Keene wins race, Moff takes championship in Goodyear Challenge Late Model 100 at Orlando SpeedWorld
by Dave Westerman
Orlando Speedworld wrapped up the 2007 regular race season in style Friday with plenty of hot racing action on a very cool night that featured the season finale for the FASCAR Goodyear Challenge Series Late Models.
Daniel Keene, Jr. was the fastest in qualifying for the Goodyear cars, tripping the clocks at 13.736 seconds with Doug Moff second quick at 13.893 followed by the 13.923 lap of Justin Larson. The top three from time trials were inverted for the start of the 100 lap event putting Larson on the pole and Moff on the outside of row one. It would be Larson grabbing the lead at the outset as Keene followed him underneath Moff who settled into third in front of A.J. Currelli and Rich Clouser.
Caution flew on lap eight for a tangle in turn two involving Ricky Carmichael, J.R. McMichael and Chuck Abell. The incident left the front body work of McMichael's car dragging from the back of Carmichaels. All involved were able to continue but McMichael dropped out just five laps after the green flew.
Following the restart, Keene really began to put the pressure on Larson but the young driver from Safety Harbor was holding strong. Finally, on lap 33, Larson got a bit loose off turn two and Keene zipped underneath to grab the point. Three laps later, Gary Muglach spun and backed into the turn three wall ending his night and bringing out the second yellow flag.
Keene had the point at mid race trailed by Larson, Moff, Currelli, Clouser, Joe Winchell, Abell, Richard Folwell, Earl Beckner and Greg Kaouk as the top ten runners. Lap 54 saw caution flag number three as Ray Black, Jr. spun in turn one.
Four laps following the restart a major crash took place on the back stretch involving the cars running in second through fourth positions. Larson got loose and when the dust settled, Currelli's car was on top of Larson's and Moff's car was hard in the wall and virtually destroyed. All drivers were OK and Currelli actually returned to competition with a "modified" version of his racer.
The incident moved Clouser up to second for the restart with Winchell in third as they both tried to figure out a way to catch Keene. Winchell's race would come to a grinding halt on lap 61 as he tagged the wall to bring out another caution.
The restart now had Keene leading Clouser, Earl Beckner (in an ASA legal car), Charles Kopach and Greg Kaouk. The field began to reel off some green flag laps as Currelli finally called it a night and pulled to the infield on lap 73.
The race stayed under green with Keene well in command until Raymond Folwell and Chuck Abell tangled on the back stretch with nine laps to go. Abell took his car to the pits with a flat tire but returned while Bryan Silas' car lost power under caution and he pulled off the track and out of the race.
Ricky Carmichael spun out of fifth spot on the restart to keep the yellow flag out and now had to restart from the tail of the cars on the lead lap.
Keene had no problem outdistancing the field over the remaining nine laps as just seven of the original 17 starters would take the checker. Clouser was second while Beckner took his underpowered ASA machine to a well-deserved third. Charles Kopach was fourth and Raymond Folwell slipped by for fifth as Carmichael tangled with Kaouk on the final lap.
The win was Keene's third of the year in Goodyear Challenge Competition while Moff, despite his crash, was crowned the 2007 Goodyear Challenge champion.
Abell crossed the line in sixth with Ray Black, Jr. seventh and the last car running. Kaouk and Carmichael were credited with eighth and ninth and Darren Brown was scored tenth. Silas, Currelli, Wichell, Larson, Moff, Muglach and McMichael completed the finishing field. For the second week in a row, 2007 Modified champion Shain Held dominated the Modified feature winning by just over a half lap. Held took off from his outside pole starting position and led every lap to take the win over Mark Emberson and Tank Tucker. Randy Froelich came home in fourth spot trailed by Art Kunzeman, Chris Smyth, Bruce Packer and Terri Bryant.
Jason Foster recovered from an early race spin to take the win in the Sportsman feature. After having to restart from the back of the pack, Foster used a couple of other yellow flag periods to close on early leader Timmy Todd, Jr. then passed him for the lead on lap 14 and sped to victory. Todd crossed the line in second which was good enough for him to wrap up the 2007 Sportsman point title. Ted Head drove from the back of the starting grid to third spot with Dale Clouser fourth and Brett Woodley fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Pete Starr, Mike Todd, Jeff Wright, Whitney Poole and Richard Hight. Pedie Allison wrapped up his 2007 Mini Stock championship in style by taking his seventh consecutive win, leading all the way. The win was Allison's 18th of the season. R.J. Arnone crossed the stripe a distant second followed by Jeff Pittsley, Bob Miller, John Cook and Emily Cottrell.
John Hodge led all the way to claim his first Super stock win of the year. It was a good night for him to do it as Hodge also picked up a special bonus being awarded to the highest finishing non-winner including cash donated by a number of race teams and fans. 2007 point champion Lee Wagner tried every trick in the book but could not pass Hodge and settled for second. Justin Reynolds took the third spot followed by Bob Starr and Chad Pierce while Jeff Parrish, Bobby Riley, Mike Matarrazo, Dennis Snyder and Nathan Haystead rounded out the top ten.
