IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 12, 2009 by Dave Westerman Day number three of the 2008 Orlando Speedworld Winternationals Thursday afternoon saw more incredible racing action run in unusually hot 80 degree February weather. The Legends Car Charger feature saw the winners from the first two days, Evan Finley and Blake Jones on the front row after they won their respective heats. Jones led the opening lap but Finley took over on lap two. Third running Brian Kolb brought out the caution on lap four when he slapped the turn three wall and had to be towed from the speedway. Once the green reappeared, it was all Finley as he sped to his second straight win despite a smoking race car. Jones finished second well ahead of third place Chris Young. Fourth and fifth went to Matt Wallace and Andy Yoder with Josh Morris, Tyler Mullins, Dean Kretschmas, Dave Simile, Zach Harris, Roger Englund and Kolb rounding out the field. The Legends Car Semi Pro feature was slowed just once when Michael Edwards popped the wall hard in turn three. He was OK but done for the day. The race belonged to Tyler Kivett who led every lap in scoring his second victory of the week. Alex Kempf came from mid pack on the starting grid but checkered a distant second to Kivett while Brandon Huff was third. Zach Alspach took fourth with Michael Lester fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Cullen Camasta, Cameron Michael, George Cushman, Hunter Bledsoe and Kenzie Ruston. Clay Hair had the pole for the Legends Car Masters Division feature after splitting heat race wins with Wednesday winner John Sossoman. When Clay Hair has the pole in a race he is usually tough to beat and that was the case today as the veteran from Mt. Pleasant, NC, who is using the Winternationals as a bit of a vacation for his family, led all the way for his first win of this years Series. Just two caution periods slowed the Masters 20 lapper, the first which saw Tuesday winner Hoyt Demis’ bad luck continue as he and Bob Merino tangled on the back stretch on lap two eliminating both from the race. Caution two was for a harmless spin by Rick Wetmore on lap fourteen. Sossoman came home second a few car lengths behind Hair with Tim Brockhouse third. Ira Laughey had yet another good run for fourth with Scotty Edwards fifth. Chris Weddle spun coming down to the checker and lost sixth spot to Kevin Foisey but still got seventh going backwards across the stripe. The remainder of the top ten was filled by Larry Friddle, Gary Bursey and Doug Dugger. The Young Lions proved you can run a Legends Car feature all the way under green flag conditions as they were clean and green all 20 laps with Evan Swilling leading every one of them for his first win of the week. Swilling’s victory was by far not an easy one as he had to fend off a host of challengers as four different drivers ran second at one time or another. Harrison Rhodes made a late charge and nearly got under Swilling twice, but had to settle for the runner-up spot. Chase Elliott had his best run of the week in third in front of Justin Grimes and Dale Dodge, Jr. Completing the top ten were Scott “The Rocket” Hensley, Austin Leitner, Chad Finchum, Travis Braden and Trevor Alspach. Heat wins were taken by Swilling and Rhodes. After completing just seven of their scheduled 20 laps the day before, the Legends Cars Pro Division was a bit better behaved on Thursday, at least completing all the race this time although two drivers were set down for unsportsmanlike driving. Wednesday winner Dylan Ames grabbed the lead at the drop of the green but caution was out on lap three as Currie Pierce and Kyle Beattie tangled in turn four. Beattie’s car was then hit hard by Cameron Patrick’s