IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 24, 2004 FSCR Whaley Tops Halifax Photo 50 - Wood Pads SLM Point Lead at Speedworld by Dave Westerman Ron Whaley came back from a two week suspension in style to win the Halifax Photo 50 for Super Stocks while point leader Ricky Wood held off a determined B.J. McLeod to claim the Super Late Model win Friday night at Orlando Speedworld. Eighteen Super Stocks took the initial green flag as Rick Johns, driving Andy Nichols' car, grabbed the early lead. Johns, who won a 50 lapper back on March 20th, was looking strong but Ron Whaley quickly worked himself into second and began to chase down the leader aided by three cautions between laps 10 and 19 for separate spins by Bob Starr, Robert Remus, and Brett Brown. Johns continued to lead at half way, but it was obvious he was having problems with his car and Whaley soon took advantage going by for the lead and building some good distance over the field. Ted Head, who started 13th, zipped by Johns for second on lap 39 as Johns quickly faded to fourth. Corey Freed was also coming like gangbusters through the field after having to pit during one of the earlier cautions. On lap 45 caution was thrown as water began coming out of Head's car. however, the water on the track dried up almost immediately and Head's car was checked and there was no more leak even though the water temperature was sky high. Head was allowed to maintain his second position and the caution actually put him right behind Whaley for the restart. At this point Johns took his overheating car to the infield, let it cool down for a couple of minutes, then rejoined the race at the rear of the lead lap cars. On the restart, Head didn't come up to speed and was rammed by Hoot Flynn. Again, Head got his car going and remained in second while Flynn took his car to the infield to get the nose removed, coming back on the track just as the field was completing the next lap putting Flynn a lap down. Whaley had no problem pulling away on the restart taking an easy win, his third of the year, over Head who saw the engine in his car finally expire as he took the checkered flag. Corey Freed completed a great run back through the field to get third while Justin Reynolds did a great job at the wheel of John Bennett's car in taking fourth. Bob Beiler took the fifth spot while Johns came back for sixth with Mike Hendrix, Flynn, Bill Loomis, and Donald Springer rounding out the top ten. The payout was held up for about an hour after the race as the top three finishers pulled manifolds and a head for inspection with all three being legal. B.J. McLeod and Ricky Wood scored run away wins in Super Late Model heat race action, but Eric Deffendall had the pole for the 25 lap feature and set the early pace although action was slowed twice in the first three laps. Sprint Car racer Matt Mercer, making his first SLM start, got into the left rear corner of Patrick Conrad's car going into turn one on lap two. Conrad made a great save but slowed on the track with a flat tire and had to pit. Caution was out again on lap three as Bo Jackson looped his new Dodge in turn four. Conrad returned to the track but was a lap down to the field. Deffendall had the point on the restart, but Ricky Wood quickly made an inside move going into turn three to snare the lead bringing B.J. McLeod with him. McLeod was doing everything but run over Wood to try and root him out of the lead, but Wood was up to the challenge as the crowd was having fun watching the two drivers put on a great display of driving ability. Meanwhile, Mercer took third from Deffendall on lap 14 and set his sight on the leaders only to spin out in turn four two laps later as a loose fender became lodged under his right front tire. The fender was removed and Mercer rejoined the field. Caution was out again for a spinning Russ Shaw on lap 17 and yet another tangle on the restart involving Conrad and Keith Zavrel kept the yellow out a bit longer. Wood and McLeod resumed their feud as the green waved again with Wood holding on for a close victory, his second in four races staged this year. McLeod was a close second followed by Deffendall. Thirteeth starter Jared Allison checkered fourth with Bobby Fleckinger rounding out the top five. The Modified feature was a quick green to checker 15 lap affair dominated by young Chad Pierce who used his Darwin McLeod built engine to power away from the field, leading every lap in scoring his second win of the year for car owner Donnie Lewis. Mark Emberson, easily the most improved driver in the class this year, did an incredible job holding off heat winner Ricky Wood, Wayne Heckle and Hoot Flynn as they crossed the stripe in that order. Sean "Weasel" Bass also was a dominant driver on this night driving his Speed Pros car to an easy win in the Mini Stocks for his third visit to victory lane in 2004. Dick Laszlo led the opening lap, but Bass quickly took the top position and held it the rest of the way. This race also looked like it might go green to checker but the field was stopped following a hard crash involving Michael Seay and Amanda Tonchuk. Despite the damage to their cars, both of the young drivers walked away OK and Tonchuk was able to watch the whole thing over again since she had a video camera in her car taping the race. Bass led the remaining two laps with ease as R.J. Arnone took second followed by Chad Ashley, Stephen Simpson and Laszlo. Bass and Arnone won the Mini Stock heat races. RESULTS - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 4/23/04: SUPER LATE MODELS (25 Laps): 1) Ricky Wood #33 2) B.J. McLeod #78 3) Eric Deffendall #26 4) Jared Allison #18 5) Bobby Fleckinger #34 6) Matt Mercer #98 7) Keith Zavrel #47 8) Rick Lyons #5 9) Russ Shaw #68 10) Rich Bates #4 11) Ron DiCandio #20 12) Patrick Conrad #2 13) Bo Jackson #02 14) Frank Alberson #69 15) A.J. Factor #62 16) Bobby Lyons #65 MODIFIEDS (15 Laps): 1) Chad Pierce #51 2) Mark Emberson #34 3) Ricky Wood #81 4) Wayne Heckle #9 5) Hoot Flynn #57 6) David Hite #91 7) Ken McCracken #56 8) Jon Compagnone #5 DNS Skip Honaker #2 MINI STOCKS (15 Laps): 1) Sean Bass #28 2) R.J. Arnone #30 3) Chad Ashley #87 4) Stephen Simpson #007 5) Dick Laszlo #07 6) Bob DelMastro #33 7) Michael Seay #10 8) Amanda Tonchuk #18 9) John Cook #24 10) Rick Gamache #61 11) Matt Roller #72 DNS Randy Blakeslee #77 SUPER STOCKS - HALIFAX PHOTO 50 (50 Laps): 1) Ron Whaley #2 2) Ted Head #92 3) Corey Freed #12 4) Justin Reynolds #721 5) Bob Beiler #44 6) Rick Johns #66 7) Mike Hendrix #71 8) Hoot Flynn #12oz 9) Bill Loomis #24 10) Donald Springer #118 11) Robert Ward #X 12) Robert Remus #16 13) Brent Brown #57B 14) Bob Starr #05 15) Ron Edwards #28 16) Roger Benton #14 17) Todd McCreary #24Q 18) Brett Woodley #90 Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!