Andy Logan "Masters" RE/MAX Legends at Orlando SpeedWorld
Andy Logan of West Palm Beach became the first Masters Division driver (age 40+) to win a non-Winternationals RE/MAX Legends Car feature since the Legends became a regular weekly racing class Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld.
Driving his Murray Logan Construction sponsored machine, Logan made himself an early favorite by winning his heat while Kory Abbott shook off the effects of a leg fracture suffered in a big crash when his throttle stuck the week before. to take the other heat.
Abbott and Logan made up row one for the 25 lap feature with Abbott grabbing the early lead only to see a big melee in turn one at the end of the opening lap. Newcomer Tony Sansom ended up in the wall and was done for the night along with the car of Mitch Verhaagh. One lap after the restart, Abbott surrendered the top spot to Logan. Abbott's car was not handling like he wanted it to and he slipped back to fifth in the running order as Matt Bowers took up the chase on the veteran driver.
Logan continued to hold off a tight five car pack as the second caution flew on lap eight for Steve Turbeville's spin in turn four. One lap after the restart, Bowers got into Logan going into turn one and the leader spun, bringing out the yellow once again. Track officials determined the incident to be Bowers' fault and he was sent off the track while Logan was placed back out front.
The race got really good after this as Logan found himself being challenged by both Bryan Silas and Brandon Thomson with Chelsea Schillig and Darin Coker not far behind. As the laps wore on, it appeared the track was getting slick as many cars began to slip and slide with second-running Silas finally spinning off turn two on lap 21.
Track crews checked the racing surface and, sure enough, there was a light coat of oil all the way around the track. All the cars were checked and nothing was found until they got to the car that spun (Silas), where it was determined a part failure was causing an oil leak. Silas' car was pushed from the track and the racing surface cleaned up for a four lap dash to the checker.
Brandon Thomson was poised to make a run at Logan, but Logan held strong to take the win over Thomson and a resurgent Abbott. Thomson and Abbott are both 16 years old and, if their ages were added together, they would still be nine years younger than the winner!!
Chelsea Schillig had yet another great run to finish fourth with Darin Coker back after a short lay-off to claim fifth. Mike Verhaagh had a strong run taking sixth spot with Shaughn McCormick, Doug Hall, Eric Eichelberger and Jimmy Norman rounding out the top ten.
Completing the finishers were Kara Clarke, James Rodriguez, Wild Willie Wilson, Steve Turbeville, Tim Harris, Bryan Silas, Mitch Verhaagh, Tony Sansom and Matt Bowers. Mark Bibeau was unable to race after a hard practice crash that saw his right front wheel and tire sail over the turn three fence and onto the track access road. A nice field of 17 Florida Open Wheel Lites ran three heat races with wins going to Nick Shadid, Rick Brayton, and Dennis Diehl.
Diehl took the lead early and was able to hold on all the way to take the win in his "traditional" style car over the "Mod Lite" machines of Mike Belusar and Max Howe.
Second heat winner Brayton was running a strong fourth but was hit by a lapped car that wasn't paying attention and hit the wall hard on lap 14. Brayton was OK but not in a very good mood as his car was taken to the pits.
Sonny O'Sullivan came on to take fourth ahead of Phil Krauthoff with Rick Lundeen, Roger Richmond, Jeff Wolfe, Larry Hubbard, Jr. and Sam Mancuso completing the top ten. Rounding out the finishers were Joe Brayton, Roger Wolfe, Jason Stout, Rick Brayton, Nick Shadid, J.J. Wolfe and Larry Hubbard III.
The Florida Cracker Classics had their feature cut short by several laps after a big crash on lap seven left only five cars running. 2005 FCC Champion Jim Rahman took the worst of it hitting the turn four wall very hard. John Smith ended up taking the win over Ron Gustafson, Danny Shearer, Dee Napier and Greg Helton. The second five were all DNF's with sixth through tenth being credited to Norm Agostinho, Rahman, Brad Norburg, Jeff Wright and Rodney Eary.
Mark Hooven grabbed yet another win in the Bandelero Bandits out-gunning heat winner Donovan Ponder, Shawn Hooven, Zach Harris, Tyler Rahman, Coty Bibeau and Nicholas Baluch.
After the chain broke on race leader Gerald White, Jr.'s car, Kristina Baluch took over the lead and sped to her first ever win in the Bandelero Young Guns. Kaleb Hearndon came home second over Gerald Campbell and White.
Kara Clarke won the Bandelero Outlaws feature over Zach Colangelo while Rob Reynolds topped the Hurricane main event. Next Saturday night it's the PBG Florida Legends Car Tour event at Orlando Speedworld. Fans should see a great show as there have been four different winners in the first four PBG Tour events this year.
