by Dave Westerman
Race drivers are often asked how much “luck” plays a part in their sport. Saturday night at Auburndale Speedway, Bobby Blake used a very well-timed caution flag to score his second Open Wheel Modified feature of the year in front of yet another big crowd.
Keith Lilley and Shawn Harper won the heat races for the 19 cars entered for the nights’ Modified competition, but it would not be a good feature race for either driver. The pair tangled on the opening lap in turn three causing a wild melee that saw several cars bruised and bent. Harper took his car to the pits for repairs along with Josh Todd who had to replace a flat right rear tire.
Both drivers made it back out for the restart, but Harper now found himself going from the pole position to the rear of the restart line-up. With the inside row moving up a position, that now put Bobby Blake on the pole with Lilley on the outside front row.
Blake zipped to the lead as Lilley fought to maintain the high line. This time it was Colin Cabre drifting into Lilley in the exact same spot as the first incident happened. Again, Lilley went for a spin, but this time no one else received any damage and a third complete restart was called for.
This time a full lap would be completed before things went awry again… and again it was Lilley involved as he slid high off turn four, collided with Raymond Lovelady and went sliding full-speed into the infield. Lilley’s car struck the Elkins Automotive push truck but fortunately no one was injured. Lilley’s car had the rear end shoved to the side and he was done for the night while the push truck was badly damaged and needed a tow home at the end of the evening.
On the restart, Blake began to set the pace with James Wilkins in tow as the pair sped away from third-running Cabre. Action continued under green until Harper looped his mount in turn two on lap 14. Blake continued to set the pace with Wilkins all over him. On lap 25, Wilkins drove by Blake on the outside to take the lead only to see the caution flag out for a tangle between Eddie Hartin and Ken Lawrence in turn two.
For the restart, the field reverted back to the running order from lap 24 place a relieved Blake back in the lead. Wilkins kept up his charge but things were changing behind the lead duo as Travis Roland and James Wright III both got by Cabre and closed on the front pair.
Wilkins tried his best but had to settle for a close second to Blake who won his second Modified race of the year after taking the checker on opening night this year. Only one driver, Lilley, was able to win two OWM features in all of 2009, now Blake and Kyle Bookmiller have already turned the trick in 2010.
Action continued right to the checker as Wright passed Roland for third on the final lap. Roland settled for fourth with point leader Wayne Morris fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Von Pope, Kevin Macy, Harold Crooms, Cabre and Harper. As a testament to the quality of the field, once again all cars running finished on the lead lap of the 40 lap feature.
The Sportsman feature race was very un-sportsmanlike in the early going with caution flags flying numerous times before the first three laps could be completed with many cars suffering body damage and a few left “dragging their tails.”
Once things settled down, first heat winner Mark Medeiros settled into the lead with Dave Dunkin and second heat winner Bart Weatherford in tow. Weatherford eventually got by Dunkin for second but Medeiros was up to the task and led all the way for his second win of the year with Weatherford a very close runner-up. Dunkin held on for third trailed by Brett Jenkins and Chris Lewellen.
The Mini Cup feature was a much tamer affair than last time out as Harold Crooms won his second straight 25 lap headliner.
Crooms and Sam Scott won the heats but Scott never got a chance to challenge as he slapped the front stretch wall on lap three and retired from the race. From that point Crooms was on cruise-control as he easily topped Rick Ragan and Georgia’s John Beach who were the only two cars within a half-lap of him. Tyler Scofield was fourth and Rick Cline, Jr. took fifth spot.
The Legend Car feature saw some wild late race action, but it was all well behind winner Gerald White, Jr. as he took his fourth win of the year. Just two cautions slowed the event for minor incidents. Justin Brown led the opening 16 laps before giving way to White who drove off from the field at that point.
Jake Perkins would ultimately end up second followed by Tyler Smith, Mason Ketterman and Brown. Heat race wins went to Brown and Smith.
