Ronnie Larson takes FMSC Win at Orlando Speedworld
By Rick Warren
A beautiful Chamber of Commerce weather day greeted the fans and racers Friday at Orlando Speedworld, as the racers of the Florida Mini Stock Challenge rolled into town for 50 green flag laps of racing action.
Robbie Yoakam set fast time in qualifying as he drove the Windy Day Fishing Charter/Weston Properties/Curran Electric entry to a lap of 15.060 seconds. Just a tick of the clock behind was Ronnie Larson in the Jandy Pool Products/Eagles Nest Racing/Gunn Welding Entry, with a time of 15.070 seconds. Third fastest was Robbie Storer in the Autoland Entry, turning the track in 15.280 seconds.
After the fast qualifiers cleared tech inspection, the draw for the inversion was held, and the line-up was set. After an on track autograph session, it was time to race. As the field lined up behind the pace truck, Robbie Storer sat on the pole position, with Marty Neikens on the outside, in the Mullins Concrete Pumping entry. The second row was filled by Cody Blair and Rick Sirmans. Row 3 consisted of Jeff Barnes and Ronnie Larson. The fourth row was filled by Chris Thornton and Jared Allison, followed by Raymond Folwell and James Ellis. Robbie Yoakam, winner of the last race, was starting from 11th position, per series rule.
When the green flag waved to start the 50 lap feature, Storer powered to the lead, followed by Blair. Second place starter Neikens was hung out to dry on the outside line, and lost several positions before making an opening and getting to the inside line. Lap 5 saw Larson work his way into second position, and go to work running down the leader. Just a few short laps later, Larson had reeled in the leader, and managed to make the pass for the lead. As the race for the lead was going on, the rest of the field was having some serious battles for position.
Nobody was cruising and waiting for the late stage of the race to make a charge.
They turned this into a 50 lap sprint, holding back nothing. The battle for 6th thru 10th was awesome. The racers were swapping positions and paint at every turn.
The first caution came out for the 24 car spinning off turn 2. The running order for the restart had Larson continuing out front, followed by Storer, Sirmans, Yoakam, Blair, Allison, Neikens, Folwell, Barnes, and Chuck Frazier.
On the restart, Yoakam was able to pass Sirmans for third spot, and shortly passed Storer for second. Caution again was displayed on the speedway for the car of Raymond Folwell, when a mechanical failure caused him to spin into the wall. The car was damaged, but Folwell was unhurt. The field lined upfor the restart with Larson still out front, and Yoakam running a strong second, followed by Storer, Sirmans, and Thornton in the top 5.
The race restarted with 9 laps remaining, and it was indeed a shoot out. Caution slowed the battle briefly for the cars of Barnes and Frazier, spinning and making contact with the wall. The field came to the green falg with 5 laps to go, and the race became very heated, with several cars bumping and grinding for positions, tempers were short, it was great short track racing.
The checkered flag waved for Ronnie Larson, followedclosely by Robbie Yoakam, Robbie Storer, Chris Thornton and Rick Sirmans rounding out the top 5.
After the top 3 finishers cleared post race technical inspection, the race results were declared official.
The Florida Mini Stock Challenge Series rolls into Citrus County Speedway this Saturday night, Sept.30, for another action packed event. Hope to see you there !!
