BARBERVILLE, FL- Volusia Speedway Park welcomed another excellent crowd of fans and racers to the World’s Fastest Half Mile on Saturday night, as six of the track’s regular divisions took on the big half mile and each other, and to the delight of the fans, a lot of different faces were smiling in the Destination Daytona Victory Lane celebrations. In addition to the top notch racing action, fans saw several beautiful young contestants vie for the title of Little Miss Volusia Speedway Park, plus a wide range of cash and prizes.
A large group of sponsors stepped up and helped make some little girls’ dreams come true in the little Miss VSP competition, including “Cubbie” from the Daytona Cubs, All Quality Products, Brian’s Bar-B-Q, Daytona Lagoon, 386Parents.Com. and Bruce Rossmeyer’s Destination Daytona and Daytona Harley-Davidson. Each of the girls were asked questions by the panel of judges, plus the girls modeled both a “sporty” outfit, and evening wear. Third runner-up went to Payton Peterson, second runner-up was Alona Wagner, and Melanie Smith was crowned Little Miss Volusia Speedway Park for 2011.
The Daytona Machine Shop Sportsman Division opened the racing action for the night, and wasted no time in providing some excitement. Danny Vogel Jr, had been MIA from the field so far this season, but he reappeared with a mission in mind to show that he was ready to pick up where he had left off in 2010.
Danny Vogel, Jr.
Corey Holley took the early lead, but Vogel picked his way forward and slid past on lap 9. Meanwhile Paul Shead was also on the move, and as soon as Holley slipped to second Shead went to work on him and forced him back to third place. Danny Vogel got the win with Paul Shead finishing in second place. Corey Holley hung on for the third spot and was followed by Blaise Hetznecker and Steve Shead to round out the top five.
Joe Belkey has dominated the Daytona Sportswear Street Stocks so far in 2011, but he found himself sitting on the very rear of the field as the green flag waved on Saturday night. Mick Kulak snatched the early lead, but failed to hold it as Mike Tovet and Bubba Christian whipped past on lap 3.
Mike Tovet
Tovet and Christian began their own battle at that point and managed to put some real estate between themselves and the rest while a three car brawl began behind them for the third and fourth spots. And Joe Belkey was on the move as well, climbing through traffic and setting his sights on the leaders. Mike Tovet managed to hold off Bubba Christian and get the win with Christian an extremely close second. Joe Belkey fought his way to a third place finish while Mick Kulak finished fourth. Jeff Miller followed Kulak for the fifth spot.
The Budweiser Modified field was trimmed down a bit by an early race incident in turn 4 involving several cars, but everyone except Scott Mooers and Dale Murray were able to drive away from the carnage.
Rob Underwood
That incident left Rob Underwood with most of the sheet metal gone from the right side of his machine, and from that point on Underwood was practically unstoppable as he focused his anger on getting to the checkered flags before anyone else. Jim Passino managed to avoid the early race fracas and settled into the second spot, then followed Underwood to the checkers while Jeff Mathews raced his way to the third spot. Larry Burkins finished fourth and Garrett Stewart claimed fifth place on the night.
Lawton Minchew was the early race leader as the Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram Late Models got the green flag for their feature event, but was quickly passed by a hard charging Bobby Richardson on the second lap. But behind them Donnie Chappell was coming fast, and he blasted his way through traffic and into the lead by the following lap. Chappell was dominant, holding off all contenders and claiming the victory while Matt Hartley weeded his way through to a second place finish. Bobby Richardson held on for a respectable third place, and Jason Davis got the fourth spot. Jeff Phipps followed Davis to finish off the top five spots.
Things got physical fast as the Amsoil Thunder Stocks hit the clay and each other. After a week off Chad Scranton was back and making some waves, but Tom Hughes and Sammy Dale would not allow Scranton to steal the show.
Sammy Dale
Dale shot into the lead as Hughes followed, with Scranton dogging both of them through most of the race, but Sammy Dale was simply too much for any of them and enjoyed a celebration in the Destination Daytona Victory Lane. Chad Scranton managed to take the second spot from Tom Hughes, who settled for third place, and former asphalt hot shot “Speedy” Pete Close Jr. from Ocala outran Luke Sadler for fourth place after a long hiatus from racing.
