by VSP Media

BARBERVILLE, FL-  The racers at Volusia Speedway Park are over the proverbial “hump” and heading downhill toward the end of the 2010 racing season as Saturday night marked the halfway point in another exciting year of divisional racing.  That was cause for a celebration, and VSP invited all divisions to join in and enjoy the party, plus allowed the fans to participate in a mega autograph and photo session on the speedway front stretch just after hot laps.  Dubbed “Mid Season Mania” it also awarded double points to each division, and thus caused a few changes in the pecking order as well.

Racers in the Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Late Model Division were at Volusia Speedway Park for two major reasons.  While Mid Season Mania and double points were certainly a draw, there was the underlying fact that the Scott Thompson Memorial is a couple of weeks away and race teams want as much seat time at Volusia Speedway Park as possible.  But for David Clegg the whole thing was an example of lousy timing, as his primary car was still under major repair after his run up and over Ocala Speedway’s turn one wall the previous weekend.  That put Clegg in a back up machine, and that kept Clegg mired in the back of the pack on the very night that double points were on the line.

The feature race provided plenty of action as Jeff Mathews, Ivedent Lloyd, Johnny Collins, and Shane Williams, mixed it up, but the car to beat was the Big Frog Motorsports #58 ride of Mark Whitener.  Once Whitener got clear of the others he quickly extended his lead, weaving his way through traffic and almost getting out of sight of Ivedent Lloyd in second place.  Whitener got the convincing win while Ivedent Lloyd settled for second.  Johnny Collins overcame some missteps early to take the third spot while Joe Kump patiently picked his way forward to claim fourth place.  And rounding out the top five was Shane Williams, who had started from the pole in Wayne Shugart’s #16 machine.

Wayne Hammond also had a big night in the Budweiser Modified Division, starting on the pole when Ronnie Schron opted to start in the rear and never looking back.  As the track dried out and slicked off a bit some racers had trouble making the adjustment, and that caused the race to be broken up with several yellow flag interruptions, which never allowed other racers to find a good rhythm.  So as soon as Larry Burkins would challenge Hammond the caution would wave, and as Jamie Carter moved forward to challenge Burkins the same would occur.  It may have kept everyone close together, but it also robbed some racers of the time to complete maneuvers. 

While Wayne Hammond got the win, and Jamie Carter finally overcame the cautions and nabbed second place.  Kent Corbin also had a strong night, managing to pick his way to third place while Jeff Mathews followed in the fourth spot.  And despite being quite strong in the early laps, Larry Burkins faded just a bit late in the race to come home in the fifth spot.

Coming into Saturday’s Taylor Racing Products Sportsman race Aaron Barsness had a tenuous grasp on the top of the points ladder, but a slip on the first lap of the feature race caused him to take a tumble.  A three wide venture in turn four resulted in Barsness and Danny Vogel’s machines bouncing off of the concrete wall and landing in a wad in the middle of the frontstretch, ending the night for both drivers and opening the door for whoever wanted to take a shot at the top of the points heap.

Meanwhile David Clegg took advantage of the situation with skillful but hard driving and made his way to the top three, while Josh Byrd and Stanton Mills carried on a side-by-side, multi lap drag race over the top spot.  Clegg patiently allowed them to fight it out, then took advantage as they used up their cars and made his way to the front.  A couple of late cautions would help keep things close, but Clegg grabbed a trip to Victory Lane despite the best efforts of Stanton Mills.  Mills finished second, followed by Josh Byrd and Steve Shead, while Kyle Chappell came on late to take the fifth spot.

 
Mark Maresca found himself leading the field to the green as the Daytona Sportswear Street Stocks took their turn on the clay, but as the green waved he was literally swallowed up by a host of hard charging racers.  Tim Hughes was the hardest charger, jumping to the front while Bubba Christian gave chase in second place.  Mike Tovet also was in the pack that swarmed over Maresca, and managed to get around Christian for second place, and Phillip Brown also passed the 04, sending Christian to fourth place.

Despite all of the hard driving, no one could touch Tim Hughes who could not help but tell everyone during his victory interview that his tires had over 600 laps on them.  The old tires worked well on the slick track, holding off Mike Tovet who came home in the second spot while Phillip Brown followed in third place.  Bubba Christian wound up finishing fourth, while Joe Belky fought his way to a fifth place finish.

Scott Mooers may be riding high atop the Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Thunder Stock points standings, but Chad Scranton could not care less.  Scranton is a hard charger regardless, and he proved it again on Saturday night with another trip to Victory Lane.  Mooers finished in the second spot and made it a point to shake Scranton’s hand as he stood on the winner’s stage, but the tension in the air made it obvious that Scranton and Mooers are the new high intensity rivalry to watch at Volusia Speedway Park.

And while that rivalry has grown, Luke Sadler has been struggling through a season of “all-or-nothing syndrome.”  As Sadler pointed out post race, he either breaks and cannot finish, or goes to Victory Lane, so his third place on the night was a triumph of sorts as Sadler managed to complete the race without winning to do it.  David Whitt was strong early on but succumbed to the top three and finished in the fourth spot, while Donnie Nobles climbed as high as second place before finishing in the fifth spot.

