It was one of the biggest nights of the year Friday night as Orlando Speedworld hosted the Goodyear Challenge Series Late Models, The McBor Industries 25 for the Action Gator Tire Strictly Stocks and the Quick Kids made their first appearance of 2007.
Time trials for the 100 lap Goodyear Challenge event were incredibly close with the entire 24 car field qualifying less than one second apart.
Daniel Keene, Jr. set the pace in qualifying turning a lap of 13.699 seconds, just ahead of the 13.794 lap of A.J. Currelli and Justin Larson's lap of 13.844 seconds.
Luck of the draw saw the top three inverted for the start putting Larson on the pole with Currelli outside of him. Currelli wasted no time jumping to a quick lead and he began to pull away from Larson and Keene while Joe Winchell moved into fourth.
Caution flew on lap 15 as Jason Boyd got turned around in a cloud of smoke on the front stretch. Only a few green flag laps would be run before the second caution appeared as Johnny Kay slowed to a halt in turn four.
Currelli still had things well in hand but saw the caution out for a third time on lap 35 as the left rear tire came off J.R. McMichael's mount and he spun in a shower of sparks in turn four.
Following the restart, Currelli's car slowed suddenly and he pulled to the infield handing the top spot over to Larson. Shortly after, Sam Watts took third from Winchell bringing Goodyear Challenge point leader Doug Moff with him.
Brandon Thomson spun to bring the field back to Larson on lap 77, but it was Watts who was getting ready to put on a show as he began to really put the pressure on second-running Keene. Things came to a head just after Watts took second from Keene as the two came together off turn four with Watts spinning down the front straight. Both drivers were sent to the rear of the lead lap cars moving Moff up to second and Winchell to third.
Larson checked out on the restart but there was still one more caution to go as Jeremy Colangelo slowed to a stop in turn two with two laps to go. Larson and Moff sped off to finish one-two but the race for third came down to the final turn as Drew Brannon dove under Winchell and took the show spot while Rich Clouser also got by to snare fourth and earn the hard charger award after starting 17th. Winchell held on for fifth with Steve Dorer sixth and Darren Brown seventh.
There was plenty of cash on the line for the Action Gator Tire Strictly Stocks with the top three places getting big money from event sponsor McBor Industries, the maker of McBor Blades.
A host of other sponsors also came on board including Bruns Racing, E&H Car Crushing, Southern Concrete and Masonry of Vero Beach, Woody's Barber Shop of Palm Bay, Brevard Rigging and Tractor Parts of Cocoa, Allison Racing of Cocoa, J&J Equipment Repair, Finer Aspects Renovations, Randy Froelich Racing, Santa Claus, USA Bail Bonds of Sanford, Airport Towing, Joe Bolster of Unifirst Corporation in Fort Pierce, Patrick Conrad Racing, Lighthouse Baptist Church of Winter Park and Saint Theresa Catholic Church of Titusville.
The Strictly Stocks also got the chance to qualify with Brandon Johnson topping the 26 car field with a lap of 18.363. Johnson would start deep in the field though as it would be Allen McClelland's Honda leading the early laps. Jim Erb took over the point on lap eight only to see Johnson blast through the field and take the lead on lap ten. Johnson appeared to be headed to a win but got punted into the infield by a lapped car on lap 16. Johnson would have been placed back in the lead but he had to take his T-Bird to the pits with a flat tire and that handed the lead back over to Erb. Erb now had to battle Kyle Peters for the top spot and the two traded plenty of paint before Peters drove by and raced off to an apparent victory.
However, Peters' car was found to have a locked rear end during tech inspection and he was disqualified. That handed the win to Erb and his E&H Car Crushing team. Todd McCreary took second place in front of Brent Bruner, Neil Kirby and David Leeper II with Rob Reynolds, Denny Johns, Gary Thomas, Miguel Barrenchea and Kenny Billargeon rounding out the top ten. Completing the finishers were Chester Sutorus, David Murphy, George Brown, Steve Anderson, Richard Barrenchea, Steven Streight, Jimmy Scripter, Chris Kies, Sebastian Polido, Alex Fortune, Miguel Barrenchea, Johnson, William Hindman, Shane Sutorus, and James Newton. Dan Webb did not start.
The Sportsman feature had very little "sport" going for it as it turned into a crash-fest and was stopped two laps before the scheduled distance.
Things got off to a rocky start on lap three when Kerry Belflower pounded the turn four wall. His car caught fire then slid into the infield where it hit the ABC Towing wrecker. Both Belflower and the wrecker were OK, but Belflower's race car was trashed.
Matt Towell led the first eight laps before Timmy Todd, Jr. jumped to the point. Todd set the pace through several more cautions but it was the last few laps that eliminated several cars starting with a three car mess in turn four with two laps to go that sent Barbara Pierce and Jason Foster pit side.
Towell blew an engine on the restart and collected Dale Clouser in the process. At that point, track officials opted to throw the checker giving Todd his first win of the season. Justin Reynolds was again impressive taking a hard-fought second place followed by Donny Williams, Brett Woodley and John Castro. Sixth through tenth were Whitney Poole, Towell, Clouser, Pierce and Foster with only Poole still running at the end. Rounding out the finishers, also all DNF's, were Earl Beckner, Richard Hight, Pete Starr, Belflower and Derrick Wood.
Lee Wagner grabbed the lead at the start and was never headed in the Super Stock feature. A big crash that badly damaged the cars of Scott Keena and Jason Pick with three laps to go allowed the field to close on Wagner but he was not to be denied as he held off a furious charge from Sean Bass to claim the win.
Bass took the checker in second ahead of Bobby Simcox, Roger Benton and Jeff Parrish. Completing the top ten were Dennis Snyder, Jack Kennedy, John Bennett, Michael Poole and Tobi Smith.
Pedie Allison made it four wins in five starts in the Mini Stocks. After Josh Hermann and Kelly Jarrett tangled while fighting for second spot, Allison restarted second then passed early leader Bob Kelchner for the lead and eventual win. R.J. Arnone took the checker in second followed by Kelchner, Jarrett, Richie Laszlo, Hermann, Mickey Wright and Emily Cottrell.
Barry Bartlett dominated the Quick Kids Truck action as he set fast time then led flag to flag in their 20 lap feature. Stephen Nasse finished a close second trailed by Tyler Laing, Austin Stamper, Casey Caudill, Randy Anderson, Colby Clements, Maxx Bennett and Jason Pyros. Wes Railing, Jr. took the Palm Tree Computer Systems/BCS Welding & Fabrication/Orlando Graphix Junior Stock win ahead of Carl Kwaswny, Jr. and Jason Rosarius.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD APRIL 27, 2007
Time trials for the 100 lap Goodyear Challenge event were incredibly close with the entire 24 car field qualifying less than one second apart.
