IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 9, 2008 12 YEAR OLD NICK STROUPE TOPS PRO CHALLENGE FIELD AT ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD By Dave Westerman Night number two of the 2008 Winternationals at Orlando Speedworld saw many more cars in the pits and plenty of red hot racing action to warm the crowd on a cool evening. The story of the night was provided by yet another young phenom of the racing world, 12 year old Nick Stroupe. The young driver from North Carolina, who raced in the Bandolero Bandits here in last years Winternationals, totally dominated the action in the Pro Challenge class. Stroupe let it be known early on he had the fastest car as he tripped the clocks in qualifying at an astounding 14.715 seconds, nearly a half-second quicker than Georgia veteran Terry Mathis who timed in at 15.253. The field started their 50 lap event straight up from qualifying and Stroupe quickly assumed a commanding lead over Trevor Cauble and Mathis. He was a full straightaway ahead of the field when the first caution flew for Kyle Wilsons spin on lap 14. Two more quick cautions, for Englands Matt Harris who spun on lap 17 and a tangle between Mathis and Dean McIntyre on lap 19, kept the field close but each time Stroupe would pull away to a comfortable advantage. Just one more caution would slow the action as Harris spun again on lap 36 but no one was going to be able to do anything with Stroupe as he won by a comfortable margin. Brandon Williamson put on the drive of the night as he came back from a spin following the lap 19 restart to race his way back to second followed by Mathis, Cauble and Jeff Lane. Rounding out the finishers were Harris, Ryan Rust, Jason Burchard, Terry Horak and Wilson. A big field of Mini Cup cars was on hand but it was all young Brady Marshall in their 25 lap feature. After winning his heat, Marshall had the pole for the feature but saw the opening lap led by PA driver Stephen Hershey. Marshall quickly took the point and never looked back as the race ran green to checker. The race actually saw a red flag for an aborted start caused by a huge three car wreck in turn three before the field could complete lap one. Camden Murphy took the brunt of the crash but he was unhurt. Murphy and Corey White were both done for the night while Zach Hoyt was able to continue. Getting the runner-up spot behind Marshall was opening night winner Devin McLeod while Carlos Pinto was third over second heat winner Hershey and Bobby Rogers. Sixth through tenth were Randy Burris, Phil Beede, Hoyt, Rick Fiore and Vinny Page. Rounding out the finishers were Steve Naples, Doug Marshall, Erik Gehrke, Jeff Myers, Mike Holt, White and Murphy. The Outlaw Modifieds saw Cliff Steinmann come back from engine problems on Thursday to lead every lap of their 25 lap feature. Thursday winner Doug Hopper gave chase but had to settle for second with heat winner Billy Campbell taking the checker in third. Fourth and fifth went to Marty Niekens and Ric Voisey with Tom Giddings, Frank Hurst, Ric Mills, Colin Cabre and Matt Delaney rounding out the top ten. Billy Gise snared the win in the 25 lap Open Wheel Lite feature after a great late race battle with Max Howe who settled for second. Rick Lundeen broke an axle with one lap to go while running fifth to bring out the caution giving Howe one last shot at Gise, but Gise was able to pull away for the victory. Third through fifth were Jeff Ripley, John Bailey and Brandon Bayse with Bob Bayse, Phil Krauthoff, Max Evans, Roger Richmond, Brad Damewood, David Kellogg, Jerry Damewood, Lundeen, Jason Stout, Sonny OSullivan, Max Howe II and Kelby Noedler rounding out the finishers. Open Wheel Lite heats were won by Gise, Howe and Lundeen. Although he was driving a different car, William Hindman used his restart expertise once again to take his second consecutive ABC Towing Hurricane feature of the Winternationals. Teammate Jim Erb checkered in second followed by Gary Thomas, Devon Cuddy and Roger Donaldson. Hurricane heat races were taken by Hindman and Mark Walls. Brad Norburg topped the Classic Car field for the second night in a row winning the heat and taking the feature win over Ron Gustafson, David Nunes and Andrew Gustafson. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD WINTER NATIONALS FEB. 8, 2008 MINI CUP 1. #20 Brady Marshall 2. #00 Devin McLeod 3. #48 Carlos Pinto 4. #7 Stephen Hershey 5. #12 Bobby Rogers 6. #04 Randy Burris 7. #40 Phil Beede 8. #67 Zach Hoyt 9. #60 Rick Fiore 10. #44 Vinny Page 11. #4 Steve Naples 12. #11 Doug Marshall 13. #9 Erin Gehrke 14. #18 Jeff Myers 15. #24 Mike Holt 16. #77 Corey White 17. #85 Camden Murphy PRO CHALLENGE 50 LAPPER 1. #51 Nick Stroupe 2. #20 Brandon Williamson 3. #71 Terry Mathis 4. #37 Trevor Cauble 5. #1 Jeff Lane 6. #151 Matt Harris 7. #18 Ryan Rust 8. #4 Jason Burchard 9. #2 Dean McIntyre 10. #28 Terry Horak 11. #05 Kyle Wilson OUTLAW MODIFIED 1. #21 Cliff Steinmann 2. #15 Doug Hopper 3. #11 Billy Campbell 4. #70 Marty Niekens 5. #69 Ric Voisey 6. #83 Tom Giddings 7. #6 Frank Hurst 8. #22 Ric Mills 9. #71 Colin Cabre 10. #8 Matt Delaney DNS OPEN WHEEL LITES 1. #1 Billy Gise 2. #59 Max Howe 3. #14 Jeff Ripley 4. #45 John Bailey 5. #44 Brandon Bayse 6. #1A Bob Bayse 7. #2 Phil Krauthoff 8. #7 Max Evans 9. #33 Roger Richmond 10. #5 Brad Damewood 11. #28 David Kellogg 12. #6 Jerry Damewood 13. #04 Rich Lundeen 14. #27 Jason Stout 15. #0 Sonny O'Sullivan 16. #X1 Max Howe II 17. #7T Kelby Noedler CLASSICS 1. #75 Brad Norburg 2. #38 Ron Gustafson 3. #20 David Nunes 4. #7 Andrew Gustafson HURRICANES/STRICTLY STOCK 1. #1 William Hindman 2. #82 Jim Erb 3. #76 Gary Thomas 4. #4 Devon Cuddy 5. #1.3 Roger Donaldson 6. #66 Tom Stewart 7. #22 Alan McClelland 8. #24 Brenda Taylor 9. #6 Mark Walls 10. #17 Dan Webb 11. #29 Tim Walters, Jr. 12. #36 Robert Gyuekovics 13. #22 Brain Townson 14. #104.1 Doug Webb 15. #48 Mano Have an opinion on this story? 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