machine sending both to the pits with considerable damage while Pierce continued. Lap six saw caution number two as James Edsall and Darren Sherwood tangled in turn four with Bayley Currey spinning to miss them. All three continued. Two laps later, Jimmy Norman spun in turn two after a tap from Dusty Davis. Pierce hit Norman’s stalled car and then Edsall slammed into Pierce’s car. All three were out of the event with Davis also sent off the track for rough driving. The rest of the race would go under green with Ames gamely holding on to the point until the white flag flew. That’s when Jimmy Heavlow made his move to the front. Heavlow completed the best charge of the day as he came from seventh on the starting grid to take the win ahead of Ames, Daniel Hemric, Kory Abbott and Nick Pistone. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Andrew Smith, Ronnie Bassett, Jr., Rette Causey, Will Prance and Daniel Sossoman. Ames and Causey won the heats. Brady Boswell made it two wins in a row in the Bandolero Bandits as he topped heat winner Kyle Weatherman, Clayton Weatherman, Ray Beebe, Tanner Rumburg and Daniel Conlin, Jr. For the first time this week, the first year Bandit drivers were split up into a Beginner Bandit class. Brandon Bassett took the win over Payton Ryan and Joseph Graf. Dillon Bassett grabbed his second straight Bandolero Young Guns win leading all the way over Justin Thomas, Luke Demis and Jessie Little. Hunter Bledsoe won the Thunder Car main over Brandon Thomson and Dave Sondles. OFFICIAL RESULTS DAY 3 - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD WINTER NATIONALS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - FEB. 12, 2009 BANDOLERO BANDIT 1 #2x Brady Boswell 2 #6 Kyle Weatherman 3 #18 Clayton Weatherman 4 #89 Ray Beebe 5 #15 Tanner Rumberg 6 #20 Daniel Conlin BANDOLERO BANDIT BEGINNER 1 #44 Brandon Bassett 2 #13 Payton Ryan 3 #12 Joseph Graf BANDOLERO YOUNG GUN 1 #44 Dylan Bassett 2 #99 Justin Thomas 3 #03X Luke Demis 4 #03 Jesse Little LEGEND MASTER 1 #29 Clay Hair 2 #14 Johnny Sossoman 3 #00x Tim Brockhouse 4 #17 Ira Laughy 5 #8E Scotty Edwards 6 #55 Kevin Foisy 7 #00 Chris Weddle 8 #8 Larry Friddle 9 #65 Gary Bursey 10 #20 Doug Dugger 11 #16 Joe Graf 12 #9 Carlos Moore 13 #15 Marty Griffin 14 #87 Darrell Vance 15 #13 Jackie Ryan 16 #06 Rick Wetmore 17 #52 Robert Merino 18 #1 Hoyt Demis YOUNG LIONS 1 #1 Evan Swilling 2 #36 Harrison Rhodes 3 #9 Chase Elliott 4 #63 Justin Grimes 5 #8 Dale Dodge, Jr. 6 #5 Scott Hensley 7 #05 Austin Leitner 8 #19 Chad Finchum 9 #A1 Travis Braden 10 #76 Trevor Alspach 11 #71 Cody Blackburn 12 #43 Cody Humphreys 13 #99 Jake Morris 14 #01 Tyler Lester CHARGERS 1 #97 Evan Finley 2 #80 Blake Jones 3 #49 Chris Young 4 #4 Matt Wallace 5 #17 Andy Yoder 6 #95 Josh Morris 7 #81 Tyler Mullins 8 #21 Dean Kretschmar 9 #33 Dave Simile 10 #54 Zach Harris 11 #51 Roger Englund 12 #29 Brian Kolb THUNDER CAR 1. #8 Hunter Bledsoe 2. #54 Adam Welch LEGENDS PRO 1 #48 Jimmy Heavlow 2 #77 Dylan Ames 3 #21 Daniel Hemric 4 #5 Kory Abbott 5 #99 Nick Pistone 6 #62 Andrew Smith 7 #04 Ronnie Bassett 8 #33 Rette Causey 9 #9 Will Prance 10 #41 Daniel Sossoman 11 #05 Bayley Curry 12 #111 Darren Sherwood 13 #88 Mike Alcaro 14 #28 James Edsall 15 #16 Currie Pierce 16 #96 Kyle Beattie 17 #20 Cameron Patrick 18 #66 Dusty David BF - Rough Driving 19. #2 Jimmy Norman BF - Rough Driving LEGEND SEMI-PRO 1 #66 Tyler Kivett 2 #99 Alex Kempf 3 #21 Brandon Huff 4 #67 Zach Alspach 5 #13 Mike Lester 6 #20c Cullen Camasta 7 #32 Cameron Michael 8 #31 George Cushman 9 #8 Hunter Bledsoe 10 #39 Kenzie Ruston 11 #10 R.S. Senter 12 #19 Todd Eury 13 #02 Drew Higginson 14 #166 Zach Weaver 15 #9E Michael Edwards Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!