by Andy Sandall, FASCAR Media

Orlando Speedworld – 21^st May 2010

The Joslin Memorial 50 for the regular Open Wheel Modifieds was top of the bill on a beautiful Friday night at Orlando Speedworld, and the drivers treated the fans to a great race and a win by the slimmest of margins. The regular divisions provided their usual thrills and spills, with plenty of cars brushing the walls, spinning across the track and, for two Legend car drivers, literally saw loose wheels flying across the infield.

The Bandoleros began the night’s action with a race that saw a scary moment early when #30 Noah Cornman lost control in a spin and reversed straight up the banks to hit the wall squarely with his back bumper. Thankfully the youngster was OK but his car was unable to continue. Once their 12 lap feature ended it was again #17 Mark Hooven who came home ahead of brother #14 Shawn Hooven in the Young Gun class, while #55 Michael Held survived a late spin and restart to continue his 100% record in the Bandit class, well ahead of #00 Brandon Lynch.

A growing field of Sportsman cars would be the first of the senior divisions to race, and all eyes were on #66 Andy Nicholls, the points leader who returned to the track after mechanical troubles saw him retire on the opening lap the previous week. Starting on the 2^nd row behind championship rivals #11 Henry Shepherd and #3 James Frisbie, Shepherd made the best start as Nicholls coolly moved under Frisbie to drop into 2^nd and then set off after the leader. Frisbie was now left to defend his position from the hard-charging #32 Shelton Bowers. Bowers tried to replicate Nicholls earlier move going into turn 3, but a big hit on Frisbie’s rear quarter sent the #3 spinning up to the wall. A flat tire was the end result for Frisbie, but after a trip to the pits for a wheel change he would return for the restart and complete the race.

The green flag dropping saw Shepherd again move to the front, but now he had #00 Brandon Johnson right on his tail, with Nicholls swarming all over both drivers as he looked for a line around. Johnson saw his chance two laps later with a low pass on Shepherd into turn 3, and Nicholls was quick to follow on the high line. By the halfway point the two lead cars were well clear of Shepherd in 3^rd, but it was beginning to show that Nicholls car was perfectly dialed in and had superior speed in the turns.

It took until the 15 lap for this extra pace stamp its mark on the race. Twice Nicholls tried runs down the inside into the turns, but a blocking move from Shepherd and then the discovery of a slower car running low caused him to quickly abort his pass, his car squirming under his hard braking in both cases. Then, with just 4 laps left, Nicholls made his decisive move by tapping Johnson hard to the rear in turn 4, unsettling the leader and forcing him slightly wide, leaving enough room to power through heading into turn 1. By the checkered flag Nicholls had pulled away in the lead, leaving Johnson to settle for 2^nd after a great performance in a seriously over-matched car. Shepherd would take 3^rd ahead of Bowers and Frisbie.

The big story in the Super Stock race was whether #16D David Gould could continue his ‘hero or zero’ season, where in every race this season he’s either finished first or retired before the end. Starting back in 6^th place Gould had it all to do if he wanted to get his push for the points championship back on course after recent disappointing weeks. Gould would waste no time in working his way up the field to take 2^nd place as early the 2^nd lap, but up at the front #77 Justin Reynolds was in no mood to give up his lead without a major fight.

Several laps would pass as Gould continued his hunt for Reynolds, nibbling away at his lead and getting closer with ever trip around the track. Suddenly the yellow lights came on for a caution as the track crew rushed over to #316 Joe Bandur, parked in the infield after an earlier retirement, but who’s car had crept too close to the track for safety and needed to be pushed back to the pits.

The restart would put Reynolds and Gould together, but the moment the green flag dropped it would be Gould who pulled away, leaving Reynolds to mount a spirited charge that threatened at first but would soon tail away. Gould would soon confirm the continuation of his remarkable finishing record with a comfortable win, with Reynolds taking 2^nd after beating off a late challenge from #721 John Bennett.

A small field of Mini Stocks came out for a shortened 15-lap feature, and memories of last week’s nose-to-tail battle between #31 David Russell and #85 Rex ‘Boneman’ Hollinger were quickly stirred up as the two drivers, both starting on the outside of their respective rows, tried to power around the outside right from the green flag. Russell would quickly be around pole-sitter #15 Casey Loeffler and Hollinger would get alongside #78 Mark Avery, but a robust block from Avery would see Hollinger swiftly applying the brakes and dropping back. Russell would set off and build a large lead with Avery in pursuit as Hollinger settled back to look for ways around Loeffler.

