by Dave Westerman
It was just “one of those nights” at Auburndale Speedway Saturday evening as Jeff Scofield survived the wild and crazy action to win the AMF Chassis/Chassis Works 100 for the Late Models. Starter Julian Mullis wore his arm out waving the yellow and red flags all night long as the drivers apparently thought there was a full moon over the speedway.
The fans, and there were a bunch of them, had plenty of fun though. Aarons and “Lucky Dog” were on hand and several fans took home some great prizes including a 60 inch TV, printers and cameras while two lucky youngsters carried off a pair of bicycles courtesy of “Lindsey’s Little Racers.”
Twenty-four Late Models were at the track but two were already in the trailer before qualifying. Cody Lane had problems during Friday evening’s practice and again on Saturday afternoon and decided not to compete. Jason Howell’s car also suffered trouble in practice but he was able to borrow the back-up car of Steve Dorer and qualify for the event.
For the second race in a row, it was young Jason Vail topping Late Model time trials with a quick lap of 13.426 seconds. Chris Fontaine was second quick at 13.494 followed by the 13.589 lap of Tim Russell. Keith Lilley surprised even himself by qualifying fourth in his new car while Daniel Webster was fifth quick in time trials. The re-draw would not be kind to any of the top five as Jeff Scofield, who admitted his car was “a bit off,” earned the pole position with veteran David King starting from the outside pole. King had a smile on his face all weekend as his car was working well, all this after being destroyed in a qualifying crash before the first Late Model race of the year back in March.
Scofield took the lead at the drop of the green with Webster slipping into second while King ran third. Everything went smoothly for eight laps before Lilley went for a spin in turn two for the first of what would be many, many slow-downs during the race. Tim Russell was spotted as the culprit for Lilley’s looping and he was sent to the rear of the field for the restart making for some very interesting racing later on.
All in all there would be 14 caution flags and one red flag during the 100 lap contest. The red came on lap 13 as Raymond Lovelady’s car came unglued leaving fluid all over the racing surface.
The unusually large number of cautions meant no one could really get a ryhthm going in the race. Just as the field would get settled in, something else would happen to slow the action. Lap 29 saw fast-timer Vail and Steve Dorer get together as Vail joined Russell near the rear of the field. As the number of yellows mounted, track officials were pulling their hair out trying to figure out just who was at fault, leading, as can be expected, to numerous “discussions” both during and after the race. Late in the race, Josh Todd and Fontaine made contact while battling for fifth dropping both from a top ten finish. Vail got turned by Ingram with nine laps to go but was placed back in his position as officials felt Ingram was to blame.
The large number of cautions worked to Scofield’s advantage as his car ran really good for a few laps before starting to “go away.” That allowed Scofield to claim the win and a #3,000 payday although he indicated in victory lane that his car wasn’t truly up to snuff.
For Webster, the caution periods had the opposite effect. It was taking several green flag laps for his machine to “come in” and as soon as he started putting pressure on Scofield, the yellow flag would be out again disrupting his momentum. Scofield praised Webster for driving him clean throughout the event as the winner was obviously relieved the race had finally concluded in his favor.
Another benefactor of the constant slow-downs was Russell. After going to the back of a very quality field of cars early in the going, Russell took advantage of other drivers’ mistakes to make up ground and eventually finish third. Like Webster, Russell indicated his car was better on the long runs. The problem though… there weren’t any long runs.
Vail managed to hang on for a fourth place finish while Rusty Ebersole was one driver who managed to stay out of trouble the entire race as he claimed fifth. David King ran third for the first half of the event but got spun out on lap 59 and eventually clawed his way back to sixth. Ingram took seventh followed by Perry Lovelady, Ryan Lisak and Ray Hester.
The Street Stocks also had a bout of caution-flag-itis before Jeff Waterman prevailed for his third win of the year. Point leader Matt McCrary had one of those nights you’d like to forget. His car failed to come up to speed in qualifying and he had to start near the tail of the field. Then McCrary had problems 13 laps into the race, spun out and eventually headed to the pits.
Waterman led all the way in his Iron Eagle Cycles/Maximum Automotive Special and may have moved back into the point lead in the class. Dave Colpritt stayed close all the way and finished runner-up, again unable to really get a run going because of the excess of yellow flags. Larry Braswell took the checker in third trailed by Mike Bruno and Mike Rowland. Fast qualifier James Wright III tangled with Kyle Peters on lap 15 but managed to work his way back up to sixth at the checker.
It took two tries just to get the Legend Car feature started and another four caution periods before the 25 lap contest could be completed. Justin Brown led the first 20 laps, first being challenged by Tyler Smith. The two made contact going into turn one on lap nine with an unhappy Smith hitting the wall and needing a ride to the pits on the wrecker. Mason Ketterman also took a hard trip into the concrete on the front stretch during lap 15 but thankfully was unhurt.
Brown continued to set the pace but point leader Gerald White, Jr. was not to be denied as he zipped into the top spot on lap 21 and led the remaining laps for his fifth win of the year. Brown held on for second with fast qualifier Devin McLeod third. Fourth and fifth went to Dave Gleason and Jake Perkins.
