Dale Clouser tops John Potts Memorial Sportsman 50 at SpeedWorld
by Dave Westerman
Picture perfect weather greeted competitors and fans alike Friday night at Orlando Speedworld and those who were at the track a bit early were treated to a spectacular view of the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Topping the card Friday night was the annual running of the John Potts Memorial, a 50 lap Sportsman race honoring the memory of racer John Potts, the only driver to lose his life in a racing accident at Orlando Speedworld in the 33 years the track has been in operation. A good field of Sportsman turned out for the event with young Matt Towell turning quick time at 14.663 seconds, just a tick of the watch faster than the 14.679 turned in by Patrick Thomas.
However the race itself would turn into a series of wrecks, spins and caution flags that would see the scheduled 50 laps cut to 30 and just six cars finish.
Thomas jumped out to an early lead but he would bring out the first of many yellow flags when he slapped the back stretch wall on lap four flattening the right rear tire on his racer. The next two attempts to restart the race would see a pair of wrecks that eliminated the cars of Derrick Wood, Ron DiCandio and Mike Santana. Towell inherited the lead at that point and he stayed out front until the next caution period as Sportsman point leader Timmy Todd, Jr. had a bout with the turn four wall. During the caution, Towell suddenly exited the track and dropped from the race. Andy Nicholls took over at that point as track officials decided to trim the number of laps from 50 to 30.
Nicholls held on through three more caution periods and appeared on his way to his second straight Potts Memorial win but it wasn't to be. With three laps to go Nicholls' car just quit and he pulled to the infield. Dale Clouser became the lucky one at this point as he took over the top spot and led the final two laps to claim an emotional win as he was joined by members of the Potts family in victory lane.
It was Clouser's first win of the year here with young Brett Woodley doing a great job driving steadily to a well-deserved second place finish. Veteran Pete Starr took the checker in third ahead of Ron Whaley and Scott Smith.
After making a pit stop, Whitney Poole got back out and finished sixth, the last car still running out of 17 starters. Nicholls was credited with seventh with the remaining finishers (all DNF's) Earl Beckner, Richard Hight, Thomas, Tim Burr, Towell, Todd, Wood, Santana, DiCandio and Travis Roland.
The Super Late Model feature saw two young guns with bright futures ahead of them put on a show for the fans.
David Pollen, Jr. took the lead from the outside pole and would be credited with leading every lap but it would only look that way on paper. Patrick Conrad closed in on Pollen in the late laps and the two raced side by side for several laps with Pollen only inches ahead on several occasions. Coming to the checker, Conrad dove under Pollen and tried to take the line away. Pollen scraped the wall and took the checker almost sideways only two inches in front of Conrad. The fans gave both a huge round of applause as they came to victory lane. It was also Pollen's second straight win here.
Jared Allison came home in the show spot ahead of Joe Piazza and Gary Bierlein while Richard Douglas, Russ Shaw and Scott Holly rounded out the finishers. Conrad won the heat race.
Shane Held took the lead from Gary Fountain, Sr. on lap three and went on to dominate the Modified feature. Once Held got out front he checked out finishing well ahead of Fountain and third place Bobby Joe Woodley. Art Kunzeman came home fourth trailed by Terri Bryant and Chris Smyth. Held also won the heat race.
The Super Stock feature was more like a WWE Royal Rumble that saw plenty of action and busted up race cars by the end of the 15 laps. Rookie Nathan Haystead did a good job leading the opening six laps before spinning in turn one. Lee Wagner got loose trying to avoid Haystead's car and hit first heat winner Roger Benton's car putting him out of the race. Bobby Simcox took over the point as James Frisbie was the next front runner to have problems as he tangled with Jeremy Shelton on lap nine knocking much of the body work off his car. Jason Pick came up to challenge Simcox for the lead and took over as the two tangled going into turn one just as the caution flew for Alaine Grogan's spin in turn two. Pick was placed back up front and he held on for the win over Simcox and a hard-charging Ron McCreary. Ray Mullis and Vince Keeler were fourth and fifth while Bobby Riley, Bob Starr, Jack Kennedy, Jeff Parrish and first heat winner Frisbie rounded out the top ten.
Jason Schroeder led all the way to top the visiting 1-800BLACKTOP/Sunrise Animal Hospital Florida Mini Cup Racing Association 20 lap feature that saw several wild wrecks decimate the field.
No one had anything for Schroeder at the end as he finished well in front of Brady Marshall, David Kato, Michael Franklin and Tom Mellin. Completing the top ten were Don Mays, Phil Beede, Corey White, Brandon Beach and Ty Larsen.
Heat wins went to Devin McLeod and Schroeder.
