Randy Anderson Claims QUICK KIDS 2007 Title At Orlando SpeedWorld
by Dave Westerman
For once there was no need to watch the weather radar Friday evening at Orlando Speedworld as fans and competitors were greeted with clear skies, low humidity and cooler temperatures that had a few fans bringing out the jackets and sweaters for the first time in recent memory.
As always, the Super Late Models put on another fast-paced show in their 25 lap feature event. Defending track champion Dusty Cornelius, who has raced here just sparingly this year, zipped out to an early lead but only lasted two circuits as high-flying Patrick Conrad took over in this one early and would never be headed the remaining distance.
The race was slowed by three minor caution flag periods. Newcomer Scott Williams spun and backed into the turn four wall on lap ten. He was able to drive away, but the damage to his racer sent him pit side. Cornelius spun out of third spot to bring out the caution on lap 14 then Jeremy Fitch lost 4th spot with a spin on lap 22.
On each restart, Conrad drove away from the pack with ease taking the checker several car lengths in front of David Pollen, Jr. and Jared Allison. Allison brought two cars to the track for himself and Michael Williams to drive, but Allison's car suffered engine problems in the heat and he switched to the car that had been assigned to Williams for the feature meaning he had to start last in the field. Allison would ulimately end up with a second place finish as Pollen's car was set down in tech for a rear end infraction. Pollen's DQ virtually assured Allison of his second Speedworld Super Late Model point championship.
Rusty Ebersole would end up with a third place finish while Fitch would race back to fourth just in front of Joe Piazza. Rounding out the finishers were Cornelius, Mario Maresca and Williams. Pollen won the heat but his DQ gave that win to Conrad. Despite a short field of cars, there was plenty of action in the Modified feature.
Heat winner Mark Emberson jumped out front early in the feature but was quickly reeled in by Shain Held. However, Held spun coming off turn two on lap nine to bring out the yellow. On the restart, Emberson was drilled from behind by Bobby Joe Woodley and spun. In the ensuing mealee, Held, Bruce Packer and Terry Bryant all spun as well with Held getting the worst of it requiring a trip to the pits on the ABC Towing roll-back. Both Packer and Bryant continued with just minor damage.
Emberson would never be headed from that point as a late race double spin by both Woodley and Randy Froelich allowed a suprised Packer (who was making his very first start here) to come home with a runner-up finish. Bryant took third spot ahead of Froelich, Woodley and Held.
After having a tough go of it with his new Sportsman car all season, two-time Super Stock champion Jason Foster was being told that he'd have better luck if he'd change from his new white paint scheme to his traditional black. Since doing so, Foster has seen his whole pattern do an about face and he put the icing on the cake with a wire to wire win Friday night.
There was plenty of bumping and banging in this one as drivers were preparing for next weeks annual Homer Gordon Memorial, but all the action was well behind Foster who dodged a flurry of lapped traffic late in the race to hold Andy Nicholls off for his first win in the Sportsman class. Henry Shepherd battled his way to a third place finish ahead of Brett Woodley and Timmy Todd, Jr. Completing the finishers were Jeff Wright, Whitney Poole, Don Milam, Phil Luzzio, Mike Santana, Jessie Cuddy, Ted Head and Justin Reynolds. Foster and Todd won the heat races.
The Super Stock feature was a wild one with a number of the top runners never making it to the finish. John Hodge was the early leader but point leader Lee Wagner made a few bold moves early on to claim the front position by the third lap. Lap five saw plenty of action as Ron McCreary and Bobby Riley got together with James Frisbie smacking the wall hard trying to avoid them. Frisbie dropped out while Riley continued only to see the damage to his machine cause him to spin again on lap seven. He too also took his car to the pits.
Wagner maintained his first spot all the way to the checkered flag despite a fast closing Darren Gould who would have to settle for second. McCreary crossed the line third but was disqualified again for refusing an engine tear-down. That moved Hodge up to the third place spot with Bobby Simcox and Roger Benton fourth and fifth. Rounding out the finishing field were Alaine Grogan, Dennis Snyder, Jeff Parrish, Billy Belflower, Matt Reynolds, Riley, Frisbie and Nathan Haystead. Super Stock heat wins were taken by Gould and Frisbie.
Pedie Allison may be ready to retire and even has his car up for sale, but the rest of the Mini Stock class wishes he would quit now just to give them a chance. Allison assumed the lead from R.J. Arnone and swept to yet another Mini Stock win taking it with ease over Arnone, David Russell, Dick Laszlo, John Cook and Emily Cottrell. Allison also won the heat.
