the heat races.
Bobby Woodley had the pole for the Super Stock feature and was able to jump to the point on the green followed by John Castro, Bill Loomis, Ron Whaley, and Andy Nichols. Whaley passes Loomis and takes over third, then passes Castro for second and sets his eyes on Woodley. Whaley makes the move and it sticks putting Woodley second, Castro third, Nichols fourth and Bob Wines fifth. Woodley gets stuck on the outside with Castro taking second and Nichols third and Woodley settles into fourth.
Bob Wines brought out the caution when he spun at the bottom of turns 1 and 2. Whaley holds the point on the restart and takes the checkered followed by John Castro, Andy Nichols, Bobby Woodley, and Cory Freed.
Cory Freed and Andy Nichols took the heat wins.
Michael Seay has the pole for the Mini Stock feature but before a lap could get down, Tim "Missileman" McPhail and Chad Ashley get together in turn 1. When McPhail spun, Ashley could not see because of the smoke and they hit each other. McPhail was able to pit and fix his machine but Ashley was down for the night with a very sore neck.
A complete restart was in order with Seay in the lead followed by Matthew Roller, Robbie Storer, Dick Laszlo, and Sean Bass. Roller brought out the yellow as he hits the backstretch wall hard.
On the restart, Robbie Storer takes the point followed by Seay, Laszlo, Bass, and Blakeslee. Laszlo's engine blows and he is forced to retire. Storer takes the checkered followed by Michael Seay, Sean Bass, Randy Blakeslee, and Bob Delmastro.
Robbie Storer took the heat win.
Strictly Stocks saw Richie Laszlo on the pole for their feature event but it was Eric Hodge who jumped to the point and never looked back. Following Hodge was Richie Laszlo, Chester Sutorus, David Murphy, and Mike Bass. David Murphy has our newest Strictly Stock - a truck. Murphy has problems and has to retire. Hodge takes the checkered followed by Chester Sutorus, Richie Laszlo, Mike Bass and Dave Czerwinski.
Next week at Orlando SpeedWorld, Sportsman 50 Lapper, marked to be a very good race.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
SUPER LATE MODELS
1. #78 B.J. McLeod 2. #33 Ricky Wood 3. #14 Ronnie Roach 4. #4 Rick Bates 5. #19 Rusty Ebersole 6. #30 Chuck Burkheltier 7. #02 Bo Jackson 8. #41 Brian Schubert 9. #26d Eric Deffendial 10. #60 David Myer 11. #5 Rick Lyons 12. #34 Bobby Fleckinger DNS
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #1 John Foerg 2. #20 Lynn Dicandio 3. #22 Larry Osteen 4. #34 Mark Emberson 5. #96 Matt Wheeler 6. #55 Shane Held 7. #17 William "Dink" Sullivan 8. #56 Ken McCracken 9. #08 Terri Bryant 10. #4 Glen Bradley
SPORTSMAN
1. #23 Richard Hight 2. #48 Donnie Smith 3. #62 Joe Adams 4. #77 Danny Shearer 5. #48x Cory Kaiser 6. #82 Tommy Johnson 7. #56 Bill Hall 8. #50 Justin Hall 9. #26 Charlie Vest
SUPER STOCKS
1. #2 Ron Whaley 2. #5 John Castro 3. #66 Andy Nichols 4. #98 Bobby Woodley 5. #12 Cory Freed 6. #22 Bill Loomis 7. #20 Justin Reynolds 8. #28r Robert Ward 9. #28 Ron Edwards 10. #72 Brian Anderson 11. #05 Bob Starr 12. #08 Paul Hudson 13. #7b Bob Wines 14. #721 John Bennett 15. #44 Bob Beiler
MINI STOCK
1. #9 Robbie Storer 2. #10 Michael Seay 3. #28 Sean Bass 4. #77 Randy Blakeslee 5. #33 Bob Delmastro 6. #7 Tim "Missileman" McPhail 7. #07 Dick Laszlo 8. #72 Matthew Roller 9. #07a Chad Ashley
STRICTLY STOCK
1. #00 Eric Hodge 2. #3 Chester Sutorus 3. #07 Richie Laszlo 4. #88 Mike Bass 5. #44 Dave Czerwinski 6. #70 Tom Cantright 7. #38 David Murphy