Heat winner Jeff Lacy spun out in turn two while leading the V-8 Bomber feature handing the lead and eventual win to Larry Chumney II. Point leader Josh Borem was second while Lacy got back to third at the finish. Matt Johns and Gene Harrison were fourth and fifth.
Bandolero racing saw the Bibeau family back in action and they scored a one-two finish as son Coty topped dad Mark. Cameron White was third ahead of Teddy Lively, Daniel Conlin, Sr. and Andy Metz.
Heather Guy shook off a balky engine to top the Kids Club feature over Dakota Hunt, Megan Gosselin and Brandon Guy.
OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 5/15/10:
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED:
1-#75 Bobby Blake
2-#76 James Wilkins
3-#56 James Wright III
4-#10 Travis Roland
5-#98 Wayne Morris
6-#01 Von Pope
7-#19 Kevin Macy
8-#07 Harold Crooms
9-#51 Colin Cabre
10-#00 Shawn Harper
11-#5 Eddie Hartin
12-#35 Ron Abney
13-#65 Ken Lawrence
14-#11 Jimmy Wilkins
15-#101 David Grogan
16-#89 Josh Todd
17-#87 Keith Lilley
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LEGEND CARS:
1-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
2-#59 Jake Perkins
3-#4 Tyler Smith
4-#71 Mason Ketterman
5-#8 Justin Brown
6-#07 Dave Gleason
7-#31 Lynn Wiles
8-#21 Devin McLeod
9-#7 Dakota Baggette
10-#67 Matt Larmore
11-#5 Seth Adams
12-#4R Zach Napoleon
13-#51 Roger Englund
14-#83 Danielle Stratton
15-#99 Leroy Moore
16-#11 Daniel Conlin, Sr.
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SPORTSMAN:
1-#13 Mark Medeiros
2-#1 Bart Weatherford
3-#71 Dave Dunkin
4-#89 Brett Jenkins
5-#19 Chris Lewellen
6-#22 Austin Carr
7-#8 Brandon Duchscherer
8-#35 Greg Krom
9-#16 Wayne Jones
10-#01 Pat Dent
11-#21 Chuck Harrison, Jr.
DNS #60 Richard Fiore
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V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#96 Larry Chumney II
2-#111 Josh Borem
3-#105 Jeff Lacey
4-#51 Matt Johns
5-#88 Gene Harrison
6-#1 David Fletcher
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MINI CUPS:
1-#07x Harold Crooms
2-#21 Rick Ragan
3-#74 John Beach
4-#07 Tyler Scofield
5-#37 Rick Cline
6-#71 Duane Foster
7-#27x Dale Pulst
8-#2 Skip Baird
9-#22 Rick Cline, Sr.
10-#66 Shawn Edge
11-#57 Brittney Huntington
12-#9 Cole Partelo
13-#46 Frank Beach
14-#14 Sam Scott
DNS #47 Brandon Beach
DNS # 4 Ray Black
DNS #05 Cindarae Irish
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BANDOLEROS:
1-#4 Coty Bibeau (Bandit Winner)
2-#1 Mark Bibeau (Outlaw Winner
3-#38 Cameron White (Bandit)
4-#96 Teddy Lively (Outlaw)
5-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr. (Outlaw)
6-#48 Andy Metz (Outlaw)
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KIDS CLUB:
1-#30 Heather Guy (Junior Division Winner)
2-#9 Dakota Hunt (Novice Division Winner)
3-#10 Megan Gosselin (Novice)
4-#32 Brandon Guy (Novice)
Next week on May 21, it’s a special Friday night practice at 5PM and party at 8PM. Only the pits will be open but all fans are welcome. Admission is just $10. Saturday, grandstands open at 5PM, qualifying for all divisions startsat 5:30PM and racing starts at 7 PM with the Late Models running the AMF Chassis/Chassis Works 100 plus Modified Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Legends, Bandoleros, Scramblers, and V-8 Bombers. For more informationcall 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.
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