It may have been Friday the 13th, but the weather and the action were fantastic at Orlando Speedworld on Friday night as all divisions raced for double points.
After two rough heat races that saw Michael Williams' mount done for the night and Gary Bierlein's car damaged but able to start the feature, eleven Super Late Models took to the track for their 25 lap main event.
Joe Piazza led the opening lap before David Pollen, Jr. took over. But it was Patrick Conrad who was on the charge as he zipped around Pollen for the lead on lap five and never looked back despite one minor slow-down for Bierlein's slowing car on lap 17.
Conrad raced off to his first win here since early last year with Pollen, Jr. taking the runner-up spot. Ronnie Roach placed third with Jared Allison and Blake Lehr completing the top five. Sixth through tenth were Piazza, Darren Brown, Russ Shaw, Rick Bates and Bierlein. Heat races were won by Bates and Conrad.
After winning numerous Legends Car and Bandelero races here during his young career, 17 year old Brandon Thomson picked up his first ever stock car win in the Sportsman feature.
After several weeks of bad luck, Thomson had the pole for the feature and streaked out to a big lead. That lead was wiped out at the half-way mark when Whitney Poole spun in turn two to bring out the caution. Again, Thomson was quick on the restart and pulled away to a big lead only to see caution with four laps to go as Donny Williams slowed with a flat tire.
Henry Shepherd, the Sportsman winner here two weeks ago, slapped the front stretch wall with two laps to go then hit the turn one wall after something broke on the car. Following the restart, second and third running Matt Towell and Timmy Todd, Jr. tangled coming out of turn four sending both to the back of the field.
Thomson held his advantage the rest of the way and took the win while John Castro held off Justin Reynolds' furious last lap challenge to take second. Reynolds was third with Richard Hight and Scott Smith fourth and fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Brett Woodley, Rodney Eary, Barbara Pierce, Todd and Towell. Thomson and Todd won the heats.
Art Kunzeman led the first six laps of the Modified feature before he spun out on the back stretch to bring out the caution. Mark Emberson took over at that point but could not hold off a hard-charging Shain Held who took over the lead on lap ten and sped off to the win. Emberson came home second trailed by Jimmy Winks, Kunzeman, Kelly Jarrett, Randy Froelich and Gary Fountain, Sr. Bobby Joe Woodley was unable to start the feature after a hard heat race crash. The heat was also won by Held.
R.J. Arnone broke Pedie Allison's three-race win streak leading all the way to win the Mini Stock feature. Kelly Jarrett held off Allison for second while Bob Miller and Richie Laszlo rounded out the top five. Allison won the heat race.
The Super Stock feature was the only one to run green to checker and it was a good one. Ray Mullis jumped out to an early lead and was looking good until lapped cars came into play allowing Roger Benton to sneak by on lap nine. Benton held on the rest of the way to take his second consecutive victory with Jason Pick finishing a strong second over Ron McCreary, James Frisbie and Mullis. Completing the top ten were Lee Wagner, Bobby Simcox, Jeff Parrish, Barry Parks and Bob Starr. Super Stock heats were taken by McCreary and Simcox.
In action for the Palm Tree Computer Systems/BCS Welding & Fabrication/Orlando Graphix Junior Stocks it was Luke Burke looking like a sure winner in the 8-11 year old division but his Dodge Neon started sputtering on the final lap allowing Wes Railing, Jr. to drive by for the lead and the eventual win while Burke held on for second over Carl Kwasny, Jr. Burke did win the heat race though. In the 12-15 year old class, Austin Carr dominated throughout, winning the heat then taking the feature victory over Jason Rosarius, Derek Binda and Cory Gowin.
The final race of the night, the Action Gator Tire Strictly Stocks, was called complete after eight laps following a bad crash that sent Bob Heina to the hospital for treatment.
