by Dave Westerman
The warmest weather of the season greeted fans and competitors alike Saturday evening at Auburndale Speedway and the racing was just as hot as well.
The Open Wheel Modifieds returned with seventeen racers in attendance to duke it out for the $1,000 first place prize. Kyle Bookmiller and Big Wayne Morris split the heat race wins and had the front row for the 40 lap feature event.
The first attempt at getting the race started was nullified when Doc McKinney and Rick Coffin made contact coming down the home stretch with Coffin tagging the wall. The damage to Coffin’s mount was too much and he went off on the hook while McKinney restarted.
Bookmiller grabbed the early advantage as Morris tried hard to make the tough outside line work. But before he could finally get in line, Morris was back several positions as Bookmiller settled into the lead with a host of heavy-hitters behind him. Caution was out early on lap two as Travis Rowland spun in turn three. On the ensuing restart, McKinney locked horns with Jimmy Wilkins and the two came to a stop at the top of turn four. This time it was McKinney who was unable to continue.
Bookmiller continued to set the pace but already it was evident that his engine was not at peak performance as there was plenty of “popping” from his exhaust. James Wilkins was putting the pressure on for the lead but slipped high on lap ten allowing James Wright III to slip into second.
Lap 20 saw the final caution right at mid race as Rowland and Jerry Artuso tangled in turn three. Rowland pulled off the track and called it a night.
From that point Bookmiller, battling his balky power plant, had to pull out all the stops to hold off Wright, whose car was running extremely hot. Wilkins remained in the thick of things staying right on Wright’s bumper as Kevin Macy and Morris moved up to challenge.
Bookmiller kept his car buried on the low side of the track as Wright threw out all the stops but was never able to make the pass aftraid if he slipped trying to make a move in the high groove he’d be “freight-trained.”
Bookmiller held on for his second win of the year trailed by Wright III, James Wilkins, Macy and Morris. Wright was none too happy in victory lane as he emerged from his car (which was leaking water like a geyser) accusing Bookmiller of “mirror driving” although the two shook hands after a brief discussion. The winner was both happy and apologetic in victory lane saying he “did what he needed to do” and that he was giving Wright plenty of room on the outside.
Third place finisher James Wilkins was more than pleased with finishing in the show spot. The 68-years-young driver, in a 26 year old race car, said his car was working good in the outside lane but “it just doesn’t have the straightaway speed to stay up with these other guys.”
Rounding out the top ten were Shawn Harper, Colin Cabre, Billy Bechtelheimer, David Grogan and Keith Lilley. So close were the cars in the race that, even though the final 20 laps were run under green, no one was even close to being lapped.
Lee Davis had a tough night with his new car in the Modified Mini Stocks. Davis never made a lap in the heat race as the car quit before the start and had to be pushed off the race track. Mike Sweet won the heat race and grabbed the feature race lead only to be punted into a spin by Burt Morse who was going for three feature wins in a row.
With Morse going to the rear of the restart line-up, Davis got a new lease on life as he quickly disposed of Sweet and was running away in the lead until his car suddenly shut off with a handful of laps left and he coasted into the infield.
Sweet re-claimed the front position and raced to his first win of the year in style over Jason Rendell and Scotty Sharpe. Rendell’s car was set down in tech however, moving Sharpe up to second in the final running order while Morse recovered for third. Bruce Anderson and Dennis Jones completed the front five. Point leader Fred Harrison, Jr. spun out during the Mini Stock heat race but got lucky when heat race winner Chris Narramore, Sr. had to pit before the start of the race, joining Harrison in the rear of the starting line-up instead of on the pole.
Donnie Guy set the early pace in the feature as the rest of the field duked it out behind him. Harrison sliced and diced his way to the front, taking the top spot away from Guy on lap eight and raced his way to his fifth win of the year. Guy held off the advances of Chris Spring and Narramore to grab second.
Fifth spot went to Kevin Steadman.
Make it a hat trick for Gerald White, Jr. as he won his third straight Legend Car feature. Jake Perkins and Mason Ketterman split the heat race wins and it was Perkins who set the early pace in the feature before White blasted past on lap three and never looked back. Justin Brown zipped up to second by the time the checker fell but was only within shouting distance of White. Ketterman took third while Perkins faded to fourth just ahead of newcomer Tyler Schule who was impressive scoring a top five in his initial start here.
Zach Napoleon, John Inman, Lynn Wiles, Bryan Silas and Dakota Baggett completed the top ten.
Sporting a new “camouflage” paint scheme on his car, point leader Jeff Waterman held off an impressive group of Street Stocks to claim his second win of the year. Dave Colpritt made sure Waterman knew he was there but had to settle for the runner-up spot trailed by Matt McCrary, Bobby Mobley and Eddie Hartin. Waterman and Colpritt split the heat race wins.
The tech shed was not kind to the V-8 Bomber class once again. David Fletcher led the first five laps of the feature before Brandon Duchscherer zoomed by to take an apparent win.
