by Dave Westerman
Auburndale Speedway was the scene for plenty of red-hot racing on a very warm and muggy evening Saturday as Tim Russell survived a hectic 100 lap Late Model race to score his second win of the year here and cart a healthy $3,000 check back to his home in Longwood.
Once again the Late Model race teams came out in force with 27 cars filling the pit area. Russell fast time at 13.490 seconds topping Jason Vail’s best lap of 14.561. Daniel Webster’s 13.633 was good for third quick ahead of Joe Winchell and Chris Fontaine.
The top ten re-drew for their starting spots with Russell pulling a five. Fontaine drew the pole and Vail had the outside pole for the start. It was Fontaine jumping out to a quick lead as Vail got hung out to dry at the start as Webster slipped into second. The first caution of the race flew on lap five for a big pile-up in turn four involving Ryan Lisak, Raymond Lovelady, Rob Partelo and John Markovitch. All pitted for repairs but only Lovelady was unable to continue.
The first yellow set the pattern for the race as the caution would fly a total of 19 times. Both Vail and point leader Jeff Scofield were involved in separate early incidents requiring them to restart from the back of the field.
Michael Williams, making his first start of the year here, was the victim of a crash with Brian Dorer on lap 17.
Fontaine gamely held the point as Russell slipped by Winchell and began to hound second place Webster. Webster zipped by Fontaine for the point on lap
27 bringing Russell and Winchell with him. Fontaine was being freight-trained as he just couldn’t make his car work in the outside groove but he lucked out when Dorer and Markovitch tangled to bring out the yellow on lap 29.
Russell had his car working to perfection and he zoomed past Webster for the point on lap 39. Lap 50, half-way, saw the eighth caution flag of the race as the field was slowed once again with Russell leading Webster, Winchell, Joe Boyd, Jonathan Guy, Anthony Campi, David King, Kevin Ingram, Steve Tregear and Tyler Laing to the crossed flags.
For the remaining 50 laps, Russell not only had to fend off Webster but had to deal with even more yellow flag periods and the extreme heat and humidity that was beginning to take a physical toll on the drivers.
Winchell slowed on the track with problems and dropped out on lap 70. As the race wore on, Russell and Webster pulled away after each restart only to see another caution flag come out to slow things. The final ten laps saw plenty of wild action as Perry Lovelady got turned into the turn three wall ending his evening. Three laps later, Vail and Laing got tangled up with Laing’s hood flying up just after the restart to bring out the 19th, and thankfully, final caution of the night.
Russell had no problem holding off Webster to the checker to grab his second win of the year in Late Model competition here. Boyd had a steady run to claim third while Campi took fourth and Scofield rebounded for a top five finish to stay on top of the points. Fontaine also came back to claim sixth with Jonathan Guy, Vail, Ryan Lisak and Danny Maddox rounding out the top ten.
Ricky Diaz drove all the way from Miami, showed up just before qualifying getting no hot laps at all beforehand, but held his own to finish 11th as the only other car to complete the grind.
The Mini Cup feature was also a “survival of the fittest” and got off to a bad start when Cindarae Irish got spun into the wall at the drop of the green.
Her car hit first head-on then spun around and clobbered the concrete backwards. Irish was a bit shaken but otherwise unhurt. Skip Baird also tagged the wall on lap three but was uninjured as well.
The race itself boiled down to a two car battle between Ray Black, Jr. and John Beach. Black grabbed the lead at the drop of the green with Beach and Tyler Scofield in tow. Scofield’s bid for back-to-back wins ended with mechanical problems on lap five.
Beach passed Black for the lead on lap 11 but Black was not to be denied as he continued to run close and re-claimed the front position on lap 17, leading the final eight circuits to the checker.
Beach was the runner-up ahead of Brandon Beach, Rick Ragan (up from dead last on the starting grid) and Rick Cline, Jr. Frank Beach, Brittini Huntington, Cole Partelo, Rick Cline, Sr. and Brett Suggs completed the top ten.
Point leader Scotty Sharpe was not to be denied this week as he held off a banzai charge from Lee Davis to lay claim to his first Modified Mini Stock win of the year. Driving for Drew Carter, Davis was a close second trailed by Chris Zimmerman, Brandon McSwain and Jamie Kennedy.
