By Jeff Bean – NFS Media-
Lake City,FL. – Nice weather and six divisions of racing paid visit to Lake City Saturday night for the holiday weekend action at NFS. Point leader Shane Taylor extended his lead with a victory in Limited Modified action while Richard Ferry used a dominating run to visit victory lane for the first time in 2011. Nevin Gainey held off last weeks winner Andy Olson to win Pure Stocks with Amber Williams taking her first win in Sportsman competition. Kevin Underwood turned in another strong outing to win Box Stocks and Terry Wright was the winner in TQ Late Models.
Marvin Hassel and Kyle Arvin would lead the field to green in the Limited Mod feature. By lap two Shane Taylor had taken the lead just as the caution would appear for a spin by Cliff Suber. Taylor would hold off Duane Paul Jr. on the restart and lead until the caution flew again on lap five. Lap ten would see another caution and the following lap would see Paul get by Taylor for the lead but the caution would appear again as Paul spun in turn two. From there Taylor would survive one more caution and race to the checkers. Paul would rally from the tail to reclaim second with Marvin Hassell finishing up a strong run to take third.
Richard Ferry dominated his heat race earlier in the evening and set out to do the same in the Late Model feature. From his outside front row starting spot Ferry would out duel Kyle Van Sickle off turn two and put his number 17 on top of the leader board. Six laps in the caution would appear for a spin by Fred Schell on the exit of turn two. Ferry would bring the race back to green as the Van Sickle brothers would battle for the runner up spot with Kyle holding off Ryan this time for second. A long green flag run would take the lap count to twenty one before Shawn Taylor would spin in turn four to bring out the yellow. as the field circled under caution Adam Bedenbaugh would make contact with Bryan Bernhhart. A lengthy delay would follow as the track crew would need some time to get the two cars untangled. The restart attempt would not be a clean one as Taylor and Schell would spin to keep the field under yellow. The next attempt would be a good one for Ferry as he would pull out to the lead once again and take the checkered flag. Ryan Van Sickle would get under his brother for second on the restart dropping Kyle to third in the final standings.
Fourteen of the sixteen Pure stocks in attendance would answer the bell for their feature event. William Martin would lead lap number one before Rick Reed would move to the lead on lap two and then the caution would come out Jimmy Peele. The restart would prove the to be deciding factor in the race as Martin would make contact with Reed which then allowed Nevin Gainey and Shane Taylor to move into the top two spots and Andy Olson would also benefit to grab third. A caution on lap twelve would see the second place car of Taylor go to work road ending his bid for a driving double on the night. From there Gainey would be able to hold off Olson and Reed for the win.
Seventeen Sportsman cars would roll onto the track for the feature event and the action would start to heat up before half a lap was in the books. On the initial lap pole sitter Marty McGuire and fellow front row starter Scott Spears would battle through turns one and two and when Kevin Bayless joined in the battle to make it three wide the result was a destroyed car for Bayless as he ended up making hard contact with the backstretch wall. Several other cars got caught up in the aftermath but were able to rejoin the field for the second start attempt. As McGuire and Spears again battled for the top spot they would find themselves involved in another three wide battle but this time Amber Williams would wrestle the lead from the front row duo and hold the lead until Tony Jordan’s spin on the backstretch on lap four would slow the field. Spears would go to work road and surrender second to Dave Ponton. Williams would lead another four laps when Brandon Catto would bring out the yellow on lap eight. Three laps later Wayne O’Neal would spin which would set up a controversial finish for Ponton and Williams. As Williams came off turn four with the white flag flying contact from Ponton would send Williams spinning and several cars caught up in the carnage. With Ponton called to the infield the question was if the race leader could continue and reclaim her spot at the front of the field. With the car unable to fire it was discovered the battery had been knocked out and the ruling was made to replace the battery and let Williams move back to her lead spot. A one lap dash to the finish would see Williams win her first Sportsman feature by holding off Jamie Dayhaw and Jody Turner.
Kevin Underwood would return to action in the Box Stocks and race to the early lead from his third starting spot. An anxious moment for the race leader on lap four as Shaylynn Taylor would spin in front of Underwood but no contact was made as he avoided the lapped car. Only a yellow at the halfway point would slow down the leader and Bobby Denard and Baltimore Bill Bollier would round out the top three.
A late addition to the race card was the TQ Late Models and Chuck Cumby would grab the early lead. John Hopke would put the pressure on Cumby and a bobble by Hopke would allow Cumby to open up his advantage. At the halfway point it was Hopke and David Rader spinning while at the same time Cumby would solo spin out of the lead at the other end of the speedway. Terry Wright would inherit the lead and take the field to the checkered flag with Adam Parrish and Katherine Thomas giving chase.
Official Results May 28th 2011
Limited Modifieds
1. Shane Taylor#82
2. Duane Paul Jr. #51
3. Marvin Hassell #29
4. Bobby Layman #69
5. Johnny Mullner #28
6. Cliff Suber #24
7. Dale Trask #51t
8. Dwayne Worden #16
9. Kyle Arvin #96
10. Daniel Snipes #25
11. Chris Taylor #13 DNS
12. Jimmy Flynn #32f DNS
Late Model
1. Richard Ferry #17
2. Ryan Van Sickle #3r
3. Kyle Van Sickle #3k
4. Travis Varnadore #41
5. Adam Bedenbaugh #26
6. Mavrick Varnadore #14v
7. Allen Cribbs #14c
8. Justin Tilton #49
9. Fred Schell #38
10. Bryan Bernhart #B69
11. Shawn Taylor #83
12. Chuck Cumby #88
13. Bill Gould #17g
Pure Stock
1. Nevin Gainey #57
2. Andy Olson #13
3. Rick Reed #66
4. Jerry Fortner #F16
5. Chris Rowe #23
6. Doran Cheney #15
7. William Martin #06
8. Shane Taylor #82
9. Billy Smith #00
10. Dan Caudill #11d
11. David Hess #82t
12. Edward Polbos #25
13. Charles Strickland #28
14. Jimmy Peele #26
15. Jim Langtry #7x DNS
16. Duane Paul Jr. DNS
Sportsman
1. Amber Williams #25
2. Jamie Dayhaw #21
3. Jody Turner #74
4. Wayne O’Neal #0
5. Tony Jordan #31
6. Heath Walker #nine
7. Marty McGuire #00
8. Shawn Creech #07c
9. Robby Stevens #12
10. Robby Disbrow #32
11. Bill Adkins #26
12. Sonny Thompson #75
13. Brandon Catto #59
14. Scott Spears #2
15. Nick Reid #16
16.Kevin Bayless #07b
17. Dave Ponton #10x DQ
Box Stock
1. Kevin Underwood #5
2. Bobby Denard #7L
3. Baltimore Bill #71
4. Daryl Larson #15d
5. Bryar Zimmerman #lil ooz
6. Amber Willis #12
7. Travis Melgaard #15
8. Dylan Hurston #26
9. Steven Wethrington #311
10. Devin Walker #44
11. Shaylynn Taylor #88
TQ Late Models
1. Terry Wright #007
2. Adam Parrish #15
3. Katherine Thomas #34
4. David Rader #6
5. Chuck Cumby #8
6. John Hopke #H1
7. Hank Wilson # 4
8.Derek Sutis #21
Next June 4th the Open Wheel Modifieds along with Sportsman, Pure Stock, Box Stock, and Mini Sprints. Racing starts at 7:00 P.M. Visit us on the web at www.northfloridaspeedway.com or call 386-754-8800
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