Pierce wins WILD Super Late Model Feature at Orlando SpeedWorld
by Dave Westerman
The full moon wasn't out, but you couldn't tell the difference Friday night at Orlando Speedworld as there was plenty of wild action in just about every class.
A good field of Super Late Models were in attendance to honor the memory of former racer Bobby Lyons. Lyons' family even brought his race car to the track for a parade lap, a car that last saw action with Bobby behind the wheel about a year ago.
Ronnie Roach and Chad Pierce took the pair of heat races and made up row one for the 25 lap main event. Pierce set sail at the drop of the green with Roach settling into second spot. Action quickly was slowed when Russ Shaw spun in turn one at the start of lap two and was clipped by the car of Dusty Cornelius. For some reason, Shaw made contact with the car of Patrick Conrad under caution and he went pit side while Conrad continued.
Pierce continued to set a blistering pace until lap five when Chris Staggs got into the car of Rick Bates with Bates taking a hard lick into the turn three wall. Staggs was sent to the pits for rough driving while Bates was OK but also out of the event.
Pierce continued to lead by a good margin over Roach following the restart while Jared Allison and Wayne Anderson were having a good fight for third spot racing side by side for several laps before they made contact on lap ten with Anderson spinning in turn one.
The two then came together once again in turn one under caution with Anderson exiting his car and trying to get at Allison before track officials intervened. Both were disqualified and sent to the pits to join a growing list.
Pierce had the fastest car by far and easily out-distanced Roach over the final few laps, slowed only one more time to check the track for fluid leaking from Matthew Stichmann's car.
It was Pierce's first win racing for Fountain Motorsports and he was joined by his crew, members of his team at Disney MGM Studios where he is a driver for their daily stunt spectacular, and the family of Bobby Lyons.
For Roach, his second place felt almost like a win. His dad and crew chief Ray Roach was all smiles. "Last year we ran the whole season with one body on the car, this year we've already replaced two rear clips, so it's nice to finally finish one of these things," said Roach.
Gary Bierline drove a good steady race to get third spot ahead of Mario Hernandez and the damaged car of Cornelius who was "just holding on" over the final laps. Those five were the only cars still running at the end. Credited with sixth through 11th were Stichmann, Doc McKinney, David Wilson, Conrad, Bates and Dick Anderson. Wayne Anderson, Allison, Shaw and Staggs were all shown as DQ's with no points or money.
Alan Bruns led all the way in the caution-free Modified feature as he easily took win number five on the season. Shain Held took the checker in second with Skip Honaker advancing from the rear of the starting grid to third spot ahead of Mark Emberson, Matt Wheeler, Randy Froelich, Norm Woodring and Gary Fountain, Sr. Bruns also won the heat.
The Mini Stock action was also wild and wooly starting in the second heat where Scott Jarrett, Tim "Missileman" McPhail and Heather Suggs crashed hard going into turn one on the initial lap. Only Suggs was able to start the feature.
Coming off turn four to start the main event, front row starters Emily Cottrell and Randy Blakeslee tangled with Cottrell going hard into the wall. Blakeslee's car was then struck broadside by the machine of Rex "Boneman" Hollinger. Both Cottrell and Hollinger were out while Blakeslee, the current point leader, continued with a heavily damaged car.
Dick Laszlo grabbed the early lead but lost the top position to Pedie Allison on lap ten. One lap later, Laszlo's machine blew an engine and burst into flames going down the back stretch. Laszlo guided his racer into the infield where the fire was quickly extinguished and he emerged A-OK.
Allison led the rest of the way in his brand-new car getting a decent challenge from Kelly Jarrett late in the race before Jarrett settled for the runner-up spot. Michael Seay took the checker in third trailed by Bob Kelchner and Wayne Clark, who was making his return to racing after a couple of years off. Rounding out the top ten were Blakeslee, Suggs, Tommy Morrison, Laszlo and Cottrell. heat wins went to Laszlo and Allison.
In Super Stocks, First heat winner Bobby Riley was out early with a flat tire as Jason Pick led the opening lap before being passed by Johnny Brown. Brown had his new car working much better and held on to take the win over James Frisbie, Pick, second heat winner Lee Wagner, and Jason Foster. Completing the top ten were Vince Keeler, Robert Ward, Scott Keena, Tobi Smith and Bobby Simcox.
