Woodley tops Sportsman, Conrad takes Super Late at Orlando SpeedWorld
It was one of those evenings where Mother Nature toyed with the drivers and fans until finally getting her way Friday at Orlando Speedworld.
After Mark Hooven and Kristina Baluch had won their respective heat races for the Bandelero Bandits and Young Guns to start the program, a light rain began to fall during the Bandelero Outlaw heat and the cars were sent to the pits.
The rain was not heavy and the track was dried fairly quickly but you could almost cut the thick humid air with a knife, meaning track conditions would remain less than perfect.
The program was changed to bring the Strictly Stocks with their regular street tires out for the first feature to get some racing in for the fans and complete drying of the track.
The Strictly Stock feature would be almost a carbon copy of last week as Jay Mullins drove his Oldmobile to his second straight win while Kyle Peters picked up his second consecutive second place finish in his second week out with his new car. Rudy Bronson was the one putting on the show as he moved his Honda from well back on the starting grid to third place at the checker with Robert Remus and Bob Snyder trailing. Rounding out the top ten were Neil Kirby, Steven Streight, Miguel Barrenchea, Luis Guillen, Jr. and Steve Houseman.
Tim "Missileman" McPhail then snatched up his second straight Mini Stock victory taking the lead from Josh Hermann and streaking to the win over Dick Laszlo, John Cook, Randy Blakeslee and Michael Seay. Hermann, Rex "Boneman" Hollinger, Tom Rose, Mike Muroski and Heather Suggs completed the top ten.
The Sportsman cars were up next and it was easy to see the moist air was making track conditions very difficult for the bigger V-8 powered cars and their slick Goodyear Eagle tires.
All of the drivers were doing the "slip and slide" throughout the event as Brett Woodley got out front at the drop of the green and held on all the way for the Palm Bay youngster's first career Sportsman win. Bryan Silas and Pete Starr were battling for third on the final lap when Starr touched Silas going into turn two. Silas nearly recovered his sliding machine but hit a wet spot out of the groove and slapped the wall. The race finished with the checker and yellow both out as Woodley took the win over Andy Nicholls, Richard Hight, Spencer Lemmerman, Starr, Leonard Hearndon, Silas and John Hodge.
The Junior Stock Junior Division (8-11 year olds) were out next and put on a good show as their field continues to grow. There was yet another first time winner as Luke Gaier drove his Saturn to the win over Wes Railing, Jr., Adam Owens, Trey Edenfield, Zachary Curtis, Jeff Cuddy and Luke Burke.
The Open Wheel Modifieds were out to try their hand at the slick track, but the conditions did nothing to slow defending champion Corey Freed as he grabbed the lead at the outset and drove to an easy win. Alan Bruns brought his new car home second with Mark Emberson third driving Bruns' other car after Emberson's broke during practice laps. Blake Lehr came home fourth ahead of Gary Fountain, Sr., Wayne Schram, Carl Hober and Shain Held.
The Super Late Models made their way out for a scheduled 25 lap test with Rick Bates zipping out to a quick lead as Patrick Conrad slipped into second on lap four. It took just a handful of laps for Conrad to chase down Bates and he grabbed the lead at the end of lap nine, pulling quickly out to a big advantage.
Gary Bierlein and Mike Murphy tangled in turn three on lap 11 to bring out the caution. Two laps later, Murphy crashed into Matthew Stichmann's spinning car in turn two just as a light mist began to fall again.
At this point, track officials deemed it too dangerous for the Super Lates to continue and the race was called complete at 13 laps with Conrad the winner. the victory means the young driver from Clermont is a perfect two for two in starts here this year as he also won the Bruce Everett Memorial on March 24th.
Bates had a career-best second place finish with Chad Pierce third, Chris Staggs fourth and Bierlein fifth with Stichmann, Murphy, Dusty Cornelius and Steve Smith completing the finishers.
Again the track was dried quickly and the big field of Super Stocks made their way out to do battle. This would be a wild affair from the start as Bobby Riley assumed the point as the racing was sometimes three-wide behind him. The field went under red at one point when Ray Mullis backed his car hard into the turn three wall. Mullis was OK, but the car was shortened considerably.
