IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 2, 2009 Chad Pierce tops Super Stock 50 at SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman The Super Stock division took center stage Friday night at Orlando Speedworld as they ran the All-Star 50 in front of several hundred Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts plus their families, many of whom had never been to the races before. Defending champion Bobby Cuddy set the pace in time trials with a lap of 15.91 seconds earning the pole for the half-century grind with Justin Reynolds starting outside pole. Cuddy immediately took off and hid from the field while brother Billy Cuddy had worked his way to second before the first caution flag of the race flew on lap nine for a spinning Shannon Kelly. Just after the restart, Billy Cuddy took the measure of his brother, setting the pace until lap 21 when Butch Herdegen spun for yellow flag number two. Four laps after the restart, the field was put under yellow so that leader Cuddy could roll a die to determine how the line-up for the second half of the race would be determined. Cuddy's roll placed the leader (himself) to the rear of the lead lap cars handing the top spot back to Bobby Cuddy who set the pace through lap 35 before his transmission came apart in a cloud of smoke sending him to the infield and out of the running. Reynolds was the leader on the restart but this is when things started getting crazy. Billy Cuddy, David Gould and Herdegen tried to make it three-wide in turn three. As they got together, Jim Erb, with nowhere to go, ran up and over Gould's car sending him into a quick snap roll. Erb was OK but both he and point leader Gould were done for the night while Cuddy and Herdegen continued. Vince Keeler and Alvin Morris also got a pierce of the action as well but received just minor damage. Reynolds continued to set the pace but was being challenged by a resurgent Herdegen and Cuddy before the three began banking off each other in turn one during lap 45. By the time they got to turn two, Herdegen and Cuddy had crashed hard knocking both from the running. Although Reynolds could continue, he was sent to the rear for the restart due to his involvement in the incident. That gave the lead to Chad Pierce. Pierce, making his first start of the year in the class, had been hanging around the top five all race and was in the right place at the right time to grab the point. Pierce held off a furious challenge by Reynolds who nearly made the pass coming down to the checker. Pierce, who has driven everthing at the track this year but the ambulance, took the win over a highly upset Reynolds who felt he was not directly involved in the incident that took out Cuddy and Herdegen. Third spot went to steady John Bennett while fourth and fifth were claimed by the son-father duo of Cody and Vince Keeler. Morris finished sixth and was the only other car running at the finish. Billy Cuddy, Herdegen, Joe Bandur and Bobby Cuddy were credited with seventh through tenth places. The Super Late Model race was no contest from the start as Jared Allison jumped out to an early lead and set the pace all 35 laps for his second win of the year. After the race, Allison left quickly to catch a red-eye flight because he was slated to race in Michigan on Saturday night. The only thing slowing Allison's pace was a quick yellow flag to remove Cory Kaiser's smoking car from the track on lap 15. From that point Allison drove away from Blake Koch and Jason Vail. Vail is getting the nickname "Mr. Third Place." In four Super Late Model races so far this year, Vail has finished third in each one. Rusty Ebersole was fourth trailed by rookie Shaughn McCormick, Mark Adams, John Kennedy and Kaiser. Zack Jarrell took the lead from Cody Blair on lap nine and grabbed his second win of the year in the Taylor Racing Products Pro Trucks. The action was slowed three times for minor incidents but Jarrell was just too strong on this night as he topped Scott Reeves and Ben Kennedy at the stripe. Blair and Tim Sozio were fourth and fifth while Doug Samion, Anthony Sergi, Gary Fountain, Sr., John Hodge and Jason Rosarius rounded out the top ten. Jessie Cuddy took her second win of the year in the Strictly Stock class leading William Hindman, Tim Walters, Jr., Luis Guillen, Dan Binda and Ricky Solomon, Jr. to the checker. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD MAY 1, 2009 Super Late Model Finish Start Car Driver Hometown 1 2 18 Jared Allison 2 6 21 Blake Koch 3 7 407 Jason Vail Clermont , Fl 4 3 23 Rusty Ebersole Apopka , Fl 5 1 34 Shaughn Mccormick Oviedo , Fl 6 4 28 Mark Adams Orlando , Fl 7 8 0 John Kennedy 8 5 48 Cory Kaiser Winter Springs, Fl Taylor Racing Products Pro-Trucks Finish Start Car Driver Hometown 1 8 18 Zack Jarrell Port Orange, Fl 2 6 21 Scott Reeves Royal Palm, Fl 3 5 96 Ben Kennedy 4 2 15 Cody Blair 5 4 16 Tim Sozio Debary , Fl 6 1 04 Doug Samion Christmas , Fl 7 3 20 Anthony Sergi Geneva , Fl 8 11 33 Gary Fountain 9 7 OOH John Hodge Palm Bay, Fl 10 10 57 Jason Rosarius Oviedo , Fl 11 9 99 Charles Macnichol Deland , Fl Super Stock Finish Start Car Driver Hometown 1 7 1 Chad Pierce Orlando , Fl 2 2 77 Justin Reynolds Merritt Island, Fl 3 6 721 John Bennett St Cloud, Fl 4 11 2 Cody Keeler Sebastian , Fl 5 8 K2 Vincent Keeler Sebastian , Fl 6 9 68 Alvin Morris 7 4 64 Billy Cuddy 8 5 51 Butch Herdegen 9 10 316 Joe Bandur 10 1 52 Bobby Riley 11 3 16 David Gould 12 16 99X Jim Erb 13 12 23 Shannon Kelly 14 15 89X William Hindman 15 14 14 Billy Bellflower Mims , Fl 16 13 21 Mike Dahm Strictly Stock Finish Start Car Driver Hometown 1 1 05 Jessie Cuddy 2 3 89 William Hindman 3 4 29 Tim Walters Jr 4 6 8X Luis Guillen, Jr. St Cloud, Fl 5 2 27 Dan Binda Orlando , Fl 6 5 19 Ricky Solomon Jr Have an opinion on this story? 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