IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

November 14, 2004 FSCR Legendary name Visits SpeedWorld Legends Victory Lane by Dave Westerman The Wood Brothers and Nextel Cup racing are a well known combination, but Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld the famous racing family from Stuart, VA put its mark on the RE/MAX Legends Car Series as third generation racer Keven Wood sped to the 25 lap feature win. Wood made the trip down south along with former Floridian Jason Resiman and the two dominated the evening's action while getting tuned up for the 2005 Winternationals in February. Action began with three heat races. The first heat, for Masters Division drivers aged 40 and over was taken by North Ft. Myers driver Mike Verhaagh while Brandon Thomson and Wood captured the second and third heat events. James Rodriguez had the pole for the feature but it was Reisman who took the early lead with Wood in tow. Wood actually passed Reisman for the lead twice in the first five laps only to see each pass negated by a caution flag for a minor incident. Wood finally made his pass stick on lap six as Jeremy Colangelo moved up to third spot after starting deep in the field. As the race stayed under the green, Wood seemed to lose his edge as both Reisman and Colangelo were able to close on his rear bumper. But each time they would challenge, the race would be slowed by another caution flag. Wood's car was clearly the fastest right after each restart and when Mitch Verhaagh and Brian Silas got together in turn one on lap 21 for the final caution, Wood was able to cool his tires one final time and was never headed again as he raced to the checker. Reisman held off a late charge by Colangelo to get second while Kory Abbott came from deep in the starting field to get fourth just ahead of Thomson. Wesley McLeod put on quite a show running the outside lane much of the race and came home sixth with Bobby Byars, Derrick Wood, Kevin Howard and Jared Cawley rounding out the top ten. Completing the finishers were James Rodriguez, Mike Verhaagh, Mike Fazio, Mitch Verhaagh, Chris McDonald, Brian Silas, Stuart Dutton and Tim Osterlund. Jeff Deggeller was unable to start the feature after a hard crash in his heat race, but thankfully he was not hurt. Gerald White, Jr. won yet another Banedelero Bandits feature taking the checker ahead of Blake Eden, Ryan Rust, Donovan Ponder and Roger Benton, Jr. Brandon Thomson took the win in the Bandelero Young Guns holding off Matt Jarrett, Derrick Wood and Chelsea Schillig. Scott Jarrett survived a scary run-in with the lapped car of Daniel Cosier to win his second straight Banelero Outlaw feature over Evan Russell, Dave Jarrett and Cosier. Bobby Crites drove his VW Rabbit to victory in the Hurricane feature over Doug Webb, Steven Cole Smith, and Zach Colangelo. FAST Kart winners were Josh Elliott (Junior Champ), David Witherby (Senior Champ), Bubba Potts (Junior Sportsman Champ), Bobby Hopping (Pro Stock), Rusty Chancey (Restricted Junior), and Kevin Capritta (Star Champ). The final Saturday race program for 2004 will be held on Saturday afternoon, December 4th and will feature the Florida Cup, twin 40 lap features for the Open Wheel Lite/Mod Lite cars along with action in the RE/MAX Legends, Bandeleros, Hurricanes and FAST Karts. Racing action for this special show will start at 2:30 PM. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!