IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 10, 2004 FSCR Watts Survives Re/Max Legends Feature at SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman It was survival of the fittest in RE/MAX Legends Car action Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld as Sam Watts managed to avoid trouble and sped to his second win of the year. Things actually started out pretty smooth as Kory Abbott grabbed the early lead only to be overtaken on lap three by Jeremy Colangelo. Patrick Conrad was on the charge as well making the move to second and putting the pressure on Colangelo while looking to put his car into victory lane for the tenth time this year. The red flag flew for the first of three times on lap seven as Doug Hall, Mike Verhaagh and Derrick Wood got tangled up in turn one. All the drivers were OK but only Wood was able to continue. Colangelo set the pace with Conrad shadowing his every move only to see the caution come right back out for Brandon Thomson's spin in turn four. Two laps after the green appeared, something broke on Kory Abbott's car and the young driver went head-on into the turn one wall. Again the red was displayed but Kory was just fine although his car was a mess. As the green fell again, Colangelo, Conrad and Watts began to go at it tooth and nail for the lead. Going into turn three on lap twelve, Colangelo and Conrad touched sending both cars spinning into the wall. Again both drivers were upset but unharmed and only some "parental control" was needed in the pits as both machines were brought in on the hook. Watts assumed the lead and never looked back from this point. One more caution for a Dion Hinskey/Spike Sabo tangle slowed the pace one more time, but Watts ran virtually unchallenged to the checker. Wesley McLeod picked up his best career finish as he came home second while South Florida carnival operator Jeff Deggeller also had his best ever feature finish in third. Bobby Byars and James Rodriguez rounded out the top five. Heat races went to Colangelo, Conrad and Brandon Thomson, his first ever Legends Car win. The Classic Auto Racing Series made its third visit to the track this year and the story was the same as Deland's Ben Booth won here for the third consecutive time. Tim Ousley won the Trophy Dash for his first career win and then led the opening lap of the 25 lap feature. However Booth was dialed in as usual and took the lead on lap two. Bill Posey tracked Booth down late in the going but had to settle for second spot followed by Daryl Grief, Ousley and Norm Agostinho. Jim Rahman won the Classic Car heat but was taken out in a lap two crash with Tom Cotton. Gerald White, Jr. was back in the winners circle in Bandolero Bandit action taking his seventh win of the year over Chad Akins, Ryan Rust, Blake Eden and Donovan Ponder. Matthew Jarrett took his first ever Bandolero Young Guns feature win leading all the way. Derrick Wood was second followed by Brandon Thomson, Scott Jarrett and Nik Wesenick. Kevin Henry scored the Bandolero Outlaw win taking the measure of Evan Russell, Sam Gearhart and Dave Jarrett. Pop Honaker won his second Hurricane feature of the year out-running Bobby Crites, Brian Bleau, Bobby Crites, Jr. and Zach Colangelo. There will be no racing this coming Saturday, May 15th in order to clean up from the Crash-A-Rama program the night before. Saturday racing action returns on May 22nd with the RE/MAX Legends Cars, Bandoleros and Hurricanes along with the Modified Lite and Pro Challenge cars. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!