IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

October 26, 2009 BECHTELHEIMER GOES FLAG TO FLAG FOR MODIFIED WIN AT AUBURNDALE by Dave Westerman Race fans were greeted with some great late October weather and plenty of hot racing Saturday night as veteran driver Billy Bechtelheimer raced to his first win of the year in the Open Wheel Modified division. Twenty-two Modifieds signed in for action requiring three heat races to set the feature race line-up. Citrus County Speedway regular Curtis Neumann took the opening heat with Jeff Scofield grabbing heat two driving for Harold Crooms. Heat three went to Keith Lilley. Luck of the draw put Bechtelheimer on the pole for the 40 lap feature run with Richard Brinson outside of him. A big mix-up on the start saw several cars go around with Josh Todd having to take his car to the pits with a pair of flat tires. Brinson wasn't involved but also drove to the pits for some adjustments as he and Todd rejoined the field at the back. The second attempt at starting the race saw yet another multi-car tangle going into turn one but all cars were able to restart in their original positions. Bechtelheimer grabbed the lead at the eventual drop of the green with Scofield settling into second. That's the way they would run the entire distance with Bechtelheimer seemingly having a little more "oomph" on the straights. The leader and the rest of the field could never really get into a rhythm as there were a total of eight caution flags, all for minor spins. Bechtelheimer was up to the task on the restarts and held off a late charge from Scofield to take the win becoming the eighth different winner in nine Modified races contested at Auburndale Speedway this year. The Dover, FL veteran also picked up ground in the season-long points race. Bechtelheimer entered the night third in points which saw point leader Von Pope and second place David Grogan drop out of the event. Scofield crossed the line in second place while Tommy Schnader, regretting a move to run old tires, still had enough good rubber to finish a strong third. James Wright III drove Dave Dunkin's "Blue Goose" to fourth place while Lilley ran steady to round out the top five. Completing the top ten were Kyle Bookmiller, Bobby Blake, Brinson, Ron Abney and Ted Head. Brandon Morris smoked the Sportsman field for what appeared to be an easy win by over half a lap over the rest of the field who were in a crowdpleasing dog fight for second right down to the checker. Morris' ease of victory caught the eyes of the officials and his car was later disqualified in tech after being tested twice, once after the race and again about an hour later. That allowed Chuck Harrison to pick up the win after a great late-race battle with Richard Elkins, Jr. who was credited with second. Rick Fiore took third followed by Dave Dunkin and Austin Carr. Chris Narramore, Sr. claimed the top spot from points leader Fred Harrison, Jr. on lap seven and sped to the win in the hotly-contested Mini Stock feature. Harrison held on for second followed by Chris Spring, Donnie Guy and Bill Bell. Heat wins were taken by Narramore and Harrison. The Legend Car feature got off to a rocky start when Lynn Wiles pounded the turn two wall during the initial lap with enough force to rip the right front wheel and tire off the car. Although a bit shaken, Wiles was OK. After Wiles' car was removed from the track, the race went green to checker from that point with heat race winners Gerald White, Jr. and Jake Perkins going at it tooth and nail the entire distance before White prevailed. Perkins was second trailed by Justin Brown, Rick Wetmore and Dave Gleason. Fourteen year old Jason Swilley had quite a night in the Scramblers. It was his first night in the class after moving up from the Senior division of the Kids Club and he promptly drew the pole for the heat race which he won easily. Swilley then had the pole for the feature and he dusted the competition leading flag to flag. Chad Cutting kept the leader in sight but had to settle for the runner-up spot with Tim Hunt, George Gorham and Matt McCrary third through fifth. Johnathan Guy again dominated action in the Dwarf Cars. Starting dead last in the heat, Guy zipped around the field to take the preliminary. Starting from the pole in the feature, Guy drove off and left the field in his wake slowed only by a late caution flag for a tangle between Sonny O'Sullivan and Dan Statter. Trailing Guy to the checker were John Godwin, Larry Hubbard III, Larry Hubbard, Jr. and John Bass. Chris Narramore, Jr. made quick work of the V-8 Bomber field winning both the heat and feature with ease. Jeff Lacey took home the second spot ahead of Steven Osteen, Alan Seay and Derrick Trocke. Danielle Stratton won her fourth Bandolero feature of the year over Jonnie Varga, Coty Bibeau, Cameron White and Derek Sobel. AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY RESULTS FOR 10/24/09: OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED: 1-#6 Billy Bechtelheimer 2-#07 Jeff Scofield 3-#19 Tommy Schnader 4-#71 James Wright III 5-#87 Keith Lilley 6-#03 Kyle Bookmiller 7-#75 Bobby Blake 8-#01 Richard Brinson 9-#35 Ron Abney 10-#92 Ted Head 11-#20 John Gershner 12-#74 Ted Helms 13-#102 Von Pope 14-#01x Curtis Newman 15-#62 John Markovich 16-#71A Johnny Allen 17-#71x L B Skaggs 18-#3 Harold Cannon 19-#101 David Grogan 20-#89 Josh Todd 21-#14 Michael Cherry DNS#42 Richie Smith BANDOLEROS: 1-#83 Danielle Stratten 2-#2 Jonnie Varga 3-#65 Cody Bibeau 4-#38 Cameron White 5-#5 Derek Sobel SCRAMBLERS: 1-#40 Jason Swilley 2-#00 Chad Cutting 3-#9 Tim Hunt 4-#10 George Gorham 5-#5 Matt McCrary 6-#51 Matt Johns 7-#1 Brandon Henault 8-#28 Kimberly Gullett 9-#62 Richard Brown 10-#52 Gary Brown 11-#09 Jessica Robbins SPORTSMAN: 1-#22 Chuck Harrison 2-#55 Richard Elkins, Jr. 3-#60 Richard Fiore 4-#71 Dave Dunkin 5-#2 Austin Carr 6-#38 Jason Stifle DQ#56 Brandon Morris LEGENDS: 1-#38 Gerald White, Jr. 2-#59 Jake Perkins 3-#8 Justin Brown 4-#06 Rick Wetmore 5-#4 Dave Gleason 6-#44 Gary Verdier 7-#17 Mike Gleason 8-#59x John Inman 9-#51 Roger Englund 10-#31 Lynn Wiles MINI STOCKS: 1-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr. 2-#21 Fred Harrison 3#42 Chris Spring 4-#33 Donnie Guy 5-#1 Bill Bell 6-#88 Kevin Steadman 7-#17 Mark Nagle 8-#2 Dwight Ryals 9-#20 Kenny Uhl 10-#8 Jordan Spring 11-#53 Sonny Miles DNS #5 Eugene Davidson DQ#11 Josh Borem V-8 BOMBERS: 1-#21 Chris Narramore, Jr. 2-#05 Jeff Lacey 3-#08 Steven Osteen 4-#2 Alan Seay 5-#33 Derrick Trocke 6-#24 Tammy Gillespie 7-#5 Troy Lacey 8-#0 Paul Bookmiller DWARF CARS: 1-#42 Jonathan Guy 2-#00 John Godwin 3-#77 Larry Hubbard III 4-#56 Larry Hubbard, Jr. 5-#68 John Bass 6-#0 Sonny O'Sullivan 7-#0Z Dan Statter 8-#9 Matt McCrary 9-#83 Roger Wolfe 10-#1A John Atherton DQ#59 Bo Bass Have an opinion on this story? 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