IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 12, 2004 FSCR Clouser Takes Halifax Photo 50 - Williams Blasts SLM foes at SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Mother Nature toyed with Orlando Speedworld Friday evening as showers dotted the skies all around the track with even a little thunder and lightning to make things interesting, but when all was said and done, the entire show was completed with Dale Clouser taking the checkered flag in the premiere event of the night, the Halifax Photo 50 for the Sportsman cars. Fourteen Sportsman cars took the green flag with Dennis Gilliam grabbing the early lead only to see the caution out at the end of lap one for debris on the track. Gilliam continued to lead on the restart before Rich Clouser, driving his "ancient" Chevy Nova among a field of sleek Monte Carlos and Camaros, snared the lead on lap three. Clouser's lead lasted only two laps before his uncle Dale Clouser sped past into the front position on lap six. One lap later, Gilliam spun in turn four with Bruce Gayton and Richard Hight colliding trying to avoid him. All three were able to continue. Dale Clouser now had Earl Beckner to contend with as the race went green and the two began to pull away from the remainder of the field. The green remained out until lap 24 when Gilliam and Gayton tangled going into turn one while battling for position. Both continued from the back of the restart line-up. On the restart, Beckner's car began to overheat and he dropped off the pace. Beckner attempted to keep racing, but eventually pulled his machine into the infield. Caution flew again on lap 30 as Gilliam spun in between turns three and four and was hit directly in the driver's door by Kory Kaiser. Fortunately both drivers were unhurt but their cars were done for the evening. Dale Clouser continued to set a torrid pace with nephew Rich behind him in second. Bobby Joe Woodley was trying to take second from the younger Clouser when he spun in turn three on lap 39. On the restart, Rich Clouser and Richard Hight got together to keep the caution out. Once the green flag flew again, the remaining eleven laps saw Dale Clouser run uncontested to the checkered flag for his second win of the season here in limited appearances. Woodley came back to finish second ahead of Rich Clouser, Richard Hight and Justin Hall as only eight cars were left around at the finish. Michael Williams returned to Speedworld on Friday night and dominated the 25 lap Super Late Model feature. After winning his heat, Williams started from the second row but took the lead before the end of lap one and from that point he and his South 40 Motorsports and Graphics Chevy were the class of the field. Second heat race winner Matt Mercer was looking good as well before he and Eric Deffendall got together going into turn one on lap six with Mercer's Ford sliding backwards into the wall. Mercer was OK but his car had to be towed to the pits. Three more caution flag periods couldn't slow Williams as he rocketed to his first win of the year here. Point leader Ricky Wood came from deep in the starting field to take second followed by Jared Allison, Deffendall, and 15 year old David Pollen, Jr. who did a fantastic job in his very first Super Late Model race at Speedworld. Red Vann made a surprise appearance in the Modified division and walked off with the feature race trophy. Vann banged his way past Mark Emberson for the lead on lap five and despite some pressure from Emberson on a couple of restarts, led the rest of the way. Emberson came home second trailed by heat race winner Ricky Wood, Justin Reynolds and Terri Bryant. The Mini Stock feature was a good one as R.J. Arnone grabbed an early lead with Chad Ashley moving into challenge him by lap six. Ashley slipped into the top spot with two laps to go and sped to his third win of the year followed by Arnone, Michael Seay, Sean Bass (driving a car borrowed from Dick Owens), and Dick Laszlo. Arnone and Seay, driving cars that are each sponsored by an Italian restaurant, won the heat races. John Castro grabbed the lead on the first lap and held off Ted Head to win the Super Stock 15 lap feature. Castro, driving the Ron Norris Pontiac/Buick/GMC and Mims Auto Salvage sponsored Monte Carlo, took his second win of the year despite heavy pressure from Head who was using his normal "dirt track" driving style. Bob Beiler crossed the line in third ahead of Brett Woodley and Ron Whaley. Head and Whaley won the heats. Derek Slade appeared on his way to ending Richie Laszlo's win streak in the Strictly Stocks, but it wasn't to be as the engine went sour in Slade's T-Bird and Laszlo sped past in his Ford Fairmont to claim his ninth consecutive win. Michelle Dyall was second while Slade finished third. RESULTS - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 6/11/04: SPORTSMAN - HALIFAX PHOTO 50 (50 Laps): 1) Dale Clouser #30 2) Bobby Joe Woodley #98 3) Rich Clouser #8 4) Richard Hight #23 5) Justin Hall #50 6) Jeff Wright #50W 7) Mike Carr #41 8) John Bennett #721 9) Dennis Gelliam #40 10) Earl Beckner #3 11) Kory Kaiser #48K 12) Bruce Gayton #93 13) Bill Hall #56 14) David Furtado #18 SUPER LATE MODELS (25 Laps): 1) Michael Williams #40 2) Ricky Wood #33 3) Jared Allison #18 4) Eric Deffendall #26 5) David Pollen, Jr. #88 6) Chad Pierce #57 7) Bobby Fleckinger #34 8) Greg Bruce, Jr. #5 9) Josh Schmidt #119 10) Scott McKinley #12 11) Frank Alberson #69 12) Russ Shaw #68 13) Bobby Lyons #65 14) Matt Mercer #98 MODIFIEDS (15 Laps): 1) Red Vann #32 2) Mark Emberson #30 3) Ricky Wood #81 4) Justin Reynolds #7 5) Terri Bryant #08 6) Charlie Pitts #5 MINI STOCKS (15 Laps): 1) Chad Ashley #87 2) R.J. Arnone #30 3) Michael Seay #10 4) Sean Bass #28 5) Dick Laszlo #07 6) Randy Blakeslee #77 7) Bob DelMastro #33 8) John Cook #24 9) Mark Wells #23 10) Rick Gamache #61 11) Amanda Tonchuk #18 12) Stephen Simpson #007 DNS Matt Roller #72 SUPER STOCKS (15 Laps): 1) John Castro #5 2) Ted Head #92 3) Bob Beiler #44 4) Brett Woodley #90 5) Ron Whaley #2 6) Bill Loomis #24 7) Roger Benton #14 8) Ron Edwards #28 9) Robert Ward #25 10) Donald Springer #118 11) Corey Freed #12 12) John Smith #34 DNS Bob Starr #05 STRICTLY STOCKS (12 Laps): 1) Richie Laszlo #07 2) Michelle Dyall #26 3) Derek Slade #126 Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!