by Dave Westerman

Auburndale, FL (May 8, 2010)  It was a great Mothers Day weekend at Auburndale Speedway with a good crowd of fans, great weather and some very close racing action.

The Auburndale Race Trucks were back in action for the second time this year with a much bigger field that required a pair of heats to set the feature race line-up. Tim Sozio and Keith Lilley topped the qualifiers and made up row one of the 25 lap main event.

Lilley let it be known in a hurry that he had the truck to beat as he sped to a quick lead and began to set a blistering pace. The race behind him was what the fans were watching as Sozio had both Roger Blevins and J.R. Garcia glued to his tail gate.

The trio continued to run that way about a straightaway behind Lilley until lap 23 when Blevins and Garcia crashed while lapping the machine of Shayne Hammond. Both Blevins and Garcia were finished for the night just two laps shy of the checkered flag.

On the restart, it was Sozio sliding backwards through the field as a tire went down. Lilley led the remaining two laps easily with Nick Hernandez sliding into the second spot just ahead of Tommy King, Jim Cowhey, Jr. and Austin Stamper. Sozio faded to eighth at the finish.

Another big Street Stock field saw plenty of wild action as James Wright III came on to score his second straight win. Second heat winner Joe Dowdy grabbed the early lead but things got jammed up early as point leader Jeff Waterman had his mount shut off on him coming out of turn two. Everyone managed to miss Waterman’s car but he had to be pushed into the pits.

Dowdy set the pace on the restart but Wright was on the charge from the get-go and zipped by into the lead on lap five. Three laps later, Kyle Peters had the axle snap on his car coming off turn four sending him into a wild slide and his right rear tire off into the sunset in turn one.

During the ensuing caution, second place Kyle Hall (the first heat race winner), dove into the pits while Waterman returned to the fray albeit several laps down to the field.

Just three laps could be completed before Waterman was clobbered by Dowdy on the back stretch. Dowdy dropped out immediately ending what started out to be a good night while Waterman made another lap before calling it quits after Eddie Hartin spun out on lap twelve to bring out the final yellow flag of the race.

Wright claimed his fourth win of the year while Bobby Mobley looked much stronger in coming home a reasonably close second. Dave Colpritt survived a lot of “bumpin’ and bangin'” to nab third spot while Matt McCrary was fourth and Mike Bruno fifth. McCrary’s finish coupled with Waterman’s final 14th place in the rundown allowed McCrary to move into the Street Stock point lead.

Lee Davis kept his new car running this week and held off the pack to claim his first Modified Mini Stock win in many a moon. After winning the heat, Davis had to deal with an equally quick Jason Rendell but managed to hold off all challenges to take the win. Point leader Scotty Sharpe crossed the stripe in third trailed by Mike Sweet and Bruce Anderson.

The Legend Car race saw plenty of lead-swapping and a nasty back stretch crash that sent both Doug Hall and Leroy Moore off on the hook early in the feature.

Heat wins went to “No Brake” Jake Perkins and Justin Brown with Perkins snatching the early advantage before Brown got around him. Brown’s lead was short-lived as Gerald White, Jr. sped past looking for his fourth consecutive win. Perkins had other ideas and seemed to find a “second wind” as he dove under White never to be headed again. White came home second with Mason Ketterman third. Brown faded to a fourth place finish while Dave “Too Tall” Gleason rounded out the top five.

The Mini Stock point lead also changed hands but it was Chris Narramore, Jr., the third place driver in points, that had it all together on this night leading wire to wire for the victory after finishing dead last the previous week after blowing an engine.

Narramore’s run was made much simpler when the two drivers ahead of him in points, Fred Harrison, Jr. and Chris Spring, tangled while battling for second place on lap seven. Both were sent to the rear of the field for the restart. When the second caution flew for Randy King’s blown engine on lap 14, Harrison took his overheating car to the infield and was done for the evening.

Narramore set the pace the remaining distance with Marilyn McCrary taking second in her best run since coming back to racing a few weeks ago. Spring drove like a man possessed and got back up to third at the finish in front of Donnie Guy and Steve Routt. Harrison wound up eighth allowing Spring to move into the point lead by just two over his arch rival.