The Mini Stock feature was the only one of the night to run from green to checker and a new face was in victory lane as young Gary Brown, Jr. ended Chris Spring’s win streak in dominating fashion. In just his fifth race since moving up from the Scramblers, Brown took the win with Spring finishing second. Fred Harrison, Jr. was third over Jason Swilley and Matt McCrary.
The Scamblers saw action for the first time in over a month and it was Richie Acres the dominant force as he led all the way in his Saturn. Chad Cutting drove to a second place finish ahead of Richard Brown, point leader Kim Gullett and George Gorham.
Travis Roland became the latest in a long list of drivers to sit behind the wheel of the #42 V-8 Bomber and he put the car into the winners circle by leading every lap of the V-8 Bomber headliner.
Roland, coming off a recent Open Wheel Modified win, took the checker in front of James Wright III, Preston Davis, David Fletcher and Jeff Lacy.
Brandon Guy won his first Kids Club race of the year topping Heather Guy and Dakota Hunt.
Next Saturday night, July 24th, will find the return of the Open Wheel Modifieds. Also on the card will be the Street Stocks, Sportsman cars, V-8 Bombers, Legend Cars, Bandeleros, and Mini Stocks. Racing begins at 7PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com
OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 7/17/10
LATE MODELS (100 Laps):
1-#36 Tim Russell
2-#33 Daniel Webster
3-#5 Joe Boyd
4-#81 Anthony Campi
5-#07 Jeff Scofield
6-#47 Chris Fontaine
7-#42 Jonathan Guy
8-#407 Jason Vail
9-#17 Ryan Lisak
10-#82 Danny Maddox
11-#13 Ricky Diaz
12-#39 Tyler Laing
13-#6 David Hart
14-#49 Ron Lofquist
15-#50 Perry Lovelady
16-#9 Rob Partelo
17-#14 Jason Rendell
18-#18 Steve Tregear
19-#22 David King
20-#177 Ray Hester
21-#10 Talon Craft
22-#64 Joe Winchell
23-#54 Kevin Ingram
24-#71 John Markovich
25-#97 Brian Dorer
26-#32 Michael Williams
27-#7 Raymond Lovelady
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SCRAMBLERS:
1-#8 Richie Acres
2-#00 Chad Cutting
3-#62 Richard Brown
4-#28 Kimberly Gullett
5-#7 George Gorham
6-#66 Brian Tyre
7-#71 Dave Canfield
8-#77 Jeremy Watts
9-#17 Jerry Pruitt
10-#63 Zach Curtis
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KIDS CLUB
1-#32 Brandon Guy
2-#30 Heather Guy
3-#99 Dakota Hunt
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MINI STOCKS
1-#52 Gary Brown, Jr.
2-#42 Chris Spring
3-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.
4-#40 Jason Swilley
5-#3 Matt McCrary
6-#89 Shawn Jenkins
7-#2 Dwight Ryals
8-#11 Josh Borem
9-#5 Jason Rendell
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MINI CUPS:
1-#4 Ray Black, Jr.
2-#74 John Beach
3-#47 Brandon Beach
4-#21 Rick Ragan
5-#37 Rick Cline, Jr.
6-#46 Frank Beach
7-#57 Brittini Huntington
8-#9 Cole Partelo
9-#22 Rick Cline, Sr.
10-#3 Brett Suggs
11-#00 Chance Reutimann
12-#07 Tyler Scofield
13-#2 Skip Baird
14-#05 Cindarae Irish
15-#99 Carlie Lewis
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MODIFIED MINI STOCKS:
1-#89 Scotty Sharpe
2-#85 Lee Davis
3-#29 Chris Zimmerman
4-#37 Brandon McSwain
5-#07 Jamie Kennedy
6-#15 Jason Rendell
7-#55 Mike Sweet
8-#02 Bo Collier
9-#26 Jimmy Pugh
10-#45 Dennis Jones
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V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#42 Travis Roland
2-#56 James Wright III
3-#89 Preston Davis
4-#1 David Fletcher
5-#105 Jeff Lacey
6-#88 Gene Harrison
7-#A6 Justin Meyers
8-#43 Gator Hise
9-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.
10-#12 Dustin Stroutt
11-#81 Mark Roadarmel
Next Saturday night, July 24th, will find the return of the Open Wheel Modifieds. Also on the card will be the Street Stocks, Sportsman cars, V-8 Bombers, Legend Cars, Bandeleros, and Mini Stocks. Racing begins at 7PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com
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