The afternoon was stagnating and hot at Orlando Speedworld Saturday, but clouds and nearby rain showers at race time combined to form a cool breeze that made the racing conditions pleasant for everyone. The rain stayed south of the speedway though as the full racing program was completed.
Nineteen RE/MAX Legends Cars made their way to the track with Andy Logan and Bryan Silas taking heat race wins. Silas had the pole for the 25 lap feature and out ran Logan into turn one to take the lead with Kory Abbott settling into second. Abbott stayed close and zipped past Silas for the lead on lap four while Chelsea Schillig got by Logan and began to close on Silas for second.
The lead trio continued to set the pace while Brandon Thomson was on the charge, moving by Logan into fourth just before the caution flew on lap 16 as Kara Clarke and Eric Eichelberger got together in turn four.
Following the restart, Schillig made an inside move on Silas going into turn three and the two cars touched sending Silas into a spin. With the caution back out, both Silas and Schillig were sent to the back of the restart line-up.
Thomson inherited second right behind his arch-rival Abbott and the fans were getting ready for another battle between these two, but as the green flag flew, Abbott's throttle hung wide open and he drove full-throttle into the turn one wall with the car catching fire as well.
After a few anxious moments, the steering wheel came flying out the window and Abbott stumbled from his mangled racer. Track paramedics called for Orange County Fire Department support, but Abbott refused a trip to the hospital apparently unhurt except for a bad bump on his leg.
The race restarted and ran the final nine laps under green with Thomson holding off Logan for the win. Matt Bowers came home third ahead of Jimmy Norman and Doug Hall, who looked great in a new car after several bad crashes this year. Rounding out the top ten were James Rodriguez, Silas, Mike Verhaagh, Schillig and Kara Clarke. Abbott's incident means his team will not have their favorite car (referred to as the "X" car) to take with them to the Summer Shootout which begins this week at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, NC. Kory's dad Keith Abbott said their back-up car is about "85% complete" and they'd have it ready to go by the end of Sunday. Abbott will be joined in Charlotte by Thomson, Silas, Bowers, and Clarke as representatives from Speedworld.
Disqualifications jumbled up the finish of the Bandelero Bandits feature but winner Mark Hooven got through tech with flying colors and took his sixth win of the year. Apparent second and third place drivers Maxx Bennett and Nicholas Baluch had their finishes disallowed moving Donovan Ponder up to second. NC drivers Ronnie Bassett, Jr. and his brother Dillon Bassett were third and fourth with Critter Saile fifth.
Another NC invader, Chris Moore, made his second start of the year here and took his second win in the Bandelero Young Guns. Moore made the trip to Orlando after win his race at "Thursday Thunder" held at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gerald White, Jr. was second with Gerald Campbell moving up to third after apparent third place finisher Kristina Baluch was also set down in tech. Kaleb Hearndon took fourth.
Before getting a tenth place in the Legends Car feature, Kara Clarke dominated the Bandelero Outlaws feature taking an easy win over Zach Colangelo.
In Daytona Antique Auto Racing Association action, new driver Gene Vitiello drove a New England-style NASCAR Tour Modified to the stock car win over the Dodge Dart Late Model of Cory Lane and veteran Don Stives in a dirt-style Modified.
Jeromy Smith made his first run in a Sprint Car owned by Sam Morrow and won the DAARA Sprint Car feature over Jack Sapp and Jay Yahnke while Dale Miller topped Bill Wendt in the Midgets.
In other action, Rob Reynolds out-gunned Mark Walls, Bobby Crites, Blaize Fischer, Donnie Johnson and Tony Jensen to win the Hurricane feature while Zachary Curtis drove to the Junior Stock win over Cody Kasper and Justin Curtis.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - JUNE 10
RE/MAX LEGENDS
1. #54 Brandon Thomson 2. #1FL Andy Logan 3. #84 Matt Bowers 4. #2 Jimmy Norman 5. #55 Doug Hall 6. #19 Jimmy Rodriques 7. #57 Bryan Silas 8. #7 Mike Verhaagh 9. #75 Chelsea Schillig 10. #21 Kara Clarke 11. #47 Eric Eichelberger 12. #65 Mark Bebauo 13. #9 Mitch Verhaagh 14. #11 Tony Sansom 15. #23 Willie Wilson 17. #77 Steve Turbeville 18. #34 Shaughn McCormick 19. #5 Kory Abbott
