by Dave Westerman
After a week off to celebrate the 4th of July, Auburndale Speedway returned to action Saturday night with another huge crowd of fans, 92 cars in the pits and several first-time winners in their respective classes for 2010.
The Legend Cars took center stage on the evening running a pair of 25 lap feature events. The first feature had barely gotten under way when a three car tangle sent Danielle Stratton’s car flying through the air after she ran over the back of Roger Englund’s machine. Both Stratton and Mike Gleason had to take their cars pit side for repairs although both were able to return for the second feature. Englund was able to continue after removing a rear fender.
Pole sitter Jake Perkins led the first five laps but Devin McLeod got by him to lead the next pair of laps. Young Tyler Smith had his car dailed in to perfection though and snatched the lead from McLeod on lap nine. From that point the race ran to the checker without another yellow flag as Smith copped his first win of the year. McLeod held on for second with Gerald White, Jr.
grabbing third late in the going ahead of Mason Ketterman and Perkins who dropped to fifth by the time the checker flew. Darin Coker, making his first start of the year here, started 18th and worked his way up to sixth at the finish with Dave Gleason, Lynn Wiles, Matt Larmore and Zach Napoleon rounding out the top ten.
The top six from race one drew pills for the top six starting positions in feature #2 and Smith drew the pole spot. That pretty much was all she wrote as Smith dominated the second 25 lapper which ran green to checker without a caution. Gerald White, Jr. and McLeod took second and third while Perkins took fourth and Ketterman fifth. Coker again was sixth trailed by Dave Gleason, Larmore, Napoleon and Seth Adams.
The Auburndale Trucks were back in action and there was plenty to be had in their 25 lap run.
Zach Harris, coming off a win the night before at Orlando SpeedWorld, won the heat and had the pole for the feature but could not hold off a hard-charging Tim Sozio who sped to the front on lap six. Sozio got just a bit loose though allowing Nick Hernandez and Mad Mike Smith to move into the front two spots. The lead pair then began a crowd-pleasing battle that culminated in them tangling in turn one at the start of lap 17.
Both Hernandez and Smith were sent to the back of the pack for the restart and Sozio took advantage to score his first win of the year despite the late race efforts of Tommy King who, although he had to settle for second, took over the point lead in the division. Brent Tyler raced to a third place finish followed by Hernandez and Harris. A great field of Sportsman cars saw Richard Elkins, Jr. and Brandon Duchscherer split heat race wins. Elkins grabbed the early lead only to see a tire fly off Eddie Hartin’s new car just as the first lap was being completed to bring out the yellow. Elkins continued to lead as Bart Weatherford moved to second and began to put on the pressure. The field was slowed a second time as Josh Todd spun his new ride on lap six.
Elkins and Weatherford continued their spirited duel with things coming to a head on lap 14 as they tangled in turn four. Duchscherer was also involved trying to get by as the right side sheet metal was ripped from his car. Dave Dunkin also couldn’t avoid the melee and had to pit with a deflated left front tire. With Elkins and Weatherford sent to the rear for the restart, Duscscherer kept his now “air conditioned” racer on the track and inherited the lead. Dunkin pitted and returned to the track but also had to restart from the back. Despite the damage to his car, Duchscherer easily led the remaining laps to score his first Sportsman win of the year. Justin Reynolds of Cocoa made his first-ever start at Auburndale a good one with a second place finish ahead of Mark Medeiros, Chris Lewellen and Todd. Lance Daubach made his first start in a brand new car and took sixth while Elkins, Duncan, Weatherford and Brett Jenkins completed the top ten.
Kyle Peters had been knocking on the door all season long and this week simply knocked the door down as he totally dominated the usually competitive field of Street Stocks.
Peters handily won the heat race then ran off and hid in a feature race which was slowed just once on lap five for a wild front stretch crash that eliminated the cars of Mike Rowland and Chris Spring. Peters finished a full straightaway in front of second place Kyle Hall who had Dave Colpritt on his bumper the entire distance. Cody McDuffie took fourth and Bobby Mobley was fifth. The remainder of the top ten were Matt McCrary, Jeff Waterman, Joe Dowdy, newcomer Jerrell Cook and Spring.
The Southeast Champ Karts sponsored by Jim Hite Pest Control made their third appearance of the year and put on an incredible show. There were four different official lap leaders in the 25 lap feature with Mitch Stevens and Ed Brillhante taking the checker in a virtual dead heat before Stevens was deemed the winner by a mere inch. Unlike previous races which would see lots three, four and five kart single-file “drafts,” there was plenty of side-by-side, three-wide, even four-wide racing the entire distance.
Trailing Stevens and Brillhante to the stripe were P.J. Letourneau, Tim Simmons and Alan McKinney with Wesley Gonzales, Romay Venta, Phil Harp, Kyle Worden and Ryan Walters rounding out the top ten. Brillhante officially led
14 laps, Stevens led laps three through six before taking the win at the line, Gonzales led twice for four laps and Simmons was credited with leading one lap. Heat wins were taken by Rusty Chancey and Billy Smith yet neither cracked the top ten in the action-packed feature.
The V-8 Bomber feature had plenty of wild action from start to finish but the end of the race was incredible as Preston Davis took to the outside lane on the final lap and passed Bobby Mobley for the win after Mobley had led the from the green flag. It was Davis’ second win in a row with Mobley having to settle for second just barely in front of third place Larry Chumney, Sr. Travis Roland became about the 50th different driver to wheel the #42 car this year and he drove to a fourth place finish just ahead of Gene Harrison. Grizzled veteran Edward Howell took the checker in sixth trailed by JamesWright II, newcomer Mark Roadarmel, Buddy Phillips, Jr. and Jeff Lacy. Mobley won the heat.
Doug Hopper of New Port Richey took the measure of the visiting Outlaw Modifieds. Hopper won the heat then led all the way to claim his second win of the year here. Billy Campbell took the runner-up spot followed by Mike Endee, Tom Meyer, Ric Mills and Mel-Mel Braden, Chris Spring added to his point lead in the Mini Stock class by scoring yet another feature victory. Young Gary Brown was impressive as he claimed the second spot ahead of heat winner Fred Harrison, Jr., Jason Swilley and Dwight Ryals.
The biggest Bandolero field of the year saw Teddy Lively take his third straight win over Mark Bibeau and Daniel Conlin, Jr. Cameron White took the checker in fourth but claimed the 8-11 year old Bandit class trophy. Andy Metz was fifth.
This Saturday night the Late Models return for 100 laps and $3,000 to win. Also on the card are the Mini Cups, Modified Mini Stocks, Kids Club, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, and Mini Stocks. Racing starts at 7PM. Pits open at 2 PM. Open practice will be held both Thursday and Friday evenings this week. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.
OFFICIAL RESULTS: AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 7/10/10:
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LEGEND CAR FEATURE #1:
1-#4 Tyler Smith
2-#21 Devin McLeod
3-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
4-#71 Mason Ketterman
5-#59 Jake Perkins
6-#00 Darin Coker
7-#07 Dave Gleason
8-#31 Lynn Wiles
9-#67 Matt Larmore
10-#4R Zach Napoleon
11-#5 Seth Adams
12-#99 Leroy Moore
13-#7 Dakota Baggette
14-#59x John Inman
15-#51 Roger Englund
16-#65 Coty Bibeau
17-#8 Justin Brown
18-#17 Mike Gleason
19-#83 Danielle Stratton
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LEGEND CAR FEATURE #2:
1-#4 Tyler Smith
2-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
3-#21 Devin McLeod
4-#59 Jake Perkins
5-#71 Mason Ketterman
6-#00 Darin Coker
7-#07 Dave Gleason
8-#67 Matt Larmore
9-#4R Zach Napoleon
10-#5 Seth Adams
11-#31 Lynn Wiles
12-#7 Dakota Baggette
13-#59x John Inman
14-#99 Leroy Moore
15-#17 Mike Gleason
16-#51 Roger Englund
17-#65 Coty Bibeau
18-#83 Danielle Stratton
19-#8 Justin Brown
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AUBURNDALE TRUCKS:
1-#16 Tim Sozio
2-#1 Tommy King
3-#99 Brent Tyler
4-#37 Nick Hernandez
5-#54 Zach Harris
6-#18 Cheyne Hammond
7-#23 Michael Smith
8-#15 Roger Blevins
9-#2 Jim Cowhey, Jr.
DNS #72 Wally Warrick
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SPORTSMAN:
1-#8 Brandon Duchscherer
2-#20 Justin Reynolds
3-#13 Mark Medeiros
4-#19 Chris Lewellen
5-#89 Josh Todd
6-#77 Lance Daubach
7-#55 Richard Elkins, Jr.
8-#71 Dave Dunkin
9-#1 Bart Weatherford
10-#89x Brett Jenkins
11-#21 Chuck Harrison, Jr.
12-#48 Eddie Hartin
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STREET STOCKS:
1-#53 Kyle Peters
2-#17 Kyle Hall
3-#4 Dave Colpritt
4-#25 Cody McDuffie
5-#29 Bobby Mobley
6-#5 Matt McCrary
7-#42 Jeff Waterman
8-#45 Joe Dowdy
9-#46 Jerrell Cook
10-#142 Chris Spring
11-#52 Mike Rowland
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MINI STOCKS:
1-#42 Chris Spring
2-#2 Gary Brown
3-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.
4-#40 Jason Swilley
5-#2 Dwight Ryals
6-#4 Marily McCrary
7-#89 Shawn Jenkins
8-#551 Mark Wells
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V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#89 Preston Davis
2-#29 Bobby Mobley
3-#96 Larry Chumney, Sr.
4-#42 Travis Roland
5-#88 Gene Harrison
6-#123 Edward Howell
7-#56 James Wright II
8-#81 Mark Roadarmel
9-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.
10-#105 Jeff Lacey
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OUTLAW MODIFIEDS:
1-#15 Doug Hooper
2-#11 Billy Campbell
3-#26 Mike Endee
4-#04 Tom Meyers
5-#22 Ric Mills
6-#7 Mel Mel Braden
DNS #5 Craig Sherar
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SOUTHEAST CHAMP KARTS:
1-#33 Mitch Stevens
2-#63 Ed Brillhante
3-#61 P.J. Latourneau
4-#14 Tim Simmons
5-#37 Alan McKinney
6-#47 Wesley Gonzales
7-#13 Romay Venta
8-#77 Phil Harp
9-#32 Kyle Worden
10-#93 Ryan Walters
11-#1 Dennis Mace
12-#2 Rusty Chancy
13-#16 Paul Letourneau
14-#30 Billy Smith
15-#52 Mark Clauss
16-#0 Darin Coker
17-#73 Kenner Brown III
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BANDOLEROS:
1-#96 Teddy Lively (Overall & Outlaw Winner)
2-#1 Mark Bibeau (Outlaw)
3-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr. (Outlaw)
4-# 38 Cameron White (Bandit Winner)
5-#48 Andy Metz (Outlaw)
6-#65 Daniel Conlin, Sr. (Outlaw)
7-#03 Jake Hunter (Bandit)
8-#19 Keith Sinkula (Bandit)
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