By Dave Westerman
A great crowd and very unusual warm February weather helped Auburndale Speedway kick off the 2011 racing season Saturday night as seven divisions took to the track for a great night of racing. Young Lance Daubach may well be the driver to beat this year in the Sportsman class as he simply dominated things all night taking the heat race win then surviving a rash of caution flags to win the 25 lap feature race in flag to flag fashion. Sporting a new ride, Brandon Duchscherer worked his way up to second by the checker but had no real answer for Daubach's fleet machine. Subbing for veteran driver Dave Dunkin, James Wright III came home third ahead of Richard Elkins, Jr. and 2010 Modified Mini Stock champion Scotty Sharpe who turned in a stellar performance in his first outing with his new Sportsman. Lee Davis was as impressive as Daubach in taking both the heat and feature over a quality field of Modified Mini Stocks. Jason Rendell kept Davis honest but had to settle for the runner-up spot. Sharpe came home third in this one just ahead of Chris Spring who turned in a great run in his first Mod Mini feature after moving up from the Mini Stock class where he was last years champ. Fifth spot went to Nathan Florian who got to the track late but made the proper adjustments to his car between the heat and feature and passed a number of cars to net his top five. Although a number of Street Stock machines are still getting the final touches put on them for the beginning of the year, James Wright III had his machine ready to go even though his numbers had to be put on the car after practice was over. Wright then passed heat race winner Cody McDuffie on lap 14 and raced to the Street Stock feature victory. McDuffie held on for second trailed by Brian Harbin, Sammy Cressman and Jeff Waterman. The biggest field of Scrambler cars in more than a year put on some wild racing as Richie Acres and Jeramiah Frere split heat race wins. Acres led the feature in his Saturn from start to finish as the action was "bump and grind" behind him. George Gorham, Jr. eventually grabbed second spot while Frere took the checker third then lost that position in tech allowing Ronnie Sorensen to inherit the third place finish ahead of the brother act of Shane and Bill Bennett. Defending champion Kim Gullett had a rough night getting the rear bumper of her car knocked off in an early incident then having to pit to replace a flat tire later in the race. She still managed a ninth place finish. Several new car and driver combos were in action in the class with several sporting classy paint jobs. The Mini Stocks were short on cars but the fans had plenty to cheer about as 15 year old Jason Swilley picked up his first career feature victory in the class leading green to checker. Mark Wells had a career-best second place run while Sonny Miles took third. Heat winner Eugene Davidson did not start the feature. Apparent V-8 Bomber heat and feature winner Bobby Mobley was DQ'd in tech for unapproved guide plates on the push rods of his car's engine allowing Alan Seay to take the win after starting deep in the field. Matt Bozeman brought his new car home second in front of Preston Davis, Larry Chumney II and John Smith. Little 10 year old Kristin Clements did it again in the Kids Club as she held off Dakota Hunt and Justin Cribbs for the victory, and, as usual, her win was a very popuar one with the crowd. This coming Saturday night the Open Wheel Modifieds, Legend Cars and Bandoleros have their season-openers and will be joined by the Sportsman cars, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers and Scramblers. Racing starts at 7 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.