by Dave Westerman
Auburndale Speedway returns to action Saturday night with a seven division racing program headed up by the return of the Auburndale Truck Series. Also on the bill are the Sportsman cars, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers and the third leg of the 2010 Triple Crown Series for the Southeast Champ Karts.
Tim Sozio has taken over the point lead in the Auburndale Trucks by six points over Jim Cowhey, Jr. who has a 24 point edge over Brent Tyler who is now third in the standings. Tommy King is fourth just four markers behind Tyler and Keith Lilley is currently fifth in Truck points.
The Sportsman championship for 2010 will come down to a battle between veteran Dave Dunkin and Mark Medeiros. Despite seven wins, Dunkin is just 18 points ahead of Medeiros who has put together a nice string of up-front finishes lately.
The Street Stock point chase is still a two man show as well with Matt McCrary holding 28 point edge on Jeff Waterman while Chris Spring is 24 points up on second place Fred Harrison, Jr. in the Mini Stocks as the pair continue to battle it out for the season title.
In the V-8 Bombers, Josh Borem continues to hold a comfortable 78 point advantage over Buddy Phillips, Jr. Preston Davis has moved solidly into third place in points following his fifth win of the year last week.
Kimberly Gullett has back-to-back wins in the Scramblers and is now turning what was a tight point race into a runaway. Gullett is now up by 104 points over Richard Brown who has taken over second spot from Brian Tyre.
The Southeast Champ Kart Series (SECKS) runs a separate point series called the Triple Crown, and this weeks’ race at Auburndale is race number three in that Series. The Triple Crown is actually a series of four races (the fourth will be held in Orlando next month) but each driver drops one race and final points are awarded for each drivers’ best three finishes over the four races.
Doug Schmidt is the current Triple Crown point leader by 35 points over Dustin Chisholm. Timmy Moore, Billy Smith and Ron Sanford round out the current top five in the standings. A big field is expected as 46 drivers have taken part in the first two races this year.
Pit gates open at 2PM and grandstand gates open at 5PM with racing beginning at 7PM. Adult admission is just $12, seniors are $10 and kids age 5-12 are $5. Children 4 and under are free. Family four-packs (2 adults 2 kids 5-12)
are $25. If you are wearing your Auburndale Speedway T-shirt when you come to the ticket window, you get $2 off your adult admission.
NOTES:
Auburndale Speedway hosted a track owners meeting this past Monday and owners from all asphalt tracks were in attendance. A number of issues were addressed and discussed. All of the owners agreed that, with the current state of the economy, they must work together in 2011 for the betterment of the sport. A press release will be forthcoming once all decisions have been finalized.
The Legend Cars were originally on the schedule this week but have been taken off because this is the weekend of the U.S. Legend Car Asphalt Nationals at the Langley, VA Speedway. It appears that the only Auburndale regular attending the Nationals will be Semi-Pro driver Mason Ketterman of Palm Bay, so we wish him luck up there. Young Lions division driver Jake Perkins, the Auburndale Speedway point leader, automatically qualified for the Nationals by winning the Regional Qualifier here two weeks ago but his team has decided not to go to Virginia and concentrate on winning the track championship here.
Legend Car National points have been tabulated for 2010 and our own Jake Perkins finished second in Young Lions division points nationally, so congratulations are in order! Perkins finished just three points behind National Champion Sean Shalvoy of North Carolina. Auburndale drivers Zach Napoleon and Dakota Baggette were 14th and 17th nationally in Young Lion division points out of 210 drivers who earned points during the year. Mason Ketterman finished sixth nationally in Semi-Pro division points. Auburndale regulars Danielle Stratton and Dakota Baggette were 22nd and 28th respectively in the Semi-Pro division out of the 324 drivers who earned points. In the Pro division, Gerald White, Jr. took 15th nationally while Donovan Ponder was 22nd and Leroy Moore 28th out of the 402 drivers who earned points. The over-40 Masters division saw Dave Gleason come home 23rd nationally trailed closely by Roger Englund in 26th while Lynn Wiles was 37th. 401 drivers earned national points in the Masters class.
