Samsula, Fla. (June 30, 2007) No one was really sure of the weather but that did not stop 16 Super Lates from coming to New Smyrna Speedway for the Bright House Challenge SLM 50. With the Annual Clyde Hart Memorial125 on the schedule for July 4th at New Smyrna, this was the time to test and tune that Super Late.
Jeff Choquette put the No. 92 owned by Dick Anderson on the pole for the event with a 17.390 followed by Tim Russell with a 17.416, Patrick Conrad with a 17.442, Justin Drawdy with a 17.508 and Corey Freed with a 17.711. Choquette pulled a 0 starting the field straight up.
When the green flagged waved, Russell jumped to the point followed by Choquette, Drawdy, Conrad and David Rogers. But Choquette was not to stay in that second position as he passed Russell for the lead with Drawdy following thru for second. Russell settled into third. But the action got even hotter as Conrad passed Russell for third and Russell found himself in fourth followed by Rogers.
The yellow came out for Dusty Cornelius who spun at the bottom of turns 1 and 2. Cornelius was fine and rejoined the field for the restart. On the restart, Choquette showed the way but somehow Rogers got into the back of one of the cars and received heavy damage to the right front of his car having to pit for a few laps for repairs. In the meantime, it is Choquette, Drawdy, Russell, Conrad, Freed, Dustin Skinner, Dusty Cornelius, Blake Lehr, Chad Pierce, and Kurt Jett leading the way.
Lap 19 Chad Pierce and Dustin Skinner spin at the bottom of turn 1. The caution is blamed on a lap car and both are given back their spots for the restart. Choquette once again leads the way followed by Drawdy, Russell, Conrad, and Freed. The battle is on between Russell and Conrad and Freed and Skinner as they do some tight side-by-side action. But Russell holds his position in third as Freed holds his position in fifth.
Lap 35 sees the yellow for Dusty Cornelius who has spun in turn 4. The cars are quickly realigned as Choquette leads the way over Drawdy, Russell, Conrad, and Freed. Sixth place Pierce is now on the hunt to move up as he looks high and low on Freed. Freed holds at first but in the end, Pierce takes the spot as Freed settles into sixth.
The big caution of the night comes on lap 43 when Vince Keeler spins in turn 1 with Conrad spinning to avoid hitting Keeler. With no place to go, Lehr gets the worse end of the deal as he spins avoiding Keeler and Conrad. Lehr is fine but the car is done for the night.
Choquette leads the way on the restart as Conrad and Russell battle for third with Russell high and Conrad low. Drawdy, who had a bad restart, finds himself back to fourth with a hard charging Chad Pierce on his tail. Pierce in on the inside, Drawdy on the outside on the last lap coming down the backstretch when somehow Drawdy hits the backstretch wall. The car is unable to continue but with the checkered waving, Choquette takes the win followed by Tim Russell, Patrick Conrad, Chad Pierce and Corey Freed.
In other action, Richard Goodrich took his first feature win in the Strictly Stock division after leading the entire race. Battles went on throughout the field but it was Doug Wolf finishing second followed by Jody Roberts, Sonny Pond, and Skip Wager. Brent Bruner and Jody Roberts won the heat races.
Mini Stocks saw Benjamin Zell on the pole but it was fast wheelin Ted Vulpius who took the checkered. Wayne Wells had a great run as he challenged for the lead and actually took it for a few laps but Vulpius was just too strong to hold off. Vulpius took the checkered followed by Wayne Wells, Jeff Pitsley, Mark Broat, and Rex Christensen. Wayne Wells took the heat win.
Gary Fountain Jr. had the pole for the Modified feature but it was Alan Bruns who took the point on the green followed by Gary Fountain Sr., Lee Collins, Art Kunzeman and Matt Wheeler. It takes Collins little time to take over second when the caution comes out for Gary Fountain Jr. who spun on the frontstretch.
The field is realigned for the restart with Bruns leading the way over Collins, Fountain Sr., Kunzeman, and Wheeler. Collins goes to the outside passing Bruns for the lead and sails to the checkered followed by Bruns, Fountain Sr., Kunzeman, and Wheeler. But it was not Lee Collins night as he was dq'd in tech giving the win to Bruns. Top five then were Bruns, Fountain Sr., Kunzeman, Wheeler and Gary Fountain Jr. Lee Collins won the heat race.
Super Stocks saw Scott Smith on the pole and taking the point on the green but it was Bobby Holley taking the most important flag, the checkered. In spite of a few cautions during the feature, Holley held on to his position to take the win followed by Jeff Colburn, Mike Wofford, JT Tippins, and Mike Amato. Scott Smith took the heat win.
OFFICIAL RESULTS NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY, JUNE 30 Bright House Challenge SLM 50
1 - 92 Jeff Choquette 2 - 36 Tim Russell 3 - 2 Patrick Conrad 4 - 57 Chad Pierce 5 - 12 Corey Freed 6 - 5S Dustin Skinner 7 - 9 Kurt Jett 8 - 22 Dusty Cornelius 9 - 12 Justin Drawdy 10 - 3G Gary Terry 11 - 11X Gary Bierlein 12 - 11 David Rogers 13 - 4 Blake Lehr 14 - 79 Vince Keeler 15 - 81 Art Cross 16 - 56 Chris Staggs DNS
Modified
1 - 4B Alan Bruns 2 - 33 Gary Fountain 3 - 9 Art Kunzeman 4 - 97 Matthew Wheeler 5 - 77 Gary Fountain, Jr 6 - 3 Jeff Colburn 7 - 89 Lee Collins DQ'D
Super Stock
1 - 56 Bobby Holley 2 - 3 Jeff Colburn 3 - 15 Michael Wofford 4 - 31 JT Tippins 5 - 2X Michael Amato 6 - 21 Mike Dahm 7 - 01 Scott Smith 8 - 67X Billy Boggs 9 - 23 Edward Barber 10 - 25 Geno Smith 11 - 32 Steve Green
Mini Stock
1 - 71 Ted Vulpius 2 - 23 Wayne Wells 3 - 20 Jeff Pittsley 4 - 6 Mark Broat 5 - V3 Rex Christensen 6 - 71K Greg Kopp 7 - 6X James Dixson 8 - 10 Benjamin Zell
Strictly Stock
1 - 86 Richard Goodrich 2 - 70 Doug Wolf 3 - 13 Jody Roberts 4 - 912 Sonny Pond 5 - 43 Wiiliam Skip Wager 6 - 27 Steve Anderson 7 - 20 Brent Bruner 8 - A-1 Rob Reynolds 9 - 04 Arnold Parent 10 - 71 Eddie Rush 11 - 4 Dustin Higdon 12 - 75 Bruce Huelsman Jr 13 - 7 Roy Lester 14 - 76 Gary Thomas 15 - 18 Dominic Barbado 16 - D2 David Leeper 17 - 69 Eric Wolf 18 - 68 Brian Sayne 19 - 39 April Mcgowan
