IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

January 24, 2005 FSCR Thomson Takes First RE/MAX Legends Feature, Erb Outlasts Enduro Foes at SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Cool temperatures ahead of an advancing cold front couldn't stop plenty of hot action Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld as young Brandon Thomson scored his first career RE/MAX Legends Car win while veteran driver Jim Erb out-lasted 55 other competitors to win the 100 lap Enduro race. Thomson, a 15 year old driver from St. Cloud entering his first full season in Legends Cars, grabbed the early lead in the 25 lap feature from Derrick Wood but had Jacksonville's A.J. Fulgenzi right on his tail. Fulgenzi kept pressuring Thomson until he slipped low for the lead on lap 13. Thomson wouldn't give up and re-claimed the lead from Fulgenzi on lap 21 and threaded his way through heavy lapped traffic on the last lap to take the win. Fulgenzi was second, his best ever finish at Speedworld, while Jeff Deggeller also had a career best taking third in a brand new car. Wesley McLeod passed the most cars during the race but had to settle for fourth as the race ran from green to checker without a caution. Derrick Wood held on for fifth with Stuart Dutton, Mike Verhaagh, Bobby Byars, Kory Abbott, and Brian Silas rounding out the top ten. Completing the 18 car finishing field were Bob Wilson, Doug Hall, Mitch Verhaagh, Kyle Dombeck, Paddy Rodenbeck, Paul Reschar, Chris "Blu" McDonald and Chelsea Schillig. Rodenbeck rolled his car during warm-ups, but his crew was able to make repairs by feature time. The week was a good one for Thomson as not only did he get his first win, but has been tabbed to run the full ten week Summer Shootout for Legends at Lowes Motor Speedway out of Nick Pistone's shop in Charlotte. Fifty-six cars entered the evening's premier event, the 100 lap Enduro race. Only two red flags were needed to check on drivers involved in head-on crashes but there was plenty of wild action from one end of the track to the other. Veteran driver Jim Erb, who runs E&H Car Crushing next door to the speedway was able to add this one to his long list of accomplishments here which includes several School Bus Figure Eight wins. Driving a Mercury Cougar, Erb expertly threaded his way through the carnage around him and led most of the event finishing well ahead of second place Eddie Lawler to earn a payday of over $5,000. Glenn Anderson was third followed by Scott Tyler and Scott Muroski with Todd Driscoll, Ed Eberhart, Kyle Peters, James Adams and Michelle Dyal rounding out the top ten. In other action, Donovan Ponder topped Roger Benton, Jr. and Tyler Rahman in the Bandelero Bandits while Scott Jarrett took the Bandelero Outlaw trophy and Dalton Bergman took the young gun win in his very first race here. Dan Ballard won the Backwards Race, Roger Benton Sr. topped the exciting flag pole race taking the win at the checkered flag, Allen McClelland beat up on the Compact Demo Derby Field and Donald Murphy topped the V-8 Demo. The Purple Team out of Bradenton consisting of Matt McKinnon, Derrick Burger, and Gary Kissick won the wild Auto Roller Derby race. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - JANUARY 22, 2005 BANDOLERO BANDITS 1. #8 Donovan Ponder 2. #41 Roger Benton 3. #15 Tyler Rahman BANDOLERO YOUNG GUNS 1, Dalton Bergman BANDOLERO OUTLAWS 1. Scott Jarrett LEGENDS 1. #54 Brandon Thomson 2. #33 A.J. Fulgenzi 3. #91 Jeff Deggler 4. #22 Wesley McCleod 5. #33JR Derrick Wood 6. #32 Stewart Dutton 7. #7 Mike Verhaagh 8. #12 Robert Byars 9. #5 Kory Abbott 10. #57 Bryan Silas 11. #27 Bob Wilson 12. #55 Paul Rechar 13. #9 Mitch Verhaagh 14. #20 Kyle Dombeck 15. #29 Paddy Rodenbeck 16. #55x Doug Hall 17. #94 Chris McDonald 18. #75 Chelsea Schillig 100 Lap ENDURO 1. #16 James Erb 2. #28 Eddie Lawler 3. #9 Glenn Anderson 4. #35 Scott Tyler 5. #21 Scott Muroski 6. #11 Todd Driscoll 7. #10 Ed Eherhardt 8. #18 Kyle Peters 9. #2 James Adams 10. #56 Michelle Dyal 11. #8 Russ Kompinski 12. #32 William Wingate 13. #48 David Lavine 14. #27 Tony Owens 15. #5 Chuck Rush 16. #17 William Hindman 17. #6 Randy Smathers 18. #43 Nick Boley 19. #37 Matt McKinnon 20. #31 Bruce Wingate 21. #39 Derek Burger 22. #41 Chris Peludat 23. #46 Bruce McGonigal 24. #26 Brandon Johnson 25. #29 Willy Campbell 26. #36 Randy Howland 27. #33 Mike Soukup 28. #47 Jonathan Hazy 29. #22 Chuck Peludat 30. #34 Josh Wronkowski 31. #44 Chris Ridley 32. #4 Geoff Williams 33. #51 Shane Stevens 34. #22x Ed Michalar 35. #19 Allen McClelland 36. #1 Randy Jones 37. #52 Bryan Wilson 38. #38 Billy Cryer 39. #30 Robert Ward 40. #23 Tim McPhail 41. #7 Roger Smathers 42. #69 Fred Roberts 43. #14 Dean Bazzle 44. #40 Corey Freed 45. #24 Sean Bass 46. #68 Danny Ballard 47. #49 Bo Blalock 48. #42 Jerry Peludat 49. #50 Sean Michael 50. #12A 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56 REVERSE RACE 1. #68 Dan Ballard 2. #16 C.B. King FLAG POLE RACE 1. #13 Roger Benton 2. #22 James Erb 3. #95 Howard Allen 4. #0 Bill Loomis 5. #16 Tommy King 6. #12 Corey Freed 7. #19 8. #11 David Tivey 9. #68 Fred Paputs 10. #03 Steve Cardell 11. #81 John Allison 12. #95x John Peters 13. #17 ROLLER DERBY 1. #37 Purple Team 2. Yellow Team COMPACT DEMO DERBY 1. #182 Allen McClelland 2. #F8 Jim Fromen V-8 BONE STOCK DEMO DERBY 1. #T-27 Donald Murphy 2. #343 Will Finesod Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!