IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

August 1, 2008 Wright tops Sportsman, Curtis wins Mini Stock at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Orlando Speedworld kicked off the month of August by hosting the 2008 PBG Legends Car Tour and a full racing program run in front of a huge crowd who enjoyed beautiful weather conditions. Twenty-two Legend Cars attempted qualifying with Lake Mary's Jimmy Norman quickest at 16.058 seconds topping two-time PBG Tour champion Kory Abbott who tripped the clock at 16.089. Gerald White, Jr. had the pole for the 35 lap feature run but at the drop of the green Abbott pulled out from his fourth starting spot and passed both White and outside pole sitter Tony Sansom and grabbed the early lead. Caution was out just after the field completed lap one as Mark Bibeau and Eric Eichelberger tangled and crashed hard into the turn one wall. Jimmy Rodriguez had to jam on the brakes hard to avoid the other two cars and he stopped just inches from the wall. Both Bibeau and Eichelberger were out while Rodriguez regrouped and continued. Just after the restart Alex Kempf spun in turn three and was hit hard broadside by Gerald Campbell. Incredibly, both continued but were sent to the rear of the restart line-up. Abbott continued to set the pace with White and Norman in tow. On lap five fourth-running Shaughn McCormick suddenly did a snap spin in turn three and backed into the wall. McCormick was OK but his car was towed from the racing surface. Following the restart, Norman turned up the heat on White and took over second spot on lap eight then set his sights on leader Abbott. Norman put on heavy pressure lap after lap but was unable to get by. Meanwhile, Kempf had been blasting his way back through the field. On lap 20 Kempf attempted a fifth place pass on Dave Gleason by diving between Gleason and the lapped car of Gary Verdier. Kempf just barely touched the front of Verdier's machine but it was enough to send him up the track and into Gleason's machine with both getting in the wall. Kempf's car was towed off while Gleason made a couple of laps under caution then retired as well. Norman continued to put heavy pressure on Abbott following the return to green but two laps later Norman's engine blew going down the back stretch bringing out the caution yet again. Abbott continued to head the field with White back in second as they were slowed twice more by a pair of spins by Rick Wetmore. On lap 27, Mike Verhaagh broke a trailing arm and spun in turn one. While track crews were working to remove Verhaagh's machine, leader Abbott suddenly pulled to the infield... out of gas!! At this point PBG Tour officials decided to go with a green-white-checker finish. White had no problem leading the final pair of laps as the 14 year old driver from Lakeland took his first career PBG Tour win. Sansom had a career-best second place finish with Jimmy Rodriguez coming back from his near mishap on the first lap to place third, also a career best. Rodriguez was also the top finishing Master Division driver. Devin McLeod, in his first-ever PBG Tour event, claimed a nice fourth place finish and Mason Ketterman also had a great run for fifth. Wetmore, Mitch Verhaagh and Doug Hall were the only other cars to finish taking the sixth through eighth spots. Abbott was credited with ninth and still took the Pro Division honors while Mike Verhaagh was credited with tenth. Rounding out the finishing field were Verdier, Norman, Campbell, Gleason, Kempf, Roger Englund, McCormick, Daniel Conlin, Sr., Eichelberger and Bibeau. Ted Ruffo and Tim Walters, Jr. were unable to start. The Modified feature had a nice "feel good" moment in victory lane as Mark Emberson took his fourth win of the year but it was a special one. During the races the week before, Mark's dad Don Emberson suffered a heart attack in the pits. Emberson underwent quadruple bypass surgery on Thursday and is now doing well and the younger Emberson was beside himself after his win again thanking everyone for there concern and the track safety crew for handling the situation calmly and professionally. The Modified race itself saw Earl Beckner grab the early lead and pull out by several car lengths. Beckner, who won the Super Late Model feature the week before, admitted before the races that the Modified was a "different type of animal" as he was set to make his first-ever open wheel start in Donnie Lewis' "Moonshine Runner." Beckner's "animal" got away from him during lap four and he spun in a cloud of tire smoke in turn two. Emberson inherited the lead at