IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 18, 2004 FSCR Conrad back in Winning Form, Thomson Kids Have Big Night at Speedworld by Dave Westerman The only thing to slow Patrick Conrad in RE/MAX Legends Car action so far this year at Orlando Speedworld was a blown engine last week. With a new power plant under the hood, Conrad was back in victory lane for the seventh time in eight races Saturday night. Three heats were needed to set the field for the 25 lap Legends feature and they were won by Conrad, Jeremy Colangelo and Jeff Deggeller. For Deggeller, a rookie in racing this year, it was the first win ever for the carnival operator from Palm City who is racing Legends as a way to get away from the day to day grind of running a business. Sam Watts, the winner from the previous week, spun around on the original start and for the second week in a row found himself in the back of the field for the start of the race. Doc Richardson had the pole for the feature and grabbed the early advantage as Conrad quickly moved his machine to second. Caution flew at the end of lap one for a multi-car tangle in turn three involving Wesley McLeod, Deggeller, Kory Abbott and Doug Hall. Only Deggeller was able to continue although he dropped out of the race shortly after the restart. Richardson set the pace for the restart but Conrad wasted little time moving to the front, taking the lead on lap three. The field ran under green until a lap 15 caution for debris on the track. Sam Watts got into Jeremy Colangelo on the restart knocking the rear bumper on Colangelo's car partially off as the caution came back out to remove Colangelo's car from the track per INEX Legends rules that require bumpers both front and rear in order to continue racing. Conrad continued to set the pace while Richardson slowed on lap 18 as something fell off his car on the backstretch, bringing out the yellow flag again. The race again was restarted with Conrad now having to fend off a resurgent Sam Watts. Their nose to tail fight was interrupted on lap 21 as a fender fell off third running Darin "T-Bone" Coker's car. The fender was removed from the track with no penalty against Coker. Conrad was able to fend off Watts over the final four laps to take his lucky seventh win of the year with Watts second and Coker having his best Legends finish in third. Bobby Byars had a good run for fourth while rookie driver Brandon Thomson took fifth in just his fifth Legends race. Derrick Wood, Jared Cawley, Spike Sabo, Wild Willie Wilson and Kyle Dombek rounded out the top ten. Thomson backed up his good run in the Legends with a win in the Bandelero Young Guns feature. Thomson missed a big crash on lap six that eliminated Scott Jarrett at Derrick Wood before leading Nik Wesenick to the checker. Wesenick's second was the best of his young career while Matthew Jarrett and Kara Clarke trailed. Gerald White, Jr. won his fifth straight Bandelero Bandits feature over Blake Eden, Ryan Rust and Donovan Ponder while 68 year old great grandfather Dave Jarrett topped Evan Russell in The Bandelero Outlaws. Another "old timer," Red "Pop" Honaker, led most of the way to win the wild Hurricane feature in his Dodge Daytona. Greg Bruce and his Ford Escort had to settle for second this week while William "Wild Man" Hindman drove his Starsky & Hutch Mustang to third. Sly Cawley and Bobby Crites completed the top five. After the Hurricane race was completed, the ladies came on the track to take over for a special "Powder Puff" race. After watching her brother Brandon win the Bandelero Young Guns feature and finish fifth in Legends, Ashley Thomson charged through the field in Ken Walker's car after starting dead last to take the win in her first ever race. Laurie Beach made a late run to take second with Carla Conrad, Maureen "Pokey" Abbott, and Emily Stith rounding out the top five. RESULTS - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 4/17/04: RE/MAX LEGENDS (25 Laps): 1) Patrick Conrad #2 2) Sam Watts #73 3) Darin Coker #00 4) Bobby Byars #12 5) Brandon Thomson #29 6) Derrick Wood #33jr. 7) Jared Cawley #31 8) Johnny "Spike" Sabo #5X 9) Bob Wilson #27W 10) Kyle Dombek #20 11) Tom Clarke #77 12) Jeremy Colangelo #05 13) Doc Richardson #100 14) Jeff Deggeller #91 15) Kory Abbott #5 16) Wesley McLeod #22 17) Doug Hall #55 BANDELERO YOUNG GUNS (15 Laps): 1) Brandon Thomson #54 2) Nik Wesenick #7 3) Matthew Jarrett #9 4) Kara Clarke #21 5) Scott Jarrett #97 DQ Derrick Wood #33 BANDELERO BANDITS (15 Laps): 1) Gerald White, Jr. #38 2) Blake Eden #17 3) Ryan Rust #18 4) Donovan Ponder #8 BANDELERO OUTLAWS (12 Laps): 1) Dave Jarrett #9 2) Evan Russell #37 HURRICANES (15 Laps): 1) Pop Honaker #2 2) Greg Bruce #42 3) William Hindman #89 4) Sly Cawley #231 5) Bobby Crites #B1 6) Raybo #6R 7) Ken Walker #61 8) Blinky Marcus #6 DNS Tim Walters, Jr. #16 DNS Ralph Aldrich #24 HURRICANE POWDER PUFF (15 Laps): 1) Ashley Thomson #61 2) Laurie Beach #B1 3) Carla Conrad #231 4) Maureen Abbott #6 5) Emily Stith #6R Have an opinion on this story? 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