by Dave Westerman

The big money was on the line Saturday night at Auburndale Speedway as the Late Models and a huge crowd were on hand and enjoyed not only some spectacular weather, but an awesome Late Model race that saw Jeff Scofield play a waiting game, then come away with the victory and the 2010 Auburndale Speedway Late Model point championship.

A field of 25 top Late Model teams ran a very close qualifying session with Tim Russell setting quick time at 13.433 seconds closely followed by Anthony Campi at 13.529 and Scofield at 13.533. Joe Boyd and Daniel Webster rounded out the top five in time trials.

The re-draw found Campi on the pole with Russell outside him. Joe Boyd and Jason Vail made up row two while Webster and Scofield started the AMF Chassis/Chassis Works 100 from the fifth and sixth spots on the grid. A two car tangle in turn three on the opening lap made for a complete restart and saw Talon Craft elininated from action before the race could even get going.

The second attempt was much better and Campi muscled his way in front of Russell to set the early pace. However action came to a halt once again after just two laps when a tire went flat on George Gorham, Jr.’s car and he stopped on the track.

On the restart, Webster and Vail got together with Webster going for a spin.  Both restarted from the tail of the field. Once the race finally got some green flag laps in, it was Campi and Russell pulling well in front of the rest of the field. Things would stay under green until lap 22 when Johnathan Guy went looping in turn four.

Campi and Russell continued racing nose-to-tail for the top spot as racing resumed. Scofield made his way past Joe Boyd on lap 26 for third spot and began to gain on the frontrunners as Ron Lofquist spun his mount for another yellow flag on lap 29.

Lap 33 would see the biggest incident of the race. Ryan Lisak and Steve Tregear tangled going down the backstretch with other drivers scattering to miss them. Daniel Webster drove off into the infield grass then made contact with the dirt mound that surrounds the turn three light pole. Webster’s car flew high in the air, made a complete flip and landed on its wheels after scattering dirt and grass all over the racing surface between the third and fourth turns.

The red flag was put out as track crews checked on Webster who quickly emerged from his beat-up racecar a bit dusty but otherwise unhurt. Webster and Tregear were done for the night while Lisak got back out for the restart but pulled in after just a few circuits.

As the green reappeared, Russell’s car seemed unresponsive and Scofield quickly worked his way around him and into second spot. Meanwhile, Campi simply checked out in the lead, opening up a full straightaway advantage. At the half-way mark Campi held the top position ahead of Scofield, Russell, Joe Boyd, Georgia visitor Jason Hogan, David King, Steve Dorer, Jason Boyd, Guy and Vail.

The next caution did not fly until lap 63 when Perry Lovelady went for a spin in turn four. It was at this point that Scofield’s “strategy” played out. Scofield decided to take it easy after passing Russell and save his car instead of trying to chase down Campi banking on another caution flag or two to allow him to close in. Lovelady’s spin was just what Scofield needed and he wasted little time putting the pressure on Campi once the green bunting was displayed.

It took Scofield just a pair of laps to snare the top spot from Campi and the rest of the race belonged to the veteran driver from Plant City in his stealth-black #07. Russell’s car continued to fade and he lost third spot to Joe Boyd on lap 93. Scofield took the checker well ahead of Campi as the finish was quite wild with both Vail and Keith Lilley spinning coming down to the stripe.

Joe Boyd ran a steady, clean race to take third with Russell fourth and Steve Dorer fifth after making a couple of bold outside lane passes late in the going. Hogan claimed the sixth spot with Jason Boyd making his first start of the year here a good one as the Orlando driver came home with a nice seventh place finish. David King, Johnathan Guy and Tyler Laing rounded out the top ten.

Scofield said he really had to thank his crew for “putting up with me this week.” Scoffield indicated that after his crew put the car back together, he made them tear it down a second time to make a few changes and re-check several things. “It’s been a rough few weeks for us but my crew worked hard to get us this win tonight,” he said, referring two a pair of recent bad crashes at both New Smyrna Speedway and Columbia Motorsports Park.   The victory was worth a nice $5,000 payday and also earned Scofield the 2010 Auburndale Speedway Late Model point title.

The Sportsman cars were in action for the second week in a row with Brandon Duchscherer setting quick time. However it was young Lance Daubach who grabbed the early lead and set the pace all the way for his third checkered flag of the season.

Mark Medeiros, who is in a big battle with Dave Dunkin for the point championship, took a wild slide at the start of the race, chasing track photographer Chuck Green before coming to a halt in the infield grass between turns one and two. Medeiros never could get his car to run right after that and finished well back while Dunkin came home third behind second place finisher Brandon Morris. Fourth and fifth went to Wayne Jones and Austin Carr.

Legend Car point leader Jake Perkins celebrated his 14th birthday by winning his seventh feature of the year, but he had to work hard for it.

