IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 30, 2005 FSCR Stuart Dutton tops PBG Legends Tour Race at Bronson after Big Crash by Dave Westerman A beautiful evening greeted the teams of the PBG Florida Legends Car Tour for the third event of 2005 at Bronson Motor Speedway Saturday night. Despite the holiday weekend, twenty PBG Tour teams made the trek to Mike Cope's fast quarter mile with Darin Coker of Palm Beach Gardens getting the evening off to a blazing start in qualifying as he took his first-ever quick time honor with a great lap of 15.320 seconds, just ahead of Brandon Thomson's 13.366 and Kory Abbott at 15.451. Coker drew the two pill for the inversion meaning he and Thomson would swap spots on the front row for the start of the 35 lap feature. Coker took the lead from the outside pole at the drop of the green, but Thomson took the top spot away on lap two and set the pace in the early going until Doc Richardson spun on the back stretch to bring out the first caution on lap five. On the restart, Brian Silas and Jarrad Cawley tangled to keep the yellow out. Thomson continued to set the pace, but Coker was getting stronger and he got around Thomson on lap 12 bringing Kory Abbott with him. Richardson and Wild Willie Wilson tangled on lap 14 to bring out the second yellow. Coker continued to set a blistering pace and looked to be on his way to his first career win until the field was slowed on lap 30 when Mike Verhaagh and Brian Silas got together in turn four. At this point, all 20 cars were still running, but Verhaagh pulled off with a sick engine just before the green flew. The field would not make another lap though before Bobby Byars and Chris McDonald locked horns in turn four to keep the yellow out. On the restart, Abbott began to really put the pressure on Coker. Coming off turn two on lap 31, Abbott tried an inside move and the two cars touched sending Coker's car into the backsterch wall. Coker's car climbed the wall and would have sailed completely out of the track had it not been for the catch fencing that Bronson Motor Speedway has installed all the way around the track. Coker's car eventually slid back down into the infield where the rather irate driver climbed out unhurt. "Everybody saw what happened, so I'll leave it at that," said Coker of the crash. "The worst thing is that this is the car we were going to bring to the Summer Shootout in Charlotte and it was running great... now it's junk," he said. Abbott was sent to the rear of the cars on the lead lap for the restart. Thomson, who had slapped the front stretch wall a few laps earlier, took his machine to the pits during the caution period handing the lead over to Tallahassee's Stuart Dutton. Dutton wasn't going to be denied his good fortune as he easily led the remaining four laps to claim his first Legends Car win since returning to action last year. An emotional Dutton was joined in victory lane by his two sons and received a nice ovation from the great Bronson crowd. Jeremy Colangelo drove a steady race and put his RE/MAX sponsored machine in the second spot while James Rodriguez had a great run for third to be the top finisher among the Masters division (over 40) drivers. Jarrad Cawley was fourth and Bobby Byars had a super run for fifth. Chris McDonald had his best PBG tour finish in sixth with Mitch Verhaagh coming back from some early problems to grab seventh. Abbott ended up eighth with Brian Silas and Chelsea Schillig rounding out the top ten. The 2005 PBG Florida Legends Car Tour is back in action this Saturday night at the very fast Desoto Super Speedway. OFFICIAL FINISH - PBG LEGENDS TOUR - RACE #3 - BRONSON SPEEDWAY - 5/28/05: 1) Stuart Dutton, Tallahassee #32 2) Jeremy Colangelo, Sanford #05 3) James Rodriguez, West Palm Beach #19 4) Jarrad Cawley, Winter Garden #31 5) Bobby Byars, Palm Bay #12 6) Chris McDonald, Havana #94 7) Mitch Verhaagh, Bonita Springs #9 8) Kory Abbott, Apopka #5 9) Brian Silas, Lake Worth #57 10) Chelsea Schillig, Apopka #75 11) Mike Fazio, Ft. Lauderdale #38 12) Doc Richardson, Palm Harbor #00FL 13) Dion Hinskey, Sebring #4 14) Spike Sabo, Tampa #5X 15) Tom Clarke, Palm Beach Gardens #66 16) Kara Clarke, Palm Beach Gardens #21 17) Bob Wilson, Beverly Hills #27W 18) Darin Coker, Palm Beach Gardens #00 19) Brandon Thomson, St. Cloud #54 20) Mike Verhaagh, Ft. Myers #7 Lap Leaders: Coker: 1 Thomson: 2-12 Coker: 13-31 Dutton: 32-35 Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!