IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 4, 2004 FSCR Big Field Can't Stop Conrad in Orlando SpeedWorld Legends Action by Dave Westerman The biggest field of the year didn't deter the continuing dominance of Patrick Conrad Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld as the young Clermont driver picked up his sixth consecutive RE/MAX Legends Car victory. Twenty-four Legends checked in for competition from as far away as Tallahassee with three heats needed to set the feature line-up. Conrad, Sam Watts, and Jeremy Colangelo topped the heat races with the top three finishers in each heat drawing for the first nine starting spots. Luck of the draw saw Conrad get the pole position, but he would not have an easy run in the 25 lap main event. Conrad jumped to the early lead but Sam Watts was right on his bumper from the get go with Jeremy Colangelo just behind them waiting for an opportunity. Fourth running Kory Abbott spun in turn four on lap three to bring out the first caution. Abbott would be sent to the rear of the field but would put on a show for the fans the remainder of the race. Watts continued to pressure Conrad but caution was out again on lap five to remove Wesley McLeod's car from the track as he was dragging a rear bumper. The high-flying trio of Conrad, Watts and Colangelo was already lapping traffic when the third caution came out for a spin by Tom Clarke who was making his first ever start in a Legends Car. Watts was pressing Conrad and nearly got underneath him in turn three just as caution was out again for a James Rodriguez spin in turn two. during the caution, Doc Richardson's car erupted in smoke, negating a solid top five run for Richardson, who was making his first start of the year here. On the restart, Gus Richardson spun and tagged the wall in turn one ending his night. It was still a three driver battle up front with Watts still looking for any way to get past Conrad however Conrad was better in lapped traffic and began to open up a bigger advantage. Brandon Thomson had a solid top ten going but spun on the back stretch with three laps to go to bring out the caution and give the field one last shot at Conrad. Conrad caught the field napping on the final restart and pulled away while Watts slipped out of the groove and lost second to Conrad and third spot to a resurgent Kory Abbott who had worked his way back through the field after his earlier spin. Conrad took the checker several car lengths ahead of Colangelo and Kory Abbott as Watts slipped high again in turn four and spun coming down for the checkered flag. Kevin Abbott crossed the line fourth with A.J. Fulgenzi having a good steady run for fifth. Darin "T-Bone" Coker had a great run in his Florida Green Racing machine grabbing sixth spot with a much improved Jeff Deggellar seventh. Eighth went to Bobby Byars with James Rodriguez ninth and Watts recovering for tenth. The Florida Welterweight Racing Association was back in action with both the Modified Lites and Pro Challenge cars and decided to treat the fans to full-field inversions following the heats. Phil Krauthoff and Mark Landis took the pair of heat races and were relegated to the final row at the start. On the initial start, front row starter "Mad" Max Howe appeared to have the throttle stick on his car going into turn three and his machine slammed the wall with tremendous force. After a couple of minutes, Howe emerged from his car shaken but unhurt after a very scary crash. This would be the only stoppage of this race though as once the green finally flew it was a fantastic green to checker race. Robert Hight led the opening lap only to be passed by Stan Hope. Mark Landis was quickly on the charge and moved to second place by lap four. Hope had his car dialed in pretty well and he held Landis off until Landis was able to get underneath him and make the pass for the lead on lap 16 of the 25 lap run. From there it was all over as Landis pulled out to a big advantage while his brother George Landis got by Hope late in the race to take second. Kevin Baxter was running fourth when he spun in turn one on lap 22 but he continued and no caution was needed. Mark and George