IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 13, 2004 FSCR Ball, Watts, Lassiter and Akins 3 for 3 at SpeedWorld Winternationals by Dave Westerman There was action aplenty as night three of the 2004 Winternationals took place Thursday evening with three drivers remaining undefeated and many others needing to "burn the midnight oil" to be ready for night four. The remaining ten laps of the Dan Webster for U.S. Senate Classic Cars race from Tuesday night were run first with Cosby, TN's Brian Ball picking up his second straight win. Brian's son Jay came across the stripe in second while Legends car driver Patrick Conrad of Clermont, FL took third driving Ed Yates' Lakeshore Tree Farm machine in his first ever start in a V-8 powered stock car. Robert Seaton and Beaver Daughtrey completed the top five. Ball came back later in the evening to make it three wins in a row, leading all the way while Conrad continued to impress with a strong second place finish. Jay Ball was third just ahead of "Crazy" Eddie Ward and Corey Freed. Classic Car heats were won by Brian Ball and Daryl Grief. Halifax, Nova Scotia driver Cy Harvey finally put it all together to win the 25 lap RE/MAX Legends Masters division race, leading all the way despite incredible pressure by four-time Georgia State Champion Dwight Pilgram. North Carolina's Clay Hair saw his chances of winning a third consecutive feature end in spectacular fashion as his engine blew up in a ball of flame going into turn one on lap thirteen while he was running third. Hair drove his flaming car to the pits where the fire was put out and he was not injured. Salisbury NC's Cotton Spry brought out another caution on lap 15 when he spun while running third, then on lap 20 James Rodriguez and Steve Kidwell got together in turn four with Spry also getting involved to bring out the final caution of the race. Harvey was able to hold off Pilgram at the line for a popular win. Third spot went to Georgia's Brian Weimer with Tommy Jordan of Hartsville, SC fourth and Plano, TX driver Bob Merino fifth. Masters heats were won by Harvey and Merino. The RE/MAX Legends Pro division main event was again the best race of the night with more position-swapping than you could keep up with. Virginia's Jason Miller grabbed the early lead until caution slowed the field for a lap seven tangle between the winner from the previous night, Josh Waring and Jason Reisman. Following the restart, caution was quickly displayed for a tangle between Jason Davis and Gary Bales. Once the green flag flew again, this race was a pleasure to watch. Patrick Conrad passed Miller and led to lap 19 when Juliette, GA's Beau Slocumb led a freight train past Conrad. Slocumb led just two laps as Miller was back in command leading another freight train past Slocumb. Conrad was back on the charge but Miller held on for his first win of the Winternationals and received a big round of applause from the appreciative crowd. Conrad would equal his second place Classic Car finish in this one with Josh Waring coming back from his early miscue to take third. Chris Haack ran strong all race and claimed fourth with Reisman also coming back strong to finish fifth. Miller and Conrad were the Pro division heat winners. The RE/MAX Legends Semi-Pro feature was tame compared to the heat races. In the first heat, brothers Kory and Kevin Abbott crashed hard together coming out of turn four, severely damaging both cars. Somehow, Kory Abbott's crew was able to make repairs and allow him to start the feature but Kevin became a spectator. Later in the first heat, Chunchula, AL driver Daren Jon Vanderley slammed the wall in turn four and ended his night early. In the second heat, fans were stunned by a horrifying crash in front of the flag stand. Palm Beach Gardens, FL driver Darin Coker spun coming out of turn flour and slid backwards up the track into oncoming race traffic. With nowhere to go, Adam Akridge of Lilburn, GA slammed into Coker's machine at full throttle with Akridge's car rolling on it's side. Max Erikson also hit the wall trying to avoid the wreck. After several minutes, a groggy Akridge was helped from his car and placed on a stretcher for a precautionary trip to the hospital although he gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as he was loaded in the ambulance. Coker climbed from his car and was later treated and released at the track after having a couple of bumps and bruises attended to. Coker even pulled out a not-quite-ready-yet back-up car and started the feature to earn points. The feature itself was yet another showcase for the talents of 13 year old Sam Watts of Winter Springs, FL as he took the lead from Lebanon, TN's Scooter Hillis on lap six and was never headed although Hillis made a late charge that came up just a bit short. The Semi-Pro feature was tame in comparison