by Dave Westerman

After having problems early in practice his last time out, J.R. Garcia put it all together Saturday night as he scored his first Auburndale Truck Series win of 2010 in front of a nice crowd.

Nick Hernandez easily won the Truck heat race and had the pole for the 25 lap feature. Hernandez got his truck sideways at the drop of the green allowing David Hartin to snare the early advantage just before Louis Potter spun off turn four to bring out the caution just after lap one was completed.

Hartin was looking good but Garcia was on a mission finally grabbing the top spot on lap nine just before Potter spun a second time to bring out the final yellow flag of the race.

From that point Garcia began to build a stout advantage. Hernandez got back around Hartin for second on lap 15 and cut Garcia’s advantage but ran out of time and settled for second. Hartin held off a late challenge from Brent Tyler to take third while Jim Cowhey, Jr. took fifth.

The Southeast Champ Karts returned to action running the third leg of their 2010 Triple Crown Series, and, as usual, put on an incredible show.

The two tightly-contested heat races were captured by Rusty Chancey and Tara Henderson but it was Mitch Stevens gaining the early advantage in the feature race for the opening pair of laps before Wesley Gonzales took over. Caution flew on lap three as Romay Venta spun off turn four.

Gonzales led one more lap before J.D. Gordon grabbed a lead that he would hold for five laps before Stevens once again took over holding off a host of competitors who were bump-drafting behind him. Caution flew on lap 12 as Ed Brillhante spun in turn two and flipped on his side momentarily. The caution had already been displayed but Brillante’s machine came back down on all fours and he kept going.

Stevens continued to hold the top position but Chase Fitzgerald had other ideas and grabbed the lead on lap 22 just before a multi-kart tangle in turn two slowed the action. The restart was a mess as several karts near the rear of the pack tangled up in turn two. One driver required assistance from track EMTs so the red flag was brought out. After a brief period the driver exited his kart and walked back to the pits.

Fitzgerald, who just recently began running a Legend Car at Auburndale, managed to hold off the field over the final two laps to snag the win closely pursued by Henderson, Stevens, Triple Crown point leader Doug Schmidt and Ron Sanford. Tim Moore took the checker in sixth with Venta, Darin Coker, Chris Ellis and P.J. Letourneau rounding out the top ten.

When Dave Dunkin wins the Sportsman heat and starts on the pole for the feature, you can usually plan on handing him the first place money and trophy.

That would not be the case on this night though.  Dunkin looked very strong in winning the heat but it was Brandon “Bones” Duchscherer who jumped out to a quick lead and dominated the 25 lap contest which ran green to checker without a caution flag. Duchscherer took his second Sportsman win of the year while Lance Daubach made his way to second late in the race but was too far behind to challenge the winner. Mark Mediros came home third while Dunkin faded to fourth in front of Richard Elkins, Jr.

For the second consecutive week Kyle Peters checked out on a quality Street Stock field and won with ease. Peters won the opening heat and was expecting some stiff competition from second heat winner Bobby Mobley but Mobley had problems and stopped on the top of turn four during lap 11 for the race’s only caution flag.

James Wright III took home the runner-up spot despite constant pressure from third place Jeff Waterman. Chris Spring seems to finally be getting his car dialed in and took the checker in fourth while Cody McDuffie was fifth.

After battling problems over the last month and dropping from championship contention, Brian Tyre entered the Scrambler events with a different car and proceeded to win both the heat and feature in easy fashion. Point leader Kim Gullett was second trailed by Jerry Pruitt, Richard Brown and Jeremy Watts.

Preston Davis continues to have the heaviest foot in the V-8 Bomber class as he won his third straight feature over a hard-charging Jason Howell. Point leader Josh Borem spun out while running third on lap ten but came back to take the show spot ahead of Frank Pierce and Matt Johns.

This Saturday it’s the biggest Late Model race of the year, the AMF Chassis/Chassis Works 100. along with the Late Models, the program will feature the Mini Cups, Legend Cars, Sportsman, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, Bandoleros and the Kids Club. Racing begins at 7PM. For more information call

863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com powered by Palm Tree Computers.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 10/9/10

AUBURNDALE TRUCKS:
1-#13 J.R. Garcia
2-#37 Nick Hernandez
3-#25 David Hartin
4-#99 Brent Tyler
5-#2 Jim Cowhey, Jr.
6-#16 Tim Sozio
7-#18 Cheyne Hammond
8-#49x Louis Potter

SPORTSMAN:
1-#22 Brandon Duchscherer
2-#77 Lance Daubach
3-#13 Mark Medeiros
4-#71 Dave Dunkin
5-#55 Richard Elkins, Jr.
6-#55x Wayne Jones
7-#60 Richard Fiore, Jr.
8-#8 Chuck Harrison, Jr.

SOUTHEAST CHAMP KARTS:
1-#22 Chase Fitzgerald
2-#44 Tara Henderson
3-#33 Mitch Stevens
4-#8 Doug Schmidt
5-#29 Ron Sanford
6-#70 Tim Moore
7-#13 Romay Venta
8-#0 Darin Coker
9-#15 Chris Ellis
10-#61 P.J. Letourneau
11-#77 Rusty Chancy
12-#47 Wesley Gonzales
13-#38 Trevor Wilson
14-#63 Ed Brillhante
15-#16 Paul Letourneau
16-#99 J.D. Gordon
17-#30 Billy Smith

STREET STOCKS:
1-#53 Kyle Peters
2-#56 James Wright III
3-#42 Jeff Waterman
4-#142 Chris Spring
5-#25 Cody McDuffie
6-#5 Matt McCrary
7-#17 Kyle Hall
8-#65 Ken Lawrence
9-#18 David Williams
10-#80 Brian Harbin
11-#29 Bobby Mobley
12-#15 Joe VanWinkle
13-#45 Joe Dowdy

V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#89 Preston Davis
2-#4 Jason Howell
3-#111 Josh Borem
4-#7 Frank Pierce
5-#18 Kevin Barton
6-#51 Matt Johns
7-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.

SCRAMBLERS:
1-#6T Bryan Tyre
2-#28 Kimberly Gullett
3-#17 Jerry Pruitt
4-#62 Richard Brown
5-#77 Jeremy Watts
6-#71 Dave Canfield
DNS #67 T.J. Tanner
DNS #96 John Roberson

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