It was a full night of racing Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld with seven divisions in action including the first appearance of the year for the Outlaw Modifieds plus the return of the RE/MAX Legends after a two week layoff.
Kory Abbott and Shaughn McCormick won the heat races for the RE/MAX Legends but it was the second heat that saw a big crash between the leaders Andy Logan and Mike Verhaagh that sent both spinning. Bryan Beland, trailing the action, got loose and pounded the back stretch wall. Unbelievably, all three would return to start the feature. Chelsea Schillig took the lead at the drop of the green only to see caution at the end of lap one as Beland's ill-handling car got away from him in turn one. On the restart Gerald Campbell spun his car into the turn two wall to keep the track yellow.
Schillig continued to lead the way but caution was out again two laps after the restart as something broke on fourth-running Jimmy Norman's car and he spun down the back stretch somehow being missed by the charging pack of cars behind him. Norman retired from the event as did Verhaagh.
Abbott wasted little time getting by Schillig, taking the point on lap five. Schillig stayed close until getting slowed by lapped traffic in the later laps. Abbott took yet another win and dedicated his victory to his car owner's wife, Janice Hickson, who was in the hospital and unable to attend. Schillig came back from some recent hard luck to finish second while Logan was a distant third. Fourth and fifth were McCormick and Gerald White, Jr., his best finish since moving up from the Bandoleros. Rounding out the top ten were Leonard Hearndon, Alex Kempf, Rick Wetmore, Gary Verdier and Dalton Bergman. A good field of Outlaw Modifieds saw the twin heat races go to John Parrish and Charlie Lee. Ric Mills grabbed the early lead as the pack sliced and diced behind him. John Gilbert III had just moved into second when he spun coming off turn two collecting the machines of Parrish, Billy Campbell and Cliff Steinmann with only Parrish able to continue. Parrish was not penalized and he restarted in second position.
On the restart it was Doug Hopper going on a tear as he took second from Parrish on lap nine then moved by Mills for the lead on the following lap.
Caution was back out on lap eleven as Craig Sherar spun in his own water in turn four. Sherar was pushed to the infield as the track was dried.
Hopper continued to set the pace as the race went back under green with Parrish in his shadow. They continued to run that way until the caution was put out again with three laps to go as Mike Endee spun in turn two.
Parrish pulled alongside Hopper twice over the final three laps but slipped high in turn one on the white flag lap allowing Hopper a clean run to the checker. Parrish just held off Charlie Lee at the line for second as Tom Meyer claimed a hard fought fourth while Marty Neikens made a late charge up to fifth. Completing the top ten were Mills, Roy Campbell, Zack Rudd, Endee and Frank Hurst.
After winning the second heat in runaway style, Rockwell, NC driver Trevor Cauble took off like a rocket ship and built up a huge lead in the 40 lap Pro Challenge feature. Shaun Cain had just taken the second position from J.L. Snowden when GA driver Hunter Kent slowed to a stop in turn four to bring out the caution. Cauble maintained the top spot for two more laps before the yellow flew again for Logan Ruffin's turn four spin.
Before the field could complete another lap, caution waved again as Brandon Williamson and Ruffin got together in turn one with Williamson spinning. The quick run of cautions didn't slow Cauble as he easily held on for the win with Cain, in for the evening from Birmingham, AL, in second. Snowden, who won the first heat, was the top finishing Florida driver in third ahead of Lanny Rubink and Ryan Rust. Completing the finishers were Rowdy Gordon, Ruffin, Williamson, Jarrett Snowden, Mike Smith, Kent and Bobby Robillard. Nearly half the starting field in the Florida Open Wheel Lites was out of the their feature race before the second lap could be completed. Second heat winner Sonny O'Sullivan started on the outside pole but slowed with a smoking car going into turn one on the drop of the green and headed for the infield. As the field entered turn one on the following lap, they hit a light coating of fluid causing several drivers to lose control. Jason Stout took the worst of it, smacking the turn one wall. Also eliminated were Nick Shadid, Jason Kellogg and Robert Johnson. Dave Kellogg also spun in the fluid but was able to continue.