Sportsman action was dominated by current point leader Richard Hight as he won both the heat and feature races. Bryan Silas took over second near the midway point of the race but was unable to chase down Hight who took his third win of the year. Timmy Todd, Jr. was third trailed by Glen Castro, Rip Dyal, Paul Hudson and Andy Nicholls.
The Strictly Stock feature saw a first time winner in the form of David Leeper II who "leapt" to the early lead in his Ford Probe and held off Dave Czerwinski's Ford Taurus station wagon at the checker. Bob Heina was third over Bob Snyder and Rob Reynolds with Neal Kirby, Robert Remus, Steven Streight, Enrique Romero and Steve Anderson rounding out the top ten. Heat race wins went to Remus and George Brown.
Junior Stock action was dominated by the Curtis family from Palm Bay. Zachary Curtis drove his Honda Prelude to his second consecutive win in the 8-11 year old division fending off Luke Gaier, Wes Railing, Jr., Jeff Cuddy and Luke Burke.
After his own car suffered problems in practice, older brother Justin Curtis borrowed Zachary's car and proceeded to win the feature race for the 12-15 year old drivers. Jessie Cuddy was second followed by Cody Kasper, Shane Sutorus, Alex Fortune and Daniel Steele.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - JULY 28
SUPER LATE MODEL
1. #57 Chad Pierce 2. #14 Ronnie Roach 3. #11 Gary Bierlein 4. #5 Mario Hernandez 5. #22 Dusty Cornelius 6. #52 Matthew Stichmann 7. #141 Doc McKinney 8. #83 David Wilson 9. #4 Rick Bates 10. #2 Patrick Conrad 11. #92 Dick Anderson 12. #68 Russ Shaw DQ'D 13. #84 Wayne Anderson DQ'D 14. #18 Jared Allison DQ'D 15. #56 Chris Staggs DQ'D
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #4B Alan Bruns 2. #55 Shain Held 3. #2 Skip Honaker 4. #30 Mark Emberson 5. #97 Matt Wheeler 6. #8 Randy Froehlich 7. #72 Norman Woodring 8. #33 Gary Fountain Sr.
SPORTSMAN
1. #23 Richard Hight 2. #57 Brian Silas 3. #25 Timmy Todd Jr. 4. #13 Glen Castro 5. #79 Rip Dyal 6. #08 Paul Hudson 7. #66 Andy Nicholls DNS
MINI STOCK
1. #92 Pedie Allison 2. #97 Kelly Jarrett 3. #10 Michael Seay 4. #09 Bob Kelchner 5. #15 Wayne Clark 6. #77 Randy Blakeslee 7. #06 Heather Suggs 8. #31 Tommy Morrison 9. #07 Dick Laszlo 10. #19 Emily Cottrell 11. #85 Rex "Boneman" Hollinger 12. #17 Scott Jarrett DNS 13. #1 Tim "Missileman" McPhail DNS
SUPER STOCK
1. #86 Johnny Brown 2. #3 James Frisbie 3. #44 Jason Pick 4. #74 Lee Wagner 5. #49 Jason Foster 6. #7 Vince Keeler 7. #25 Robert Ward 8. #97 Scott Keena 9. #8 Tobi Smith 10. #92 Bobby Simcox 11. #52 Bobby Riley
JR. STOCK (8-11)
1. #63 Zachary Curtis 2. #78 Luke Gaier 3. #51 Wes Railing 4. #64 Jeff Cuddy 5. #68 Luke Burke 6. #17 Jessica Railing 7. #4t Chalky
1. #D2 David Leeper 2. #44 David Czerwinski 3. #3 Bob Heina 4. #16x Bob Snyder 5. #A1 Rob Reynolds 6. #8 Neal Kirby 7. #16 Robert Remus 8. #80 Steven Streight 9. #7 Enrique Romero 10. #27x Steve Anderson 11. #20x Richard Barrenechea 12. #T13 Gary Thomas 13. #20 Brent Bruner 14. #41 George Brown