Glenn Rhodes was leading at the time and was declared the winner, his first career win. The A-1 Shed Transport team of Steve Anderson and Rob Reynolds were second and third ahead of Richard Barrenchea and Neil Kirby. The remainder of the top ten were Jim Erb, Heina, William Hindman, Tom Stewart and Denny Johns. Heats for the 26 Strictly Stocks were won by Anderson and Kirby.
Fan Sponsors for the night included Southern Concrete & Masonry of Vero Beach, Sutter Irrigation of Lake Mary, Santa Claus, Jimmy Scripter Racing, TK Lawn Service of Unionville, OH, Orion Communications of Winter Springs, CCDI Home Inspection Services, HGR Construction of Winter Park, and Brevard Rigging & Tractor Parts of Cocoa.
Next week the Strictly Stocks will go for 30 laps in the McBor Industries Special.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - ARPIL 13
Jr. Stocks 8-11
1 - 51 Wes Railing 2 - 68 Luke Burke 3 - 88 Carl Kwasny
1 - 63 Glenn Rhodes 2 - 27 Steve Anderson 3 - A1 Rob Reynolds 4 - 20X Richard Barraechea 5 - 8N Neal Kirby 6 - 89X Jim Erb 7 - 3 Bob Heina 8 - 89 William Hindman 9 - 66 Tom Stewart 10 - 55 Denny Johns 11 - 22 Miguel Barrenechea 12 - 45 David Czerwinski Jr. 13 - 41 George Brown 14 - 7 Jimmy Scripter 15 - 27 Joey White 16 - 10 Skip Land 17 - 20 Brent Bruner 18 - 76 Gary Thomas 19 - 104.1 Dan Webb 20 - 28 Mike Francis 21 - 26 Michaell Todd 22 - 80 Steven Streight 23 - D2 David Leeper Ii 24 - 15-3 Shane Sutorus 25 - 20XX Daniel Steele
Mini Stock
1 - 30 R.j. Arnone 2 - 97 Kelly Jarrett 3 - 92 Pedie Allison 4 - 02 Bob Miller 5 - 07XX Richie Laszlo Jr. 6 - 9XX Mickey Wright
Super Stock
1 - 14 Roger Benton 2 - 44 Jason Pick 3 - 24PK Ron Mccreary 4 - 3X James Frisbie 5 - 316 Ray Mullis 6 - 74 Lee Wagner 7 - 92 Bobby Simcox 8 - 05X Jeff Parrish 9 - 27 Barry Parks 10 - 40 Bob Starr 11 - 11S Dennis Snyder 12 - 29 Alaine Grogan 13 - 97 Scott Keena 14 - 72 Nathan Haystead 15 - 17 Sean Bass
Sportsman
1 - 54 Brandon Thomson 2 - 5 John Castro 3 - 20 Justin Reynolds 4 - 23 Richard Hight 5 - 31 Scott Smith 6 - 99 Brett Woodley 7 - 6 Rodney Eary 8 - 57 Barbara Pierce 9 - 25 Timmy Todd Jr. 10 - 14 Matt Towell 11 - 00 Whitney Poole 12 - 33 Derrick Wood 13 - 4 Eddie Thornton 14 - 11 Henry Shepherd 15 - 111 Donny Williams 16 - 66 Andrew Nicholls DNS 17 - 3 Earl Beckner DNS
Super Late
1 - 2 Patrick Conrad 2 - 88 David Pollen Jr. 3 - 14 Ronnie Roach 4 - 18 Jared Allison 5 - 4X Blake Lehr 6 - 15 Joe Piazza 7 - 53 Darren Brown 8 - 68 Russ Shaw 9 - 4 Rick Bates 10 - 11 Gary Bierlein 11 - P1 David Pollen DNS 12 - 32M Michael; Williams DNS
Modified
1 - 55 Shain Held 2 - 30 Mark Emberson 3 - 2x Jimmy Winks 4 - 9 Art Kunzeman 5 - 55x Kelley Jarrett 6 - 8 Randy Froehlich 7 - 33 Gary Fountain Sr 8 - 98 Bobby Joe Woodley