There were even more caution flags in the Modified Mini Stock feature and plenty of wild action before Brandon McSwain prevailed for his first win of the year. McSwain led every lap and claimed the win over Scotty Sharpe, Jason Rendell, Mike Sweet and Bruce Anderson.
The V-8 Bomber feature saw leaders Larry Chumney II and James Wright, Sr.
tangle with two laps to go. Saying “Thank you very much,” Gene Harrison took over the lead and raced to his first career win in the class. Matt Johns, who also recently moved up from the Scramblers, came home second while Chumney and Wright raced back to third and fourth ahead of point leader Josh Borem. David Fletcher set quick time but wasn’t around for the finish of the race.
Mini Stock action saw Chris Spring set quick time and win the feature in dominating fashion, adding to his point lead. Jason Rendell crossed the line second but was disqualified in tech as Jason Swilley inherited the second spot in front of Fred Harrison, Jr. Driving a car just purchased from Donnie Guy, Chris Narramore, Sr. stalled to bring out the yellow flag on lap five but came back to finish fourth ahead of Randy King. Richie Acres set fast time in the Scramblers then drove his Saturn to a convincing win after passing early leader Chad Cutting on lap four. Cutting came home second trailed by Richard Brown, Ron Norman and Chad Cutting.
Cameron White took the Bandolero win over Daniel Conlin, Jr.
Next Saturday night, May 29th, the Figure 8 cars will run for the first time this year. Also on tap are the Sportsman cars, Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Legends, Bandeleros, Southeast Champ Karts and a Demolition Derby.
Racing begins at 7PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.
OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 5/22/10:
?
LATE MODELS – AMF CHASSIS/CHASSIS WORKS 100:
1-#07 Jeff Scofield
2-#33 Daniel Webster
3-#36 Tim Russell
4-#407 Jason Vail
5-#23 Rusty Ebersole
6-#22 David King
7-#21 Kevin Ingram
8-#50 Perry Lovelady
9-#17 Ryan Lisak
10-#177 Ray Hester
11-#88 Jimmy Castleberry
12-#89 Josh Todd
13-#47 Chris Fontaine
14-#48 Ron Lofquist
15-#87 Keith Lilley
16-#13 Frank Alberson
17-#10 Steve Dorer
18-#7 Raymond Lovelady
19-#10x Jason Howell
20-#1 Brandon Duchscherer
21-#78 Kenny Kuhn
22-#16K Steven King
DNS #27 Cody Lane
?
STREET STOCKS:
1-#42 Jeff Waterman
2-#4 Dave Colpritt
3-#80 Larry Braswell
4-#26 Mike Bruno
5-#52 Mike Rowland
6-#56 James Wright III
7-#142 Chris Spring
8-#65 Ken Lawrence
9-#89 Jeff Beedham
10-#53 Kyle Peters
11-#0 Paul Bookmiller
12-#17 Kyle Hall
13-#5 Matt McCrary
DQ #21 Chris Narramore, Jr.
DQ #29 Bobby Mobley
?
LEGEND CARS:
1-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
2-#8 Justin Brown
3-#21 Devin McLeod
4-#07 Dave Gleason
5-#59 Jake Perkins
6-#5 Seth Adams
7-#59x John Inman
8-#44 Gary Verdier
9-#4R Zach Napoleon
10-#7 Dakota Baggette
11-#99 Leroy Moore
12-#51 Roger Englund
13-#11 Daniel Conlin, Sr.
14-#71 Mason Ketterman
15-#83 Danielle Stratton
DQ #4 Tyler Smith
?
MODIFIED MINI STOCK:
1-#37 Brandon McSwain
2-#89 Scott Sharpe
3-#15 Jason Rendell
4-#55 Mike Sweet
5-#07 Bruce Anderson
6-#85 DeWayne Carter
7-#8 John Markovich
DQ #45 Dennis Jones
?
MINI STOCKS:
1-#42 Chris Spring
2-#40 Jason Swilley
3-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.
4-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr.
5-#46 Randy King
6-#551 Mark Wells
7-#4 Marilyn McCrary
DQ #88 Kevin Steadman
DQ #31 Jason Rendell
?
V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#88 Gene Harrison
2-#51 Matt Johns
3-#96 Larry Chumney II
4-#56 James Wright, Sr.
5-#111 Josh Borem
6-#1 David Fletcher
7-#89 Preston Davis
8-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.
DQ #105 Jeff Lacy
?
SCRAMBLERS:
1-#8 Richie Acres
2-#00 Chad Cutting
3-#62 Richard Brown
4-#98 Ron Norman
5-#26 Jerry Cutting
6-#71 Dave Canfield
7-#66 Brian Tyre
8-#28 Kimberly Gullett
9-#42 Mike Bauer
10-#77 Jeremy Watts
11-#9 Ashton Hunt
12-#4 Scott Russ
?
BANDOLEROS:
1-#38 Cameron White
2-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr.
?
?
?