2007 Action Gator Tire Strictly Stock champion Rob Reynolds showed the way once again as a huge field put on a wild feature event. Devon Cuddy took home the second spot while birthday boy Shane Sutorus was third in his big Ford. Fourth and fifth went to Billy Rouse and David Leeper II while Richard Barrenechea, Mark Walls, Glenn Rhodes, Gary Thomas and Brent Bruner completed the first ten finishers. The Palm Tree Computers Junior Stock race got off to a rocky start when Carl Kwasny, Jr. tangled with another car and hit the front stretch wall. Kwasny was OK but his car was done for the night. Jeff Cuddy grabbed the lead on the restart and, despite a balky engine, led all the way to take the win over Wes Railing, Jr. and Derek Binda.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD NOVEMBER 9, 2007
Jr. Stocks 8-11 1 - 64 Jeff Cuddy 2 - 51 Wes Railing 3 - 88 Carl Kwasny
Jr. Stocks 12-15
1 - 27 Derek Binda 2 - 6 Dylan Curtis
Strictly Stock
1 - A1 Rob Reynolds 2 - 4 Devon Cuddy 3 - 15-3 Shane Sutorus 4 - 18 Billy Rouse 5 - D2 David Leeper II 6 - 20X Richard Barraechea 7 - 4U Greg Bruce 8 - 6 Mark Walls 9 - 63 Glenn Rhodes 10 - 76 Gary Thomas 11 - 20 Brent Bruner 12 - 22 Bryan Townson 13 - 22 Miguel Barrenchea 14 - 24 Brenda Taylor 15 - 36 Ian Rhodea 16 - 5 Robert Patterson 17 - 89 Shifty Shawn 18 - 26 Michael Todd 19 - 86 Shane Smith 20 - 86X Tommy Morrison 21 - 7 Enrique Romero 22 - 8N Neal Kirby 23 - 8B Gregory Bruce Jr
Goodyear Challenge Late Model 100
1 - 16 Daniel Keene Jr 2 - 9 Rich Clouser 3 - 36 Earl Beckner 4 - 01 Charles Kopach 5 - 03 Raymond Folwell 6 - 19 Charles Abell 7 - 4 Ray Black Jr. 8 - 31 Greg Kaouk 9 - 53 Darren Brown 10 - 32 Bryan Silas 11 - 2 A.J. Curreli 12 - 57 Joe Winchell 13 - 88 Justin Larson 14 - 46 Doug Moff 15 - 31X Gary Maglach 16 - 119 J.R. McMickle 17 - 4C Ricky Carmichael 18 - 6 Richard Douglas DNS
Mini Stock
1 - 92 Pedie Allison 2 - 30 R.J. Arnone 3 - 20 Jeff Pittsley 4 - 02 Bob Miller 5 - 24 John Cook 6 - 19 Emily Cottrell
Super Stock
1 - 00 John Hodge 2 - 74 Lee Wagner 3 - 77 Justin Reynolds 4 - 40 Bob Starr 5 - 1 Chad Pierce 6 - 05X Jeff Parrish 7 - 52 Bobby Riley 8 - 845 Michael Matarazzo 9 - 11 Dennis Snyder 10 - 72 Nathan Haystead 11 - 55 Denny Johns 12 - 316 Ray Mullis 13 - 32L Larry Waldis 14 - 7I Scott Edwards 15 - 43 Cara Wells 16 - 32X Paul Margolio 17 - 54X Brian Lynch 18 - 44 Jason Pick DNS 19 - 66 Andrew Nicholls DNS 20 - 29 Alaine Grogan DNS More Results
Sportsman
1 - 49 Jason Foster 2 - 25 Timmy Todd Jr. 3 - 92 Ted Head 4 - 30 Dale Clouser 5 - 99 Brett Woodley 6 - 95 Pete Starr 7 - 0 Michaell Todd 8 - 50 Jeff Wright 9 - 00 Whitney Poole 10 - 23 Richard Hight 11 - 29 Matthew Jarrett 12 - 16 Bill Hall 13 - 45 Mike Soukup DNS
Modified
1 - 55 Shain Held 2 - 30 Mark Emberson 3 - 51 Tank Tucker 4 - 8 Randy Froehlich 5 - 9 Art Kunzeman 6 - 07 Christopher Smith 7 - 15 Bruce Packer 8 - 08 Theresa Bryant
QUICK KIDS
1. #28 T.J. Duke 2. #39 Tyler Laing 3. #69 Stephen Nassee 4. #36 Austin Stamper 5. #19 Donnie Gray, Jr. 6. #17 Colby Clements
Orlando Speedworld wrapped up the 2007 regular race season in style Friday with plenty of hot racing action on a very cool night that featured the season finale for the FASCAR Goodyear Challenge Series Late Models.
Four laps following the restart a major crash took place on the back stretch involving the cars running in second through fourth positions. Larson got loose and when the dust settled, Currelli's car was on top of Larson's and Moff's car was hard in the wall and virtually destroyed. All drivers were OK and Currelli actually returned to competition with a "modified" version of his racer.
