IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 9, 2008 Matt Bowers tops Sunbelt 125 at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman 17 year old Matt Bowers of Mount Dora has been turning plenty of heads this season since moving into the Super Late Models and Friday Night at Orlando Speedworld, the rookie sensation crowned his early season achievements with a victory in the third race of the year for the Sunoco Sunbelt SLM Series. In his first visit here in the season opener for the Sunbelt cars in April, Bowers shocked everyone by setting quick time in his very first time on the track in a Super Late Model. For this race it would be Merritt Island's Brian Finney topping the qualifying charts in the Bob Steele Chevrolet Special at 13.628 seconds followed closely by Justin Drawdy at 13.631 and Bowers' 13.665. Defending Sunbelt Series champion and current point leader Tim Russell could do no better than sixth quick. Nineteen cars were set to do battle for 125 laps and the re-draw put Bowers on the pole with Drawdy outside him and Finney third. Bowers shot out to the lead at the drop of the green leaving Drawdy and Finney to fight for second. Finney got loose going down the back stretch on lap three and fell back to fifth before he could recover. Things would only get worse for Finney a lap later as he spun wildly coming off turn four. The spin broke something in the car and he was the first driver to retire from the event. Bowers continued to set the pace but the veteran Drawdy was all over him. On lap 19, Bowers made the wrong descision in lapped traffic allowing Drawdy to drive by in the high lane and take over the lead. Drawdy was able to maintain his spot through a number of minor spins that brought out the yellow four more times before 50 laps could be put in the books. A restart on lap 52 saw Russ Shaw and Koot Sapp collide on the back stretch sending Shaw's car hard into the wall. Shaw was not injured but his mount was sidelined for the remainder of the event. Drawdy's car was a bit sluggish on the restarts, but after a couple of green flag laps he appeared to have the field under his control. He continued to hold on through a caution period for Vince Keeler's spin on lap 69 and again for a tangle between Dusty Cornelius and Corey Freed on lap 83. Just after the field completed lap 91, Fain Skinner and Travis Towell crashed hard on the backstretch in an incident that spilled over into the pit area. Once things were brought under control it was Bowers who looked like a veteran as he drove high on Drawdy going into turn one then diamoned the corner coming off of turn two to slide underneath Drawdy. The two raced side by side for a pair of laps before Bowers surged ahead. Bowers looked to have things in hand but Drawdy had other ideas as he cooled his Goodyears for a few laps then put on a late charge. With two laps to go, Drawdy tried to sneak underneath Bowers off turn two, got on the flat part of the track, then moved up into Bowers' car sending him for a wild spin. Bowers got his car back under control without hitting anything, but fourth-running Jeremy Colangelo couldn't avoid the stalled car. The damage to Bowers' machine was minimal while Colangelo had severe cosmetic damage to the front of his car but opted to stay on the race track. Drawdy was ordered to the rear of the field for the restart while both Bowers and Colangelo got their spots back. Colangelo's car was a handful on the restart and he stacked up the field on the restart allowing Bowers and Tim Russell to scoot away to the finish. Bowers crossed the line a car length in front of Russell to take not only his first Sunbelt win, but his first-ever win in a Super Late Model. Russell came home second and padded his point lead while Colangelo gamely held on for third in front of David