SIX NEW WINNERS IN SEVEN RACES IN SPEEDWORLD WINTERNATIONALS FINALE
By Dave Westerman
Had there not been a controversial disqualification in tech, there would have been seven new winners in the seven features contested as Orlando Speedworld wrapped up the 2006 Winternationals on a sunny, warm Saturday afternoon.
Track management decided to move up the Saturday start time to 1PM to accommodate drivers who wanted to stay and race, but needed to get an early start back home in the evening. Thus a record number of cars stayed for the Saturday finale this year.
LEGENDS PRO DIVISION - 18 Entries (25 Laps): 1) Ben Stancill #24 2) Craig Goess, Jr. #81 3) Josh Waring #13 4) Brennan Poole #117 5) Kory Abbott #5 6) Jason Reisman #25 7) Danny Jackson #5J 8) Jordan Anderson #19 9) Chris Wilson #10 10) Mark Bakaj #52 Heat race winners: Brandon Thomson and Brennan Poole.
Poole had won the two previous races but got shuffled back in this one at the start and eventually recovered for fourth. Stancill got the win with a last lap pass of Goess. Only 11 of 19 starters finished.
LEGENDS MASTERS DIVISION - 15 Entries (25 Laps): 1) Gene Conley #27 2) Cotton Spry #16NC 3) Tim Brockhouse #13 4) Brian Weimer #40 5) James Rodriguez #19 6) Steve Navratil #55 7) Cy Harvey #37 8) Donnie Tilley #5 9) Ronnie Poland #39 10) Larry Friddle #8 Heat race winners: Gene Conley and Tim Brockhouse
Conley led all the way but had to deal with plenty of pressure from several other drivers. Spry spun early in the going and came back up to second at the finish. Andy Logan was running second with five laps to go, but spun in turn four. He recovered to finish ninth. Texan Conley finally got a win in his third year here at the Winternationals after many top five finishes.
LEGENDS CAR SEMI-PRO DIVISION - 30 Entries (25 Laps): 1) Beau Browning #89 2) Matt Bowers #84 3) Andrew Carlson #99 4) Jake Crum #1 5) Mitchell Coble #4 6) Bryan Silas #57 7) Chelsea Schillig #75 8) Austin Dillon #3 9) Steven Daniels #50 10) Wesley McLeod #22 Heat race winners: Jake Crum, Beau Browning and Jason Dunn.
Zach Stroupe, who won on Friday night and Travis Bare both finished second in their respective heats but were DQ'd in tech and had to run the B-Main which Stroupe won. Car problems would again hit Stroupe, as he was the first car out of the feature. This race would be on of over-aggressive driving that would drive Raceceiver operator Darrell Krentz of 600 Racing nuts.
Jake Crum led early but got shuffled back as Speedworld regular Matt Bowers took the lead until Beau Browning turned him around in turn three. Browning was sent to the rear while Bowers was placed back in front. Several laps later, Keaton Feller spun Bowers in turn two, but the green flag remained out. In the shuffle, Paddy Rodenbeck took the lead and looked like he would get his first win but he was turned around by second place Feller on the final lap. Browning had worked his way back up front and sped by to take the win with Bowers also making a great recovery to place second.
BANDELERO BANDITS (15 Laps): 1) Ronnie Bassett, Jr. #04 2) Gerald White, Jr. #38 3) Cody Blackburn #71 4) Mark Hooven #17 5) Sean Hooven #27 6) Bodie Bellinger #48 7) Dillon Bassett #44 8) Donovan Ponder #8 9) Nicholas Baluch #16 10) Grayson York #7 11) Meghan Dillner #51 12) Maxx Bennett #1 DQ Nicholas Stroupe #45 Heat race winners: Ronnie Bassett, Jr. and Nicholas Stroupe.
Ronnie Bassett, Jr. led all the way and stopped Gerald White, Jr.'s win streak at four. Stroupe crossed the line third but lost that in the tech shed due to an infraction.
BANDELERO YOUNG GUNS (15 Laps): 1) Sloan Henderson #07 2) Chris Moore #46 3) Ty Dillon #3 4) Kendall Sellers #6 5) Trevor Farbo #35 6) Ryan Rust #18 7) Gerald Campbell #16 8) Kristina Baluch #21 DQ Ryan Blaney #10
Henderson, the young lady driver from Ohio, won the heat race then proceeded to lead every lap of the feature for her first career win. Again, there was a disqualification as apparent second place finisher Ryan Blaney (son of Nextel Cup driver Dave Blaney) was set down in tech and it would only get worse after the Outlaw feature.
BANDELERO OUTLAWS (15 Laps): 1) Chris Morgan #7Y 2) Brandon Duncan #27 3) Zach Colangelo #7R 4) Marcus Limehouse #88 DQ Trevor Cauble #37
For the second night in a row, the apparent winner was disqualified in tech however Trevor Cauble's team was very vocal about what they considered "nit-picking" by INEX officials concerning a "non-performance enhancing" part that was the reason for the DQ. Morgan was awarded the win, his third of the Winternationals.
FASCAR SUPER STOCKS (15 Laps): 1) Jason Foster #49 2) Roger Benton #14 3) Ron Whaley #2 4) Andy Nichols #66 5) Bill Loomis #24 6) Bruce Gayton #17 7) Rex Carr #?? 8) James Frisbee #3
Foster stopped Benton's win streak at three as the 2005 track champion claimed the win while Benton took the Winternationals point crown and the trophy home with him.
