LAKE CITY, FL (4/7) - Fifteen Hobby Stock cars took on North Florida Speedway's 3/8-mile oval and David Miller Jr. rocketed from the pole to the initial lead. While Miller was enjoying smooth sailing, every other driver was trading paint and fighting for every inch. Caution flags were the rule rather than the exception which played to Miller's advantage as his car was clearly superior on race restarts. Sammy Hatcher began applying pressure on the leader on lap seven and Scotty Nolan joined in the fun at the front on the tenth lap.
Miller's car began to fade in the turns, but he had enough punch on the straights to keep his challengers behind him the rest of the way. Miller earned his first win of the year with Hatcher finishing second just barely ahead of points leader Nolan. Dave Dowling Sr. was fourth ahead of Travis Barnes.
As bruising as the Hobby Stock race was, the Street Stock feature was absolutely wrecktacular. Several hard-hitting incidents claimed their share of victims, including a second lap melee that ended Randy Merwin's night and caused damage to many other cars including Dean Sands' #44 which had to have a tire changed and restart in the rear of the 17-car pack. Tim Dowling and Kevin Mills put on a show for the fans battling for first throughout the many on-track incidents. The slow and go pace of the race worked in favor of Sands. He bopped his way back to third on lap seven, picked up second on lap 11, and made his move for the lead two laps later. Kevin Mills captured second shortly afterwards but had nothing for Sands down the stretch. The win was the second of the year for Sands, who was trailed by Mills, Dowling, Richard Adams, and Marvin Hassell.
Ronnie Chance blistered the field in the B-Modified main. Despite the blowout, the fans did see a good race from third through sixth. Jake Wood made steady progress from the back to eventually take second, but by then Chance was in another zip code and seized his fourth win of the year by a wide margin. Wood finished second ahead of Kenny Blair, Pete Timbie, and Joe Watson.
Pure Stocks saw Nevin Gainey take the measure of polesitter Chris Rowe for the early lead. Shane Taylor contended until lap five when his car started losing power on the straights. Gerald Lewis filled the void left by Taylor for second but found his hands full in a three car fight for second with Shawn Taylor and Rick Reed. While the trio fought for runner-up honors, Gainey took advantage of a clear track to walk away from the pack. Gainey strolled to a comfortable win while Lewis won the skirmish for second ahead of Shawn Taylor, Reed, and Rowe in that order.
Richard Ferry blew out polesitter Tillman Baxley and threatened to run away with the Late Model prize. Baxley was soon joined by David Crews and Billy Costello in a dogfight for second. The dogfight ended up in a dogpile that finished off Crews' #10 and bent the other two cars on lap ten. Ferry suddenly dropped out of the event before the restart which left Baxley and Costello in the hunt for the lead. Costello overcame the best Baxley could offer and picked up his first win at NFS. The finishing order was Costello, Baxley, Ferry, Crews, and Dewey Hall.
The ladies had their chance to show the men how it was done as the show was wrapped up with a seven lap powder puff race. Danielle Creech bested an enthusiastic pack of women to earn the win. The gals had fun and all brought their cars across the finish line intact, which is more than a lot of the guys could say tonight.
The Winged Sprint cars come back this Saturday along with the A-Modifieds, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks, and Pure Stocks. For more information and 2007 race schedules please visit www.northfloridaspeedway.com.
