CHAMPIONS CROWNED FOR 2006 SPEEDWORLD INEX/600 SERIES WINTERNATIONALS
CHAMPIONS CROWNED FOR 2006 SPEEDWORLD INEX/600 SERIES WINTERNATIONALS
After five consecutive nights of competitive, and, at times, crazy racing action, six drivers emerged with championship trophies for the 2006 version of the INEX/600 Series Winternationals held at Orlando Speedworld
A man who is a "legend" in Legends Car racing, Cotton Spry of Salisbury, NC took his familiar blue, yellow and white #16NC to the Legends Car Masters Division title taking wins on both Thursday and Friday night to top Minnesota driver Tim Brockhouse by just three points.
Brockhouse won the feature on Wednesday and was reluctant to leave sunny Florida after finding out it was 37 below back home!! Consistent Brian Weimer of Cumming, GA was third in points, just three back of Brockhouse with Saturday feature winner Gene Conley of Texas fourth and Floridian Andy Logan fifth.
Logan, of West Palm Beach, raced Legends several years ago and is back in them for 2006 where he'll be a regular competitor at Speedworld. Rounding out the top ten in Masters Division points were Logan's fellow Palm Beach resident James Rodriguez, Maryland's Richard Losh, Nova Scotia driver Cy Harvey, Ontario's Steve Navratil and Bob Marino from the Lone Star State.
Craig Goess, Jr. of Greenville, NC won on opening night, then stayed consistent the rest of the way to pick up the championship for the highly competitive Legends Car Pro division. Still, he topped fellow Tar Heel Ben Stancill by just two points in the final tally. Stancill took the win on Saturday afternoon by passing Goess on the final lap, but it wasn't enough to wrest the title from Goess.
Texas driver Brennan Poole won features on Thursday and Friday and wound up third in points just ahead of NC driver Josh Waring and Florida's Brandon Thomson while North Carolinian Jason Reisman, 2005 Speedworld champion Kory Abbott of Apopka, FL, 2005 National Pro Division Champion Danny Jackson from Ohio, Florida's Jeremy Colangelo and Texan Brent Seeley completed the top ten in Pro points.
Statesville, NC driver Jake "the Snake" Crum made it a sweep for the state as he took the Legends Car Semi-Pro Championship by 14 points over young Darrell Wallace, Jr. who also hails from NC. Both drivers took a feature win during the week. Local Speedworld driver Matt Bowers from Mt. Dora, FL was very consistent and took third place honors with fourth in points going to Tennesse's Beau Browning (who won on Saturday and NC driver Steven Daniels fifth.
Rounding out the top ten were Tuesday winner Keaton Feller of Altus, OK, Zach Stroupe of Lincolnton, NC, Odessa, FL's Paddy Rodenbeck, Cole Miktuk from South Carolina and NC driver Jason Dunn.
Lakeland, FL driver Gerald White, Jr. made his final starts as a Bandelero Bandit driver taking four wins in five races. White turns 12 on Tuesday and will move to Young Guns for the 2006 regular season. The only driver to finish in front of White during the week was Ronnie Bassett, Jr. of Winston-Salem, NC who won the Saturday afternoon feature and took second in points, 12 behind White. Third was Stanley, NC driver Cody Blackburn while Orlando's Mark Hooven took fourth in the standings just ahead of fellow Orlando resident Donovan Ponder in fifth. The second ten consisted of Ronnie Bassett's young brother Dillon in sixth, Zephyrhill, FL driver Maxx Bennett seventh, Mark Hooven's little brother Sean in eighth (driving his very first races), Bodie Bellinger of Huntersville, NC ninth and Grayson York of Rocky Face, GA tenth.
Chris Moore made it two Winternationals championships for drivers from Salisbury, NC (the other being the "old master" Cotton Spry) as he took wins on Tusday and Wednesday on his way to the Bandelero Young Guns title. Kendall sellers picked up a win and took the second place trophy home to Kannapolis, NC while Franklin Ohio's Sloan Henderson won her first career race on Saturday afternoon and finished third in points just ahead of High Point, NC's Ryan Blaney, Concord NC driver Trevor Farbo, Port St. Lucie, FL's Ryan Rust, Kaleb Hearndon of Micco, FL, Concord NC's Ty Dillon, Kristina Baluch of Loxahatchee, FL and local driver Gerald Campbell.
The Bandelero Outlaw championship went to Chris Morgan of Kannapolis, NC. His three wins in five races propelled him to a nine point advantage over local Orlando-area residents (and teammates) Brandon Duncan and Zach Colangelo who each took a feature win and were tied in points. Trevor Cauble of Rockwell, NC was fourth followed by Marcus Limehouse of Charleston, SC and Florida drivers Kara Clarke and Josh Antley.
