by Dave Westerman

The third week of the racing season still saw some chilly weather at Auburndale Speedway Saturday night, but a nice crowd of fans was treated to a full pit of race cars and plenty of action.

Fifteen Open Wheel Modifieds checked in to do battle in their 40 lap headliner with Kyle Bookmiller and Von Pope taking heat race wins to earn front row starting spots for the feature.

The first start was aborted when several cars at the rear of the starting grid got shuffled around sending Harold Cannon for a spin. No cars were damaged and a second try at starting the race saw Bookmiller waste little time showing who would be the boss on this night.

Pope slid back a few spots as Wayne Morris held on to second but was unable to do more than just keep Bookmiller in sight. Caution flew on lap eight as L.J. Grimm and Eddie Hartin got tangled up in turn four with both restarting at the tail. Bookmiller resumed his charge out front as Keith Lilley slid into third to challenge Morris.

The top three continued in that order until the second and final yellow flag of the race came out on lap 24 when Bobby Blake suffered a flat tire. He went pit side but returned with new rubber in time for the restart.

Bookmiller was not able to run and hide from Morris and Lilley after the restart but had plenty of “reserve” to take a relatively easy win admitting in victory lane that his old tires “were giving up a bit.”

Morris, who indicated his well-worn engine was holding him back, was elated with finishing second. “I should have my new engine ready for the next race, then we’ll be ready to get to the checker first,” said Morris. Lilley was also happy with his third place run after an altercation between he and Morris during the first race of the year put him out of the running while leading.

Back behind the wheel of his own car, James Wright III had a steady run for fourth while Pope settled for fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Kevin Macy, Cannon, Harold Crooms, Colin Cabre and Grimm.

All fifteen starters were still running at the end. Blake’s tire troubles just added to a frustrating night for him. After winning here on opening night, Blake struggled all race long and eventually finished dead last.

The Legend Cars were out in force for their first racing of 2010 with five drivers seeing their first-ever Legends racing action at the track.

Jake Perkins won the first heat and sat on the pole for the feature. That was pretty much all she wrote as “No Brake Jake” set the pace all 25 laps although he did have constant pressure from Devin McLeod. Gerald White, Jr.

was a close third trailed by Justin Brown and Dave Gleason. Second heat winner Mason Ketterman took the checker in sixth with Lynn Wiles, John Inman, Doug Hall and Mike Gleason completing the top ten.

The Street Stocks put on a crowd-pleasing show. Only one caution flag slowed the pace on lap three as Kyle Hall suffered a flat tire while riding in the top five.

Jeff Waterman grabbed the early lead and appeared to possibly be on his way to a second consecutive win but his car seemed to go away on him during the last few laps. James Wright III got around Waterman and sped to his second win of the year.

Dave Colpritt also passed Waterman and came home second while Waterman eventually wound up third. Bobby Mobley took the checker in the show spot but was DQ’d in tech. Matt McCrary was fourth and Chuck Harrison, Jr. fifth. Heat wins went to Wright III and Waterman.

Fred Harrison, Jr. became the third different winner in three weeks as the defending class champion took the win in the Mini Stock feature. After winning the second heat, Harrison chased first heat winner Chris Narramore, Sr. for several laps before eventually making the winning pass. Chris Spring got by Narramore late in the going and took second while Narramore held on for third in front of Donnie Guy and Tony Davidson.

The tech area, sometimes referred to as “Ted Head’s Shed,” was a busy place again Saturday night. Apparent V-8 Bomber winner Chis McGivern was set down for a rules infraction. That gave Josh Borem his third straight win in the class, two of which have come after the car that took the checker first was disqualified. “Guess it pays to be legal,” said Borem.

Larry Chumney, Sr. took second while Matt Bozeman ended up third after apparent third and fourth place finishers Dustin Strott and Paul Bookmiller were DQ’d for rough driving. Fourth eventually went to Kevin Barton with Donnie King fifth. Buddy Phillips, Jr. and McGivern won the heat races.

After heat winner Matt Johns hit the wall, Brian Tyre drove to what he thought was an easy Scrambler win. However his car, as well as that of second place Brandon Henault, were disqualified moving Dave Canfield to the winners circle. Jeremy Watts would take second with Johns third and Scott Russ fourth.

Johnathan Guy made yet another runaway of the Dwarf Car competition. The 2009 champion, who is moving up to the Late Models this year, led all the way to win over Bo Bass, heat winner Sonny O’Sullivan, Johnny Bass and Terry Taylor.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 3/6/10:

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED:
1-#03 Kyle Bookmiller
2-#98 Wayne Morris
3-#87 Keith Lilley
4-#56 James Wright III
5-#01 Von Pope
6-#19 Kevin Macy
7-#4 Harold Cannon
8-#07 Harold Crooms
9-#51 Colin Cabre
10-#25 L.J. Grimm
11-#101 David Grogan
12-#35 Ron Abney
13-#5 Eddie Hartin
14-#00 Shawn Harper
15-#75 Bobby Blake

BANDOLEROS:
1-#38 Cameron White

LEGEND CARS:
1-#59 Jake Perkins
2-#21 Devin McLeod
3-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
4-#8 Justin Brown
5-#07 Dave Gleason
6-#22 Mason Ketterman
7-#31 Lynn Wiles
8-#59x John Inman
9-#55 Doug Hall
10-#17 Mike Gleason
11-#4x Brandon Love
12-#5 Seth Adams
13-#51 Roger Englund
14-#83 Danielle Stratton
15-#4R Zach Napoleon
16-#56x David Tullis
17-#7 Dakota Baggett

DWARF CARS:
1-#42 Jonathan Guy
2-#00 Bo Bass
3-#0 Sonny O’Sullivan
4-#25 Johnny Bass
5-#99 Terry Taylor

MINI STOCKS:
1-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.
2-#42 Chris Spring
3-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr.
4-#33 Donnie Guy
5-#5 Tony Davidson
6-#40 Jason Swilley
7-# 55 Steve Routt
8-#90 Danny Pearson
9-#46 Randy King
10-#60 Tracy Maynard
11-#8 Jordan Spring
12-#10 Michael Foster
13-#155 James Pate
14-#53 Sonny Miles
15-#88 Kevin Steadman

SCRAMBLERS:
1-#71 Dave Canfield
2-#77 Jeremy Watts
3-#51 Matt Johns
4-#4 Scott Russ
DNS #00 Chad Cutting
DQ #66 Brian Tyre
DQ #1 Brandon Henault

STREET STOCKS:
1-#56 James Wright III
2-#4 Dave Colpritt
3-#42 Jeff Waterman
4-#5 Matt McCrary
5-#22 Chuck Harrison, Jr.
6-#3 Kevin O’Quinn
7-#17 Kyle Hall
8-#16 Andy Harvard
9-#10 Kenny May
10-#65 Ken Lawrence
11-#1 Achary Zellner
12-#7 Jody Robbins
13-#48 Eddie Hartin
14-#98 Mike Rowland
DQ #29 Bobby Mobley

V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#111 Josh Borem
2-#96 Larry Chumney, Sr.
3-#29 Matt Bozeman
4-#18 Kevin Barton
5-#14 Donnie King
6-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.
7-#60 Greg Valdez
8-#16 Tommy King
DNS #118 Eddie Davis
DNS #5 Eugene Davidson
DQ #0 Paul Bookmiller
DQ #87 Chris McGivern
DQ #12 Dustin Strott

Next week, March 13th, The Sportsman cars return for their second race of the year. Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, and Modified Mini Stocks will also be in action. Racing begins at 7 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.