BARBERVILLE, FL- The new motto for Volusia Speedway Park for the 2011 racing season may have to be, “Never Say Never.” Thunderstorms and moderate to heavy rainfall blasted almost the entire east central part of the Florida peninsula on Saturday afternoon, and the big half mile was not immune to the weather. Rain was still falling at 5:30PM when the grandstands were set to open, but general manager and promoter Ken Sands could only see the brightening skies to the west, and the opportunity to see racing later on in the evening.
Sands watched the rain along with his entire staff, droves of determined racers, plus a smattering of die hard fans, and as the rain ceased the pit and grandstand gates opened at around 6:30PM. What lay before everyone who entered was a saturated race track that looked nearly impossible to retrieve from a muddy grave, and yet over the next three hours nature, Ken Sands, and his track crew, toiled to get the track back into shape for racing. Later the racers got involved in the process, and by 9:30PM hot laps were ready to begin. That was followed by three heats for the Daytona Harley-Davidson Sprint Cars, and then feature races for all divisions on the schedule. A respectable crowd sat through the entire process and were rewarded with a great night of action, capped by some new faces smiling in the Destination Daytona Victory Lane, while the only victims of the weather were a couple of racers who decided not to wait out the process, and the Sprint Car Elimination Event which will be rescheduled for a later date.
The strong contingent of racers who helped walk in the track and who stuck with Sands and his crew through the long process of reclaiming the surface found the track to be slick, but possessing plenty of grip for those who knew how to take advantage of the situation. And that revelation had quite an effect on the Daytona Harley-Davidson Sprint Cars, but not in the way that many might expect.
Danny Martin Jr. again rose to the top of the field and racked up another win despite extremely poor visibility that eliminated most of his competition along the way.
Danny Martin Jr gets another Sprint Car victory
Ryan Partin had Martin on a short leash until a lack of tear offs forced him into the pits, then Sport Allen fell victim to the same misfortune. Finally Matt Kurtz tried to reel in Martin only to have to give up when he couldn’t find his way down the Volusia front stretch and had to pull up or crash. Even Martin admitted in the Destination Daytona Victory Lane that visibility was a huge issue, as he had run out of tear offs as well, but managed to see well enough to finish with a win. Terry Witherspoon claimed the second spot followed by Ryan Partin for third place. Tim George and Tim Grubaugh rounded out the top five.
The wetter than normal clay also played into the hands of some first time winners, as the usual front runners could not adapt to the slippery conditions.
Blaise Hetznecker with Ken Sands after his first Sportsman win
As has been the case many times before, Blaise Hetznecker shot to the point and ran with the leaders, but this time he grabbed the lead and used the track conditions to his advantage in holding off the field, sliding his way to a first time celebration in Destination Daytona Victory Lane. Stanton Mills blasted through the field and gave chase, but in the end had to settle for the second spot while Danny Vogel Jr. struggled to a third place finish. Ken Hall recovered from a mid race tangle with the inside front stretch wall to grab fourth place, and Chris Day rounded out the top five.
The Daytona Sportswear Street Stocks provided one of the most thrilling finishes yet this season at VSP, and also produced an unexpected winner.
Mick Kulak with Ken Sands after Street Stock win
Bubba Christian took early control of the race and held the lead almost from start to finish, but Mick Kulak patiently worked his way through traffic and eventually caught up with Christian late in the race. Meanwhile Mike Tovet was struggling as his car simply hated the wet conditions, so Philip Brown blasted past and fought his way up to as high as second place before a flat tire sent him to the rear of the field on a restart. And Grady Christian also had issues with the slippery track as his car stayed mired in the middle of the pack.
While Bubba Christian led most of the way, Mick Kulak reached deep inside of himself on the final lap and dug out a heaping load of determination, going door-to-door with the 04 car in the final turn and barely beating Bubba to the checkered flags in a thrilling finish. And while Mick Kulak grinned ear to ear in the Destiantion Daytona Victory Lane, Bubba Christian nursed his wounded ego to the scalehouse with a second place finish and left with a lot of motivation going into next week’s race. Phil Brown fought his way back to third place after his flat tire, and Chris Lane topped Grady Christian as they claimed fourth and fifth places.
Jeff Mathews again raced to a win with the Quality Brands Budweiser Modifieds, but a slick race track certainly made the experience a bit more interesting. PJ Wiggins was Mathews’ chaser early in the race, but a slip up into the slimy stuff on the high side sent him to the rear and allowed Dalton Lanich to go after the points leader instead. Jimmy Carter also got involved up front but was knocked back by contact with another car as Jared Allison fought his way forward and set his sights on Mathews.
But after starting deep in the field, Buzzie Reutimann was patiently moving up through the ranks, eventually winding up right behind Mathews late in the race.
Jeff Mathews poses with Little Miss VSP after Modified win
In fact, the senior citizen with legendary credentials had a few new tricks to throw at Jeff Mathews on the final lap or two, only to come up just short as Mathews grabbed another consecutive win. Reutimann was a close second and was followed by Jared Allison for third place, while Jimmy Carter nabbed fourth place and Dale Murray fought his way to fifth.