Just four trucks showed for Quick Kid racing action but the race turned out to be an action-packed one as Randy Anderson held off the field and earned enough points to claim the 2007 Quick Kid title. Anderson led the entire distance and took the win over Tyler Laing, T.J. Duke and Colby Clements.
The Action Gator Tire Strictly Stocks again picked up some "fan" sponsorship from Southern Concrete of Vero Beach, D&D Lift Service of Rockledge, Mims East Coast Auto Salvage, Poole Motorsports, Atlantic Forklift Service of Cocoa, Don's Paint & Body of Minneola and Tammy's Quality Cleaning of Rockledge.
Richard Barrenechea put his Firebird out to the early lead but could not hold off the Ford Probe of Todd McCreary who led the balance of the race from that point. Barrenechea held on for second in front of Rob Reynolds, Brent Bruner and David Leeper II. Rounding out the top ten were Billy Rouse, Gary Thomas, Neal Kirby, Miguel Barrenechea and Glen Rhodes. Heat wins were taken by Rouse and Leeper.
The Palm Tree Computer Junior Stocks saw 8-11 year old Jeff Cuddy take the overall win in his new Mustang. Dylan Curtis was second and took the first place trophy for the 12-15 year old class. Completing the finishers were Jason Rosarius, Joseph Daniel, Derek Binda and Carl Kwasny, Jr.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD OCTOBER 12, 2007
QUICK KIDS
1 - 84 Randy Anderson 2 - 39 Tyler Laing 3 - 28 T.J. Duke 4 - 20 Colby Clements
Jr. Stocks 8-11
1 - 64 Jeff Cuddy 2 - 88 Carl Kwasny
Jr. Stocks 12 - 15
1 - 6 Dylan Curtis 2 - 18 Jason Rosarius 3 - 24 Joseph Daniel 4 - 27 Derek Binda
Strictly Stock
1 - 77 Todd McCreary 2 - 20X Richard Barraechea 3 - A1 Rob Reynolds 4 - 20 Brent Bruner 5 - D2 David Leeper II 6 - 18 Billy Rouse 7 - 76 Gary Thomas 8 - 8N Neal Kirby 9 - 22 Miguel Barrenechea 10 - 63 Glenn Rhodes 12 - 5 Dally Lloyd 13 - 36 Ian Rhodes 14 - 86 Shane Smith
Mini Stock - Features
1 - 92 Pedie Allison 2 - 30 R.J. Arnone 3 - 31 David Russell 4 - 07 Richie Laszlo 5 - 24 Jonathan Cook 6 - 19 Emily Cottrell 7 - 63 Matt Sprenkle DNS
Super Stock - Features
1 - 74 Lee Wagner 2 - 16 Darren Gould 3 - 00 John Hodge 4 - 92 Bobby Simcox 5 - 14 Roger Benton 6 - 29 Alaine Grogan 7 - 11S Dennis Snyder 8 - 05X Jeff Parrish 9 - 15 Billy Bellflower 10 - 77R Matt Reynolds 11 - 52 Bobby Riley 12 - 3X James Frisbie 13 - 72 Nathan Haystead 14 - 99 Brent Tyler DNS 15 - 24PK Ron Mccreary DQ'D
Sportsman
1 - 49 Jason Foster 2 - 66 Andy Nicholls 3 - 11 Henry Shepherd 4 - 99 Brett Woodley 5 - 25 Timmy Todd Jr. 6 - 50 Jeff Wright 7 - 00 Whitney Poole 8 - 69 Don Wilson 9 - 27 Philip Luizzo 10 - 151 Mike Santana 11 - 64 Jessie Cuddy 12 - 92 Ted Head 13 - 20 Justin Reynolds
Super Late
1 - 2 Patrick Conrad 2 - 18 Jared Allison 3 - 23 Rusty Ebersole 4 - 2X Jeremy Fitch 5 - 15 Joseph Piazza 6 - 22X Dusty Cornelius 7 - 14X Mario Maresea 8 - 51 Scott Williams 9 - 18X Michael Williams 10 - 88 David Pollen Jr. DQ'D
Modified
1 - 30 Donald Emberson 2 - 15 Bruce Packer 3 - 08 Terri Bryant 4 - 8 Randy Froehlich 5 - 98X Bobby Joe Woodley 6 - 55 Shain Held 7 - 33 Gary Fountain Sr. DNS