Point leader Kim Gullett won the Scrambler heat but was late coming on the track for the feature and had to start scratch on the field. That was great news for Brian Tyre who put his Dodge Neon out front at the drop of the green leading all 15 laps to score the win over a hard-charging Richard Brown. Scotty Sharpe made a “guest appearance” in the class and took third while Ashton Hunt was fourth and Gullett raced up to fifth at the checker allowing her to maintain a slim four point advantage over Tyre in the season-long standings.

V-8 Bomber point leader Josh Borem had just inched ahead of heat winner Paul Bookmiller when the feature race’s only caution flew on lap 11 for a stalled Jeff Lacy. Borem was placed ahead of Bookmiller for the restart and sped to his first win in several weeks after battling a series of mechanical woes. Bookmiller finished a strong second while Matt Johns made the move up from the Scrambler class with a good-looking new car and finished third. Gener Harrison also moved up from the Scramblers this week and placed fourth while Buddy Phillips, Jr. claimed fifth.

Derek Sobel topped Cameron White in the Bandolero feature.

Next week on May 15, racing will feature the Open Wheel Modifieds, Mini Cups, Kids Club, Legends, Bandoleros, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, and Sportsman.

Racing begin at 7 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 5/8/10:

?

AUBURNDALE RACE TRUCKS:

1-#72 Keith Lilley

2-#37 Nick Hernandez

3-#1 Tommy King

4-#2 Jim Cowhey, Jr.

5-#36 Austin Stamper

6-#99 Brent Tyler

7-#21 Zach Harris

8-#16 Tim Sozio

9-#77 Shayne Hammond

10-#15 Roger Blevins

11-#13 J.R. Garcia

?

STREET STOCKS:

1-#56 James Wright III

2-#29 Bobby Mobley

3-#4 Dave Colpritt

4-#5 Matt McCrary

5-#26 Mike Bruno

6-#80 Larry Braswell

7-#17 Kyle Hall

8-#25 Cody McDuffie

9-#48 Eddie Hartin

10-#35 James Newton

11-#142 Chris Spring

12-#45 Joe Dowdy

13-#53 Kyle Peters

14-#42 Jeff Waterman

15-#52 Mike Rowland

?

MODIFIED MINI STOCKS:

1-#77 Lee Davis

2-#15 Jason Rendell

3-#89 Scotty Sharpe

4-#55 Mike Sweet

5-#07 Bruce Anderson

6-#65 Ken Lawrence

7-#37 Brandon McSwain

8-#26 Jimmy Pugh

9-#85 Drew Carter

10-#45 Dennis Jones

?

MINI STOCKS:

1-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr.

2-#4 Marilyn McCrary

3-#42 Chris Spring

4-#33 Donnie Guy

5-#55 Steve Routt

6-#88 Kevin Steadman

7-#551 Mark Wells

8-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.

9-#46 Randy King

10-#40 Jason Swilley

11-#11 Josh Borem

12-#99 Leonard Fussell, Jr.

?

LEGEND CARS:

1-#59 Jake Perkins

2-#38 Gerald White, Jr.

3-#71 Mason Ketterman

4-#8 Justin Brown

5-#07 Dave Gleason

6-#31 Lynn Wiles

7-#4R Zach Napoleon

8-#7 Dakota Baggette

9-#83 Danielle Stratton

10-#51 Roger Englund

11-#99 Leroy Moore

12-#55 Doug Hall

?

SCRAMBLERS:

1-#66 Brian Tyre

2-#62 Richard Brown

3-#7 Scotty Sharpe

4-#9 Ashton Hunt

5-#28 Kimberly Gullett

6-#00 Chad Cutting

7-#4 Scott Russ

8-#20 Austin Cavey

9-#201 Casey Feaster

10-#42 Mike Bauer

11-#26 Jerry Cutting

?

V-8 BOMBERS:

1-#111 Josh Borem

2-#0 Paul Bookmiller

3-#51 Matt Johns

4-#88 Gene Harrison

5-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.

6-#105 Jeff Lacey

7-#123 David Williams

?

BANDOLEROS:

1-#5 Derek Sobel

2-#38 Cameron White

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?