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| Hot Memorial Day Weekend Action Set for Orlando SpeedWorld | by Dave Westerman
A heat wave continues to blanket the State of Florida with temperatures expected in the mid 90's and racing action should be just as hot as the weather both Friday and Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld.
The Friday night FASCAR program will feature all six regular racing classes with double points being awarded.
This will mark only the sixth Friday of action for the Super Late Models and a big field is expected. Ricky Wood is the only double winner so far this year and he leads the current point standings by 16 markers over Jared Allison. The two drivers are well ahead of Mike Hinegardner and rookie Patrick Conrad who are tied for third going into this week's action.
Wood also has the most wins (3) in the Modified class and leads that point race as well by 64 over two-time winner Chad Pierce. Both should see plenty of competition from the likes of Wayne Heckle, Hoot Flynn, Skip Honaker, Mark Emberson, Matt Wheeler and others.
Sean Bass continues to bat .500 in the Mini Stocks with four wins in eight races so far this year. However, "Mr. Consistency" Chad Ashley holds a two point lead over Bass in the points. Ashley has a win and five second place finishes to his credit. Dick Laszlo, Stephen Simpson and R.J. Arnone are in a close battle for third and the double points night could see some positions swap significantly.
Defending Sportsman champion Richard Hight now has three wins on the season and a 40 point advantage over rookie Bobby Joe Woodley. Bruce Gayton and Justin Hall are not far back in third and fourth while Earl Beckner is still fifth after three early season wins, but he has not raced in over a month.
Bob Beiler doesn't have a feature win yet but he always seems to finish and that fact has him atop the Super Stock point standings by 12 markers over four time winner Ron Whaley and 28 ahead of three-time first place finisher Ted "The Man From Pine Hills" Head. This class is really a toss-up each week with several drivers in the hunt at all times including John Castro, Bill Loomis, Dave "White Fire" Wright, Corey Freed, Ron Edwards, Doug Gould and a host of others.
Richie Laszlo will be going for his eighth consecutive Strictly Stock win this week but wishes he had more competition. Laszlo has put a challenge up to anyone, especially GM and Chrysler drivers, to just try and beat his immaculate Ford Fairmont Futura.
After a little "vacation" at Charlotte last week, Patrick Conrad will be back in action in the RE/MAX Legends Cars this week. Conrad and Sam Watts are the only two drivers to score Legends victories this year, but several others including Jeremy Colangelo and the Abbott brothers, Kevin and Kory, are close to notching that elusive win.
The Dan Webster for Florida Senate Classic Auto Racing Series will also be in action Saturday night with everyone trying figure out how to beat Ben Booth. Booth, who raced Modifieds here in the early 90's, has won all three Classic Car races contested at Speedworld this year and may even have a new car ready for this week's race.
Bill Posey has been the runner-up to Booth in the past two races here and says his chances look good for him to win his first CARS feature this week after an impressive Wednesday night practice session. Corey Freed will also be back out in the McGill Special out of Orlando to challenge Booth, Posey, and the likes of Stormin' Norman Agostinho, Joey Strehle, Daryl "The Bald Bomber" Grief, "Captain" Bud Spencer, George Hall, Jr. and his son George Hall III plus the "Windemere Flash," Tim Ousley.
Three divisions of Bandoleros will also be in action Saturday night along with the popular new Hurricane class for stock four cylinder cars.
Pit gates open Friday afternoon at 4PM, grandstand gates at 6PM, and racing action starts exactly at 8PM. Adult grandstand admission is $10.
Saturday, pit gates open at 3PM, grandstands at 5:30PM, and racing starts promptly at 7PM. Adult admission to the grandstands on Saturday night is only $5 and kids 11 and under always get in free at Speedworld.
SPEEDWORLD NOTES:
Jared Allison will race Friday night to keep up his standing in the Super Late Model points race, then tow all night to a race in Kenley, NC. He has to be ready to qualify in Kenley at 3PM Saturday!
Thirteen-year-old phenom Sam Watts, who has three RE/MAX Legends Car wins this year and destroyed the FASTKIDS field here last Friday in his new racing truck, was testing a Mike Murphy-owned Super Late Model Wednesday night. Watts looked good and may take a shot at the Super Late Models just as his arch-rival Patrick Conrad has done.
Several new Bandolero drivers will be making their debut in the coming weeks. Roger Benton, Jr., whose dad races in the Super Stock class, was testing a sharp looking new car Wednesday while ten-year-old Cody Kasper, yet another third generation racer, was getting some seat time in Brandon Thomson's car and may soon have one of his own. These kids are fun to watch as they're first getting started.
Among the cars at the Wednesday night practice was John Smith's 1972 Chevelle Super Stock. Actually, this car was called a "Bomber" back in 1992... the last time it was raced. "It still runs and it's pretty fast even though these are the same tires I had on it the last time I raced it," said Smith. "If I can come up with some new tires, we'll give it a shot Friday night," he said. Smith won many races in the car back in the 1989-92 seasons.
The Wednesday night practice sessions continue to offer a wide variety of cars and drivers getting some "seat time." Wednesday night, along with the usual classes like Super Late Models, Super Stocks, and RE/MAX Legends, there were four Classic Cars, several Bandoleros, an Open Wheel Lite, a racing kart, a quarter midget, and two SCCA Porsche 911's!!
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