by Dave Westerman

Auburndale Speedway is the place to be this Saturday starting with a big car show and the end of the 2010 “World’s Largest Poker Run” followed by a full night of racing and fun which includes the Open Wheel Modifieds, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers and the Kids Club. As a special added attraction, the Outlaw Modifieds will make their first appearance of the year with a 25 lap feature race scheduled.

Auburndale Speedway is partnering with the Red Knights Motorcycle Club to present the FFSF 2010 World’s Largest Poker Run which benefits the Fallen Firefighter Survivors Foundation.
The event begins at Honda of Winter Haven, 3699 Highway 17 in Winter Haven, with bike registration starting at 8AM. The first bike will head out at 10AM and it will be a “pick your poker run” format. The Red Knights are hoping to break their own Guinness World Record set at this event last year. The run itself will end at Auburndale Speedway.

Here at the track, there will be a Classic Car Show from 1-5PM, so fans are invited to come out early and browse among a large group of classic, antique, special interest and muscle cars. If you would like to take part in either the poker run or car show, contact Matt Nichols at (863) 412-1098 or visit www.redknightsfl10.com for more information.

Everyone is urged to come out and support this event as it benefits the Fallen Firefighter Survivors Foundation.

Once the poker run and car show wrap up, it will be time for more great racing at Auburndale Speedway and, as an extra added attraction, “Wheelie Magic” will be on hand. This one of a kind wheel-standing fire truck is sure to excite both the kids and the adults.

This week will be the second of back-to-back racing weeks for the Open Wheel Modifieds. Last week saw Kyle Bookmiller lead a close pack to the checker for his second win of the year despite a car which, acording to Bookimiller, was “not up to par.” Kevin Macy’s fourth place finish kept him on top of the season-long point race as he now heads second place Wayne Morris by a scant four markers headed into this weeks action. James Wright III came home second last week and moved to within seven points of the leader while Bookmiller is fourth in the tally, 16 back of Macy.

In the Sportsman class, veteran driver Dave Dunkin has won every feature he’s finished this year making him three for four headed into Saturday evening. Dunkin holds a fairly comfortable margin of 30 points over rookie contender Austin Carr. Carr has a 12 point edge over Mark Medieros, the only other driver to visit victory lane so far this year.

Following his second win of the year last week, Jeff Waterman has opened up a 38 point advantage over Matt McCrary in the Street Stock point chase. Dave Colpritt is third in Street Stock points and the only one at present even within shouting distance of the two front-runners.

Fred Harrison, Jr. continues to have the hot hand in the Mini Stock class. Yet another victory last week has propelled Harrison to a 14 point lead over a very close group behind him. Chris Spring remains second in the current running just four markers in front of Chris Narramore, Sr. while Donnie Guy is a close fourth.

Josh Borem didn’t finish the V-8 Bomber feature last week but, with all the disqualifications in tech, still wound up finishing third and maintains a point lead of 52 over last weeks winning driver Buddy Phillips, Jr.

Kim Gullett saw her Scrambler point lead trimmed a bit last week as Brian Tyre is now just 12 points behind. Chad Cutting has moved to third in points but is 50 markers behind Tyre.

The Outlaw Modifieds are a late addition to this weeks program as their race scheduled at another track is being moved here this week. Ric Mills currently leads the point chase for these exotic four-cylinder-powered cars over Tom Meyer, Doug Hopper, Craig Sherar and John Gula.

Again, the car show is from 1-5PM at the track, so make plans to come out and support the Fallen Firefighter Survivors Foundation. Pit gates will open at 2PM, grandstand gates at 5PM and racing begins at 7PM.

NOTES: Make sure to bring the kids this week. Not only will “Wheelie Magic” be here, but “Lindsey’s Little Racers” are going to be giving away another pair of bicycles along with other prizes. All kids aged ten and under will get an extra ticket as they enter the grandstand area which is good for the prize drawings.

Apparently some things just get better with age. James Wilkins turned in a strong third place run in the Open Wheel Modified race last week in a 26 year old race car. The car is just a baby compared to James himself who is 68 years young.

Once again fans will be invited to come out to a special practice session that will be held on Friday, May 21st before the next Late Model race which will be held the following night. Pit admission will be $10 and includes free beer, hot dogs and hamburgers after practice concludes along with a live band.

AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY POINTS (Thru 4/24/10):

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS:
1-#19 Kevin Macy 411
2-#98 Wayne Morris 407
3-#56 James Wright III 404
4-#03 Kyle Bookmiller 395
5-#87 Keith Lilley 388
6-#75 Bobby Blake 360
7-#3 Harold Cannon 303
8-#102 Von Pope 286
9-#101 David Grogan 277
10-#00 Shawn Harper 270

SPORTSMAN:
1-#71 Dave Dunkin 176
2-#8 Austin Carr 146
3-#13 Mark Medeiros 134
4-#51 Kyle Alford 122
5-#60 Richard Fiore 84
6-#1 Bart Weatherford 82
7-#8 Brandon Duchscherer 66
#47 Bobby Mobley 66
9-#92 Ted Head 56
10-#19 Chris Lewellen 34

STREET STOCKS:
1-#42 Jeff Waterman 340
2-#5 Matt McCrary 302
3-#4 Dave Colpritt 276
4-#56 James Wright III 186
5-#17 Kyle Hall 182
6-#29 Bobby Mobley 162
7-#3 Kevin O’Quinn 150
8-#65 Ken Lawrence 130
#48 Eddie Hartin 130
10-#16 Andy Harvard 122

MINI STOCKS:
1-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr. 436
2-#42 Chris Spring 422
3-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr. 418
4-#33 Donnie Guy 394
5-#46 Randy King 246
6-#88 Kevin Steadman 232
7-#40 Jason Swilley 162
8-#4 Marilyn McCrary 128
9-#55 Steve Routt, Jr. 126
10-#90 Danny Pearson 114

V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#111 Josh Borem 400
2-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr. 348
3-#56 James Wright, Sr. 272
4-#0 Paul Bookmiller 266
5-#42 Brandon Duchscherer 178
6-#96 Larry Chumney, Sr. 128
7-#14 Donnie King 124
8-#29 Brian Harbin 118
9-#60 Greg Valdez 92
10-#96 Larry Chumney II 90

SCRAMBLERS:
1-#28 Kimberly Gullett 278
2-#66 Brian Tyre 266
3-#00 Chad Cutting 216
4-#51 Matt Johns 210
5-#62 Richard Brown 178
6-#71 Dave Canfield 160
7-#4 Scott Russ 146
8-#52 Gary Brown 138
9-#42 Mike Bauer 100
10-#9 Ashton Hunt 96

LEGEND CARS:
1-#38 Gerald White, Jr. 314
2-#9 Justin Brown 290
3-#59 Jake Perkins 288
4-#71 Mason Ketterman 268
5-#07 Dave Gleason 232
6-#31 Lynn Wiles 186
7-#4R Zach Napoleon 160
8-#7 Dakota Baggette 136
9-#83 Danielle Stratton 122
10-#51 Roger Englund 114

MODIFIED MINI STOCKS:
1-#89 Scott Sharpe 220
2-#15 Jason Rendell 176
3-#55 Mike Sweet 174
4-#38 Burt Morse 170
5-#45 Dennis Jones 154
6-#26 Jimmy Pugh 136
7-#07 Bruce Anderson 94
8-#09 Jessica Robbins 82
9-#33 Chris Allen 46
10-#44 Mike Lawhorn 40

LATE MODELS:
1-#07 Jeff Scofield 201
2-#407 Jason Vail 167
3-#21 Kevin Ingram 165
4-#50 Perry Lovelady 156
5-#49 Ron Lofquist 153
6-#54 Ryan Lisak 132
7-#82 Danny Maddox 122
8-#39 Tyler Laing 120
9-#36 Tim Russell 103
10-#27 Cody Lane 100

MINI CUPS:
1-#14 Sam Scott 88
2-#07 Harold Crooms 84
3-#74 John Beach 76
4-#1 Rick Ragan 68
5-#08 Tyler Scofield 56
#47 Brandon Beach 56
7-#27x Dale Pulst 54
#37 Rick Cline, Sr. 54
9-#48 Carlos Pinto 52
10-#24 Mike Holt 42

BANDOLEROS
BANDITS:
1-#38 Cameron White 342
2-#5 Derek Sobel 98
3-#11 Coty Bibeau 44
4-#30 Noah Cornman 42

OUTLAWS:
1-#13 Ryan Shattuck 146
2-#96 Teddy Lively 142
3-#48 Andy Metz 138
4-#1 Mark Bibeau