Orlando Speedworld – 7^th May 2010 by Andy Sandall

 Incredible finishes for the Super Late Models and Pro Trucks had the crowd on their feet at Orlando Speedworld on Friday night as the track burst back into life with a packed schedule of racing. The supporting divisions did their part too as the campaigns for championship points moved along into May, but it was the finishes of the races that split either side of the interval that had everyone talking long into the night.

 The Pro Truck race began with a terrible false start that saw cars heading into turn 1 after the green flag 4-wide and totally out of starting order, but they were quickly back around and trying a start for the 2^nd time. This saw #18 Jason Rosarius dropping back into the pack from the pole position allowing his fellow front-row starter #121 Andy Leserra to take the early lead, but with the always dangerous pair of #20 Anthony Sergi and #00 Whitney Poole right on his tail. Behind them the racing was equally tight as #15 Cody Blair and #38 Ricky Moxley moved their way forward only for contact between the two cars to rip the front fender off Blair’s truck, meaning an early caution to remove the offending bodywork from the track.

 The restart saw Poole take the trucks 4-wide again into turn 1 before pulling away and bringing Leserra with her, leaving Sergi fighting it out #54 Zach Harris for 3^rd. A nudge from the rear by Harris would soon send Sergi high in turn 4, allowing Harris through closely followed by Blair, already up to 4^th despite having restarted at the rear. With Poole still leading and looking comfortable making the running up front Harris would quickly be on the tail of Leserra and trying the same move, giving a tap to Leserra’s rear-quarter to send him high up the banked turn and allowing himself and Blair through. Now in pursuit of Poole it was Blair’s turn to move, leaning hard on Harris in turn 4 only for Harris to lose control and spin, forcing Blair to slam on his brakes to avoid an even harder hit. This would bring out the pace truck for a caution and cost Blair not only more bodywork but also position, as both he and Harris were sent to the rear.

 Leserra would make a quick start once the race was back underway, but he was soon dropping back as the battle for the lead developed into Poole fending off the advances of Sergi, the young pair both pulling away from the chasing pack. The green flag run lasted just a few more laps before Leserra tangled with the unlucky Blair who was now pretty much devoid of any bodywork at all on the front half of his truck. Blair would spin out but it would be Leserra sent to the rear for being the cause of the caution. This time Sergi took the initiative from the green flag to snatch the lead, leaving Poole to fight back and try to reclaim the front spot. The race would develop over several more laps without a caution despite #17 Ken Lilley spinning out in the race for midfield positions, but the young driver was able to recover his car and continue without disrupting the action.

 But the last few laps of the race provided the real excitement, all started by the battle at the front between Sergi, Poole and Harris that boiled over when Harris’s thump on Sergi span out the leader and led to both cars being sent to the rear for the restart. This now put Blair and Poole back on the front row with Leserra and #30 Sean Bass behind them, with the front-row pair taking two laps of door-to-door racing to separate them as Blair slowly nudged his nose in front. Again the race was stopped with just 5 laps to go, this time for Leserra getting too close to Bass, spinning him out on the back straight, and being sent to the rear for his troubles. Blair, Sergi and Poole would resume their fight at the front from the restart but with just 2 laps to go the race was suddenly put back under caution after reports of fluids on the track, leading to a lightning-quick inspection of Blair’s nearly naked truck to check on whether he was the offending party.

 Once cleared to continue the drivers were left with a green-white-checkered sprint for the win. Blair would make a great start as the pace truck pulled off, but immediately behind him there was nothing to separate Sergi and Poole as they tore around the track absolutely side-by-side. Coming around the final turn Blair had enough breathing space to cross the line and claim a great win in a heavily damaged truck, but all eyes were on the race for 2^nd, as Poole mustered all the speed she could find to win the drag race for the line out of turn 4, beating out Sergi for 2^nd place by barely a nose. The race would end with Lilley making an equally desperate dive for the line, spinning out on the front straight and crossing the line spinning before coming to a rest on the bandolero track past the finish line. All in all a spectacular end to an incredible race that saw Blair beat all the odds to win, while Whitney Poole nearly capped off her birthday weekend with what would have been her first ever Pro Truck win before settling for 2^nd place by a nose in a classic battle with Sergi.

 The Super Late Model race that followed the brief interval also saw #20 Anthony Sergi right in the thick of the action as the young racer made his Late Model debut at Orlando Speedworld, pitting his skills against a field that included rising star #96 Ben Kennedy and Florida racing legend #92 Dick Anderson. Kennedy nearly had the worst possible start as he got stuck in the middle of the handling problems being encountered by #12 Scott McKinley on the first lap, seeing Kennedy take a glancing blow from McKinley’s car that pushed his front wheel arch down onto his tire leading to a cloud of acrid tire smoke filling the air for the early laps. An early spin for #7 Vince Keeler would be Kennedy’s savior, giving him time to rush back to the pits and get his bodywork pulled clear, returning to the track at the back of the field but thankfully still on the lead lap.

