IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 10, 2005 FSCR Zehr takes First Win in Super Late Models at SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Bithlo, Fla. Three races and three new faces... that's the story so far during the 2005 racing season for Super Late Models at Orlando Speedworld. Friday night it was Dalton Zehr's turn to visit victory lane for the first time. A surprisingly short field of just five cars started the 25 lap main event, but the race would not lack for action. Zehr, who is just 14 years old, had the pole for the feature after winning the heat from the pole, but most of the fans figured the veterans in the race wouldn't take it as easy on him with the money on the line. Zehr took the lead at the drop of the green as Jared Allison raced to the outside but was unable to make the pass. Ronnie Roach was on the prowl and got by Allison and began applying the pressure to the youngster, even giving him a good shot coming off turn two just past the half-way mark, but Zehr was not to be intimidated. Zehr, Roach, Allison and last week's winner Bobby Fleckinger ran nose to tail the remaining distance as Zehr held his ground to take his first Super Late Model win. Roach was second ahead of Allison, Fleckinger and David King. "This is my first year in Super Late Models and no way did I expect to win a race this year, much less in my third week out," said Zehr, who cut his racing teeth here in the Bandelero class. Zehr becomes the third different driver to win his first career Super Late Model race in the three races contested so far this season joining Fleckinger last week and opening night winner Rich Clouser, who has been conspicuous by his absence since then. Corey Freed won his first Modified race last week and he proved that was no fluke as the 17 year old Orlando driver made it two in a row over a great field of cars. Shane Held had the pole after winning the first heat and was the sentimental favorite after battling back from serious work-related injuries to race again this year. Held grabbed the early lead and saw that lead grow considerably when second running Chris Gillespie had his car shut off on him coming off turn two on the second lap. That slowed the field and gave Held a straightaway advantage which was negated when Glen Bradley spun and hit the wall on lap four. Held was running strong, but Freed was now in second and applying the pressure. When Held slipped on lap eight, Freed was ready and shot to the lead just before the second caution flew for an incident involving second heat winner Hoot Flynn and Matt Wheeler. Wheeler's car went into the wall and suffered enough damage to put him out of the race while Flynn continued. Freed continued to pull away from the field while Held was doing all he could to hang on to second until two laps to go when he lost it in turn two causing a wild melee that involved Bradley, Bob Beiler and Jon Compagnone. Only Held was able to continue. Freed easily took the win while Jared Allison came home second to finish up a much better week than the one before in which both his Modified and Super Late Model were damaged in crashes. Alan Bruns made his first start of the year and finished a strong third after starting deep in the field. Hoot Flynn came home fourth while Held rallied for fifth. Lady driver Terri Bryant was sixth and Charlie Pitts nursed a sick engine to seventh and was the last car running. The remaining finishers, all with a DNF were Compagnone, Beiler, Bradley, Pat Carter, Wheeler and Gillespie. The 20 lap Super Stock race was a wild affair with Brandon Evans finally getting the bugs worked out of his car to grab the early lead. Billy Cuddy was coming on strong but got a little too aggressive and hit Evans going into turn three on lap 11. Fourth running Ron Whaley had nowhere to go and plowed into Evans' car knocking both out of the event. Cuddy tried to continue after being sent to the rear of the field but dropped by the wayside after a couple of laps. Jason Foster inherited the lead but was having to contend with John Castro until Bob Starr's spin on lap 13 brought out the caution. During the yellow flag period, Castro had to take his machine to the infield as it was leaking fluid. Brett Woodley was now second and giving Foster fits until he spun out coming out of turn four just as the white flag was being displayed. Foster held on for the win, his second of the year with recently un-retired Darren Gould coming home second in a car that should actually be in the Smithsonian. Dave "White Fire" Wright came back from an early race spin to get third just in front of Todd Ansel and Tom Vento. Woodley, Buck Atherton, and Eric Hodge were the only other cars out of a starting field of 19 that were able to finish as Bob Starr and Shawn Held were credited with ninth and tenth. Super Stock heats went to Foster and Whaley. Richard Hight dominated the Sportsman action as the defending two-time champion led all the way to take the victory. Jack Lenzen moved up from the Super Stock class and was running extremely strong until he tangled with Jeff Wright putting both out of the race. Hight claimed an easy win over former Classic Auto Racing Series Champion Eddie Thornton, who was making his first start of the year. Doug Samion came home third trailed by Timmy Todd, Jr., and Glen Castro. Rounding out the to ten were Joe Adams, Rip Dyal, Wright, Lenzen, and John Hodge. Andy Nichols was unable to start the feature. Sean Bass remained undefeated in the Mini Stocks taking the lead from Michael Seay on lap four after Josh Hermann had led the opening three laps. Again, Bass was in a class to himself as he easily claimed his third straight win over Keith Lilley, Pedie Allison, Seay, Hermann and John Cook. Dick Owens and Bob Miller did not start. Bass also won the heat. The Strictly Stock feature was interesting indeed. Jeff Woodrough took his wife's four-door Saturn and drove it to the race track where he proceeded to turn it into a race car. Woodrough then went on to claim the feature win, the first time a Saturn has ever won a race at Speedworld. It's also the second week in a row that a four cylinder car had won the feature over the bigger V-6's and V-8's. Tim Gibson, in another four-banger, was second ahead of Ray Brown, Robert Remus, and Michael Ward. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - APRIL 8, 2005 SUPER LATE MODEL 1. #5 Dalton Zehr 2. #14 Ronnie Roach 3. #18 Jared Allison 4. #34 Bobby Fleckinger 5. #23 David King OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED 1. #12 Cory Freed 2. #18 Jared Allison 3. #4b Alan Bruns 4. #57 Jim "Hoot" Flynn 5. #55 Shane Held 6. #08 Terri Bryant 7. #5 Charlie Pitts 8. #5x Jon Compagnone 9. #44 Bob Beiler 10. #4 Glen Bradley 11. #112 Pat Carter 12. #97 Matt Wheeler 13. #20 Chris Gillespie SPORTSMAN 1. #23 Richard Hight 2. #4 Eddie Thornton 3. #04 Doug Samion 4. #25 Timmy Todd Jr. 5. #7 Glenn Castro 6. #62 Joe Adams 7. #79 Rip Dyal 8. #50 Jeff Wright 9. #211 Jack Lenzen 10. #00 John Hodge SUPER STOCK 1. #49 Jason Foster 2. #67 Darren Gould 3. #65 Dave Wright 4. #22 Todd Ansel 5. #55 Tom Vento 6. #99 Brett Woodley 7. #07 Buck Atherton 8. #00 Eric Hodge 9. #40 Bob Starr 10. #13 Shawn Held 11. #5 John Castro 12. #46 Bobby Riley 13. #64 Billy Cuddy 14. #27 Brandon Evans 15. #2 Ron Whaley 16. #46x Brandon Thompson 17. #118 Donald Springer 18. #34 Robert Richards MINI STOCK 1. #28 Sean Bass 2. #99 Keith Lilley 3. #92 Pedie Allison 4. #10 Michael Seay 5. #98 Josh Hermann 6. #24 John Cook STRICTLY STOCK 1. #22 Jeff Woodrough 2. #37 Tim Gibson 3. #4 Ray Brown 4. #16 Robert Remus 5. #41 Ernie Parrish 6. #71 Calvin Williams 7. #12 Tim Walters Jr. 8. #16x Bob Snyder Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!