IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 12, 2008 Gerald White, Jr. wins Legends at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman With so many of the young drivers who cut their teeth at Orlando Speedworld in Legend Car racing having moved up to such classes like Super Late Models, a whole new group of young drivers is starting to emerge in 2008 and a pair of them sped to their very first Legend Car feature wins here Saturday night. The Legend Car Charger division, for less-experienced drivers, continues to grow in numbers and for the first time needed two heat races to set their feature race starting line-up. Two youngsters who will bear watching in the coming months took the heat race wins. Devin McLeod of Zephryhills, making his first-ever Legend Car start, won heat one while Clermont's Tyler Smith topped heat race two. The duo would be the class of the Chargers in the feature as they ran nose to tail the entire distance and lapped the entire field by the time the checkered flag fell. McLeod, who has plenty of experience and several wins here in the Mini Cup cars, led flag to flag to notch the win over Smith. Another youngster making his very first Legend Car start, Taylor McKeever, was third one lap down with Ted Ruffo fourth and Daniel Conlin, Sr. fifth. The remaining finishers were Mike Gleason, Roger Englund and Paul Ingram, Jr. The three drivers who had won features in the Legend Car "A" Mains this year were all out of action this week for varying reasons. Jimmy Norman, who had broken his hand in a non-racing incident earlier in the week, practiced during the afternoon and was very quick but felt he could not run a full 25 laps and withdrew his entry. That meant that there would be a first time winner this week. Oviedo's Shaughn McCormick was the only driver in the field to have won an "A" main race at Speedworld (during the Winternationals in February) and he dominated the action in heat race number one while young Gerald White, Jr. of Lakeland topped the field in heat race two. McCormick jumped out to an early lead in the feature as the first and only caution of the race came out on lap three for a double spin in turn two involving Rick Wetmore and Leonard Hearndon. McCormick continued to set the pace but White was right on his bumper and eventually slipped by for the lead on lap ten. White, a former champion in both the Bandolero Bandits and Young Guns, held on to score his first Legend Car win over McCormick and Tony Sansom. Mason Ketterman scored a career-best fourth place finish while Mark Bibeau took fifth and topped the Masters Division once again. Rounding out the finishers were Alex Kempf, Hearndon, Dave Gleason, Eric Eichelberger, Dalton Bergman, Wetmore and Dallas Ingram. The Hearndon Construction Bandoleros saw almost as much action in the tech shed as they did on the race track. It was Central Florida Educators night at the speedway and among the fans in attendance was Bandit driver Critter Saile's teacher, Mrs. Timmerman from Sterling Park Elementary in Casselberry. Mrs. Timmerman was the honorary starter for the Bandit feature and her student scored an "A" on this night as he led flag to flag to take the win over Shawn Hooven and Coty Bibeau. Unfortunately, both Hooven's and Bibeau's cars were disqualified in tech moving Daniel Conlin, Jr. up to second in the final order followed by Justin Bechtold, Cameron White and James Crow. Critter also won the heat race. Donovan Ponder grabbed another win in the Young Guns as he passed heat winner Zach Harris on lap six and never looked back in scoring the victory. Mark Hooven took second spot ahead of Harris, but Harris' car was also Dq'd in tech moving Carl Haag, Kaleb Hearndon and Steven Maier up into the top five. Danny Dixon won his first-ever race in the Classic Car heat and had the pole for the feature. After leading the opening lap, Dixon spun coming off turn two in front of the field. Everybody missed him though but to make matters worse, he could not get his car to re-fire until the race had run another three laps. Derrick Wood made a big move on the restart to take the lead and he held off Brad Norburg the remaining distance to take his third straight Classis Car win. Norburg was second followed by Ron Gustafson, Andrew Gustafson and Dixon. Devon Cuddy topped a big field of ABC Towing Hurricane Cars leading most of the way to take the win over Mark Walls, Rob Reynolds, Brian Cosier and Blaize Fisher. Completing the top ten were Ricky Solomon, Jr., Tim Walters, Jr., Steven Streight, Ralph Cammarasana and David Roach. Heat wins were taken by Cuddy and Cosier. In Daytona Antique Auto Racing Association Action, Dave Jarret topped Jay Yahnke and Sue Yahnke in the Sprints, the Midget feature went to Bill Wendt over Dale Miller and Richard Yurewich, and the Stock Car feature was taken by Gene Vitiello who topped Eddie Grant and former Classic Car driver George Hall, Jr. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD MAY 10, 2008 BANDOLERO BANDIT 1. #12 Critter Saile 2. #20 Daniel Conlin 3. #96 Justin Bechtold 4. #38 Cameron White 5. #9 James Crow 6. #27 Shawn Hooven DQ'D 7. #65 Coty Beebo DQ'D BANDOLERO YOUNG GUN 1. #8 Donovan Ponder 2. #17 Mark Hooven 3. #48 Carl Haagh 4. #53 Kaleb Hearndon 5. #23 Steven Maier 6. #54 Zach Harris DQ'D DAARA SPRINT 1. #9 Dave Jarrett 2. #7 Jay Yahnke 3. #7 Sue Yanhke DAARA MIDGET 1. #71 Bill Wendt 2. #1 Dale Miller DNS 3. #41 Richard Yurewitch SEMI-PRO TRUCKS 1. #2S Kyle Schram CHARGER 1. #21 Devon McLeod 2. #4 Tyler Smith 3. #57 Taylor McKeever 4. #50 Ted Ruffo 5. #11 Daniel Conlin, Sr. 6. #17 Mike Gleason 7. #51 Roger Englund 8. #4Rent Paul Ingram, Jr. 9. #34 Tim McCormick DNS CLASSIC 1. #21x Derrick Wood 2. #75 Brad Norburg 3. #38 Ron Gustafson 4. #7 Andrew Gustafson 5. #74 Danny Dixon DAARA STOCK 1. #99 Gene Vitiello 2. #8ball Eddie Grant 3. #7 George Hall 4. #51 Kenny Coleman 5. #73 Ruth Grant 6. #23 Sumner Dewolf LEGENDS 1. #38 Gerald White, Jr. 2. #34 Shaughn McCormick 3. #56 Tony Sansom 4. #22 Mason Ketterman 5. #65 Mark Beebo 6. #99 Alex Kempf 7. #53 Leonard Hearndon 8. #07 Dave Gleason 9. #47 Eric Eichelberger 10. #37 Dalton Bergman 11. #06 Rick Wetmore 12. #33 Dallas Ingram HURRICANES 1. #4 Devon Cuddy 2. #6 Mark Walls 3. #A1 Rob Reynolds 4. #27 Brian Cosier 5. #7 Blaize Fisher 6. #19 Ricky Solomon 7. #29 Tim Walters, Jr. 8. #80 Steven Streight 9. #33 Ralph Cammarasana 10. #07 Daniel Roach 11. #007 Joey Cason 12. #24 Brenda Taylor DNS 13. #7 T.J. Mosher DNS Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!