 The restarts throughout the race would all provide entertainment for crowd, first with Anderson badly jumping the start and receiving a finger-wagging warning from a track official as he came back around, but this just led to the veteran showing all his experience on the next attempt as he slowed the field down to a crawl around turn 3, only to tear away once he hit the firing-point in turn 4 and draw out a massive lead over his competitors. Anderson would make all the running as the race continued under the green flag, with Kennedy making short work of the field to work his way up to 2^nd place. Behind the two leaders a close race was developing for the minor places between Sergi, and Speedworld regulars #28 Mark Adams, #55 Shane Held and #89 Josh Todd, also debuting his Late Model after earning his first E-Modified win the previous week.

 This race would provide the next caution of the race as the battle got too close leading to Adams and Held touching in turn 1, sending both high and hard into the upper wall and needing trips back to the pits with the assistance of the wreckers. The lengthy caution was soon over, but by now all eyes were on the bottom of the track in turn 3 – where Anderson had suddenly come to a rest and was sat in a lifeless car. Needing a push to get his car restarted, Anderson would be at the back of the field as the green flag dropped once more, leaving Kennedy and Sergi to race with #75 Don Keithley up at front as Anderson quickly made his way through. The twists and turns in this race were far from over though, as with just 5 laps to go Anderson again ground to a halt down the back straight without the momentum to freewheel back into the infield, bringing out another caution.

 The veteran would need another push to make the restart but this was over as soon as it started, this time as Todd was turned around in the first corner, getting clipped by #1 Tom Root as he tried to avoid Todd’s out of control car, and ending his night early thanks to the damage sustained as the pace truck made its way out once more. The next restart would be the decisive one, as Kennedy led the cars out of turn 4 and up to race speed once more, with Sergi chasing hard and Anderson forcing his way past his rivals to make one last charge for the front. The young Sergi would now be in his sights and what would be the perfect racing line against less experienced racers was not enough to slow down the legendary Anderson, who blasted underneath the youngster out of turn 4 and was quickly reeling in Kennedy at the front.

 With just one lap to go Anderson was now crawling all over the rear of Kennedy’s car as they entered the 1^st turn. Kennedy fought back but Anderson was soon alongside down the back straight and pushing the #96 hard in the door. Kennedy gave as good as he got and still held his nose in front coming around turn 3 with the checkered flag being unfurled. But Anderson had one trick left in his bag, slingshotting around Kennedy out of turn 4 and screaming down onto the front straight to win the race for the line by inches over the younger driver for an incredible win in what had been an amazing race. Sergi would come home with 3^rd place after a tremendous SLM track debut, meaning that although the distance between 1^st and 3^rd places has been barely 5 or 6 car lengths, the distance had also been 49 years – Anderson coming out of retirement this year at 63 years old to show he is as fast as ever, while Sergi continues to make his way up through the ranks at just 14 years old!

 The regular divisions had ably supported the two big races with plenty of entertainment of their own. The Bandoleros had started the evening with a wreck-fest before settling down after numerous early cautions. Although the Young Gun class was won fairly comfortably by #27 Shawn Hooven ahead of #11 Daniel Conlin and brother #17 Mark Hooven, the chance of an upset was in the Bandit class. It took a last lap push from #55 Michael Held to keep up his 100% winning record this season after getting caught in the early wrecking. In this class #30 Noah Cornman would have to settle for 2^nd after Held’s late charge, while #5 Derek Sobel came home a comfortable 3^rd.

 The E-Modified race saw the biggest field of cars for this new division of the season, bolstered by a number of new cars coming over to try their luck at Orlando. The battle at the front would be between #15x Cody Blair and #40 Michael Williams Jr. who jostled for the lead throughout the race. This set up a great battle over the last two laps as Williams closed in on Blair’s rear bumper, giving plenty of nudges to the leader as he tried to force his way through. Blair held firm, forcing Williams to move up the track and try to blast his way around the upper line, but Blair had just enough speed to hold him off and take the first win of a doubly successful night by a nose on the line.

 The Mini Stocks also provided an entertaining race late in the evening as #85 Rex ‘Boneman’ Hollinger made his way forward from the rear of the pack to fight for position with #15 Casey Loeffler, #97 Kelly Jarrett and #97s Scott Jarrett as defending track champion #31 David Russell quickly shot away at the front. A midway spin for Scott Jarrett bunched the cars back together for the 2^nd half of the race and allowed Kelly Jarrett to run alongside Russell as the cars got their tires back up to temperature, while Hollinger was forced to restart from the rear after a trip to the pits under caution to rectify a problem with an overheating motor.

