IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 24, 2004 FSCR Watts Tops Legends at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman After winning the FASTKIDS race Friday night here, Sam Watts was pumped and ready for RE/MAX Legends Car competition Saturday night as he grabbed the lead early and sped to his third win of the season at Orlando Speedworld. Kevin Abbott led the opening lap, but Watts was on the charge at the drop of the green and took over on lap two to lead the remainder of the 25 lap distance. Only a lap three tangle involving Darin Coker and Matt Bowers slowed the action as Watts expertly weaved his way through heavy lapped traffic in the latter stages of the run. Jeremy Colangelo took second from Abbott on lap 13 but was never able to challenge Watts and settled for the place position. Abbott crossed the stripe in third in front of Bobby Byars and Brandon Thomson. Spike Sabo, Jarred Cawley, James Rodriguez, Kevin Howard and Mike Verhaagh rounded out the top ten. Colangelo, Abbott and Sabo won the heats. Both of the former "Dwarf Car" clubs running in the State of Florida raced on the same card at the same time for the first time ever Saturday night, each running a separate program with several drivers running with both groups. The Florida Welterweight Racing Association Modified Lites were first to run and it was basically a replay of earlier races as Mark Landis took the win and his brother George was second, but this time it was at the expense of Brian Gingras who looked to be the driver to finally shove the Landis brothers out of the front spot. Action was wild in this one as Spanky McFarland blew his engine in a huge plume of smoke on lap one. Landis led the opening two circuits before Gingras took over only to see the caution out again as Harvey Johnson's car suffered and engine problem and he spun into the turn one wall. On the restart, Nick Shadid's car balked causing the field to scatter. Ron Towles had nowhere to go and ended up in the front stretch wall. Ron was unhurt, but the two time winner at Speedworld this year was done for the night. Gingras continued to set the pace with the Landis boys right behind only to see yet another caution on lap eight as Phil Krauthoff spun and was collected by Bob Crandall. At this point only half of the starting field of 16 was still around. Dan Berry's strong run came to an abrupt halt on lap ten as his engine expired while he was solidly in the top five. Meanwhile, Gingras and both Landis brothers were in a great fight for the lead. With five laps to go, the engine in Gingras' car began to sound sour although he was still holding off all challenges. They say the engine runs fastest just before it blows and that's just what happened to Gingras on the last as he coasted to the infield handing the lead and the win to Mark Landis. George Landis was again second ahead of Doug Parlamento, Zane Davis and Eric Powell. Heat races were won by Mark Landis, Parlamento, and Berry. Later, the Florida Open Wheel Lites (FOWL) also ran a 25 lapper. With his brother Mark's car not legal in this Series, George Landis finally had a chance to break his string of second place finishes, and that he did, taking over the top spot from early leader Wild Bill Burback and pacing the field to the checker. Only 15 of the scheduled 21 starters could make the green flag after the carnage of the earlier race, but the competition was still very good with only one caution needed this time for Robert Hight's bout with the front straightaway wall on lap eleven. George Landis took the win ahead of Burback, Jim Biglin, Doug Parlamento, and Bob Quick. Heat races were won by Landis, Burback, and Ron Towles. Pro Challenge action was close as always with Brad Sanders leading the opening five laps before Ken Watts sped by him to take the lead. Watts led the remaining distance for his first ever win in the Pro Challenge cars/trucks. Sanders finished second trailed by David Hall, Howard Brennan and Tyler David. Watts and Brennan won the heats. Chelsea Schillig took her fourth win of the year in the Bandolero Young Guns. Matthew Jarrett took advantage of a last lap tangle between his older brother Scott Jarrett and Brandon Thomson to take second spot after winning the heat race earlier. The younger Jarrett continues to get more impressive backing up his recent first feature win with a second this week. Gerald White, Jr. again topped the Bandolero Bandits feature race leading all the way to claim the win over Josh Williams, Blake Eden, Ryan Rust and Donovan Ponder. White also won the heat. For the first time this year, the Bandolero Outlaws outnumbered both the Bandits and the Young Guns with Evan Russell claiming both the heat and feature win. Dave Jarrett took second while newcomer Glenn Garrison was third. Shane Henry and Sam Gearhart completed the top five. Sly Cawley out-lasted the Hurricane field for his first win of the year in his Chevy Corsica. Brian Bleau, Tom Gildart and A.J. Flywheel trailed Cawley. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!