Pedie Allison continues to dominate the Mini Stock class as he took the lead from Kenny Padgett on lap six and sped to his eighth win of the year. Cody Blair kept Allison honest in the late laps but had to settle for second. R.J. Arnone came home third in front of Padgett, Richie Laszlo, Bob Kelchner and David Russell. Allison was also the heat winner.
Rob Reynolds drove his Mazda to another win in the Action Gator Tire Strictly Stocks which received extra sponsorship on the night from Southern Concrete & Masonry of Vero Beach, Brevard Rigging & Tractor Parts of Cocoa and Wally Smith Racing from Punta Gorda.
Reynolds passed early leader Gary Thomas then held off the Ford Probes of Todd McCreary and David Leeper II to claim the win. Thomas held on to fourth at the finish while Dale Meade took fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Brent Bruner, Miguel Barrenchea, Tom Stewart, Denny Johns and Christopher Meade.
McCreary and Neal Kirby won the heats.
Dillon Curtis grabbed his third straight win in the Palm Tree Computer Systems/BCS Welding/Orlando Graphix Junior Stocks. Curtis, who also won the heat, topped Jason Rosarius, Brandon Henault and Carl Kwasny, Jr.
OFFICIAL RESULTS JUNE 8, 2007 ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD
Jr. Stocks 8-11
1 - 88X Brandon Jenault 2 - 88 Carl Kwasny
Jr. Stocks 1 - 6 Dylan Curtis 2 - 18 Jason Rosarius More Results
Strictly Stock
1 - A1 Rob Reynolds 2 - 77 Todd Mccreary 3 - D2 David Leeper Ii 4 - 76 Gary Thomas 5 - 22D Dale Meade 6 - 20 Brent Bruner 7 - 22 Miguel Barrenechea 8 - 66 Tom Stewart 9 - 55 Denny Johns 10 - 102 Christopher Meade 11 - 14 Bobby Betta 12 - 145 Chad Knoell 13 - 61 Nick Todd 14 - 8N Neal Kirby 15 - 80 Steven Streight 16 - 63W Tom Waldrop, Sr.
Mini Stock
1 - 92 Pedie Allison 2 - 81 Cody Blair 3 - 30 R.j. Arnone 4 - 16 Kenny Padgett 5 - 07XX Richie Laszlo Jr. 6 - 09 Bob Kelchner 7 - 31 David Russell 8 - 02 Bob Miller DNS
Super Stock
1 - 44 Jason Pick 2 - 92 Bobby Simcox 3 - 24PK Ron Mccreary 4 - 316 Ray Mullis 5 - 32 Vince Keeler 6 - 52 Bobby Riley 7 - 40 Bob Starr 8 - 79 Jack Kennedy 9 - 05X Jeff Parrish 10 - 3X James Frisbie 11 - 43 Cara Wells 12 - 29 Alaine Grogan 13 - 32X Paul Margolio 14 - 72 Nathan Haystead 15 - 74 Lee Wagner 16 - 14 Roger Benton 17 - 845 Michael Matarazzo 18 - 98 Matthew Jarrett 19 - 00 Travis Roland DQ'D
John Potts Memorial Sportsman 50
1 - 30 Dale Clouser 2 - 99 Brett Woodley 3 - 95X Pete Starr 4 - 5W Ron Whaley, Jr. 5 - 31 Scott Smith 6 - 00 Whitney Poole 7 - 66 Andrew Nicholls 8 - 3 Earl Beckner 9 - 23 Richard Hight 10 - 25P Patrick Thomas 11 - 20 Justin Reynolds 12 - 14 Matt Towell 13 - 25 Timmy Todd Jr. 14 - 33 Derrick Wood 15 - 151 Mike Santana 16 - 69 Ron Dicandio 17 - 22 Travis Roland DNS
Super Late
1 - 88 David Pollen Jr. 2 - 2 Patrick Conrad 3 - 18 Jared Allison 4 - 15 Joe Piazza 5 - 11 Gary Bierlein 6 - 60 Richard Douglas 7 - 68 Russ Shaw 8 - 1 Scott Holly
Modified
1 - 55 Shain Held 2 - 33 Gary Fountain Sr 3 - 98X Bobby Joe Woodley 4 - 9 Art Kunzeman 5 - 08 Terri Bryant 6 - 07 Christopher Smith 7 - 30 Mark Emberson DNS
Mini Cups
1 45 Jason Schroader 2 20 Brady Marshall 3 65 David Kato 4 17 Michael Franklin 5 3 Tom Mellin 6 27 Don Mays 7 40 Phil Beede 8 19 Corey White 9 74 Brandon Beach 10 07 Ty Larsen 11 00 Devin McLeod 12 11 Brenton Franklin DNS
