IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 26, 2008 Jimmy Norman Tops Legends at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Lake Mary's Jimmy Norman avoided some early race chaos and went on to claim his first Legend Car win of the season Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld while Zach Hoyt took his first-ever win here in the Mini Cup feature. Legend Car action began with Tyler Smith topping the Charger class for less-experienced drivers for the second week in a row. Smith got around early leader Dallas Ingram in lapped traffic and held off Ingram for the win as the pair lapped the field. Mike Gleason came home third trailed by Tim McCormick, Ted Ruffo and Daniel Conlin, Sr. Ingram won the heat race. Legend Car heat races were taken by Kory Abbott and Jimmy Norman but luck of the draw put Shaughn McCormick and Rusty Chancey on the front row for the start of the 25 lap main event. McCormick zipped out to the early lead but caution was quickly displayed on lap two for Leonard Hearndon who had spun in turn two. Following the restart things were getting real dicey up front and Chancey got loose and spun coming off turn two. Chelsea Schillig bounced off the wall trying to avoid the spinning car causing the right front wheel to collapse as she went into turn three. Her car slid off into the turn in a shower of sparks but fortunately Schillig was able to get slowed down and avoid further damage although her night was ended prematurely. Kory Abbott was also involved and received right side damage to his machine. Abbott exited his car on the back stretch to survey the damage which is against track rules so he was penalized to the rear of the field for the restart. McCormick continued to set the pace but now had Norman glued to his bumper. Norman finally was able to slide under McCormick on lap 12 and take the point. One lap later, Abbott's car slowed in a cloud of smoke and he parked on the inside of the track in turn three. The right front fender had become dislodged following the lap two incident and finally fell off and was being dragged under the tire causing the smoke. Track crews removed the fender and Abbott restarted once again from the tail of the field. The final 12 laps were run under green as Norman led comfortably. All eyes were on Abbott as he drove up from the rear of the field but ran out of time before he could catch the two front-runners as Norman picked up his first win since the February Winternationals. McCormick, who was frustrated by an ill-handling car all day during practice, apparently made the right changes as he finished a solid second with Abbott blasting his way back to third. Tony Sansom had another strong run for fourth while Mark Bibeau had a fine run for fifth and was the top finishing Masters Division driver. Rick Wetmore was sixth while Mason Ketterman, Dave Gleason, Hearndon and Dalton Bergman rounded out the top ten. Gerald White, Jr., Chancey, Schillig and Alex Kempf completed the finishers. The Florida Mini Cup Racing Association brought twelve cars to the track with Zach Hoyt and Jason pick earning front row starting spots by winning their respective heat races. Hoyt grabbed the early lead as the field trailed closely behind him. Lap five saw Devin McLeod speed past Hoyt into the lead bringing Brady Marshall with him. The two arch-rivals duked it out for several laps before getting together on lap 16 to bring out the caution. Hoyt re-took the lead at that point and never looked back as he raced to his first career win at the track. Brenton Franklin also had his best career finish coming home second trailed by Pick. Marshall crossed the stripe in fourth but was set back four spots for jumping the restart. That placed Phil Beede in the fourth position and Rick