When fans saw the Donnie Birdwell was sitting on the pole for the Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Thunder Stock feature they might have assumed that it was over before it even began.
Alan Peacock and family celebrate his Thunder Stock victory
After all, Birdwell had been dominant the week before, but this week the conditions were totally different and so was the winner in the end. The track conditions did quite a number on the performances of quite a few racers, but Alan Peacock had the 13 machine primed and ready for the wet conditions, and drove it past Birdwell and on to a runaway victory. Birdwell netted second place, almost an entire half of a lap ahead of Justin Dean who finished third, while Austin Stamper and Tom Hughes battled mightily for fourth place before Stamper forced Hughes to fifth.
Reid Christensen jumped all over everyone at the start of the Sparkle N Shine Car Wash Challenger race, but RJ Glaser was not about to let him steal the show.
Casey Feaster celebrates Challenger win
Glaser stayed close to the 30 car and made his move four laps later, making the pass on the backstretch and taking over the lead. But Glaser lost track of young Brandon Haseleu in the 3 car, who managed to sneak past the 004 on lap 7 to lead the race. That might have been it for the night, only Casey Feaster had not yet exhausted his supply of last lap heroics and won a side-by-side battle through the final turn to grab the win. Brandon Haseleu netted second place on just his first run on the big half mile, while RJ Glaser settled for a third place finish. Reid Christensen was fourth, and David Foster rounded out the top five.
Volusia Speedway Park will present a three day event from May 20th through the 22nd, including a Friday night practice session from 6 until 9PM to allow racers to test and tune before a full slate of races on Saturday night. Saturday’s schedule includes all divisions except the Challengers, and will include bike races for the kids on the long and wide Volusia front stretch. Then on Sunday fans and racers will thrill to the action of a 100 lap Enduro event, plus action from the All Quality Products Mini Stocks and the Sparkle N Shine Car Wash Challengers. For a complete schedule, be sure to visit www.TheVolusiaSpeedway.com and telephone the track at 386-985-4402.
Volusia Speedway Park Results for 5/14/11
Daytona Harley-Davidson Sprint Cars
1- 24 Danny Martin Jr.
2- 43 Terry Witherspoon
3- 14 Ryan Partin
4- 1* Tim George
5- 42 Tim Grubaugh
6- Z1 Harley Zimmerman
7- 20 Gary Avera
8- 92T Tim Ysbrand
9- 22JR Thomas McCance
10- 82 Sport Allen
11- 59 Dan Statter
12- 34 Darren Orth
13- 3K Kurt Taylor
14- 92 Matt Kurtz
15- 83 Mark Ruel Jr.
16- 36 Ken Laureno
17- 3A AJ Maddox
18- 8 Rich Alexander
19- 11 Tim O’Donnell
20- 3M Dennis Misuraca
21- 98 Hal Wilson
22- 66 Wes Scrape
23- W3 Otto Scrape
Daytona Machine Shop Sportsman
1- 17H Blaise Hetznecker
2- 57P Stanton Mills
3- 99 Danny Vogel Jr.
4- 3 Ken Hall Sr.
5- 8 Chris Day
6- 11 Aaron Barsness
7- 57H Heinz Haas
8- 40 Steve Branton
9- 17K Marc Kinley
DNS- 10 Steve Shead
DNS- 80 Paul Shead
Daytona Sportswear Street Stock
1- 2S Mick Kulak
2- 04 Bubba Christian
3- 13 Philip Brown
4- 5 Chris Lane
5- 36 Grady Christian
6- 20 Scott Stewart
7- 77 Mark Maresca
8- 98T Mike Tovet
9- 11 James Smith
DNS- V1 Delbert Moyer
Quality Brands Budweiser Modified
1- 33 Jeff Mathews
2- 00 Buzzie Reutimann
3- 18 Jared Allison
4- 75 Jimmy Carter
5- 66 Dale Murray
6- 12 Dalton Lanich
7- 10 Scott Mooers
8- 96 Lonnie Wagner Jr.
9- 3 PJ Wiggins
10- 54 Larry Burkins
Amsoil Thunder Stock
1- 13 Alan Peacock
2- 31 Donnie Birdwell
3- X Justin Dean
4- 36 Austin Stamper
5- 29 Tom Hughes
6- 05 Alan Lane
7- 0 Jason Tovet
8- 16 Brian Shrunk
9- 32 Jim Shaw
DNS- 15 DJ Nobles
Sparkle N Shine Car Wash Challengers
1- 20 Casey Feaster
2- 3 Brandon Haseleu
3- 004 RJ Glaser
4- 30 Reid Christensen
5- 09 David Foster
6- 15 Jamie Hughes
7- 01 Daniel Wolf
8- 8 Nathan Rhodes
Photos courtesy of Alan Jennejohn: