Martin Dominates Top Guns at Volusia

All Photos Courtesy of JimJonesPhoto.com
BARBERVILLE, FL-  Saturday night’s crowd at Volusia Speedway Park saw plenty of high speed excitement as the Top Gun Sprint Car Series made a final 2010 appearance on the south’s fastest half mile.  Adding to the action were three of VSP’s top divisions, including the Budweiser Modifieds, the Taylor Racing Products Sportsman cars, and the Daytona Sportswear Street Stocks. And at intermission fans saw a full field of dachshunds hit the clay in the dog-eat-dog action of the Wiener Nationals, where local favorite, Willy, successfully defended his championship.

The Top Gun Sprints arrived at Volusia Speedway Park with their points battle locked in a dead heat at the top.  Ryan Partin had held the top spot until the series’ last battle at Ocala and VSP, but after those races Tim George had pulled even with Partin at the top of the points.  But the dominant force back in July was Danny Martin, who snared wins at both Ocala’s tricky 3/8ths mile, and at Volusia’s fast and wide half mile, on consecutive nights, and Martin had not lost any of that dominance over the past couple of months.

Danny Martin had the pole position at the start, and immediately took control of the race.  In fact, he lapped his way through the field up to 5th place before the checkered flags ended his romp with another celebration in Victory Lane, and had the others sprinters wondering just what it would take to keep up with him. Shawn Murray chased the winner to a second place finish, followed by A.J. Maddox in the third spot and Bruce Durden in fourth.  and Ryan Partin managed to beat Tim George to the checkers to claim the fifth spot, thus regaining the series points lead.

The Budweiser Modified points leader, Jamie Carter, had hoped that Saturday’s feature race would seal the deal on a championship for 2010, but problems sidelined Carter early on while Jeff Mathews continued to race in the top three.  Mathews was not exactly having the night of his life either, as handling problems plagued the 33 car and thwarted every move he made toward the lead.  The guy who had it all together was Larry Burkins, and Burkins’ strong run was the key to another Budweiser Modified victory for the big guy.  Burkins was followed to the checkers by Kent Corbin, who climbed 8 spots from his starting position in his new cartooned themed 0K machine.  Jeff Mathews held onto the third spot, while Jimmy Carter placed fourth.  Jared Allison turned in a respectable run and rounded out the top five.

A $1000 cash carrot attracted twenty three tough competitors to Volusia Speedway as the Taylor Racing Products Sportsman Division took to the clay, and from the start Stanton Mills sent a message that the check should be made out to him.  Blaise Hetznecker had a good run going until a lapped car forced him to take evasive action into the pit lane, and with no caution waving it put him a lap down to the field early on.  Ken Hall was dominant in his earlier heat race and had Mills in his sights until Danny Vogel and Hall collided in turn 3.  That contact ripped the nose off of Hall’s machine and drew a caution, but the caution was charged to the debris so neither racer lost track position.

Although Vogel gave it a shot, no one was able to chase down Stanton Mills as he claimed the $1000 and another victory.  Danny Vogel settled for second place while Aaron Barsness looked to seal cement a points championship with a third place run.  Barsness’ teammate, Scott Lagasse, gained 13 positions from his start to place fourth, and Josh Bird climbed 9 spots to claim fifth.

The Daytona Sportswear Street Stocks have spent what seemed like forever away from Volusia’s clay before returning to take the green on Saturday night, but it took mere seconds for James Smith of Geneva, Florida, to get everyone’s attention.  Smith took control from the start and looked too tough to tame, but Tim Hughes had notched a win on Friday at the opposite end of the Ocala National Forest and wanted another.  Unfortunately for both Smith and Hughes, Philip Brown was out to hammer the final nail into a points championship and blew past Hughes and Smith to complete the project with a win.  James Smith finished second while Tim Hughes was third, plus Billy Medders and Justin Sirmons rounded out the top five to the checkers.

Volusia Speedway Park will take a week off on September 25th to allow our racers to prepare for the final night of the 2010 points season on Saturday, October 2nd.  All divisions will be taking the green on Fabulous 50’s Night for one last shot at getting the best finish possible on the 2010 points rankings, while some racers will be planning their celebrations of divisional championships.  For more information on the remaining events in 2010 at the south’s fastest half mile, please visit www.VolusiaSpeedwayPark.net.