Fiore fifth. McLeod wound up sixth with Vinny Page, Marshall, Don Mays and Mike Holt completing the top ten. Bobby Rogers and Carlos Pinto did not start. Derrick Wood out ran the Classic Car field for the second time this season leading flag to flag. Brad Norburg finished a close second followed by Jim Rahman, Ron Gustafson, Andrew Gustafson, Greg Helton and Danny Dixon. Wood also won the heat race. The Hearndon Construction Bandoleros had some more good racing for the fans with 2007 track champion Critter Saile finding himself back in the winners circle in the 8-11 year old Bandit class as he took both the heat and feature races. Trailing Critter in the feature race were Shawn Hooven, Jake Perkins, Daniel Conlin, Jr., Coty Bibeau, Justin Bechtold and Cameron White. The finish to the Young Guns race is not yet official after a protest was filed following apparent winner Donovan Ponder's disqualification in tech. The unofficial feature finish was Ponder, Mark Hooven, Zach Harris, Kaleb Hearndon and Steven Maier. Hooven won the heat race. A big field saw plenty of wild action in the ABC Towing Hurricanes. Bomber Bill Loomis came from deep on the starting grid to take the win in his Tyler's Towing sponsored six-cylinder Camaro. Devon Cuddy drove the Billy Cuddy Painting Acura to second while first heat winner Rob Reynolds came from last on the starting grid to third at the finish in his A-1 Shed Transport Ford Probe. Mark Walls was fourth and second heat winner Brian Cosier fifth at the checker with Brenda Taylor, Ralph Cammarasana, Joey Cason, Gary Thomas and T.J. Mosher rounding out the top ten although only Taylor actually finished the race. Of 17 cars slated to start, just six finished. Cason and Thomas were involved in a wild crash late in the event going into turn one. Thomas was driving (what was at least) a new T-Bird. The impact actually set off the air bags in the car as Thomas emerged a little hard of hearing but otherwise OK. Cason actually continued in his Ford LTD but blew a tire and smacked the turn four wall a lap after the restart ending his night. Colby Clements topped Kyle Schram in the Semi-Pro Truck feature after also winning the heat. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD APRIL 26, 2008 BANDOLERO BANDIT 1. #12 Critter Saile 2. #27 Shawn Hooven 3. #4 Jake Perkins 4. #20 Daniel Conlin 5. #65 Coty Beebo 6. #97 Justin Bechtold 7. #38 Cameron White BANDOLERO YOUNG GUN 1. #17 Mark Hooven 2. #54 Zach Harris 3. #48 Carl Haag 4. #53 Kaleb Hearndon 5. #23 Steven Maier 6. #8 Donovan Ponder DQ'D CHARGERS 1. #4 Tyler Smith 2. #33 Dallas Ingram 3. #X Mike Gleason 4. #34 Tim McCormick 5. #50 Ted Ruffo 6. #11 Daniel Conlin, Jr. MINI CUP 1. #67 Zack Hoyt 2. #11 Brenton Franklin 3. #04 Jason Pick 4. #40 Phil Beede 5. #60 Rick Fiore 6. #00 Devin McLeod 7. #44 Vinni Page 8. #20 Brady Marshall 9. #27 Don Mays 10. #24 Mike Holt 11. #48 Carlos Pinto DNS 12. #12 Bobby Rogers DNS SEMI-PRO TRUCKS 1. #17 Colby Clements 2. #2S Kyle Schram CLASSICS 1. #21x Derrick Wood 2. #75 Brad Norburg 3. #55 Jim Rahman 4. #38 Ron Gustafson 5. #7X Andrew Gustafson 6. #74 Danny Dixon 7. #3 Greg Helton LEGENDS 1. #2 Jimmy Norman 2. #34 Shaughn McCormick 3. #5 Kory Abbott 4. #56 Tony Sansom 5. #65 Mark Beebo 6. #06 Rick Wetmore 7. #22 Mason Ketterman 8. #07 Dave Gleason 9. #53 Leonard Hearndon 10. #37 Dalton Bergman 11. #38 Gerald White, Jr. 12. #31 Rusty Chancey 13. #75 Chelsea Schillig 14. #99 Alex Kempf HURRICANES 1. #0 Bill Loomis 2. #4 Devon Cuddy 3. #A1 Rob Reynolds 4. #6 Mark Walls 5. #27 Brian Cosier 6. #24 Brenda Taylor 7. #33 Ralp Cammarasana 8. #21 Joey Cason 9. #76 Gary Thomas 10. #19 Ricky Sullivan 11. #7X T.J. Mosher 12. #07 Daniel Roach 13. #7 Blaze Fisher 14. #71 Shawn Pridgen Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!