However, both Duchscherer and Fletcher were set down for weight infractions handing the win to Buddy Phillips, Jr., his first of 2010. Jason Howell would have finished second, but his car was also too light over the scales. Tav Gary was the only other car still running and his car did pass tech awarding him second place.
Point leader Josh Borem had mechanical troubles and dropped out of the feature but all the issues in tech still found him finishing third.
There was plenty of action to go around in the Scrambler class starting with plenty of bumpin’ and bangin’ in the heat race which waswon by point leader Kim Gullett. Gene Harrison actually passed Gullett on the final lap but was DQ’d for rough driving.
In the feature it was Ron Norman’s Ford Escort grabbing the top spot from Gullett and her Honda. Richie Acres had his Saturn on the move though. Driving with the passenger-side door missing after a heat race incident, Acres moved out front and stayed there to take the win. Norman would also eventually be another victim of the tech men as Richard Brown would take the checker in second followed by Brian Tyre, Matt Johns and William “Huggy Bear”
Hindman. Gullett wound up sixth.
The Bandolero feature was over before a lap could be completed. Only two cars showed up to race. Heat winner Derek Sobel made contact with Cameron White going down the back stretch in slid hard into the wall backwards. With his car too badly damaged to continue, Sobel was out and the win was subsequently awarded to White who refused to claim his accolades because he felt the accident was his fault.
Next week the Open Wheel Modifieds return for their second of back-to-back race nights. Also running will be the Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Scramblers, V-8 Bombers and Sportsman cars . Racing start at 7 PM.
Also on Saturday, Auburndale Speedway will be helping out with the World’s Largest Poker Run to benefit the Fallen Firefighter Survivors Foundation presented by the Red Knights Motorcycle Club. The track will be hosting a car show from 1-5 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.
OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 4/24/10:
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED:
1-#03 Kyle Bookmiller
2-#56 James Wright III
3-#76 James Wilkins
4-#19 Kevin Macy
5-#98 Wayne Morris
6-#00 Shawn Harper
7-#51 Colin Cabre
8-#6 Billy Bechtelheimer
9-#101 David Grogan
10-#87 Keith Lilley
11-#11 Jimmy Wilkins
12-#5 Jerry Artuso
13-#75 Bobby Blake
14-#65 Ken Lawrence
15-#10 Travis Roland
16-#41 Doc McKinney
17-#28 Rick Coffin
MODIFIED MINI STOCKS:
1-#55 Mike Sweet
2-#89 Scott Sharpe
3-#38 Burt Morse
4-#07 Bruce Anderson
5-#45 Dennis Jones
6-#77 Lee Davis
7-#26 Jimmy Pugh
DQ #15 Jason Rendell
DQ #8 John Markovich
MINI STOCKS:
1-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.
2-#33 Donnie Guy
3-#42 Chris Spring
4-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr.
5-#88 Kevin Steadman
6-#46 Mike Bruno
7-#90 Danny Pearson
8-#551 Mark Wells
9-#40 Jason Swilley
DNS #4 Marilyn McCrary
LEGEND CARS:
1-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
2-#8 Justin Brown
3-#71 Mason Ketterman
4-#59 Jake Perkins
5-#88 Tyler Schule
6-#4R Zack Napoleon
7-#59x John Inman
8-#31 Lynn Wiles
9-#57 Bryan Silas
10-#7 Dakota Baggett
11-#07 Dave Gleason
12-#67 Matt Larmore
13-#51 Roger Englund
14-#83 Danielle Stratton
15-#99 Leroy Moore
STREET STOCKS:
1-#42 Jeff Waterman
2-#4 Dave Colpritt
3-#5 Matt McCrary
4-#29 Bobby Mobley
5-#48 Eddie Hartin
6-#22 Chuck Harrison, Jr.
7-#10 Kenny May
8-#3 Kevin O’Quinn
9-#44 Mark Waterman
10-#21 Chris Narramore, Jr.
11-#142 Chris Spring
12-#26 Ronnie Miller
DNS #56 James Wright III
DNS #53 Kyle Peters
SCRAMBLERS:
1-#8 Richie Acres
2-#62 Richard Brown
3-#66 Brian Tyre
4-#51 Matt Johns
5-#86 William Hindman
6-#28 Kimberly Gullett
7-#71 Dave Canfield
8-#88 Gene Harrison
9-#42 Mike Bauer
10-#4 Scott Russ
11-#00 Chad Cutting
DQ #98 Ronald Norman
V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.
2-#8 Tav Gary
3-#111 Josh Borem
DQ #42 Brandon Duchscherer
DQ #1 David Fletcher
DQ #123 Jason Howell
BANDOLEROS:
1-#38 Cameron White
2-#5 Derek Sobel
Next week the Open Wheel Modifieds return for their second of back-to-back race nights Also running will be the Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Scramblers, V-8 Bombers and Sportsman cars . Racing start at 7 PM. Also on Saturday, Auburndale Speedway will be helping out with World’s Largest Poker Run to benefit the Fallen Firefighter Survivors Foundation presented by the Red Knights Motorcycle Club. The track will be hosting a car show from 1-5 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to
www.auburndaleracing.com.