With near perfect weather as a backdrop, Orlando SpeedWorld continued its 2013
NASCAR Whelan All-American Series season with a few more cars in the pits and a few more fans in the stands who witnessed a great action-packed show.
Fourteen Super Late Models signed in requiring two heats to set the field for
the 25-lap feature race. Rich Clouser of Deland and Cocoa’s Dusty Cornelius
claimed the eight-lap heat victories and made up row one for the start of the
finale.Clouser zipped to an early advantage with Cornelius a few car lengths behind
as the rest of the field jockeyed for position. As the leaders came up to lap
a slower car, Cornelius made a slight miscalculation on the speed of the
lapped vehicle and lost control of his car on lap seven, spinning on the front
stretch. Cornelius restarted from the back of the field as Clouser continued
to show the way again after the green flag came back out only to see a quick
stoppage of the action as Cornelius tangled up with Ray Hester with both able
to continue.
From that point, the race ran full-throttle to the checkered flag and Clouser
made it look easy as he took the win in the Sanford Auto Dealers Exchange
machine wrenched by Bobby and Danny Sears. Anthony Sergi had a strong run to
place second ahead of the Double-D Special with Chad Pierce behind the wheel.
Michael Smith was fourth while Cornelius rebounded to take fifth spot.
Rounding out the top ten were Brannen Hester, David Weaver, Ricky Moxley, Ray
Hester and Vince Keeler. Completing the finishers were Robert Jenkins, Bob
Glover and Cody Keeler while Shaughn McCormick was unable to start after the
transmission broke in his car during the parade lap of his heat race.
The Super Stock class continues to put on an awesome show week in and week out
and this week was no exception. After Jeff Cuddy won the heat race it was
Donny Funk taking the early lead from his pole starting spot. Funk stayed in
front until a lap nine tangle between Art Hendren and Charles King who were
both using the number 37. Bobby Cuddy slipped by Funk for the lead on the
restart but Funk re-claimed the top spot two laps later and was beginning to
pull away when several cars tangled up on the back stretch including King,
Bobby Cuddy, Jeff Cuddy and Gino Tummenillo. Both of the Cuddy cars were done
for the night while King pitted and lost a lap before getting back on track.
Funk still looked to have the field covered but his streak of bad luck
continued as his engine virtually exploded coming off turn two on lap 18 to
bring out another yellow flag. Once the track was cleaned up, young Zach
Curtis found himself in the lead on the first night out with his new Ford.
But Curtis had the veteran David Gould on his bumper and the two put on a
crowd-pleasing battle over the final laps before Gould made his move for the
lead and the win on the final lap. Gould was extremely happy, not only with
his victory, but with Curtis’ second-place effort as Gould had been working on
that car in his shop all week to get it ready for Curtis to race. Art Hendren
had his best finish of the year taking third ahead of Ernie Tummenillo and
Gino Tummenillo. King finished sixth, a lap down, and was the only other car
still running at the end. Scored 7th through 11th were Funk, Bobby Cuddy,
Jeff Cuddy, Michael Held and Ron Adams. Brandon Christian did not start.
Orlando’s Earl Beckner dominated the E-Modified action winning both the heat
and the 25-lap feature. Beckner led all the way in the main event despite
numerous caution flags that kept the field bunched up. Roger Blevins was the
driver who put on a great show, eventually finishing second just ahead of
Jason Vail who came from last on the starting grid after missing the heat race
with mechanical issues. Matt Jarrett took fourth ahead of Shane Held with
Bruce Packer, Roger Benton and Jarrett Korpi completing the finishers.
David Russell held off pressure from Bruce Blanton to win the Mini Stock
feature in his Russell Electric Special. Heat winner Blanton took the checker
in second followed by Jesse Powers, Ted Vulpius, Reid Christiansen (who spun
out of third place on the final lap), Mark Broat and Ray Hindman.
Young Hudson O’Neal led all the way to take the Pro Truck victory but nearly
gave it away when he slapped the wall coming to the white flag. Becca
Monopoli made a run at O’Neal and nearly got by him but somehow he managed to
stay ahead and claim the victory despite some obvious damage to his machine.
Monopoli took her second straight runner-up finish while Matthew Green was
third ahead of Colby Clements and John Inman. Clements won the heat race.
The Strictly Stock class normally runs for just a trophy but there was some
cash on the line Friday night and the drivers were hard at it to make a few
bucks. The event saw the return of the “Fan Fun Race” where the race fans put
up cash that would go to one driver in the 20-lapper. First place would pay
$75 and second place $25 (put up by the track) while the fans raised $145 that
would go to one of the drivers finishing between third and tenth. Special
thanks to everyone that donated including John Gross Cleaning out of Palm Bay,
Ralph Foss and All Auto Salvage of Titusville, Ocean Water & Breakers
Irrigation System Repair of Casselberry, Billy Cuddy Painting of Orlando,
Tropical Plumbing and Art Hendren Racing.
Dustin Higdon led the first three laps before his car began to fade which
would eventually turn out to be in his favor. Daniel Brown put his
four-cylinder mount out front for three laps before Shane Sutorus blew by and
into the lead. Sutorus went on to claim his second win of the year and the
$75 payout despite heavy pressure from second finisher Jim Erb and heat winner
Neil Kirby who wound up third ahead of Wes Railing, Jr. and Eddie Moran.
Rounding out the top ten were Luis Guillen, Brown, Higdon, Keith Wylie and
Tyler Jewer. Before the race started, a fan drew the number eight from a hat
meaning the eighth place finisher would get the $145 raised by the fans. Thus
the money went to Dustin Higdon. However, he left the track before he could
claim his winnings, so track manager Wes Railing will hold onto the cash until
the next time Higdon races.
David Owen led all the way to claim the Bandolero feature win over Ryan
Pierce, Brett Suggs and Colton Bramlett.
There will be no stock car racing at Orlando SpeedWorld next Friday as the
action shifts to Saturday night, May 4th, and the first of two Crash-A-Rama
events scheduled for the year. Crash-A-Rama craziness starts next Saturday at
7:30 pm.