Michalak tops Sportsman, Anderson in Super Lates at Orlando SpeedWorld

Orlando Speedworld – 14^th May 2010

For a second successive week it was the Pro Trucks and Super Late Models that provided the most excitement at Orlando Speedworld, but a packed racing program saw the supporting divisions putting on a show for the fans too. A feisty race that boiled over for the E-Modifieds, back-to-back races in two divisions won by two different drivers who share the same name, and a first-time feature win for one local racer were just some of the headlines on a night that saw both fans and drivers battle their way through the traffic heading home from the Space Shuttle launch to get their weekly racing fix.

The Bandoleros led off the night’s racing as always with yet another win in the ‘Young Gun’ class for #17 Mark Hooven, well ahead of brother #14 Shawn Hooven. Finishing immediately behind him on the track came #55 Michael Held, confirming yet another decisive victory in the ‘Bandit’ class, and meaning that the two black cars out on track came home ahead of the four white cars.

Even less variety in paint schemes and decoration in the next race as a group of black and red Mini Stocks took to the track, although admittedly #31 David Russell could argue that his car shaded more towards orange and black than red. With #97S Scott Jarrett starting on pole the race quickly developed into a two-car battle as #85 Rex ‘Boneman’ Hollinger leapt out into an early lead with Russell right on his tail in 2^nd place. The battle between these two old rivals went on lap after lap with Russell trying every line on the track to find his way around Hollinger’s car, but with every move he found his path blocked.

After 23 laps of this nose-to-tail action the flagstand displayed the ‘two-to-go’ flags and disaster struck for Hollinger as the pressure being applied by Russell finally told. With his car getting looser with every passing lap the trip out of turn 2 saw the bone-emblazoned #85 start to slide, and try as he might Hollinger just failed to catch it, spinning out down the back straight for a caution. With such a small field the restart would put Hollinger right behind Russell, but the yellow flags had given him the advantage he had been unable to gain so far in the race. Just two laps barely gave Hollinger a chance to fight back, but to his credit he used the last 8 turns to look for lines back to the lead. Sadly for him this was all in vain as even his last-gasp dive out of turn 4 wasn’t enough to give him his first win of the year, as Russell took another 2010 feature win by a car length, with Jarrett a lap down in 3^rd place.

As one David Russell left the track following his post-race photographs another emerged in the shape of #16x David Russell, sitting on the front row for the Super Stock feature race. More regularly seen on the high banks of New Smyrna Speedway, this Russell carried on exactly where his namesake had left off, jetting away into the lead from the start to pass pole-sitter #77 Shannon Kelly and heading off into the distance. The race for 2^nd quickly developed as Kelly fought off the charge of #721 John Bennett, but Bennett made short work of his rival and soon headed off after the leader. He would catch Russell with 5 laps remaining and as the remaining laps slowly counted down Bennett would commit to the high groove, but this still didn’t give him the speed he was looking for and the checkered flag confirmed a second feature win on the night for a driver named David Russell.

With the Super Late Models rolling out onto the track the fans were hoping for a repeat of the previous week’s classic between #92 Dick Anderson, #96 Ben Kennedy and #20 Anthony Sergi that had seen them on their feet in the stands as the racing legend beat out the two young guns with a late race charge. This time the signs were good as the group were joined in the field by 2009 track champion #18 Jared Allison, whose all-action driving style almost certainly guaranteed excitement as he clashed with Anderson. In a field of 13 cars the start was a disaster for Kennedy who quickly dropped back in the pack and found himself balked by slower cars as he looked to regain his ground. Anderson was having no such problems as he flew from the 4^th row to be looking at 2^nd place before a spin for #12 Scott McKinley brought out an early caution.

The race would struggle to find any kind of rhythm as more cautions followed for another spin by McKinley, an couple of spins for Sergi, one assisted in no small part by #7 Vince Keeler, and a coming-together between #55 Todd Allen and #75 Don Keithley that finished Allen’s race and saw Keithley pull into the infield to allow track staff to remove Allen’s hood that was now wedged solidly in Keithley’s bumper and was protruding directly out of the rear of his car. In-between the trips behind the pace truck the race at the front was between Anderson and Allison, who were delivering the excitement as promised with plenty of banging and rubbing as Allison tried every move he knew to make his way past the veteran.

By the time the race hit half distance Anderson was pulling away at the front, leaving Allison to fall back and into a fight with Kennedy, who had patiently worked his way forward and avoided any major trouble. This tussle for 2^nd place became enough of a distraction for both drivers to allow Anderson to draw out a big lead. It would take Kennedy several more laps before he was able to slide down inside Allison into turn 1 and grab 2^nd spot for himself, and by then there were barely 8 laps remaining for him to make an impression on Anderson’s lead. Slower traffic that needed lapping helped him somewhat and the gap visibly closed over the remaining laps, but ultimately Anderson again had too much speed and track-craft to be caught, coming home as winner several car lengths ahead of Kennedy, with Allison even further back in 3^rd place. In the battle for the minor placings the earlier spins cost Sergi dear as his strong run only resulted in 5^th place, beaten out by #1 Tom Root for 4^th.

The Legends cars were out next and their feature quickly developed into two separate races, with #12 Critter Saile taking the advantage at the front and shooting off without looking back. Pole-sitter #50 Ted Ruffo would hold onto 2^nd for the opening laps before an aggressive move by #8 Donovan Ponder sent Ruffo high up the track to allow the young driver through and into a position that he would not give up. Behind the front 3 the race for 4^th place between #51x Roger Englund, #6 Jim Rix and #11 Daniel Conlin Sr. was nose to tail and saw plenty of swapping positions right until the 2^nd-to-last lap, when Conlin overcooked it in turn 2 and fell away from the others. With Saile leading Ponder and Ruffo home to make up the top 3, Englund won the battle for 4th place by several lengths over Rix.

Early action in the Pro Truck division saw #17 Ken Lilley take advantage of his pole position to move out into a good lead alongside #54 Zach Harris, while #00 Whitney Poole followed on from her great showing the previous week to quickly move up to 3^rd spot. Lilley’s run at the front would be ended by a pass from Harris and an aggressive move from Poole to relegate the youngster back to 3^rd place before getting stranded up on the high groove of the track and seeing several of his rivals flying past him on the inside.

By the 10^th lap the leaders were now hitting the cars at the rear of field, and trouble for multiple drivers in getting past #03 Wayne Skinner would see the first caution flags of the race thrown when contact between Lilley and #21 Scott Reeves as the pair tried to pass Skinner saw Reeves spin out, leading to both he and Lilley being sent to the rear for the restart. Poole would make a great start as the pace truck pulled off the track, but Harris quickly fought back to regain his lead while the luckless Poole found herself caught mid-track as #20 Anthony Sergi and #40 Jessica Green flew past. Contact between the two lady drivers brought this restart to an abrupt end with both sent to the rear, to be joined by Lilley and Reeves who had continued their on-track argument over the earlier caution and were now both minus pieces of bodywork.

The restart would give Sergi his chance to stake a claim for the lead, and both he and Harris began to take laps perfectly side-by side. A similar battle was playing out behind them between Poole and Green before a sharp push to Poole’s door unsettled her truck and allowed Green past and into sole possession of 3^rd place. This left Poole to defend her position from Reeves, but the yellow lights would soon be back on as Poole span in turn 3. Sergi would again take control from the restart with Harris in hot pursuit, the lead pair pulling away from Green and Reeves who were now enjoying a nose-to-tail battle of their own.

As the race neared its conclusion the top 4 pulled closer together and it seemed like every driver had a chance to win, but it was Sergi who kept his composure to take the checkered flag by several car lengths over Harris, who in turn had to work hard to keep Green and Reeves in 3^rd and 4^th places respectively. Lilley would make a late pass on Poole to round out the top 5 positions.

The Sportsman race started in spectacular fashion as pre-race favorite #66 Andy Nicholls rapidly moved into the lead, only for his car to dramatically slow out of turn 4 of the first lap, forcing the driver to pull down off the track and cruise back to the infield with no power. First to capitalize on his misfortune would be #11 Henry Shepherd who suddenly found himself inheriting the lead, but this also meant he was on the receiving end of several hard bumps to his rear from #3 James Frisbie who made his intentions very clear, indicating that he wanted to find a way through. But this was no two-car race as the #44 of Ed Michalak, making only it’s 2^nd appearance on the track since being built in the off-season, looked surprisingly comfortable running the high line above the other cars, and he was soon pushing his car’s not-inconsiderable nose in front, forcing Shepherd and Frisbie to move up in an attempt to block his run.

The three cars would run with inches to spare between them for the first half of the race with Shepherd still just in front while Frisbie and Michalak jostled for 2^nd right behind him. Michalak would make the high groove his home and would soon be around Frisbie and alongside Shepherd, who responded with a sideways move to bang the #44 hard in its door. This just had the effect of unsettling his own car, forcing Shepherd to ease off the gas and drop back to 3^rd as Michalak now found Frisbie underneath him. Another try to take the lead on the high side would see Michalak and Frisbie touch again in turn 3, but this time Frisbie would spin and bring out the pace truck for the first caution of the race. The restart would give Shepherd hope of regaining the lead, but an ill-advised nudge on Michalak span the #44 out over the start line and aborted the attempt at getting back under race conditions.

Once back underway it was Michalak who found himself up on the high line he had favored all race and he wasted no time in pushing past Frisbie and slowly extending his lead over his rivals, never once dropping down the track off the line that had served him so well. By the time the signal for 5 laps remaining was given he had built up a sizeable lead as Frisbie dropped back and was passed by Shepherd.  Finally for Michalak the checkered flag was thrown and he was able to claim his first ever feature win in a race accurately summed-up by Orlando Speedworld announcer Mark Keeler as ‘the best three-car race you’ll ever see’. The driver’s delight on bagging his first victory was obvious as he climbed through his window to take the crowd’s applause, especially in just the 2^nd race for his newly constructed car.

The cars of #12 John Zidek and #93 Bruce Gayton had already taken control of the E-Modified race by the time it erupted into life. Two separate cautions saw #00 John Hodge make his way past #6 Mickey Wright and then set his sights on #9 Stuart Lycett, but his hard pass on the low side was too much for Lycett who went high up the track and crashed hard into the outside wall. With the cars lapping slowly behind the pace truck as the clean-up took place Lycett showed his feelings by suddenly roaring across the track and slamming head-on into Hodge’s car and over the top of it. Lycett would head back to the pits on just three wheels with sparks flying from the bare rim hanging from his front right, but he would obviously be pulled from the rest of the race, officials later confirming his instant disqualification.

Hodge would bravely continue in his damaged car as the action started once more but again it was Zidek and Gayton who raced away in the lead, leaving Hodge to battle with Wright and #15 Bruce Packer for the remaining laps. Zidek would develop a large lead over the field as even Gayton dropped back, and would take the checkered flag as the race was completed without further incident. Gayton would lead Wright home in the race for 2^nd and 3^rd places, as just three cars completed the distance once Hodge had pulled off on the final lap.

The Strictly Stocks ended the night with a small field and a race that saw #51 Wes Railing use his front-row starting position perfectly to run the whole 20 laps at the front, taking the checkered flag well clear of the field. Post race tech would deny him another 2010 win as he would be disqualified, handing the victory to #8 Neil Kirby ahead of #3 Shane Setorus and #8x Luis Guillen Jr., who continues to improve each week.