Once back under green, that's the way things stayed all the way to the checker as first heat winner Mad Max Howe jumped out front and led the entire distance for his second win of the year. Phil Krauthoff crossed the line second ahead of John Bailey, Rick Lundeen, Stuart Haston (visiting from Sterling, Scotland) and Dave Kellogg. In action for the Hearndon Construction Bandoleros, Critter Saile "set sail" from the drop of the green and dominated the caution-filled Bandit feature. Zoey Guignardi held off Shawn Hooven for second with Zach Harris fourth over Justin Bechtold. Layton Hearndon, Daniel Conlon and Coty Bibeau rounded out the finishers. Saile also won the heat race.
Mark Hooven took the lead from Donovan Ponder as they came down to take the white flag and went on to win the Young Guns feature. Ponder held on for second over Kaleb Hearndon and Gerald Campbell. Ponder won the heat.
Hurricane class sponsor Doug Webb of ABC Towing made a rare start and took the lead at halfway from heat winner Rob Reynolds before going on to win the main event for the Hurricanes. Reynolds grabbed the runner-up spot over Brian Cosier, Brian Townson and Brenda Taylor. The remainder of the top ten were Tom Stewart, Gary Thomas, Mark Walls, John McMannen and Kenny Lokey.
Driving in his very first Outlaw Strictly Stock feature, Bobby Crites, Jr. led most of the way to claim the win. Heat winner Anthony Robinson placed second in front of Matt Covington, Bobby Jones, Rudy Arnold and Gilbert Steele
1 5 Kory Abbott 2 75 Chelsea Schillig 3 1FL Andy Logan 4 34 Shaughn McCormick 5 38 Gerald White Jr 6 53 Leonard Herndon 7 99 Alex Kempf 8 37 Dalton Bergman 9 06 Rick Wetmore 10 44 Gary Verdier 11 19 James Rodrigues 12 6A Bryan Beland 13 2 Jimmy Norman 14 65 Mark Beebo 15 7 Mike Verhaagh 16 12 Brent Tyler 17 39 Gerald Campbell 18 48 Charlie Omeilia
PRO CHALLENGE
1 37 Trevor Cauble 2 00 Shaun Cain 3 40 1/2 JL Snowden 4 18 Ryan Rust 5 76 Logan Ruffin 6 23 Lanny Rubink 7 24 Rowdy Gordon 8 20 Brandon Williamson 9 33 Mike Smith 10 4 Jarrett Snowden 11 7 Hunter Kent 12 6 Bobby Robilard
OUTLAW MODIFIEDS
1 15 Doug Hopper 2 9 John Parrish 3 33 Charlie Lee 4 4 Tom Meyer 5 70 Marty Niekens 6 22 Ric Mills 7 91 Roy Campbell 8 2 Zack Rudd 9 29 Mike Endee 10 6 Frank Hurst 11 69 Rick Voisey 12 56 Craig Shear 13 77 John Gilbert III 14 11 Billy Campbell 15 23 Cliff Steinmann
OPEN WHEEL LITES
1 2 Phil Krauthoff 2 45 John Bailey 3 04 Rick Lundeen 4 98 Stuart Haston 5 28 Dave Kellogg 6 27 Jason Stout 7 68 Nick Shahid 8 72 Robert Johnson 9 88 Jason Kellogg 10 8x Sonny O'Sullivan 11 59 Max Howe DQ'D
HURRICANES
1 104.1 Doug Webb 2 A1 Rob Reynolds 3 27 Brian Cosier 4 22 Brian Townsend 5 24 Brenda Taylor 6 66 Tom Stewart 7 76 Gary Thomas 8 6 Mark Walls 9 72 John McManen 10 03 Kenny Lokey 11 01 Chris Mogle 12 7w Thomas Mosher 13 7 David Lokey DNS
OUTLAW STRICTLY STOCK
1 1 Bobby Crites Jr 2 38 Anthony Robinson 3 7 Matt Covington 4 8 Bobby Jones 5 9 Rude Dog 6 24 Gilbert Steele