to the heats as only two minor cautions late in the going slowed the 25 lap affair. Chris Wilson of Crossville, TN was third followed by Jacksonville, FL driver A.J. Fulgenzi and Greg Floyd of Owensboro, KY. Semi-Pro heats fell to Watts and Hillis. The Thunder Roadsters finished up their three day Winternationals stay with a 20 lap feature and the results were the same as the previous two nights as Grifton, NC's Matt Lassiter again dominated the action in his immaculate machine. Georgia's Jim Gresham was second followed by Florida driver Bill Manfull, Virginia's Jim Fluharty and Brun Hudson of Deltona, FL. Chad Akins remained undefeated in the Bandelero Bandits as the Daytona Beach, FL youngster led every lap to claim his third straight win over fellow Florida drivers Gerald White, Jr., Josh Williams, Ryan Rust and Blake Eden. St. Cloud FL's Scott Jarrett took advantage of a late race tangle between leaders Derrick Wood and Jake Crum to take the Bandelero Young Guns feature race. Wood and Crum came back to checker second and third followed by Matthew Jarrett and Nick Wesenick. Jarrett's grandfather, Dave Jarrett (at 68 years of age) topped the Bandelero Outlaws over Evan Russell and Marci Bristol. The Baby Grand cars ran two 20 lap qualifying events, earning points for Saturday's big 35 lap feature event. Kent Baledge captured the first qualifier over Chris Wilson and Craig Haack while it was Clifford Pugh topping the second race over "Tiger" Tyler Brown and John Lunsford. The STARRS Vintage Racers were on hand for a special exhibition that was won by the 1968 Chevelle Late Model of Hank Baker of Daytona Beach. Jake Jacobs was second in a 1957 Chevy LM followed by Ray Snodgrass in his 1955 Chevy. Charlie Lema, down from Massachussetts in a former Eddie Flemke Modified was fourth with Richie Iverson fifth in a 1936 Ford Modified. Action continues Friday night at 8PM with the BM Modifieds added to the schedule along with the divisions of RE/MAX Legends Car racing, Baby Grands, Classic Cars and Bandeleros. RESULTS - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD WINTERNATIONALS - NIGHT THREE - 2/12/04: RE/MAX LEGENDS MASTERS (25 Laps): 1) Cy Harvey #37 2) Dwight Pilgram #73 3) Brian Weimer #40 4) Tommy Jordan #1SC 5) Bob Merino #42 6) Larry Friddle #8 7) Hermann Greinig #78 8) Rick Losh #00 9) Derek Hales #1 10) Rob Brierton #74 11) Jesse Carter #20 12) James Rodriguez #19 13) Nancy Hardwick #16TN 14) Cotton Spry #16NC 15) Ed Evans #53 16) Butch Wills #12 17) Steve Kidwell #3 18) Jim Mayrand, Jr. #15 19) Bob Wilson #27W 20) Delacy Peavy #59 21) Clay Hair #29 22) Tim Burr #67 DNS Steve Johnson #00X DNS Doc Eriksen #0 RE/MAX LEGENDS PRO (25 Laps): 1) Jason Miller #94 2) Patrick Conrad #2 3) Josh Waring #13 4) Chris Haack #8Ball 5) Jason Reisman #25 6) Jesse Smith #91 7) Beau Slocumb #8 8) Gene Conley #27TX 9) Jason Tidwell #41 10) Kayne Hickman #20 11) Jason Davis #23 12) Danny Jackson #5 13) Ricky Losh #24 14) Gary Bales #69 15) Brent Seeley #2T 16) Tolliver Smith #21 17) Tony Harbury #45M DNS Tim Woodlee #0 DNS James Inscoe #10 DNS G.E. Chapman #29 RE/MAX LEGENDS SEMI-PRO (25 Laps): 1) Sam Watts #73 2) Scooter Hillis #16 3) Chris Wilson #10 4) A.J. Fulgenzi #33F 5) Greg Floyd #13 6) Jeremy Colangelo #05 7) Breezy Breasbois #41 8) Kory Abbott #5K 9) Wesley McLeod #22 10) Steven Meador #5 11) Kyle Hall #69 12) Eddie Idec #8 13) Jake Crum #1 14) Justin Petcosky #77 15) Darin Coker #00 DNS Daren Jon VanDerley #2D DNS Adam Akridge #15 DNS Max Eriksen #71 DNS Kevin Abbott #98 THUNDER ROADSTERS (20 Laps): 1) Matt Lassitter #26 2) Jim Gresham #7-11 3) Bill Manfull #48 4) Jim Fluharty #15 5) Brun Hudson #90 6) Doc Eriksen #1 7) Jim Wade #60 8) Trick Standing #15X 9) Gene Davis #02 DNS Dale Akridge #2 DAN WEBSTER FOR U.S. SENATE CLASSIC CARS: Finish of feature from 2/11/04 (15 Laps): 1) Brian Ball #33 2) Jay Ball #04 3) Patrick Conrad #74 4) Robert Seaton #87 5) Beaver Daughtrey #17 6) Ray Frazee #43 7) Daryl Grief #31 8) Bill Posey #00 9) Allen Cullum #12X 2/12/04 Feature (15 Laps): 1) Brian Ball #33 2) Patrick Conrad #74 3) Jay Ball #04 4) Eddie Ward #45 5) Corey Freed #44 6) Daryl Grief #31 7) Ray Frazee #43 8) Robert Seaton #87 9) Beaver Daughtrey #17 DNS Wayne Ashton #78 BANDELERO BANDITS (12 Laps): 1) Chad Akins #60 2) Gerald White, Jr. #38 3) Josh Williams #6X 4) Ryan Rust #18 5) Blake Eden #17 6) Donovan Ponder #8 BANDELERO YOUNG GUNS (12 Laps): 1) Scott Jarrett #97 2) Derrick Wood #33 3) Jake Crum #1 4) Matthew Jarrett #9 5) Nick Wesenick #7 BANDELERO OUTLAWS (12 Laps): 1) Dave Jarrett #9 2) Evan Russell #37 3) Marci Bristol #54 STARRS VINTAGE (15 Laps) 1) Hank Baker #8 2) Jake Jacobs #J2 3) Ray Snodgrass #22 4) Charlie Lema #2X 5) Richie Iverson #61 6) Larry Williams #12 7) Jim Moore #M4 Have an opinion on this story? 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