Landis crossed the stripe first and second for the second consecutive win and promptly challenged all Mod Lite type cars to come to Speedworld later this month to try and beat them. Hope claimed third spot followed by Robert Crandall and Todd Diers. Todd Currier and Mark David grabbed the Pro Challenge heats and started from the back row in what would be a fantastic 25 lap feature. Ken Watts put his truck out front at the drop of the green but it was Rod Sanders on the move as the Alva driver put his truck out front on lap three and looked like he would run away with the race. Howard Brennan had other ideas and he slowly reeled Sanders in but could never make a solid challenge for the lead. Currier came from last on the starting grid to third trailed by Brad Sanders and Mike Lago as this race also ran green to checker. Gerald White, Jr. won his fourth straight Bandelero Bandits feature leading flag to flag. Josh Williams passed Chad Akins coming down for the checkered flag to take second with Akins third. Ryan Rust and Blake Eden rounded out the top five. Derrick Wood grabbed the lead early and led all the way to take the very competitive Bandelero Young Guns feature for his first win of the year. Scott Jarrett, Brandon Thomson, Nik Wesenick and Chelsea Schillig completed the top five. There were finally enough Bandelero Outlaws to run the class separately this week. Kevin Henry, the 2003 Speedworld Young Guns Champion who is now 16 years old, jumped in Derrick Wood's car and drove by early leader Dave Jarrett to put the Wood Racing Bandelero in victory lane for a second time on the evening. Evan Russell made a late pass to take second away from Jarrett while Sam Gearhart was fourth. Greg Bruce held off Ralph Aldrich to win his fourth Hurricane feature of the year in his Ford Escort. Aldrich made his first start a good one as he came home second followed by William "Starsky & Hutch" Hindman, Bobby Crites and Sly Cawley. Rusty "The 50/50 Guy" Marcus made his racing debut in the Hurricane feature but a blistered tire relegated him to a seventh place finish. Next Week the Dan Webster for U.S. Senate Classic Auto Racing Series joins the RE/MAX Legends, Bandeleros and Hurricanes for Saturday night racing action. Free grandstand admission may be obtained by stopping in at Auto Parts of Taft in South Orlando near the intersection of Orange Avenue and Landstreet Road. RESULTS - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 4/4/04: RE/MAX LEGENDS CARS (25 Laps): 1) Patrick Conrad #2 2) Jeremy Colangelo #05 3) Kory Abbott #5 4) Kevin Abbott #98 5) A.J. Fulgenzi #33 6) Darin Coker #00 7) Jeff Deggeller #91 8) Bobby Byars #12 9) James Rodriguez #19 10) Sam Watts #73 11) Shane Campbell #C00 12) Derrick Wood #33jr. 13) Matt Bowers #84 14) Jarred Cawley #31 15) Dion Hinsky #4 16) Johnny Sabo #5X 17) Brandon Thomson #29 18) Kyle Dombeck #20 19) Tim Osterlund #49 20) Todd Campbell #01 21) Tom Clarke #77 22) Doc Richardson #100 23) Wesley McLeod #22 24) Gus Richardson #3 MODIFIED LITES (25 Laps): 1) Mark Landis #22 2) George Landis #5 3) Stan Hope #8 4) Robert Crandall #33 5) Todd Diers #40 6) Phil Krauthoff #2 7) Kevin Baxter #69 8) Robert Hight #13 9) Rick McFarland #49 10) Nick Shadid #68 11) Max Howe #51 PRO CHALLENGE (25 Laps): 1) Rod Sanders #1 2) Howard Brennan #56 3) Todd Currier #2 4) Brad Sanders #12 5) Mike Lago #25 6) Mark David #24 7) Tyler David #28 8) David Hall #22 9) Tim Hart #10 10) Ken Watts #18 11) Dale Horne #20 BANDELERO BANDITS (15 Laps): 1) Gerald White, Jr. #38 2) Josh Williams #6 3) Chad Akins #60 4) Ryan Rust #18 5) Blake Eden #17 6) Donovan Ponder #8 BANDELERO YOUNG GUNS (15 Laps): 1) Derrick Wood #33 2) Scott Jarrett #97 3) Brandon Thomson #54 4) Nik Wesenick #7 5) Chelsea Schillig #75 6) Matthew Jarrett #9 7) Kara Clarke #21 BANDELERO OUTLAWS (12 Laps): 1) Kevin Henry #33 2) Evan Russell #37 3) Dave Jarrett #9 4) Sam Gearhart #26 HURRICANES (15 Laps): 1) Greg Bruce #4U 2) Ralph Aldrich #24 3) William Hindman #89 4) Bobby Crites #B1 5) Sly Cawley #231 6) Raybo #6X 7) Rusty Marcus #6 8) Michael Bass #88 9) Red Honaker #2 Have an opinion on this story? 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