With the Super Late Models and Modifieds off to run the big track in Lakeland, four of Speedworld's regular classes and a 50 lap Enduro race were on tap Friday night under hot, humid conditions after rains had soaked the facility for three straight days.
Twenty-five cars of all shapes and sizes came out for the Enduro with many driving the tech inspectors crazy. Rules were described as somewhat "informal" and several "gray areas" were said to be overlooked "this time."
All in all though, the race was quite competitive as Jim Erb led from the pole position early on in his Acura only to be passed by a high-flying Kyle Peters. Behind Peters' Monte Carlo, a pair of old Pontiac Grand Prix from Florida's west coast were making their presence felt as Jay Seykora and Mike Gamache, two Enduro veterans, raced their way into second and third as cars began to drop from the action virtually every lap.
No one was going to catch Peters, but this was an "Enduro" and it means you must finish to win. That wasn't the case for Peters as a belt came off his car with a handful of laps remaining. The car began to overheat and spew water and Peters finally spun in his own fluid going through turn three. Seykora took over the top spot at that point and held off the smoking car of Gamache for the win with Erb holding on for second. The final two cash-paying spots went to Brandon Johnson and Bomber Bill Loomis with Allen McClelland, Peters, John Davis, Brian Townson and Barry LaBare rounding out the top ten although just seven cars were running at the finish.
Although several competitors walked off shaking their heads, the top two finishers both cleared tech after about 45 minutes taking the bulk of the purse back to the Tampa/St. Pete area.
Andy Nicholls was in the right place at the right time to take an apparent win in the Sportsman feature. Apparent is the key word, but let's first get to what ultimately got him out front of the field. Richard Hight, who has been struggling considerably this season, led the opening six laps before he and Matt Towell tangled while racing for the lead.
The third place car of Justin Reynolds sideswiped Towell's car and flattened the right rear tire sending Reynolds to the pits for a tire change.
Nicholls, who won the heat race earlier, was running fourth but now found himself in the lead. One lap after the green flew, Towell took his frustration out on Hight, spinning him coming off turn four. Towell was shown the black flag and told to spend the rest of the race pit side.
Nicholls sped off to an easy win, but remember we said "apparent" earlier.
Nicholls' machine was DQ'd in tech for a cylinder head violation thus handing the win to point leader Timmy Todd, Jr., his second in a row. Brett Woodley earned the second place finish followed by Hight, newcomer John Tenney and Reynolds, who returned to the race a lap down but was the only other car running at the finish. Credited with sixth through tenth (all DNF's) were Jessie Cuddy, Derrick Wood, Pete Starr, Ted Head and Towell. Whitney Poole was unable to start the feature after blowing an engine in her heat race.
If you think disqualifying the winner in the Sportsman race was bad, how about the top three in the Super Stock feature!!
The race itself produced a lot of wild action with Lee Wagner leading until the next to last lap when he was passed by a high-flying Ron McCreary. A green-white finish set up by a late race spin gave Wagner one last shot at McCreary but the veteran took again what appeared as an apparent victory for the wildly popular driver.
Things got really busy in the tech shed as both McCreary and Wagner were set down for inappropriate adjustable spring buckets while third place finisher Bobby Riley was also disqualified. To make matters worse, a very upset McCreary drove away from the tech shed and came close to hitting several bystanders before actually hitting the car of Enduro winner Seykora which was just beginning to go through tech itself. For his actions, McCreary was told to take a couple of weeks off.
So who was the benefactor of all this? One Roger Benton, who turned a fourth place finish into a win in the Super Stocks, his third of the year. Ray Mullis took the second spot which was a much better outcome for him than the way his evening started. Just about a mile from the race track, both rear tires blew out on Mullis' trailer. Unable to move the trailer with the car on it, Mullis backed the car off the trailer and drove it down highway 520 to the track.
"That's the first time I've ever done anything like that. It musta been a sight to see," said Mullis.
Matt Jarrett drove his newly-skinned car to third place with Jason Pick and Jay Frisbie rounding out the top five after a mid-race altercation between them. The remainder of the top ten were Mike Mattarazo, David Gould, Dennis Snyder, Cara Wells and Vince Keeler, Jr. Wagner and Frisbie won the heats.
The Mini Stock field was totally depleted by the time the green flag flew.
Point leader Pedie Allison was at Dixie Speedway in Michigan with son Jared who finished eighth in a big Late Model race there, so he wasn't in the field giving several drivers a shot at their first win of the year.
One of those who looked like he had a good shot was David Russell. The former Hialeah Speedway standout who now lives in Melbourne had just purchased a Mini Stock from Allison to replace his under-powered Dodge that he ran so well with on the flat track down south. Russell won the heat race and was slated to start on the pole for the feature but his car lost power and had to be pushed to the pits. To top it all off, Matthew Perkins' car also lost power and he too took a trip pit side leaving only four cars to start since Heather Suggs' car had already broken in hot laps.
Bob Kelchner grabbed the early lead and was in command until his car developed a "push" in the late laps. That allowed R.J. Arnone to slip by and into the lead as the Cocoa driver claimed his third win of the year as he and Allison are still the only two drivers to visit victory lane in 2007. Kelchner finished second ahead of John Cook and Richie Laszlo who barely made it to the finish with a sick engine.
Jason Rosarius dominated the Palm Tree Computers/BCS Welding Supply/Orlando Graphix Junior Stocks winning both the heat and feature in his Mustang. Thomas Warnick came home second trailed by Dylan Curtis, Derek Binda, Colton Kunzeman (son of Modified driver Art Kunzeman who was in his very first race) and Wes Railing, Jr.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD AUGUST 3, 2007
1 - 30 R.J. Arnone 2 - 09 Bob Kelchner 3 - 24 John Cook 4 - 07XX Richie Laszlo Jr. 5 - 31 David Russell 6 - 99 Matthew Perkins 7 - 06 Heather Suggs DNS More Results
Super Stock - Features
1 - 14 Roger Benton 2 - 316 Ray Mullis 3 - 98 Matthew Jarrett 4 - 44 Jason Pick 5 - 3X James Frisbie 6 - 845 Michael Matarazzo 7 - 16 David Gould 8 - 11S Dennis Snyder 9 - 43 Cara Wells 10 - 32 Vince Keeler, Jr. 11 - 72 Nathan Haystead 12 - 12OZ Jim Flynn 13 - 29 Alaine Grogan 14 - 92 Bobby Simcox 15 - 7I Scott Edwards 16 - 25B Butch Carr Sr. 17 - 23 Kenny Kelley 18 - 24PK Ron McCreary DQ'D 19 - 74 Lee Wagner DQ'D 20 - 52 Bobby Riley DQ'D 21 - 25 Austin Carr DNS
Sportsman
1 - 25 Timmy Todd Jr. 2 - 99 Brett Woodley 3 - 23 Richard Hight 4 - 31 John Tenney 5 - 20 Justin Reynolds 6 - 14 Matt Towell 7 - 64 Jessie Cuddy 8 - 33 Derrick Wood 9 - 92 Ted Head 10 - 95X Pete Starr 11 - 00 Whitney Poole DNS 12 - 66 Andrew Nicholls DQ'D
ENDURO
1. Jay Seykora 2. Michael Gamache 3. Jim Erb 4. Brandon Johnson 5. Bill Loomis 6. Allen McClelland 7. Kyle Peters 8. John Davis 9. Brian Townson 10. Barry LaBare
