by Andy Sandall – FASCAR Media
(01.02.10 – Samsula, FL) It took just a couple of days into the New Year for the 2010 season to kick off in style at New Smyrna Speedway with the traditional curtain raiser, the Red Eye 100 for Super Late Models. As well as being the start of the new season it also represented the first race of the prestigious FASCAR Triple Crown championship, and gave Florida race fans a chance to grab some early season racing while most of the country was still covered in snow and several months away from heading down to their local track to watch some meaningful racing.
The fans that braved a cold evening in Samsula were treated to an impressive field of Super Late Models, with 23 cars taking the green flag in an action packed race that saw plenty of lead changes and battling for position throughout the field.
An afternoon of testing, tweaking and generally shaking the cars down and getting them race-ready culminated in a qualifying session that saw Palm Bay’s Rich Clouser in the #9 car setting the fast qualifying time, but with the pre-race pill draw putting him back to 5th place on the grid and elevating Chad Akins in the #60 onto the pole position. Alongside him for the start was the #88 of Justin Larson, with pre-race favorites #11 David Rogers and #36 Tim Russell just behind on the second row. Clouser would be just one row back, alongside #61 Mario Gosselin, fresh from his 2009 campaign in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
The dropping of the green flag to start the race saw a very quick rearrangement of the lead cars as Larson screamed around the outside of Akins to take the lead coming out of turn 2, and he was soon followed by Russell and Gosselin as Akins quickly dropped back into the middle of the chasing pack. Larson and Russell were soon fighting away at the front and pulling slightly away from the rest of the field, aided by a tight battle right behind them between Gosselin, #5x Joe Boyd, Clouser and Rogers that saw these drivers needing to concentrate as much on each other as the leaders.
Clouser and Gosselin would quickly get drawn into a battle for the 3rd position before the first caution of the race came out with 14 laps down as a battle for places in the middle of the field saw #38 Kevin Dicks and #58 John Coffman make contact in turn 3, spinning both cars out and seeing Coffman coming off worst with bad damage to his car. The restart allowed Clouser to get down the inside of Gosselin to claim 3rd place for himself and set off in pursuit of Larson and Russell up at the front, leaving Gosselin a fight to defend his 4th place from Rogers and Boyd, who were looming large in his rear-view mirrors.
With a quarter of the race in the books there were now two obvious races at the front, one seeing Larson edging out Russell and Clouser for the lead, and with an equally tight race for third a few lengths back between the impressive Gosselin, Boyd and Rogers. Elsewhere in the field smaller races were developing between drivers looking for positions and Triple Crown points, and these were often the races to watch as the drivers pushed their cars to the limits to gain an advantage. The fans in the front straight grandstands saw one of these races up close when the #29 of Mallory Harvey came out of turn 4 just too hot, running into the front straight wall and rubbing its way along before Harvey could regain control and continue his race, albeit with damaged side bodywork, but without bringing out the pace truck again.
Elsewhere Akins was starting to move back up the field after dropping back early on and was getting into a good battle with #78 B.J. McLeod behind the lead groups, while persistence paid off for Rogers as he neatly slid past Gosselin to claim 4th place coming out of turn 4 on the 39th lap. This long green flag run would soon be halted by Bobby Good’s #27 spinning out on the back straight to bring out the caution flags. The short caution period saw the green flag waving just five laps before half distance, and saw Russell all over the back of Larson, who now had to concentrate on blocking the reigning Governor’s Cup champion to hold onto his lead. With this battle raging at the front the leaders began to hit lapped traffic, this giving Clouser and Rogers a chance to close in hard on Russell, looking for the slightest opportunity to get past.
Clouser got his chance just as the halfway point was reached as he powered down the inside of Russell into turn 3, coming underneath Larson on the way out of turn 4 to take the lead, making it stick as they past the start line and slowly starting to inch out a lead over the chasing cars. Russell would soon drop back another place as Rogers took Clouser’s lead to slide his car inside the #36 to take 3rd place, but his charge was stopped by Larson’s strong blocking moves as the #88 looked to hang on to his second place.
The cars were soon bunched back up again as the caution flags came out after contact in turn 3 saw the #63 car of Austin Pickens hit the outside wall hard, sustaining bad damage to its rear end. The restart gave just enough time for Rogers to get past Larson into 2nd place before the yellow flags were quickly replaced by the red flag to stop the racers in their tracks. These were needed after front-straight contact between Bobby Good and #86 Chet Morrison, both running strongly in the top half of the field, saw both cars hit the front wall and each other hard, causing considerable damage to their cars and seeing the emergency crews quickly onto the scene to check on the driver’s health. Thankfully both racers were soon seen climbing out of their windows to the relief of the crowd, and their damaged cars quickly removed back to the pits so the clean-up could begin, but with both facing a sore body the next day and a hefty repair bill before their next race.
The restart would see Clouser at the front, ahead of Rogers, Larson, Russell and Gosselin, all set for a 30 lap sprint to the finish and an early lead in the 2010 Triple Crown points table. Clouser wasted no time after taking the green flag to race off away at the front, taking Rogers with him closely behind, and Russell was also able to profit by shooting past Larson, who also saw Gosselin come past to relegate him to 5th place after leading for much of the race.
Clouser would start to make his considerable speed pay off as he began to pull clear of Rogers, who himself was able to give himself breathing room ahead of Russell. The #36 now had Gosselin in hot pursuit behind him, and his blocking moves allowed him to keep 3rd spot until the 80th lap when Gosselin was able to stick his nose down the inside of Russell coming out of turn 4 and edge himself into the 3rd place position. Larson also began to claw back the gap and was soon on Russell’s tail, seeing the last 5 laps marked by a tight battle for 4th spot between Russell, Larson, Boyd and Anthony Campi in the #81, who had raced hard and steady for the whole 100 laps before moving up into the lead group for the last green flag period.
The checkered flag would be taken by Clouser with a comfortable lead over Rogers in 2nd place, who himself would not be troubled by Gosselin who came home 3rd. Russell was able to keep the 4th spot, and the crucial Triple Crown points that come with that, ahead of his rivals. This result gives Clouser the early lead in the Triple Crown standings with the Clyde Hart Memorial and Governor’s Cup races that make up this championship to come later in the racing year.
Of course the Red Eye 100 was not the only race of the evening, and the night’s racing had begun in a somewhat farcical manner with a Super Stock race that saw numerous attempts to get the cars lined up in their correct starting order, eventually leading to the #15 Michael Wofford running out of fuel before the race could be started!
The race eventually started with #15x Joe Gerard on pole, alongside #3 Jeff Colburn, and with #51 Butch Herdegen, #56 Bobby Holley and #388 Walt Kahrs just behind. Gerard was able to hold onto his lead as the first lap was completed, but the big mover from the back was #1 Chad Pierce, who had already moved from the rear of the field up to 6th spot. The caution flags soon halted the race though, as hard racing between Gerard and Colburn saw Gerard turned around, letting Herdegen through into the lead as the yellow lights came on.
Herdegen would pull away from the restart, bringing Holley with him, and watching #211 Jarret Korpi closing in fast behind him in 3rd place. Korpi would soon find a line that allowed him to speed down the inside of Holley, but when Pierce tried the same move he found the door down the inside quickly closed and he was left to search for other ways around while also watching out for the hard-charging Colburn rapidly gaining on him from the rear.
With just three laps to go the lead cars were having to navigate their way through slower traffic, leading to an incident on the front straight that would see the pace truck quickly out on the track. With Korpi breathing down the neck of Herdegen the two leaders came up to #21 Mike Dahm. Herdegen found a quick way around the back marker, but Korpi found himself blocked and unable to stop himself rear-ending the slower car going into turn 1. Both cars got out of shape, with Korpi spinning out in turn 2 and narrowly being missed by the oncoming Holley and Pierce.
An aborted restart thanks to another spinning car, followed by a quick check for fluids and clean-up, was followed by a proper restart that saw Herdegen fend off Korpi’s advances to take the checkered flag ahead of the #211, with Holley coming in third some way behind.
A small field of mini-stocks was made even smaller thanks to an afternoon practice incident that saw #8 James Dixson lose a wheel and be left unable to take the green flag. The five cars that eventually took to the track were led by #V3 Rex Christensen and #32 Jesse Powers on the front row, and even this small field needed a couple of attempts to start the race for real, with Christensen spinning out in turn 2 on the first attempt to get the race underway. With the green flag waved for a second time Christensen seemed to miss a gear, leaving the #85 of Rex ‘Boneman’ Hollinger behind him no option but to give him a hefty bump to his rear end and force his way past as they shot down the front stretch.
The lead was very quickly taken by #81 Cody Blair, who showed the same pace he had shown on his way to the 2009 Division Championship as he powered away at the front with only Hollinger able to mount any kind of challenge to his lead. With such a small field of cars the truncated race lasted just 15 laps, all run under green flag conditions after the second attempt at a start, and was won handily by Blair with Hollinger close behind, both well ahead of #6 Mark Broat in 3rd place.
The evening was ended in the traditional manner with the Strictly Stocks taking to the track for a 20 lap nightcap race. As was the tradition on the night the race took a couple of attempts to be started for real, but soon it settled down with all the usual suspects making the running up at the front. The lead was soon captured by #32 Jim Erb ahead of #95 Chuck Hill, and with #89 William Hindman and #95x Chris Brannon moving up swiftly from the back of the field.
A mid-race spin for Hill would effectively take him out of contention, leaving Erb at the front ahead of team-mate Hindman, and with Brannon rapidly chasing them down as every lap ticked away. With 10 laps to go Brannon made his move on Hindman, capitalizing on Hindman’s wide line in turn 3 to go down his inside and set his sights on Erb. The white flag meant one lap left for Brannon to make his move, and so he dived down Erb’s inside going inside turn 1, holding on for all he was worth down the back straight to keep the advantage in the final turns and make his move stick to take the checkered flag and the win.
But 2010 started the way 2009 had ended for this division, with another race decided in the technical inspection rather than on the track, and this time disqualifications for a number of cars saw Erb handed the win ahead of the steady #21M of Maureen Dahm who had run her usual steady race to stay out of trouble and capitalize on her colleague’s fateful trip through the tech shed.