IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

March 27, 2009 Bill Gunn wins Modified at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Despite a few pesky rain showers that held up practice for awhile, Orlando Speedworld completed Friday nights racing program just before another round of light rain hit the track. All in all it was a good, clean night of racing which saw a few old faces back in victory circle along with a couple of new ones. Wild Bill Gunn in his "Gunnstruction" Special had the pole for the Modified feature and made it pay off with a wire to wire win. Gunn, who is racing full-time for the first time in four years, sped out to a quick lead but as the race wore on with no caution flags to cool off his tires, Gunn fell into the clutches of Mark Emberson who dogged Gunn all the way but could never make the pass. It was Gunn's first win here in several years and there was quite a celebration in victory lane after the checker fell. After an opening night race that took close to an hour to run, the Modified drivers were well-behaved on this night with a green to checker run. Emberson was a very close second trailed by Shain Held, Matt Wheeler and Earl Beckner. Chris Smith, Tead Head, Rick Johns and Randy Froelich rounded out the finishers. Chad Pierce also hadn't seen victory lane in quite awhile either but he made up for that with a stellar driving performance in the Sportsman feature which was not quite as smoothly run as the Modifieds, needing six caution flags before the 25 lap distance could be completed. Things actually didn't start off too well for Pierce as he tangled at the start of lap two with Pete Starr and had to go to the rear of the restart line-up. The longest caution period took place after Bill Hall exploded an engine coming down the front stretch on lap three at which point Justin Reynolds had to drop out of his second race in a row for the same problem, a flat left rear tire. Ron DiCandio had led from the start, but he brought out the yellow on lap five when he spun out of the lead in turn two. That gave the point to Timmy Todd, Jr. but Pierce was on a mission and was finally able to move by Todd on the high side to grab the point on lap 12 and never looked back as he drove his mom's "borrowed" car to his first win in the Sportsman class in several years. Todd held on for second ahead of Andy Nicholls, DiCandio and Starr. Rounding out the top ten were Jason Foster, Whitney Poole, Steve Farris, Hall and Reynolds. In the Late Model class, no one could touch young Bobby Good as he had is car on rails all 30 laps in claiming his first-ever Speedworld win. There were just two cautions in the race and both involved opening week winner Alexis Fenton. Fenton spun in turn four on lap 17 then was involved in a turn two tangle with Chris Gillespie two laps later that sent both to the sidelines. Good was up to the task on each restart and sped to an easy win over Jessica Murphy and Earl Beckner. Cynthia Strahley, John Hanen, Gillespie and Fenton completed the finishers. James Frisbie made his first visit to victory lane in some time leading all the way to take the Super Stock feature win. David Gould pressured Frisbie the entire distance but had to settle for the runner-up spot with John Bennett scoring a career best third place finish. Billy Belflower was fourth ahead of rookies Woody Strickland and Cody Keeler while Denny Johns took eighth after slapping the wall near mid race while battling for the lead. The Legends Cars made a bit of a rebound this week but the race pretty much belonged to Vero Beach driver Alex Kempf who led from green to checker as just three cars managed to finish. Rick Wetmore took second with Roger Englund third. Shaughn McCormick was credited with fourth ahead of Zach Harris, Tony Sansom and Ted Ruffo. The Strictly Stocks put on a whale of a show for the fans as Bruce Gayton led the opening laps only to give way to a wild four car battle that saw several lead changes before Jim "Crusher" Erb moved his Acura out front to claim his second straight win. "Huggy Bear" William Hindman came home a very close second in front of Ricky Solomon, Jr., Tim Walters, Jr. and Gayton. Matt Brown, Shane Smith, Danny Binda and Luis Guillen rounded out the finishers. Michael Held took the win in the Bandolero race over Donovan Ponder OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD MARCH 27, 2009 LIMITED LATE MODELS: 1. #19 Bobby Good 2. #26 Jessica Murphy 3. #36 Earl Beckner 4. #4 Cynthia Strahley 5. #04 John Hanen 6. #1 Chris Gillespie 7. #11 Alexis Fenton MODIFIED: 1. #13 Bill Gunn 2. #30 Mark Emberson 3. #55 Shain Held 4. #96 Matthew Wheeler 5. #51 Earl Beckner 6. #07 Chris Smyth 7. #92 Ted Head 8. #4 Rick Johns 9. #8 Randy Froehlich SPORTSMAN 1. #57 Chad Pierce 2. #25 Timmy Todd Jr 3. #66 Andy Nicholls 4. #20s Ron DiCandio 5. #95 Pete Starr 6. #49 Jason Foster 7. #00 Whitney Poole 8. #7 Steve Farris 9. #16 Bill Hall 10. #20 Justin Reynolds SUPER STOCK 1. #3 James Frisbie 2. #16 David Gould 3. #721 John Bennett 4. #14 Billy Bellflower 5. #57 Woody Strickland 6. #2 Cody Keeler 7. #55 Denny Johns 8. #32 Jim Erb 9. #77 Justin Reynolds STRICTLY STOCK 1. #1 Jim Erb 2. #89 William Hindman 3. #19 Ricky Solomon Jr 4. #29 Tim Walters Jr 5. #93 Bruce Gayton 6. #46M Matt Brown 7. #86 Shane Smith 8. #27 Danny Binda 9. #08 Luis Guillen LEGENDS 1. #99 Alex Kempf 2. #06 Rick Whetmore 3. #51 Roger Englund 4. #34 Shawn McCormick 5. #54 Zach Harris 6. #34T Tony Sansom 7. #50 Ted Ruffo BANDOLEROS 1. #55 Michael Held 2. #8 Donovan Ponder Have an opinion on this story? 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