Rogers and Sam Watts. Interestingly enough, Bowers, Colangelo and Watts are all graduates of Orlando Speedworld's tough Saturday night Legend Car division. South Florida driver Mike Franklin, Jr. made his first start here in a long time and drove the Sytsma/Impact Designs car to sixth after starting 14th. Patrick Conrad, Corey Freed, Dustin Henderson and Koot Sapp rounded out the top ten. The remaining finishers were Drawdy, Daniel Webster, Fain Skinner, Travis Towell, Dusty Cornelius, Brad Bischoff, Russ Shaw, Vince Keeler and Brian Finney. The Super Stock feature was a heart breaker for Bobby Riley. After winning the 50 lap race last week, Riley started near the rear of the field but was like a rocket catching and passing David Gould for the lead by mid race. However, going into turn three, the car of Kenny Kelley which was about to be lapped, spun right in front of the leaders. Riley had no place to go and drilled Kelley's car on the drivers' side. Kelley was shaken but unhurt while Riley was none too happy over the incident as the front end of his speedy Billy Cuddy Painting Monte Carlo was destroyed. That put the lead back in the hands of Gould and he made no mistakes the rest of the way as he picked up the win over John Hodge, William Hindman, Delaun Fifeld and Jeff Parrish. Todd McCreary was the only car still running at the end and he claimed sixth while Riley, Dennis Snyder, Kelley and Matt Jarrett were scored seventh through tenth. Andy Nicholls was again in the right place at the right time in the Sportsman feature as he took his fifth win in a row. Defending Sportsman champion Timmy Todd, Jr. was leading the race when the rear end broke on his car coming off turn two. Todd spun abruptly and his car caught fire as Nicholls somehow managed to dodge him. With Todd's car in the pits, Nicholls sped off to an easy win over Derrick Wood, Rick Johns, Jessie Cuddy, Todd, Brad Stevens and Paul Colgan. Former South Florida driver David Russell, who raced Mini Stocks at Hialeah Speedway for many years and now lives in Melbourne, took his first career win in the class leading every lap. Trailing Russell's Shorty's BBQ/Russell Electric Ford were R.J. Arnone, Randy Blakeslee, John Cook, Rob Reynolds and Bob Kelchner. Devon Cuddy drove off to a wire to wire victory in the Action Gator Tire Strictly Stocks topping Mike Dresch, Neal Kirby, Glenn Rhodes and Tim Walters, Jr. Ricky Solomon, Jr., Shane Smith, Brenda Taylor, Daniel Roach and Joey Cason rounded out the top ten. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD MAY 9, 2008 SUNBELT 125 1. #84 Matt Bowers 2. #36 Tim Russell 3. #05 Jeremy Colangelo 4. #11 David Rogers 5. #73 Sam Watts 6. #77 Mike Franklin, Jr. 7. #2 Patrick Conrad 8. #12 Corey Freed 9. #07 Dustin Henderson 10. #44 Koot Sapp 11. #12X Justin Drawdy 12. #3 Daniel Webster 13. #1 Fain Skinner 14. #22 Dusty Cornelius 15. #53 Brad Bischoff 16. #68 Russ Shaw 17. #7 Vince Keeler 18. #80 Brian Finney SPORTSMAN 1. #66 Andy Nicholls 2. #33 Derrick Wood 3. #151 Rick Johns 4. #64 Jessie Cuddy 5. #25 Timmy Todd 6. #00X Brad Stevens DNS SUPER STOCK 1. #16 David Gould 2. #00 John Hodge 3. #89 William Hindman 4. #45 Delaun Fifield 5. #05X Jeff Parrish 6. #54 Todd McCreary 7. #52 Bobby Riley 8. #11 Dennis Snyder 9. #23 Kenny Kelley 10. #98 Matt Jarrett 11. #74 Lee Wagner 12. #44 Jason Pick 13. #11X Todd Allen DNS MINI STOCK 1. #31 David Russell 2. #30 R.J. Arnone 3. #77 Randy Blakeslee 4. #24 John Cook 5. #A1 Rob Reynolds 6. #09 Bob Kelchner DNS STRICTLY STOCK 1. #4 Devon Cuddy 2. #54X Michel Dresch 3. #8N Neil Kirby 4. #63 Glenn Rhodes 5. #29 Tim Walters, Jr. 6. #19 Ricky Solomon, Jr. 7. #86 Shane Smith 8. #24 Brenda Taylor 9. #07 Daniel Roach 10. #21 Joey Cason 11. #24D George Berry 12. #737 Josh Phelps DNS Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!