February 11, St. Augustine, Fla.- Shane Sawyer of Palm Beach, Fla. came from his fifth starting position to take the 150-lap inaugural Florida Cup for the Super Late Models at Florida Speed Park.

"The car really came in during the last half of the race," said Sawyer. "For the first half we were struggling a little. But there at the end it was ready to go."

Goodson led the first half of the event from his pole starting position but was getting constant pressure from Tim Felver of Owosso, Michigan. Felver was finally able to wrestle the lead away from Goodson on lap 83 only to have his evening come to an abrupt end on lap 106 when all three of the leaders found a streak of rear end grease in turn three. Felver and Gary Jones of Jefferson, Ga., running third at the time, received the worst of the incident slamming the outside wall. Goodson spun his No. 16 but was able to stay off the wall and dropped back in to the third spot.

The incident put Scott Hantz of Angola, Indiana on the point where he stayed until Sawyer took the lead on lap 133 by pulling off a daring move coming off turn four. In front of a crowded, cheering throng of race fans, Hal Goodson was in position to freight train Hantz down the front straight but that hole closed up at the entrance to turn one and Hantz was sent spinning. Hantz was later collected by a speeding Larry Osteen, eliminating both cars from further competition.

Sawyer and Goodson were followed across the line by "Big Jim" Kelly of Newport, N.C., B.J. McLeod of Wauchula, Fla. and Randy Fox of Lehigh Acres, Fla.

The win netted the Palm Beach driver the $3,000 winners share of the purse.

In other SpeedFest 2000 action, Wes Bullock of Cicero, Indiana held off a very determined Eddie Van Meter to win the Sunshine Classic Truck event. Andrew White of Indianapolis, Bill Harkins of Painesville, Ohio and Clay Keim of Freemont, Ohio rounded out the top five.

The Florida Speed Park Sportsman division saw Todd Ponce pick up his first win of 2000 over Kenny Hall, Jason Garver, Nick Pilinko and Shaw Hallman.

The Florida Speed Park will remain quiet Sunday but it will come roaring back to life Monday, Feb. 14 with a 150-lap Enduro event dubbed the Valentine's Day Massacre, a 25-lap Powder Puff race, Super Late Models, Modifieds and Trucks. Gates Open at 4pm and the features will start at 7. SpeedFest 2000 continues through Saturday, February 19th, culminating with the first ever American Racing Association Late Model All-Star 200 lap event.




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