Volusia Speedway Park’s 4 Cylinder Challengers have provided plenty of competitive racing all season and Saturday night’s feature race provided even more of the same.  A gaggle of racers found their way to the lead during the early laps of the race, but once the dust cleared James Sullivan was in front and in charge.  But Tony Laporta had Sullivan in his sights, and Sullivan was left to fight off challenge after challenge as the laps wound down.  Meanwhile some other notables were struggling with problems of their own.  RJ Glaser led from the pole but got shuffled back, where he spun from contact in turn 2 and suffered enough damage to wind up in the pits.  And Shawn Kosier has held onto the points lead despite a bad luck streak, but a blown tire from contact put Kosier out of the hunt early, and probably ended his reign at the top.

Tony Laporta made quite a fight out of it, but James Sullivan held off the repeated challenges to grab a win and a trip to Victory Lane, while Laporta said that he would be satisfied with second this time around.  Following Laporta across the line was Casey Feaster, who got into the front pack and held his own for third place.  Harold Lewis ran a strong race and placed fourth, while Nathan Rhoades fought his way to a fifth place showing.

June 19th will be a special night for fathers at Volusia Speedway Park as “This One’s For You, Dad!”  Dads will be eligible for special prizes and contests, and will see action from the Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Late Models, the Budweiser Modifieds, the Taylor Racing Products Sportsman Division, the Daytona Sportswear Street Stocks, and the always competitive 4 Cylinder Challengers.  For more information on upcoming action at the track, please be sure to visit www.VolusiaSpeedwayPark.net.

Volusia Speedway Park Results for 6/12/10

Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Late Models

1-58 Mark Whitener
2- 21 Ivedent Lloyd Jr.
3- 5 Johnny Collins
4- J17 Joe Kump
5- 16 Shane Williams
6- 41K John Kellum
7- 25 Donnie Chappell

8- 46P Darrell Padgett
9- 145 Jason Davis
10- 45 Bobby Richardson
11- 12 Jack Nosbisch Jr.
12- 32P Jeff Phipps
13- 30 Larry Anderson
14- 88 Andy Schell
15- 33 Jeff Mathews
16- 23 Lawton Minchew
17- 21Q Chris Freeman
18- 98C David Clegg
DNS- RP1 Bug Rose

Budweiser Modified

1- 66H Wayne Hammond
2- 15 Jamie Carter
3- 7 Kent Corbin
4- 33 Jeff Mathews
5- 54 Larry Burkins
6- 145 Jason Davis
7- 75 Jimmy Carter
8- 40K Kyle Bronson
9- 40 James Smith
10- 9S Ronnie Schron
11- 11P Charlie Phillips
12- F1 Chris Freeman
DNS- 41D Darron Smith

Taylor Racing Products Sportsman

1- P4 David Clegg
2- 57S Stanton Mills
3- 42 Josh Byrd
4- 10 Steve Shead
5- 66C Kyle Chappell
6- 00 Shaun Daugharty
7- 22 Mike Haney
8- 17K Marc Kinley
9- 05 Dan Lane Sr.
10- 57 Heinz Haas
11- 18S David Showers Jr.
12- 95 Matt McGillivray
13- 7 Dalton Lanich
14- 77 Wayne Allen Jr.
15- 96 Matt Johnson
16- 99 Danny Vogel Jr.
17- 11 Aaron Barsness
DNS- 17H Blaise Hetznecker
DNS- 38 Colin Wright

Daytona Sportswear Street Stocks

1- 54 Tim Hughes
2- 98 Mike Tovet

3- 13 Phillip Brown
4- 04 Bubba Christian
5- 119 Joe Belkey
6- 77M Mark Maresca
7- 28 Jeff Miller
8- 2S Mick Kulak
9- 2H Cory Hupp
10- 73 Dan Kerr

Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants Thunder Stock

 
1- 27 Chad Scranton
2- 10 Scott Mooers
3- 15 Luke Sadler
4- 13 David Whitt
5- 17 Donnie Nobles
6- 29 Tom Hughes
7- 114 John Thorpe
8- 9R Robert Donaly
9- 6 Wally Douglass
10- 03 Robert Shrunk
11- 55 Donald Winne
12- 22 Kelly Snyder
13- V1 Delbert Moyer
14- 9 Jim Goempel
15- 19 AJ McKay
16- 32 Jim Shaw
17- 14 Bryan Cox
18- 23 Jim Nichols
19- 07 Richard Calmes Jr.
DNS- 42 Dalton Strehle
DNS- X John (Alan) Peacock

4 Cylinder Challenger

1- 48S James Sullivan
2- 3T Tony Laporta
3- 20 Casey Feaster
4- 48X Harold Lewis
5- 51 Nathan Rhoades
6- 72 Jordan Myers
7- 5S Kevin Dugan
8- 16 Denica Hetznecker
9- 67 Pete Hanstine
10- 01 Davy Wolf
11- 11 David Ladrie
12- 88 Steven Cox
13- 004 RJ Glaser
14- 16E Gilbert Espy
15- 97 Shawn Kosier
16- X Justin Dean
17- 101 Wade Lear
18- 12 Robert Graham
19- 8 David Dunbar
DQ- 60 James Smith Sr.