 Hollinger would quickly be back up to 3^rd as Russell and Kelly Jarrett battled away for the lead, but he would inherit 2^nd place quickly once the #97 pulled off the track with mechanical issues. Russell now had a comfortable lead that proved to be enough to take the win despite Hollinger’s best efforts to close the gap, and so Russell took the checkered flag for a second successive weekly wins followed by Hollinger, his car decorated in honor of his son Stephen’s 8^th birthday, ahead of Scott Jarrett and Loeffler, who enjoyed a good race well off the late pace for 3^rd.

 In the night’s other races #66 Andy Nicholls enjoyed a comfortable win in a small field of Sportsman cars, while the Legends racers saw a little more passing before the field settled down with #71 Mason Ketterman making it two wins in two attempts at Orlando Speedworld this season, coming home well ahead of #12 Critter Saile and #8 Donovan Ponder.

 The Super Stock race was dominated up front by #51 Butch Herdegen, #211 Jarrett Korpi and #3 Jeff Colburn as Herdegen took advantage of a 2^nd row start to quickly make his way to a lead he would never look like surrendering. His job was made much easier with just 2 laps to go as Korpi pulled off with yet more mechanical woes, leaving Herdegen to take the win a full ¾ of a lap ahead of Colburn, the only other car left on the lead lap. Behind them #14 Kerry Bellflower would benefit from Korpi’s retirement to take 3^rd place ahead of #316 Joe Bandur and #35 Ray Mullis.

 The night finished as always with the Strictly Stocks, this time returning to a more traditional form of racing after last week’s trip the wrong way around the track, and it was the usual suspects making the running up at the front as #51 Wes Railing who pulled away from #8 Neil Kirby to claim a well-deserved win. Kirby came home in 2^nd place ahead of #19 Ricky Solomon Jr., both drivers returning with repaired cars after sustaining damage in the race a week earlier.

SUPER LATE MODELS

1. #92 Dick Anderson

2. #96 Ben Kennedy

3. #20 Anthony Sergi

4. #75 Don Keithley

5. #1 Tom Root

6. #57 Eddie Furtak

7. #7 Vince Keeler

8. #89 Josh Todd

9. #28 Mark Adams

10. #55 Shain Held

11. #12 Scott McKinley

12. #13 Bob Greene

PRO-TRUCKS

1. #15 Cody Blair

2. #00 Whitney Poole

3. #20 Anthony Sergi

4. #54 Zach Harris

5. #121 Andy Leserra

6. #17 Ken Lilley

7. #18 Jason Rosarius

8. #30 Sean Bass

9. #15x Jerry Maxim

10. #38 Ricky Moxley

SPORTSMAN

1. #66 Andy Nicholls

2. #3 James Frisbie

3. #73 Eric Pierce

E-MODIFIEDS

1. #15x Cody Blair

2. #40 Michael Williams Jr

3. #12 John Zidek

4. #15 Bruce Packer

5. #6 Micky Wright

6. #9 Stuart Lycett

7. #00 John Hodge

8. #93 Bruce Gayton

SUPER STOCKS

1. #51 Butch Herdegen

2. #3 Jeff Colburn

3. #14 Kerry Bellflower

4. #316 Joe Bandur

5. #35 Ray Mullis

6. #7i Scott Edwards

7. #211 Jarrett Korpi

8. #721 John Bennett

9. #23 Shannon Kelly

10. #16 David Gould

LEGENDS CARS

1. #71 Mason Ketterman

2. #12 Critter Saille

3. #8 Donovan Ponder

4. #50 Ted Ruffo

5. #11 Daniel Conlin Sr

6. #51x Roger Englund

DNS #6 Jim Rix

MINI-STOCK

1. #31 David Russell

2. #85 Rex Hollinger

3. #97s Scott Jarrett

4. #15 Casey Loeffler

5. #97 Kelly Jarrett

6. #77 Randy Blakeslee

STRICTLY STOCKS

1. #51 Wes Railing

2. #8 Neil Kirby

3. #19 Ricky Solomon Jr

4. #8x Luis Guillen Jr

5. #27 Dan Binda

6. #3 Shane Setorus

BANDOLERO YOUNG GUNS

1. #27 Shawn Hooven

2. #11 Daniel Conlin

3. #17 Mark Hooven

BANDOLERO BANDITS

1. #55 Michael Held

2. #30 Noah Cornman

3. #5 Derek Sobel