IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

October 30, 2004 FSCR Gorham leads the way for FASTRUCKS, Laszlo takes Mini Stock Feature at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman It was a solid mix of veterans and youngsters visiting victory lane Friday night at Orlando Speedworld from 12 year old Matt Martin to long-time racer Doc McKinney. The FASTRUCK and FASTKIDS Series were the main attraction of the evening and, as usual, plenty of race teams showed up for a great evening of action. In FASTKIDS, Matt Martin set fast time, started from the pole, spun out once on an aborted start, yet came back to dominate the 25 lap race in his Gatorade Ford. After a great side by side battle with Dalton Zehr, Martin pulled away and was never seriously challenged even though the field was slowed once when the engine burst into flames on Levi Parsons' Chevy. Parsons scrambled out unhurt, but his truck was done for the night. Martin went on to take the win over Zehr, Cody Pitts, Amanda Gogel and Spencer Taylor. Sean Price, Levi Hobbs, Parson, and David Wilson completed the field. Young lion Sean Bass set quick time over the 23 FASTRUCKS that were entered, but drew the eight pill on the line-up inversion for the start. Defending FASTRUCK champion Tommy King had the pole and took the early lead only to see the red flag come out on lap two as Kevin Williams got loose and collected Bass sending Bass hard into the turn two wall. The "weasel" climbed out unhurt but upset as Williams pitted but was able to continue. King looked like he might walk away with this one, but caution flags for minor spins kept the field bunched. George Gorham, Jr. tangled with Jake Ready while battling for second, but his truck had only minor damage while Ready slid into the infield and dropped from the event. Gorham had his truck working perfectly on the bottom of the track, and he began to put the pressure on King, eventually slipping past for the lead with about 15 laps to go. Gorham's pass opened the flood gates and King found himself back in fifth spot before he could get back in the groove. Gorham maintained the lead to the checker with George Morales getting second. Jimmy Gill and James Wright III started deep in the field and methodically worked their way up to third and fourth while King held on for fifth. Tim Shaffner, Wendell Bristol, Stuart Robinson, Jason Deaton and David Pollen, Jr. rounded out the top ten. Veteran campaigner Doc McKinney finally got the bugs worked out of his car and showed everyone that the old pro hadn't lost a step as McKinney took a wire to wire win in the Modified feature for his first win here in several years. McKinney held off a determined Mark Emberson the entire distance as point leader Ricky Wood came from last on the starting grid to third. John Foerg and Corey Freed completed the top five. Emberson won the heat race. Melbourne's Dick Laszlo finally put all the pieces together and led all the way to win the Mini Stock feature in his Ford pick-up truck for his first win since opening night in March. Keith Lilley was second trailed by Mark Wells, David LeBeau, and Josh Hermann. Hermann won the heat. Earl Beckner won both the heat and feature races in the Sportsman division in run-away fashion. The Orlando driver was the class of the field as point leader Richard Hight settled for second ahead of Charlie Vest, Bruce Gayton and Spencer Lemmerman. Following a big crash at the start that saw John Castro eliminated from the running early and severe damage to Bomber Bill Loomis' machine, Ted Head continued his mastery of the Super Stocks taking yet another easy win. Starting dead last in the field didn't deter the "Man from Pine Hills" as he worked his way quickly past early leader Dave "White Fire" Wright and drove to victory. Loomis managed to bring his damaged car home second after a late charge with Wright claiming third. Corey Freed and Roger Benton were fourth and fifth. Head and Castro won the Super Stock heats. Bob Cherry took his second Strictly Stock main event out running Richie Laszlo, Al Koehalein, Mike Dahm and Weebis Steinberg. FASTKIDS 1. #66 Matt Martin 2. #5 Dalton Zehr 3. #01 Cody Pitts 4. #4k Amanda Gogel 5. #46 Spencer Taylor 6. #2 Sean Price 7. #9 Levi Hobbs 8. #33 Levi Parsons 9. #83 David Wilson FASTRUCKS !. #10 George Gorham Jr. 2. #96 George Morales 3. #5 Jimmy Gill 4. #56 James Wright III 5. #16 Tommy King 6. #29 Tim Shafford 7. #18 Wendell Bristol 8. #51 Stuart Robertson 9. #98 Jason Deaton 10. #88 David Pollen Jr. 11. #01 Bobby Owens 12. #60 Kevin Williams 13. #80 Tom North 14. #50 Danny Anderson 15. #78 Graham McCorvey 16. #22 Bob Cano 17. #0 Jet Daniels 18. #54 Pat Michaels 19. #93 Jeff Firestine 20. #Ml Jake Ready 21. #48 Vernon Hart Jr. 22. #20 Sean Bass OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED 1. #31 Doc McKinney 2. #30 Mark Emberson 3. #81 Ricky Wood 4. #34 John Foerg 5. #12 Corey Freed 6. #20 Chris Gillespie 7. #08 Terri Bryant 8. #1x Brandon Pitts SPORTSMAN 1. #3 Earl Beckner 2. #23 Richard Hight 3. #Charlie Vest 4. #93 Bruce Gayton 5. #6 Spencer Lemmerman 6. #8 Glenn Castro 7. #00 John Hodge 8. #2 Dusty Cornelius 9. #721 John Bennett SUPER STOCK 1. #92 Ted Head 2. #22 Bill Loomis 3. #65 Dave Wright 4. #28 Corey Freed 5. #14 Roger Benton 6. #118 Donald Springer 7. #316 Ray Mullis 8. #46 Bobby Riley 9. #55 Tom Vento 10. #99 Brett Woodley 11. #05 Bob Starr 12. #5 John Castro 13. #49 Jason Foster MINI STOCK 1. #07 Dick Laszlo 2. #99 Keith Lilley 3. #23 Mark Wells 4. #2L David Lebeau 5. #98 Josh Hermann 6. #77 Randy Blakeslee 7. #30 R. J. Arnone 8. #45 A. Pope 9. #10 Michael Seay 10. #24 John Cook 11. #5 Steve Booth 12. #7 Tim McPhail DNS STRICTLY STOCK 1. #97 Bob Cherry 2. #07 Richie Laszlo 3. #8T Al Koehalein 4. #21 Mike Dahm 5. #11 Weeebis Steinberg 6. #B1 Coy Riddle 7. #88 Bobby ??? Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!