It is now official… the 2011 Legend Car and Bandolero Winternationals are moving to Auburndale Speedway. Action starts on Valentines Day, February 14th and continues through the following Saturday. More information will be forthcoming soon.
Just one week until the biggest Late Model race of the year at Auburndale and the number of phone calls and e-mails seem to indicate a record field of cars. Several drivers from out of state have called with questions meaning there could be a few surprises in the field come October 16th.
If you think track owner Rex Guy is all wet… well, he’s not right now, but he will be on October 15th and 16th. Drivers and fans alike will get the opportunity to get him soaked as he’ll be in a dunk tank both Friday and Saturday.
“Lindsey’s Little Racers” will set another record this week. Back in 2008, they gave away 24 bicycles to lucky kids during the race season. This week they will give away bikes 25 and 26 this season. To make it even better, The Lions Club of Auburndale has donated a pair of bikes to give away on October 16th bringing the season total to 28! All kids aged 10 and under get an extra ticket when they enter the grandstands that makes them eligible to win the bicycles as well as a pair of nice prize packs.
Points as of October 2, 2010:
LATE MODELS:
1-#07 Jeff Scofield 483 (2 wins)
2-#50 Perry Lovelady 441
3-#17 Ryan Lisak 437
4-#407 Jason Vail 411
5-#36 Tim Russell 408 (3 wins)
6-#49 Ron Lofquist 398
7-#21 Kevin Ingram 382
8-#22 David King 369
#33 Daniel Webster 369 (1 win)
10-#5 Joe Boyd 307
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS:
1-#56 James Wright III 1242 (2 wins)
2-#98 Wayne Morris 1118 (1 win)
3-#75 Bobby Blake 1116 (2 wins)
4-#87 Keith Lilley 1060 (2 wins)
5-#01 Von Pope 825
6-#10 Travis Roland 690 (1 win)
7-#00 Shawn Harper 614
8-#19 Kevin Macy 598 (1 win)
9-#03 Kyle Bookmiller 596 (2 wins)
10-#07 Harold Crooms 572
SPORTSMAN:
1-#71 Dave Dunkin 552 (7 wins)
2-#13 Mark Medeiros 534 (2 wins)
3-#22 Brandon Duchscherer 314 (1 win)
4-#8 Austin Carr 278 (1 win)
5-#1 Bart Weatherford 238
6-#89X Brett Jenkins 232
7-#55 Richard Elkins, Jr. 218
8-#60 Richard Fiore, Jr. 214
9-#19 Chris Lewellen 198
10-#77 Lance Daubach 190
MODIFIED MINI STOCKS:
1-#89 Scotty Sharpe 504 (2 wins)
2-#55 Mike Sweet 490 (3 wins)
3-#15 Jason Rendell 472 (3 wins)
4-#45 Dennis Jones 322
5-#07 Bruce Anderson 218
6-#85 Drew Carter 210
7-#37 Brandon McSwain 190 (1 win)
8-#26 Jimmy Pugh 186
9-#02 Bo Collier 184
10-#38 Burt Morse 170 (2 wins)
TRUCKS:
1-#16 Tim Sozio 216 (1 win)
2-#2 Jim Cowhey, Jr. 210
3-#99 Brent Tyler 186
4-#1 Tommy King 182
5-#87 Keith Lilley 170 (3 wins)
6-#15 Roger Blevins 160
7-#37 Nick Hernandez 154 (1 win)
