by BJ Cavin- VSP Media
BARBERVILLE, FL- The racers in all six divisions at Volusia Speedway Park came together on Saturday night in order to close the door on the 2010 racing season, and to recognize those who had overcome the obstacles and become divisional champions. And while most of the points races had been all but decided coming into the night, it allowed those at the top of the heap to turn it loose and go for wins, rather than play the conservative game in order to secure the big trophy at the season ending banquet.
Joe Kump has held onto the top spot in the Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram Late Model points standings for a while now, but coming into Saturday’s feature event the Lake Helen racer’s math told him that he needed to finish 12th or better in order to secure a points championship. Meanwhile Donnie Chappelle had something else to prove coming into the night, as his race team had overcome a season’s worth of shortcomings to emerge as the team to beat down the final stretch. Both were up to the challenge, as Kump concreted himself into VSP championship history with a fourth place finish, and Chappelle dominated the race to notch another win, plus show that he would be a force to be reckoned with in 2011. Ivedent Lloyd followed Chappelle for the second spot while Jason Davis wrapped up the third spot. John Kellum had a strong run and finished in the fifth spot behind Kump.
Jamie Carter had the 2010 Budweiser Modified Points Championship in his back pocket as he hit the clay Saturday night, and his third place finish was merely an afterthought to his domination of the points standings all season. So while Carter wheeled his way to a championship, Kent Corbin took control of the race and drove his way to a victory, overcoming a hard charging Charlie MacNichol to grab the win.
The race was red flagged on the third lap thanks to a violent wreck that knocked Dale Murray out of action. Murray had been flirting with the highest line possible in turns three and four on the previous two laps, when his modified sailed sideways into the end of the concrete barrier at the top of turn four. The violent impact and left the 66 car totally destroyed and lying on its top in the middle of the turn, but Murray climbed from the wreckage virtually unscathed as the crowd cheered.
Aaron Barsness knew that he would leave as the 2010 Taylor Racing Products Sportsman Champion at the end of the night, and for the opening few laps of the Sportsman feature race it looked like that would suffice for him. But after a lap four fracas on the frontstretch gave him some time to think it through under caution, Barsness stomped on the throttle and shot himself into the top three. Another racer on the move was Blaise Hetznecker, who had his 17H machine challenging Stanton Mills for the lead when it all went wrong for him on lap 14. That made it the third time late this season that Hetznecker was in a position to grab a win but was thwarted by circumstances beyond his control. Also running hard was Matt Mcgillivray, who climbed up to second place at one point.
Barsness may have wanted to celebrate a championship and a win at the same time, but Stanton Mills was simply too tough to tame. Mills claimed the victory as Barsness wrapped up second place and Kyle Chappell finished third. Chris Day managed to get the better of Matt Mcgillivray late in order to notch a fourth place finish with Mcgillivray was fifth.
As the racing season ended for the Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Thunder Stocks, Chad Scranton is still the man to beat in the division and very few have managed to accomplish that feat. But Chad was a late arrival to the Thunder Stocks in 2010, and if he had been in the hunt from day one things probably would have turned out quite differently from how they finished. Scott Mooers seized early control of Victory Lane, the points standings, and also the national UMP points rankings in 2010, then hung tough to take the 2010 Amsoil Thunder Stock Points championship despite a lack of wins down the stretch. Those later races went to Scranton, who notched yet another on Saturday night while Mooers won the championship even though he was not even at the speedway.
Chad Scranton celebrated his victory while Robert Donaly was forced to settle for second place on the night. Luke Sadler wound up the number two man in the points battle behind Mooers and finished third on the night, while Brian Sistrunk knocked the new off of his number 16 machine just beyond the checkered flags as he tangled with the frontstretch wall after claiming the fourth spot. John Thorpe crossed the line and avoided Sistrunk’s post finish accident to place fifth.