After struggling last weekend, Denica Hetznecker had her focus back as the Sparkle N Shine Car Wash Challengers took their turn on the clay, and while RJ Glaser looked to be reeling her in, Hetznecker kept him at bay
Denica Hetnecker
. Casey Feaster was a late arriver at the track thanks to work requirements and therefore started on the rear of the field, but after a prolonged tussle to get by Glaser he put Hetznecker into his crosshairs and went for the kill. Feaster made the pass on the final turn of the final lap, taking the checkers and enjoying a post race interview on the frontstretch. But Feaster’s celebration was short lived, as a trip through post race tech resulted in a disqualification, handing the win to Denica Hetznecker. RJ Glaser was awarded second place with Bobby Peterson finishing third. Daniel Wolf and Sonny Espy rounded out the top five.
Six divisions will challenge the World’s Fastest Half Mile on Saturday, April 23rd, as the Daytona Harley-Davidson Sprint Cars will return for another round of high speed, alcohol fueled excitement to heat up the Easter Weekend celebration. Kids will be finding fun and prizes as the annual Bunny Hop Easter Egg Hunt will take place as well. Racers are reminded that there will be an open practice session at the track on Wednesday night, from 6 until 9PM, for all divisions. Pit admission for practice is $15 per person. For more information on upcoming events, please visit us online at www.TheVolusiaSpeedway.com, or phone the track at 386-985-4402. And for more information on upcoming sponsorship opportunities, please email VSPSales@live.com.
Volusia Speedway Park Results for 4/16/11
Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram Late Model
1- 25 Donnie Chappell
2- 11 Matt Hartley
3- 45 Bobby Richardson
4- 145 Jason Davis
5- 32 Jeff Phipps
6- 51 Larry Anderson
7- 07 David Clegg
8- 14 Stanton Mills
9- 23 Lawton Minchew
10- 31 Tracy Butler
11- 21Q Chris Freeman
DNS- 41 Barry Sheffield
Budweiser Modified
1- 09 Rob Underwood
2- 34 Jim Passino
3- 33 Jeff Mathews
4- 54 Larry Burkins
5- 67 Garret Stewart
6- 18 Jared Allison
7- 1K Scott Kurtzner
8- 8 Jason Davis
9- 11 Chuck Gustafson
10- 66 Dale Murray
11- 10 Scott Mooers
Daytona Machine Shop Sportsman
1- 99 Danny Vogel Jr.
2- 80 Paul Shead
3- 11C Corey Holley
4- 17 Blaise Hetznecker
5- 10 Steve Shead
6- 11 Aaron Barsness
7- 1X Shane Williams
8- 40 Steve Branton
9- 57 Heinz Haas
10- 78 Jason Cole
Daytona Sportswear Street Stock
1- 98T Mike Tovet
2- 04 Bubba Christian
3- 119 Joe Belkey
4- 2S Mick Kulak
5- 28 Jeff Miller
6- 5 Chris Lane
7- 17 Billy Meddars
8- 20 Scotty Stewart
9- 13 Philip Brown
10- 77 Marc Maresca
11- V1 Delbert Moyer
12- 01 Johnny Westfall
Amsoil Thunder Stock
1- 88 Sammy Dale
2- 27 Chad Scranton
3- 29 Tom Hughes
4- 4 Pete Close
5- 15 Luke Sadler
6- 31 Donnie Birdwell
7- 03 Robert Shrunk
8- 39 Jason Blackner
9- 16 Brian Shrunk
10- 23 Jim Nichols
11- 118 Ron Adams
12- 13 Philip Brown
13- 44 Jamie Anderson
14- 32 Jim Shaw
15- 05 Alan Lane
16- 36 Austin Stamper
DNS- 9R Robert Donaly
Sparkle N Shine Car Wash Challenger
1- 16 Denica Hetznecker
2- 004 RJ Glaser
3- 41 Bobby Peterson
4- 01 Daniel Wolf
5- 6 Sonny Espy
6- 14 Wayne Crowe
DQ (tech)- 20 Casey Feaster
Photos courtesy of Bob Perran Photos: