As a field of two dozen of the state’s best pro truck drivers took the green flag for the inaugural Florida Pro Truck Invitational Saturday night at Desoto Speedway, they knew they had to top two things: a stout truck driven by Cody McDuffie and Mother Nature.
The drivers may have bested Nature’s fury by a matter of moments, but they couldn’t stop McDuffie from driving into the winner’s circle in Desoto’s biggest Pro Truck race of the 2016 season that capped off a rare Father’s Day weekend doubleheader.
Brent Huber started on the pole of the scheduled 75-lap main event and would hold off a fierce series of challenges from J.R. Garcia, McDuffie and Nick Hernandez over the first 20 laps. After a lengthy caution for a crash involving Danny Anderson, Jimmie Best and Duane Best, McDuffie worked his way up to second and was challenging
Huber for the top spot when the yellow flew again for Corey Bigley’s spin on lap 37. McDuffie lined up on the outside of Huber for the lap 42 restart and vaulted into the lead just before another caution flew for Anderson’s blown
engine. Several laps later, McDuffie got the jump on Huber again on another restart. Huber would eventually fall out of the race with just a handful of laps remaining. Hernandez worked his way up to second as McDuffie began catching the back of the field. He would get to within a couple of truck-lengths of McDuffie on the white flag lap but ran out of time. McDuffie took the checkered flag just moments before a downpour that would have put a premature end to the evening soaked the track. Hernandez, Rodney Haddock, Garcia and Donnie Burkhalter rounded out the top five.
The Sunoco Challenge Super Series saw a familiar face return to victory lane after its 100-lap feature event. Jesse Dutilly got by polesitter and early leader Daniel Keene for the lead on a lap 12 restart. He was checking out from the rest of the pack when Charlie Brown spun on the front stretch – and came back on track just in front of the leaders – to bring out the second caution of the race. As Dylan Bigley and Keene battled for the second spot, Dutilly pulled out
to a lead of as much as six seconds over the second half of the race. He would go unchallenged the rest of the way and dedicated the win to his late father John Dutilly, himself a former racer at Desoto Speedway. Bigley, Keene, Joe Boyd and Nick Neri rounded out the top five.
The Sportsmen were also in action for a 30-lap feature event. Mike Smith took the lead from Joey Sims at the end of the second lap and ran and hid from the rest of the field. As Jason Rendell was comfortably running in second, Stuart Vandevender and Colin Allman staged a battle for the third spot. Smith took the checkered flag with Rendell finishing in the runner-up spot. Allman got by Vandevender on the final lap to finish third.
In other action this weekend, Josh Todd held off Aaron Holmes to win the 25-lap Bomber feature; Shane Leonard took advantage of Darrin Ellis’ mechanical issues and went on to win the 25-lap LKQ Pick-Your-Part Pure Stock feature; Chris Spring won the 25-lap Pep Boys Speed Shop Modified Mini feature; Jeff Firestine took his third victory of the season in the Take Aim Gun Range Street Stocks; and Billy Campbell won the 25-lap Dan Curl Memorial for the Outlaw Modifieds.
Next Saturday night, Desoto Speedway will host Kids’ Night Out featuring School Bus Figure 8 racing, a demolition derby and the track’s enduro-style classes.
06-18-2016
DESOTO SPEEDWAY RACE RESULTS
Super Late Model
1. 30 Jessie Dutilly
2. 128 Dylan Bigley
3. 5k Daniel Keene
4. 5 Joe Boyd
5. 17 Nick Nerri
6. 28 Billy Bigley
7. 67Colin Allman
8. 11 Charlie Brown
9. 51 Michael Atwell
10. 56 Robert Ford
11. 57 John White
12. 58 John Coffman
13. 42 Johnathan Guy D.N.S.
14. 12d Mike Frankline D.N.S.
Pro Trucks
1. 25 Cody McDuffy
2. 37h Nick Hernandez
3. 31 Rodney Haddock
4. 13 g J.R, Garcia
5. 24 Donnie Burkhalter
6. 99 Cody Martell
7. 18 Blake Haddock
8. 37g Michael Goddard
9. 3p Derek Pugh
10. 66 Scott McKay
11. 28 Corey Bigley
12. 12 Scott Hogan
13. 11 Billy Carlbert
14. 22 Cameron Cruise
15. 5 Cody Carlbert
16. 13t Taylor Hosford
17. 7 Jason Lester
18. 33 Bubba Thompson
19. 64 Brent Huber
20. 50 Danny Anderson
21. 67 Jimmy Best
22. 59x Becca Monopoli
23. 15 Tommy Kelly
24. 3b Duane Best D.Q.
Sportsman
1. 23 Mike Smith
2. 157 Jason Rendell
3. 67 Colin Allman
4. 29 Bobby Mobley
5. 172 Joey Sims
6. 98 Roger Welch
7. 111 Josh Borem
8. 36 Stuart Vandevender
9. 4 Rick Reed
10. 73 Jason Bartrum
11. 84 Bill Vandevender
12. 9.Brooke Storer
Outlaw Modified
1. 00 Billy Champbell
2. 5 David Poteat
3. 22 Rick Chapman
4. 99 Mike Endee
5. 26 Kevin Endee
DESOTO SPEEDWAY RACE RESULTS from 6-17 friday
Street Stock
1. 10 Jeff Firestine
2. 7 Danny Caylor
3. 11 Travis Barfield
4 23 Todd Brown
5 93 Kenny Gibson
6 4p Donnie Powers
7 4m Matt McCrary
8 73 Jason Bartram
9 74 Bobby Huffstutler
10. 40 Scott Finch
11. 75 Garrett Thompson
12. 01 Bobby Destler
13. 52 Mike Rowland
14. 124 Lee Hobbs
15. 88 Jamie Castleberry
Pure Stock
1 8 Shane Leonard
2. 7 Blaine Baer
3. 3 Sherry Best
4. 67 Jimmie Best
5. 71 Darrin Ellis
6. 56 James Wright
7. 72 Roger Dufrense
8. 57 Logan Leonard
9. 27 Gerald Fossa
10. 27p Terry Price
Bomber
1. 75 Josh Todd
2. 57 Aaron Holmes
3. 21 Bobby Destler
4. 24 Jeff Pacheco
5. 53 Brandon Martin
6. 12 Doug Radley
7. 14 Adam Briggs
8. 7k Dennis Koselak
9. 22 Ann Marie Ricardi
10. 81 Mark Gill
11. 23 Kenny Gibson
12 88 Brandon Duchscherer D.N.S.
Modified Mini
1. 42 Chris Spring
2. 45 Mike Karrivan
3 6f Jimmie Frazier
4. 17 Brad Blanton
5. 81 Travis Kirby
6. 11 Michael Whittington
7. 2 Jimmie Wood
8. 6d Dave Davis
9. 71 Darrin Ellis
10. 77 Rachelle Rudolph
Pro Trucks
1. 18 Blake Haddock
2. 15 Tommy Kelley
3. 37 Nick Hernandez
4. 66 Scott McKay
5. 3 Duane Best
6. 33 Bubba Thompson
7. 5k Kristen Clements
8. 17 Dan Lauther
9. 7m Scott Klieber