Justin Reynolds Tops Super Stock 50 at Orlando SpeedWorld

A big 50-lap race for the Super Stocks was the highlight of Friday night’s racing at Orlando Speedworld as the season continued into week 8. This would see the best of the division from both Orlando and New Smyrna Speedway competing for top-dog honors on a night that also featured Legends cars, E-Modifieds and that ended with a twist for the Strictly Stock drivers.

The Bandolero racers would take their usual place as the night’s curtain-raiser with a race that saw #17 Mark Hooven beat out brother #27 Shawn Hooven to claim his first win of the season in the ‘Young Gun’ division. In the ‘Bandit’ division for the even younger drivers the win went to #55 Michael Held, who just held off the hard-charging #30 Noah Cornman in a dash for the finish line on the last lap.

by Andy Sandall, FASCAR Media

Orlando, Fl. (April 30, 2010)  The Super Stocks would soon be out on track, led away by pre-race favorites #01 Scott Smith and #16D David Gould, both benefiting from the post-qualifying invert that dropped #211 Jarret Korpi back down to 5^th place on the grid despite earlier setting the fastest time. Right behind them would be #3 Jeff Colburn and #16x David Russell, as Korpi started alongside #23 Shannon Kelly, himself already a feature winner at Orlando Speedworld in 2010.

 Kelly would have the worst possible start, pulling off the track without a single lap being recorded as he slowed down the back straight and lost power. Ahead of him Gould was taking advantage of his front-row start to power around the outside of Smith and take the early lead, but the cars were soon back together once #316 Joe Bandur suffered a flat right rear tire, causing a big spin coming out of turn 4 of the 5^th lap to force the caution lights on. Bandur would head to the pits to get a new tire fitted, but unfortunately miss the restart, instantly sending him a couple of laps down when he later returned to action.

 Gould would now have the inside line for the restart, meaning Smith would need to go around him if he wanted to grab the leader’s spot. Once back underway Smith would do his best to have a look at the high line, but this meant his concentration was all focused in front of him, and not noticing Colburn having a look down his inside, pulling level and then nosing his way in front to claim 2^nd place. But with this race getting exciting another spin at the back, this time for #5 Tony Bandur, brought the pace truck out once more. This caution period would be critical in the outcome of the race as suddenly Korpi, who had been running well in the top 6 pack at the front of the race, slowed and pulled to a halt on the back-straight, needing a push back to the pits. He was quickly joined there by #14 Roger Benton, who also lost power and headed down onto the bandolero track to wait for assistance.

 Korpi’s retirement now reduced the number of threat’s to Gould’s lead by one, and the current Orlando points leader wasted no time at the restart in charging away to build a lead over the chasing cars. Again his progress would be halted prematurely, this time as the race between #77 Justin Reynolds and Russell saw pressure turn into contact as the two came together in turn 3, spinning Russell out as they came around the corner and meaning both cars would be sent to the rear for the restart. This demotion did little to stop Reynolds progress, as when the green flag had been waved once more he was quickly back up to 5^th and around the slower cars, while Russell had a little more trouble getting around his fellow racers, dropping slightly back before eventually making his way up through the field.

 The first half of the race would see plenty of cautions to break up the action, but each time Gould was able to keep his composure and maintain his slim lead over Smith and Colburn, on one occasion keeping his car expertly under control despite the heavy nudges to his rear bumper from Smith to let him know his intentions of getting past. Once the action began to settle down the battle at the front was between Gould, Smith and Colburn, with a gap now developing between the leaders and the race for 4^th place between Reynolds, Russell and #721 John Bennett.

 The race’s halfway point would quickly pass, and the drivers made their way up to the 30 lap mark before they were bunched back up again thanks to a spin in turn 2 for #7i Scott Edwards that left him stranded at the bottom of the track. Again the leaders would pull away at the restart and quickly get back into order, but by now Russell had made his way past Colburn, and Reynolds was also beginning to consider a move towards the front, checking out the high line from his 6^th position to see if he could deal with a number of his rivals in one swift move.

 Russell would see his push into 3^rd quickly fade, dropping back and being passed by Bennett, as Reynolds followed him through to claim 4^th place. Gould was also having issues as Smith fought back at the front, forcing the Orlando favorite to move high up the track to block Smith’s run and slow him down. The ten laps to go signal would soon be displayed to signal the time for the racers to begin making their final moves, and quickly Bennett and Reynolds capitalized as Gould’s blocking move left Smith high and dry, allowing the two chasing cars through and sending Smith all the way back to 4^th. Reynolds and Colburn would also sense a chance to advance at the expense of Smith, but their race got too close and Russell’s spin would see one last caution period for the race.

 With so 7 laps to go, Gould made no mistake on the restart to stay in front and leave the field to fight it out behind him, expertly wheeling his car around the track for the final few laps. The race for 2^nd was much closer as Reynolds and Bennett went door-to-door around the turns before Reynolds sent his rival high up the banking with just a couple of laps to go. Bennett fought back and set himself up for a drag race for the line out of turn 4, but Reynolds had justenough speed to hold him off and grab 2^nd place, Bennett settling for 3^rd with Colburn and Russell pushing Smith back even further as the race came to an end.

 The result would still be pending the tech inspection of course, and this saw David Gould continue his ‘all or nothing’ year, where he has either won the race or failed to finish so far in the 2010 season, with a new twist as his car was disqualified by the inspector, handing the win to Reynolds and bumping the other drivers up a position. This added to an already successful return to the track after a couple of week’s absence for Reynolds, who has now won at Orlando in two separate divisions this season.

 The Legends cars were up next in a race that ran caution free and saw #12 Critter Saile quickly move into the lead and head off into the sunset. Behind him the early running for 2^nd place would be by #50 Ted Ruffo, but by half distance it was young #8 Donovan Ponder who had worked his way through and was setting off in pursuit of the leader. By the time checkered flag was waved just Saile, Ponder and Ruffo were left on the lead lap leaving Saile to cruise over the line, well ahead of his rivals for another victory to cement his position at the top of the points standings.

 A small field of E-Modifieds returned to the track for their race, finally giving a first win to the #89 Josh Todd as a reward for his patient development of his car week after week so far this season. He would enjoy a flag-to-flag win, beating off the challenge of #40 Michael Williams Jr in their race at the front, both finishing well ahead of the fight for 3^rd place between #15 Bruce Packer and #93 Bruce Gayton.

 The final race of the night saw the racing end quite literally with a bang for a number of racers as the Strictly Stock drivers headed onto the track to find themselves heading for a race with a difference. Rather than their usual trip around the oval counter-clockwise, they were being turned around to head the other way. Worse was to come when they followed the pace-truck around their new route and saw cones directing them back into the infield, using the infield crossover road to create a temporary chicane for them to deal with, meaning they left the track onto the infield road in turn 3, made a left-handed turn at the crossover point, and headed back onto the track in turn 2!

 The race now became more like an enduro than a stock car race, so it was no surprise that jumping out at the start were Crash-A-Rama regulars #32 Jim Erb and #86 William Hindman, joined up front by #19 Ricky Solomon and #27 Dan Binda, who both adapted to the changes remarkably quickly. Behind them a number of the driverss found the going much tougher, especially former track champion #8 Neil Kirby who was on the receiving end of some rough treatment on an early trip through the chicane that saw him spin out, damaging his car in the process and forcing an early retirement.

 Contact was a fact of life in this race, Solomon competing for most of the race having to peer over a bent-up hood thanks to a rear-end hit on Hindman in the infield. Slowly the definition of the course began to loosen, with plenty of drivers opting to run over the infield grass rather than make the hard turn in the center chicane, and quickly the leaders at the front were cutting this corner, instead taking the penalty of bouncing over the rutted infield dirt in an attempt to get back onto the asphalt turns as quickly as possible.

 The race at the front would be between Solomon, Erb and Hindman, but this was reduced to two competitors with just 3 laps to go as Hindman headed into turn 4 only to find his car unwilling to turn right, sending him nose-first into the wall with a loud bang that could only mean bad news. Hindman’s frustration was clear – and audible – to all present as he climbed from his car to survey the damage. Having only just got his season underway with his new 2010 car, it was now very badly bent and would be needing substantial repair work before it could head back out onto the track again.

 The race would end with Erb and Solomon well out at the front, with Solomon holding off the enduro regular on the line to claim another win, this one in the most unusual of circumstances. His win would end up being much easier than the car length he managed eke out on the track suggested once Erb was disqualified in post-race tech, handing 2^nd place to #00 Steve Daniels and 3^rd to Binda, both of whom had adapted quickly to the new challenges thrown at them to run strongly for the whole 20 lap