As the green flag flew, James Frisbie, who had won the last two features, had his car begin smoking heavily. Another incident slowed the field, then just as the cars to the green on the restart, the skies opened up and a huge melee took place in turn one as leader Riley spun with the whole field bearing down on him on the now rain-soaked track. Several cars were damaged heavily, including Rileys. At this point, track officials decided to call it a night.
The Super Stock race was reverted back to the last completed lap (18) with Riley declared the winner. After the races his car was seen loaded backwards onto its trailer with the trophy proudly displayed on the crumpled hood.
Roger Benton came home second although he also had quite a bit of damage to his car as well. Jason Foster was third ahead of Johnny Brown and Vince Keeler with Matt Jarrett, Scott Jarrett, Jeremy Shelton, Robert Ward and Mike Gennett rounding out the top ten. The RE/MAX Legends Car, Junior Stock Senior Division, and all three Bandelero features were lost to the rain and will be made up this coming Friday. There will also be a 50 lap special for the Super Stocks, so race fans will certainly get their money's worth on April 28th.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD APRIL 21, 2006
SUPER LATE MODEL
1. #2 Patrick Conrad 2. #4 Rick Bates 3. #57 Chad Pierce 4. #56 Christopher Staggs 5. #11 Gary Bierlein 6. #52 Matthew Stichmann 7. #22 Dusty Cornelius 8. #28 Steve Smith
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #12 Corey Freed 2. #4b Alan Bruns 3. #14 Mark Emberson 4. #4 Blake Lehr 5. #25 Wayne Schram 6. #33 Gary Fountain Jr. 7. #67 Carl Hober 8. #8 Randy Froehlich 9. #55 Shain Held
SPORTSMAN
1. #99 Brett Woodley 2. #66 Andy Nicholls 3. #23 Richard Hight 4. #6 Spencer Lemmerman 5. #95x Pete Starr 6. #95 Leonard Heardon 7. #44 Bryan Silas 8. #00 John Hodge
SUPER STOCK
1. #52 Bobby Riley 2. #14 Roger Benton 3. #49 Jason Foster 4. #86 Johnny Brown 5. #7 Vince Keeler 6. #9 Matthew Jarrett 7. #97 Scott Jarrett 8. #01 Jeremy Shelton 9. #25 Robert Ward 10. #00 Mike Gennett 11. #77 Rick Taylor 12. #3 James Frisbie 13. #4 Ray Brown 14. #1b John Bennett 15. #12 Bobby Byars 16. #74 Lee Wagner 17. #40 Kenny Kirk 18. #316 Ray Mullis 19. #07 Daniel Laszlo
MINI STOCK
1. #7 Tim "Missileman" McPhail 2. #07 Dick Laszlo 3. #24 John Cook 4. #77 Randy Blakeslee 5. #10 Michael Seay 6. #98 Josh Hermann 7. #85 Rex "Boneman" Hollinger 8. #43 Tom Rose 9. #61 Mike Muroski 10. #06 Heather Suggs
JR. STOCK (8-11)
1. #78 Luke Gaier 2. #51 Wes Railing 3. #4 Adam Owens 4. #31 Trey Edenfield 5. #63 Zachard Curtis 6. #64 Jeff Cuddy 7. #68 Luke Burke
STRICTLY STOCK
1. #17x Jay Mullins 2. #4 Kyle Peters 3. #03 Rudy Bronson 4. #16x Bob Snyder 5. #16 Robert Remus 6. #18 Neil Kirby 7. #80 Steven Streight 8. #22 Miguel Barrenechea 9. #8 Luis Guillen Jr. 10. #0 Steve Houseman 11. #20x Richard Burrenechea 12. #52 Bill Spence 13. #33 Andy Richards 14. #1 Bobby Crites Jr.
DOUBLE FEATURES NEXT WEEK FOR BANDOLERO BANDITS, YOUNG GUNS AND OUTLAW, RE/MAX LEGENDS, AND JR. STOCK (12-15) FROM RAINOUT ON 4/21/06
