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| New Smyrna Speedway Returns to Regular Racing April 5th | by Jane Smith
Samsula, Fla - New Smyrna Speedway welcomes back it's regular racers after last weekend's night off for the Hooter's ProCup event held at the track. On the program for this week are Super Late Models, Late Models, Open Wheel Modifieds, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Super Stocks, and Strictly Stocks.
Although it is early in the season, David Rogers goes into action holding only a four point lead over Bruce Lawrence, Jr. Lawrence,Jr. has come on strong this season and has that look, the look of a new champion. Ricky Wood, Wayne Parker and George Murphy fill out the top five with only four points between each of them.
B.J. McLeod will add his #78 to the mix as B.J. returns to New Smyrna Speedway this weekend. 2003 will see a number of good Super Late Model drivers sticking closer to home due ot the economy and price of gas.
Bobby Orr, the 2002 Mini Stock Champion at Orlando SpeedWorld, leads the points in the Late Model division with Tim Clark only four points behind Orr. Orr has already stated that he plans to go for the 2003 Late Model Championship but it will definitely be a good battle. Mark Smith, Dave Green, and Scott Seither fill out the top five in points.
Mark Vandevender holds a 16 point lead over Justin Henderson, the 2002 Open Wheel Modified Champion, and Bobby Blake who both stand at 48 points. With more and more modifieds coming in each week, this will prove to be quite another good battle. John Zidek and Brad May fill out the top five in points.
David Castello, the 2002 Mini Stock Champion for New Smyrna Speedway, has moved from Mini Stock to Open Wheel Modified for 2003. Chad Pierce will also be another big factor as he wheels a modified and Super Late Model. Newcomer Matt Wheeler has also shown that he will be a strong contender in this popular division.
Earl Beckner has come out on top of the points in the Sportsman division taking both Sportsman wins in the early season. But this won't be a shoe-in championship as some very strong Sportsman fill out this field. Ron Lufcy, Bill Spade, Bill Love, and Jim Snyder fill out the top five in points.
Expect to see wins this year for Dale Clouser, Mike Trocki, Danny Shearer, Dennis Gilman, Chris Pedulat and John Nusbaum as they all fight their way to the top of the Sportsman division.
Tim "Missileman" McPhail holds the Mini Stock points lead over Rex Christensen and Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulipus who are tied at 56 points each for second. Chad Carpenter and Ron Dubeau, winner of the first race of the season, fill out the top five.
The Mini Stock field has been rather small but a number of drivers are still working on their cars from the 2002 season. Expect this division to grow weekly and become more and more competitive.
Josh Wronkowski came out strong this year in the Super Stock division with one win and one second place and holds the point lead by 8 points over Charlie Collins. Ron Whaley, who won both features for the Super Stock division last week at sister track Orlando SpeedWorld, stands third in points followed by Jeff Colburn and Bob Trombley in fourth and fifth.
This class is one of the more popular fan pleasers and these guys go hard and strong every weekend giving the fans plenty of bumping and grinding action.
New Smyrna Speedway is located at the intersection of SR44 and SR415 between I-4 and I-95, eight miles west of New Smyrna Beach. Grandstands open at 6 p.m. with racing action slated for 7:30 p.m.
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