Lynn Wiles grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and led through numerous caution periods for minor spins as Perkins closed in to put pressure on Wiles after each restart. Perkins finally found the room he needed and he zipped by Wiles to take the top position on lap 24 then pulled away to a solid win. Justin Brown followed Perkins by Wiles but could not track “No Brake Jake” down and settled for the runner-up spot ahead of Wiles, Gerald White, Jr. and Chase Fitzgerald. After tagging the backstretch wall hard in qualifying, Devin McLeod drove from dead last on the 17 car starting grid to finish sixth while Dakota Baggette, Mason Ketterman, Gary Verdier and Dave Gleason completed the top ten. Perkins set quick time with a lap of 15.209 seconds.

Little nine-year-old Kristin Clements won her second consecutive Kids Club feature and now has won every race she has entered since starting in the class last month. Megan Gosselin finally got a chance to race again since her dad Mario had a week off from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and she came home with a second place finish. Dakota Hunt was third giving the girls a 1-2-3 Kids Club sweep. Justin Cribbs was fourth and Drew Kingsley fifth.

Mini Cup action saw John Beach lead all the way after winning the heat race.  It was Beach’s first visit to victory lane this year. Dale Pulst made a late charge to nab second ahead of point leader Rick Ragan, Skip Baird and Frank Beach.

James Wright III, with both his regular classes (Modified and Street Stock) off, took over his dad’s car and topped Preston Davis and point leader Josh Borem to win the V-8 Bomber feature. Larry Chumney II was fourth and Matt Johns fifth. Borem turned a lap of 16.188 seconds to set quick time.

Kimberly Gullett increased her point lead in the Scrambler class by taking her fourth win of the season over fast qualifier Brian Tyre, Richard Brown, Jerry Pruitt and Randy Becker. Teddy Lively took his seventh Bandolero win of the year coming home in front of Cameron White, Daniel Conlin, Jr. and Andy Metz.

Next week the Open Wheel Modifieds return along with V-8 Bombers, Legend Cars, Bandoleros, Street Stocks and Modified Mini Stocks. 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 – 10/16/10:

LATE MODELS:
1-#07 Jeff Scofield
2-#81 Anthony Campi
3-#5 Joe Boyd
4-#36 Tim Russell
5-#10x Steve Dorer
6-#92 Jason Hogan
7-#15 Jason Boyd
8-#22 David King
9-#42 Jonathan Guy
10-#39 Tyler Laing
11-#72 Keith Lilley
12-#407 Jason Vail
13-#97 Perry Lovelady
14-#21 Brandon Anderson
15-#57 Joe Winchell
16-#6 David Hart
17-#17 Ryan Lisak
18-#10 George Gorham, Jr.
19-#13 Ricky Diaz
20-#18 Steve Tregear
21-#33 Daniel Webster
22-#49 Ron Lofquist
23-#29 Tracy Raven
24-#23 Rusty Ebersole
25-#10c Talon Craft

SPORTSMAN:
1-#77 Lance Daubach
2-#56 Bradon Morris
3-#71 Dave Dunkin
4-#55x Wayne Jones
5-#18 Austin Carr
6-#8 Chuck Harrison, Jr.
7-#60 Richard Fiore, Jr.
8-#55 Richard Elkins, Jr.
9-#51 Kyle Alford
10-#13 Mark Medeiros
11-#89 Brett Jenkins
DQ #22 Brandon Duchscherer

LEGEND CARS:
1-#59 Jake Perkins
2-#8 Justin Brown
3-#31 Lynn Wiles
4-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
5-#96 Chase Fitzgerald
6-#21 Devin McLeod
7-#7 Dakota Baggette
8-#71 Mason Ketterman
9-#44 Gary Verdier
10-#17 Dave Gleason
11-#06 Rick Wetmore
12-#47 Eric Eichelberger
13-#4R Zach Napoleon
14-#2 Corey White
15-#87 Austin Blankenship
16-#5 Seth Adams
DNS #65 Coty Bibeau

V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#56 James Wright III
2-#89 Preston Davis
3-#111 Josh Borem
4-#96 Larry Chumney II
5-#51 Matt Johns
6-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.
7-#49 Jared Meyer
8-#81 Matt Bozeman
9-#18 Kevin Barton

BANDOLEROS
1-#96 Teddy Lively
2-#38 Cameron White (Bandit)
3-#1 Daniel Conlin, Jr.
4-#48 Andy Metz

MINI CUPS:
1-#74 John Beach
2-#27x Harold Crooms
3-#21 Rick Ragan
4-#2 Skip Baird
5-#46 Frank Beach
6-#47 Brandon Beach
7-#18 Dan Suggs

SCRAMBLERS:
1-#28 Kimberly Gullett
2-#6T Brian Tyre
3-#62 Richard Brown
4-#17 Jerry Pruitt
5-#14 Randy Becker
6-#21x Eric Wallace
7-#00 Chad Cutting
8-#7 Tony Tidwell

KIDS CLUB
1-#5 Kristin Clements
2-#10 Megan Gosselin
3-#99 Dakota Hunt
4-#18 Justin Cribbs
5-#55 Drew Kingsley

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