SATSUMA, FL (10/24) - The 2003 Fall Brawl invaded Putnam County Speedway last Friday and Saturday night as the United Sprint Car Series and the Super Late Models teamed up with regular racing divisions to deliver an exciting weekend of racing that attracted both the highest car count and attendance of the season.
Festivities began Friday evening as all six divisions ran heats and qualification races with the top finishers advancing directly to Saturday's A-features. Winners Friday were Terry Gray in Sprints, Peyton Nesmith in Super Late Models, Ivedent Lloyd in Limited Late Models, Marion Sizemore in Modifieds, Richard Adams in Street Stocks, and David Dowling Jr. in Pure Stocks. Saturday night allowed the transferees to take a break while the nonqualifiers made a last-ditch effort to earn a place in their respective features that were limited to 20 drivers.
Danny Martin Jr. overcame early leader Johnny Gilbertson and looked to be in control until lap 15 when Kenny Adams, who had made steady progress through the field, caught Martin and began a stern challenge for the top spot. Martin effectively used traffic to keep Adams in check for several laps before his fortune ran out in lap 26 as Adams picked off a momentarily delayed Martin and then ran off with the checkers four laps later. Martin remained strong and outlasted Terry Gray for second. Polesitter Lee Scrape swiped the fourth spot from Gilbertson on the final lap.
Super Late Models thrilled the spectators for 25 laps. Jeff Choquette threatened to make the race a runaway while his counterparts mauled and brawled each other for the remaining scraps of glory. Jason Fitzgerald freed himself from the masses near the end and inflicted five laps of grief upon Choquette before falling short at the finish. Following the lead duo of Choquette and Fitzgerald was Terry Eaglin, Patrick Sheltra, and David Browning.
Lawton Minchew won the pole for the Limited Late Model feature but could not convert that advantage to a win as Mark Davis surprised the early leader and took the best Minchew could offer in earning a hard-fought win. Travis Rhoden made up for some recently frustrating performances to notch third over Rick Singler and Jeff Terrell.
A milestone in the career of Marion Sizemore was recorded when he seized the lead on lap two behind the wheel of his venerable #2 car and never looked back to rack up an easy win in Modifieds. In a sport where many cars don’t last 100 races or, in some cases, 100 laps, Sizemore’s #2 scored its 100th win. In victory lane the winner denied rumors concerning the retirement of his mount and assured the fans there was still plenty of racing left in that car’s future. This was not necessarily good news for the rest of the pack since nobody else came close to contending. The remainder of the top five in the race – which saw heavy attrition – consisted of Richard Tipton, Kenny Blair, Garland Spangler, and Chris Hammond.
Bobby Layman finally broke through his recent run of bad luck in Street Stocks when he passed Billy Costello on the 8th circuit and subsequently decimated the field for his first win of the year. Kenny Hall ran through the gauntlet before assuming second, but in doing so had used up his car and could progress no further. Costello beat out Richard Adams at the stripe for third with Marc Kinley coming in fifth.
Pure Stocks turned in another stellar show as has become their custom. Many position changes and few cautions are just two of the reasons this class is a fan favorite. Hollywood Owen was gunning for two wins in a row and very nearly made it; however, Bubba Watson had other ideas and demonstrated heretofore unprecedented strength to outlast Owen and defend against a hard charging Mike Tripp to pull off a mild upset. Tripp was best of the rest and was trailed by Owen, David Dowling Jr., and Ricky Adams.
Regular racing returns to Putnam County Speedway next Saturday night and will continue throughout the month of November with the last show on the 29th.
