by Dave Westerman

About the only thing hot at the races Saturday night other than the racing at Auburndale Speedway were the hot dogs, hot chocolate and hot coffee which was consumed in mass quantities by a surprisingly good-sized crowd on what could only be described as a bone-chilling Central Florida evening.

The Sportsman cars made their 2010 season debut and one thing was for certain in this race… give veteran Dave Dunkin the pole and more than likely he’ll win. That’s exactly what happened although Dunkin had to use all of his years of knowledge racing on the tight third-mile to hold on for the victory.

A short field of Sportsman were made even shorter when the rear end broke on Mark Medeiros’ car during hot laps and his mount was on the trailer before sunset.

Outside pole sitter Bart Weatherford got loose on cold tires during the initial start and spun but everyone was able to avoid him. Dunkin jumped to a quick lead with Weatherford trailing once the green was displayed. But the car that was really hooked up was that of Aaron Williamson.

Williamson dusted off Weatherford and began pressuring Dunkin using everything but the figure eight track to try and get by while the “old man” in his familiar “Blue Goose” Chevy thwarted every move.

Brett Jenkins was running well but had something break on his car and he slapped the turn one wall to bring out the caution on lap 20. He was able to drive his machine to the pits but retired it for the rest of the race.

Weatherford again got loose on the restart, nearly tagged the wall and was just clipped by Austin Carr while Kyle Aflord spun to avoid getting involved. All cars restarted.

Dunkin held off a furious charge by Williamson to take the checker and add to his already huge win total at Auburndale. Weatherford came home third trailed by Carr and Alford. Dunkin also won the heat race.

Chris Spring had it all together in the Mini Stocks as he dominated both the heat and feature in what is a usually tightly-contested class.

Spring jumped out front at the outset and just drove away from the field as the race went green to checker without a yellow flag. The best race was for second as Chris Narramore, Sr., the opening night winner, held off Donnie Guy and Fred Harrison, Jr. at the stripe. Danny Pearson took the fifth spot.

Brandon Duscherer looked to have the car to beat in the Street Stocks as he took the heat race win and had the pole for the feature. However, Duscherer’s car wasn’t up to the task come feature time. He barely made it out for the start, then passsed Matt McCrary (who led the first lap) and easily stayed out front for a few laps before his machine began to falter. Jeff Waterman zipped by on lap 16 while Duscherer took his now-smoking car to the infield. Caution was displayed as a small fire was put out under the hood of Duscherer’s racer.

Waterman set the pace the remaining few laps to score a popular win. Austin Jenkins took the checker second but was set down in tech for an infraction moving McCrary up to second. Chuck Harrison, Jr. was also DQ’d after the race actually giving third spot to Duscherer.

Chris Narramore, Jr. was out with a beautiful new V-8 Bomber and led all the way to apparently win the race, but the heavy hand of the tech man took the win away. That gave Josh Borem his second win in a row after he though he finished a distant second. Heat winner James Wright, Sr. took the runner-up spot trailed by Paul Bookmiller and Buddy Phillips, Jr.

Scrambler action saw Chelsea LaJoie hit the turn one wall nearly head-on in the heat race. She was OK, but done for the night. After winning the heat, Matt Johns also raced to victory in the feature. Brian Tyre led the early going but Johns kept up the pressure and snared the top spot on lap eight never to be headed. Tyre came home second ahead of Kimberly Gullett and Brandon Henault.

Craig Jackson actually crossed the line in fourth but became yet another driver to succumb to the pressures of post-race tech.

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OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 2/27/10:

MINI STOCKS:

1-#42 Chris Spring

2-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr.

3-#33 Donnie Guy

4-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.

5-#90 Danny Pearson

6-#8 Jordan Spring

7-#20 Kenny Uhl

8-#17 Mark Nagle

9-#46 Randy King

DNS#88 Kevin Steadman

STREET STOCKS:

1-#42 Jeff Waterman

2-#5 Matt McCrary

3-#26 Brandon Duchscherer

DQ#89 Austin Jenkins

DQ#22 Chuckie Harrison, Jr.

SCRAMBLERS:

1-#51 Matt Johns

2-#66 Brian Tyre

3-#28 Kimberly Gullett

4-#1 Brandon Henault

DQ#53 Craig Jackson

DNS#4 Scott Russ

DNS#3 chelsea Lajoie

V-8 BOMBERS:

1-#111 Josh Borem

2-#56 James Wright, Sr.

3-#0 Paul Bookmiller

4-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.

DQ#21 Chris Narramore, Jr.

SPORTSMAN:

1-#71 Dave Dunkin

2-#113 Aaron Williamson

3-#1 Bart Weatherford

4-#8 Austin Carr

5-#51 Kyle Alford

6-#89 Brett Jenkins

DNS#13 Mark Medeiros

SCHOOL BUS FIGURE 8 RACE:

Top 3 of 12 buses

1-#701 Gary Swing

2-#19 Daniel Taylor

3-#1 Robert Aaron

Next Weeks racing schedule includes: Open Wheel Modifieds, Street Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, Mini Stocks, Legends and Bandeleros. Racing starts at 7 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.

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