Casey Feaster may have felt a twinge of sadness on Friday night as the Ocala Speedway wrecker crews cleared his number 20 Ford Focus out of turn four, as the realization that the car that carried Feaster to the 2010 4 Cylinder Challenger Championship at Volusia Speedway Park was not going to be able to compete in the final race of that achievement due to a broken transmission. Feaster showed up at VSP in a new Dodge Neon and drove it to a fifth place finish, then celebrated his championship with friends and family in Victory Lane, while Tony Laporta notched himself yet another well deserved feature win on the night. Steve Cox failed to overcome Laporta, but he held off everyone else for second place while Nathan Rhoades locked tough with his third place run. R.J. Glaser was the fourth place finisher with points champion Casey Feaster finishing fifth.
Volusia Speedway Park may have wrapped up the divisional points championships, but plenty of racing action remains to come in 2010 at the south’s fastest half mile. After a weekend off on October 9th, The United Dirt Late Model Challenge Series Fall Nationals begin on Friday October 15th at Ocala Speedway’s tough 3/8ths mile, and will wrap up the competition at Volusia Speedway Park’s fast half mile on Saturday, October 16th. The UDLMCS racers will also be joined by Volusia Speedway Park’s Taylor Racing Products Sportsman Division, the Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Thunder Stocks, and the 4 Cylinder Challengers. For more information, please visit www.VolusiaSpeedwayPark.net.
Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram Late Models
1- 25 Donnie Chappelle
2- 21 Ivedent Lloyd
3- 145 Jason Davis
4- J17 Joe Kump
5- 41K John Kellum
6- 11 Howard Stalls
7- 45 Bobby Richardson
8- 10 Win Ingersol
9- 36D Dillon Buhr
10- 46 Hamp Conlay
11- RP1 “Bug” Rose
12- 12 Jack Nosbisch Jr.
13- 23 Lawton Minchew
DNS- 88 Andy Schell
DNS- 07 David Clegg
Budweiser Modified
1- 0K Kent Corbin
2- 11 Charlie MacNichol
3- 15 Jamie Carter
4- 75 Jimmy Carter
5- 18A Jared Allison
6- Z06 Larry Mott
7- F1 Chris Freeman
8- 66 Dale Murray
9- 54 Larry Burkins
2- 11 Aaron Barsness
3- 66C Kyle Chappelle
4- 8 Chris Day
5- 95 Matt Mcgillivray
6- 1 Tony Sansom
7- 7 Dalton Lanich
8- 38 Collin Wright
9- 17K Marc Kinley
10- 57 Heinz Haas
11- 83 Martin Johnson
12- 61 Lisa O’Connor
13- 17H Blaise Hetsnecker
14- 99 Danny Vogel Jr.
15- 80 Paul Shead
16- 40 Steve Branton
17- 05 Dan Lane Sr.
18- 10 Steve Shead
19- 46 Richard Wells Jr.
DNS- 96 Matt Johnson
DNS- 2H Cory Hupp
1- 98T Mike Tovet
2- 54 Tim Hughes
3- 13 Philip Brown
4- 11S James Smith
5- 94 Robert Sirmons
7- 21 Will Gardner
9- 2S Mick Kulak
Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Thunder Stock
3- 15 Luke Sadler
4- 16 Brian Shrunk
5- 114 John Thorpe
6- 29 Tom Hughes
7- 03 Robert Shrunk
8- 66 Wally Douglas
10- 4 Richard Calmes Jr.
11- 05 Chris Lane
12- V1 Delbert Moyer
13- 65 Bobby Giles
14- 22 Kelly Snyder
15- 3 Jeff Baer
16- 32 Jim Shaw
17- 118 Ron Adams
4 Cylinder Challenger
1- 3T Tony Laporta
2- 88 Steven Cox
3- 51 Nathan Rhoades
7- XX Jordan Myers
8- 67 Pate Hanstine
9- 21 Art Souther
10-16 Denica Hetznecker
11- 7E Gilbert Espy
12- 60 James Smith Sr.
13- 1 Jamie Hughes
Chad Scranton notches another Amsoil Thunder Stock win
Donnie Chappelle celebrates a Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram Late Model win
Track crews remove the remains of Dale Murray’s modified after a violent incident in turn four