Hollinger would find his way up to 3^rd just a lap later with a low-groove pass out of turn 2 but by now Russell was clear at the front and Avery already pulling away in 2^nd. Both chasing cars would eat into Russell’s lead slightly over the following laps, but he would respond and pull away towards the end before crossing the finish line to take yet another 2010 win to cement his place at the top of the points standing. Avery would take 2^nd and Hollinger 3^rd, both well clear of Loeffler at the rear.

Once the driver introductions had been finished it was time for the Modified drivers to get to work as they lapped the track preparing for the 50-lap Joslin Memorial race. The post-qualifying invert handed pole position to #98 Robbie Cooper, alongside #55 Shain Held and just ahead of the two pre-race favorites #66 Jerry Symons and #38 Chad Pierce. Fast time setter in  qualifying #97 Matthew Wheeler would start from the back after needing a tire change before the race.

Cooper would use his pole position perfectly to keep the lead as the cars completed the first lap, but by now Symons had already made short work of Held to grab 2^nd, leaving him to defend his position from Pierce. The move by Pierce to get under Held for 3^rd would come just before Symons made a near identical move on the leader to seize the initiative in the race, leaving Cooper to deal with the constant bumps from behind as Pierce let it be known he wanted to be fighting it out with Symons at the front.

Behind the leader the race for 5^th was equally entertaining, in no small part to the visibly loose #29 car of Joe Yarborough, sliding its way around every corner. Yarborough’s battle with #13 John Ditges and Wheeler for 5^th soon provided the first caution of the race as Ditges followed Wheeler around the sliding Yarborough, but contact between the two saw Wheeler spinning up the track and into the wall. He was able to pull away and take his place at the rear of the field for the restart, which quickly saw Symons away in the lead again, but now with Pierce behind him thanks to a smart move underneath Cooper in turn two to advance his position.

The poor handling of Yarborough’s car caused another quick caution, this time as he himself span in turn 3. Again Symons and Pierce made good starts and looked set for a race for the lead, but this was quickly halted once Ditges, Yarborough and #330 Joe Gerard Sr. came together at the back of the field, span and headed hard up into the turn 3 wall.  Ditges was able to pull away under his own power once pulled clear, Yarborough was able to continue once pulled clear by track staff, but Gerard was not so lucky and had to head back to the pits with his race over.

Once the pace truck pulled off once more it was Pierce who took the initiative, making a tremendous start to pull around Symons and snatch the lead for the first time. Behind him Held was mounting an attack on Cooper’s 3^rd place, but this was short-lived as he quickly dropped back leaving Cooper to concentrate on chasing the lead cars. Soon Symons had clamped himself on Pierce’s rear bumper as the two cars clocked lap after lap with bumping and nudging the whole way around the track. Cooper would join the party, showing the same respect to Symons that the 2^nd place man was showing to the leader with an array of pushes, shoves and nudges to try and unsettle the car in front of him.

The tension was finally broken as the race hit 40 laps after a spin in turn 2 for Held. This would see Pierce and Symons back alongside each other for the restart, but Pierce was quick to repay the earlier contact with a big nudge to the side of Symons’ car as they headed into the first turn, sending him high and giving Pierce breathing room to stay on-line and regain his lead. But this had been for nothing once another incident behind him, again involving Yarborough, Ditges and this time #41 Doc McKinney, saw the three cars hook together and head into the turn 2 wall. Yarborough and Ditges’ luck finally ran out as all 3 cars headed back to the pits with the aid of the tow trucks.

Pierce would take charge from the restart to get back to the lead, blocking Symons with everything he had. Cooper remained in contention, but was needing the front two cars to make errors if he was to grab a win. As the laps counted down the hits to Pierce’s rear got harder and more frequent, but nothing seemed to ruffle the feathers of the Orlando specialist as he took every hit in his stride and was soon taking the checkered flag and coming around to victory lane. Symons would take a hard-fought 2^nd place, although the badly mangled front-bumper on his car that was visible to all the crowd showed how hard he had been pushing for the victory. Cooper claimed a good 3^rd place, ahead of Held and #40 Michael Williams, who had avoided trouble all race to claim a creditable finish.

The return of #99 Alex Kempf to Orlando Speedworld was the big story for the Legends division, with Kempf making his first appearance at the track in 2010 after a dominant season last year. Straight away he was back into the groove with outrageous moves from the rear to pass the entire field and be leading by the time the first lap was in the books. Following him closely came #12 Critter Saile, multiple winner this season in Kempf’s absence, and soon the two were racing hard at the front to the delight of the fans in the stands. With just 3 laps to go Saile could still not find a way around Kempf’s car so resorted to desperate measures with a ‘checkers or wreckers’ dive under the leader coming around turn 4. This sent both cars high up and hard into the wall, both cars slamming back down onto the track minus their front right wheels, which by now were bouncing across the infield grass before coming to rest for retrieval by track staff.