8-#18 Chayne Hammond 128
9-#23 Mike Smith 124
10-#54 Zach Harris 122
LEGEND CARS:
1-#59 Jake Perkins 834 (6 wins)
2-#38 Gerald White, Jr. 802 (8 wins)
3-#8 Justin Brown 704 (1 win)
4-#71 Mason Ketterman 692
5-#07 Dave Gleason 660
6-#31 Lynn Wiles 590
7-#4R Zach Napoleon 470
8-#7 Dakota Baggette 446
#4 Tyler Smith 446 (4 wins)
10-#21 Devin McLeod 380
STREET STOCKS:
1-#5 Matt McCrary 926
2-#42 Jeff Waterman 898 (4 wins)
3-#4 Dave Colpritt 762 (4 wins)
4-#56 James Wright III 700 (8 wins)
5-#29 Bobby Mobley 600 (4 wins)
6-#53 Kyle Peters 556 (3 wins)
7-#17 Kyle Hall 492
8-#25 Cody McDuffie 468 (1 win)
9-#142 Chris Spring 326
10-#65 Ken Lawrence 274
MINI STOCKS:
1-#42 Chris Spring 1102 (9 wins)
2-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr. 1078 (10 wins)
3-#40 Jason Swilley 700
4-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr. 532 (3 wins)
5-#33 Donnie Guy 470
6-#4 Marilyn McCrary 412
7-#551 Mark Wells 432
8-#88 Kevin Steadman 326
9-#46 Randy King 302
10-#2 Dwight Ryals, Jr. 258
V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#111 Josh Borem 920 (5 wins)
2-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr. 842 (1 win)
3-#89 Preston Davis 690 (5 wins)
4-#56 James Wright, Jr. 548 (2 wins)
5-#96 Larry Chumney II 514 (3 wins)
6-#88 Gene Harrison 478 (2 wins)
7-#51 Matt Johns 426
8-#0 Paul Bookmiller 352
9-#105 Jeff Lacey 308
10-#96 Larry Chumney, Sr. 276 (2 wins)
SCRAMBLERS:
1-#28 Kimberly Gullett 778 (4 wins)
2-#62 Richard Brown 674
3-#66 Brian Tyre 650 (2 wins)
4-#00 Chad Cutting 438 (1 win)
5-#71 Dave Canfield 430 (1 win)
6-#8 Richie Acres 328 (4 wins)
7-#77 Jeremy Watts 254
8-#42 Mike Bauer 246
9-#01 George Gorham, Jr. 244 (1 win)
10-#17 Jerry Pruitt 230
MINI CUPS:
1-#21 Rick Ragan 188 (1 win)
2-#74 John Beach 184
3-#7 Harold Crooms 134 (2 wins)
4-#47 Brandon Beach 130
5-#07 Tyler Scofield 114 (1 win)
6-#14 Sam Scott 112 (1 win)
7-#2 Skip Baird 104
8-#22 Rick Cline, Sr. 102
9-#27X Dale Pulst 82
10-#46 Frank Beach 80
BANDOLEROS:
BANDITS:
1-#38 Cameron White 940 (4 wins)
2-#5 Derek Sobel 148 (2 wins)
3-#30 Noah Cornman 130
#55 Michael Held 130
5-#1Jr Dustin Turnage 44
4-#19 Keith Sinkula 42
OUTLAWS:
1-#96 Teddy Lively 634 (6 wins)
2-#48 Andy Metz 588 (2 wins)
3-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr. 304
4-#13 Ryan Shattuck 276 (5 wins)
5-#1 Mark Bibeau 238
6-#03 Jake Hunter 228
7-#65 Coty Bibeau 164 (1 win)
8-#16 Nick Baluch 86
9-#83 Joey Padgett 76
10-#65 Daniel Conlin, Sr. 28
FIGURE EIGHTS:
1-#14 Wayne Calkins 114
2-#31 Wayne Whitehead 98
3-#03 Paul Bokmiller 66
4-#27 John Baranauskas 62
5-#89 Rodney Davis 60
6-#25 Ronnie Powell 40 (1 win)
#0 Jimmy Thompson 40 (1 win)
8-#4 Terry Zimmerman 36
9-#A6 J.R. Meyer 34
#89X William Hindman 34