that point and was never headed as he scored a popular win over Jon Compagnone, Shane Held, Teri Bryant, Chris Smyth Randy Froelich, Ted Head, Frenchman Michel Klinghofer and Beckner. Beckner had actually worked his way back into fourth spot but his engine went sour and he dropped out. Emberson also won the heat. For the second week in a row there was a new winner in the Mini Stock class after the lead car ended up in the wall. Rex "Boneman" Hollinger won the heat then was running away with the feature when he blew a right front tire going into turn one on lap 11 and pounded the wall. Hollinger was not hurt but the car was in pretty bad shape. During the extended caution flag period, two other cars dropped out, Chace Miller and last weeks winner Randy Blakeslee. That left only Dylan Curtis and Ray Mullis still in the running and Curtis made the most of his good fortune as he took his first career win in the Mini Stocks after taking several wins in the now defunct Junior Stock class. Mullis was second while Hollinger was credited with third ahead of Blakeslee, Miller and Jason Rosarius. Action in the Super Stocks got under way in earnest in the heat race as young Austin Carr, who was celebrating his 15th birthday, got tangled up with Ray Mullis and did a slow roll-over in turn two. His crew went to work at got the car back on track for the feature though. Heat winner Jason Pick grabbed the early feature lead but another "birthday boy" wasn't about to be denied on this night. Matt Jarrett, who turned 17 on Friday, snared the lead from Pick at mid race and sped to the win over Pick. Carr did an outstanding job in coming back for a third place feature finish and really seemed to have the big crowd on his side. Dennis Snyder was fourth trailed by Roger Blevins, Brent Tyler, John Guinn and Scotty Edwards. Mullis was unable to start the feature. Jeff Wright finally found his way back to the winner's circle in the Sportsman class holding off heat race winner Andy Nicholls the entire distance to take the win. Ron DiCandio was third followed by Paul Colgan and Mike Santana. The Hearndon Construction Bandoleros were also on the card with Donovan Ponder taking the race win as the Bandits and Young Guns ran a combined feature. Ponder was actually the only Young Gun to show up and he thus claimed the honors in his class. Coty Bibeau finished second overall but the Bandits were actually running a separate race behind Ponder. Bibeau thus took the Bandit win, his first ever and he was joined by his proud dad Mark in victory lane. Rounding out the Bandit finishers were Daniel Conlin, Jr., Cameron White, James Crow, Noah Cornman and heat winner Critter Saile who dropped out of the feature early with mechanical troubles. William Hindman hopped in an unfamiliar Honda owned by Wes Railing and led every lap in winning the Action Gator Tire Strictly Stock feature. Hindman also claimed a $100 first prize put up in a combined effort by Space Coast Welding and Fabrication, Laszlo Racing, Sampson $ Son Auto Salvage, Fix Painting of Orlando and Hurricane Kart Raceway in Sharpes. Glenn Rhodes took the runner-up spot trailed by Rob Reynolds, Tim walters, Jr., Ricky Solomon, Jr., Joey Woliver, Neal Kirby, Miguel Barrenechea, Steven Streight and Don Dangler. Heat race wins were taken by Kirby and Reynolds. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD AUGUST 1, 2008 BANDOELRO BANDIT 1. #65 Coty Beebo 2. #20 Daniel Conlin, Jr. 3. #38 Cameron White 4. #9 James Crow 5. #30 Noah Cornman 6. #12 Critter Saile 7. #97 Kevin Muglach DNS BANDOLERO YOUNG GUN 1. #8 Donovan Ponder MODIFIED 1. #30 Mark Emberson 2. #5 Jon Compagnone 3. #55 Shain Held 4. #08 Terri Bryant 5. #07 Chris Smyth 6. #8 Randy Froehlich 7. #92 Ted Head 8. #7 Michel Klinghofer 9. #51 Earl Beckner SPORTSMAN 1. #50 Jeff Wright 2. #66 Andy Nicholls 3. #20 Ron Dicandio 4. #31 Paul Colgan 5. #151 Mike Santana SUPER STOCK 1. #98 Matt Jarrett 2. #44 Jason Pick 3. #8 Austin Carr 4. #11 Dennis Snyder 5. #1 Roger Blevins 6. #99 Brent Tyler 7. #4 John Guinn 8. #7i Scott Edwards 9. #316 Ray Mullis MINI STOCK 1. #6 Dylan Curtis 2. #09 Ray Mullis 3. #85 Rex "Boneman" Hollinger 4. #77 Randy Blakeslee 5. #14 Chace Miller 6. #42 Jason Rosarius STRICTLY STOCK 1. #51 William Hindman 2. #63 Glenn Rhodes 3. #A1 Rob Reynolds 4. #29 Tim Walters, Jr. 5. #19 Ricky Solomon, Jr. 6. #88 Joey Woliver 7. #8 Neil Kirby 8. #22 Miguel Barrenechea 9. #80 Steven Streight 10. #70 Don Dangler 11. #18 Dustin Higdon PBG LEGENDS 35 RESULTS NOT AVAILABLE Have an opinion on this story? 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