Now minus the two leaders the restart would see just 3 cars left in the race. Quickly #8 Donovan Ponder took control to power ahead of #51 x Roger Englund and put distance between himself and his rivals. The checkered flag would quickly be thrown to give Ponder the 2^nd win of his young career, well ahead of Englund.

The Pro Truck race started spectacularly as the front row of #17 Ken Lilley and #00 Whitney Poole headed into turn 1 leaning hard on each other and causing the rest of the drivers behind them to quickly slam on their brakes, seeing the unlucky #20 Anthony Sergi and #26 Jessica Murphy left with no option but to spin out to avoid the gaggle of rapidly decelerating cars ahead of them. Once restarted Lilley and Poole would again head the field, but rapidly making ground on them both came #2 Sean Bass, who would take just 3 laps to make a great move in turn 2 that saw his car hook-up mid-turn and slingshot underneath Lilley down the back straight for the lead.

Bass would build a big lead as Sergi and Murphy fought back from their first lap woes to work their way towards the front. Sergi would have no problems as he strode forward and soon he was sitting right on the tail of #18 Jason Rosarius and looking for 2^nd place. Behind them #54 Zach Harris was also moving up and had worked his way around Lilley into 4^th. Halfway in the race was the signal for Sergi to make his move, and so with a tap to the rear of Rosarius that sent the 2^nd place man high he found the lane he needed to accelerate through and set off after Bass. This charge was soon halted once a great race between Poole, #121 Andy Leserra and Murphy saw Poole spinning out of turn 4, ending her race and bringing out the pace truck.

The restart put Sergi immediately behind Bass on the 2^nd row and, after making short work of Rosarius, the front two cars were nose-to-tail. With the laps running out Sergi tried every move in the book to find a way past, but Bass was keeping his cool and making his truck very wide. One last move out of turn 4 saw Sergi set himself up for a drag race for the win, but Bass had just too much speed and held on by a nose as the two cars crossed the line, with Harris well placed in 3^rd ahead of Rosarius and Murphy.

As with the Pro Truck race the first lap of the Strictly Stocks saw spins for two of the cars, #51 Wes Railing and # Shane Setorus. Railing would put this behind him to quickly get to the front and build an unassailable lead while Setorus would suffer all kinds of handling problems that would ultimately lead to his retirement. By the end of the race Railing confirmed another win to add to his 2010 haul, just beating out a charge by the improving #8x Luis Guillen Jr. and #00 Steve Daniels.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – 5/21/10

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS
JOSLIN MEMORIAL 50

1. #38 Chad Pierce (4)
2. #66 Jerry Symons (3)
3. #98 Robbie Cooper (1)
4. #55 Shain Held (2)
5. #40 Michael Williams (6)
6. #41 Doc McKinney (8)
7. #97 Matthew Wheeler (9)
8. #13 John Ditges (7)
9. #29 Joe Yarborough (5)
10. #330 Joe Gerard Sr (10)

PRO-TRUCKS

1. #2 Sean Bass
2. #20 Anthony Sergi
3. #54 Zach Harris
4. #18 Jason Rosarius
5. #26 Jessica Murphy
6. #17 Ken Lilley
7. #121 Andy Leserra
8. #30 Eric Pierce
9. #03 Wayne Skinner
10. #00 Whitney Poole

SPORTSMAN

1. #66 Andy Nicholls
2. #00 Brandon Johnson
3. #11 Henry Shepherd
4. #32 Shelton Bowers
5. #3 James Frisbie
6. #73 Eric Pierce

SUPER STOCKS

1. #16 David Gould
2. #77 Justin Reynolds
3. #721 John Bennett
4. #23 Shannon Kelly
5. #4 John Guinn
6. #18 Billy Rouse
7. #7i Scott Edwards
8. #316 Joe Bandur

MINI-STOCKS

1. #31 David Russell
2. #78 Mark Avery
3. #85 Rex Hollinger
4. #15 Casey Loeffler

LEGENDS

1. #8 Donovan Ponder
2. #51x Roger Englund
3. #99 Alex Kempf
4. #12 Critter Saille
5. #50 Ted Ruffo

STRICTLY STOCKS

1. #51 Wes Railing
2. #8x Luis Guillen Jr
3. #00 Steve Daniels
4. #27 Dan Binda
5. #5 Daly Lloyd
6. #3 Shane Setorus

BANDOLERO – YOUNG GUNS

1. #17 Mark Hooven
2. #27 Shawn Hooven

BANDOLERO – BANDITS

1. #55 Michael Held
2. #00 Brandon Lynch
3. #30 Noah Cornman