by Dave Westerman
A huge crowd of race fans were treated to 292 laps worth of racing Saturday night at Auburndale Speedway. The show was scheduled to begin at 7PM but was delayed a half-hour to allow the long line of fans at the ticket booth to make their way in to witness all of the nights racing activity. A total of 124 cars participated in the show which was still completed at just past 11PM. Twenty-six Late Models made the trip to the speedway with Brooksville’s Daniel Webster setting quick time at 13.543 seconds. Anthony Campi of Sarasota was second quick at 13.682 with Kevin Ingram, Jeff Scofield and Ron Lofquist rounding out the top five in qualifying.
Luck of the draw saw Webster on the pole for the 100 lap headliner and he wasted little time showing he was the car to beat, grabbing a quick early lead in what was to be a caution-plagued race. The first yellow flew on lap ten as Ryan Lisak spun in turn four. The restart would prove costly for several teams Brian Dorer got turned sideways coming off turn four. With the track blocked and nowhere to go, eight cars piled into each other in chain reaction fashion. When the smoke cleared, the cars of Rusty Ebersole, Scott Millar, Chris Fontaine, Randy Plantz and Danny Maddox were done for the night. Despite damage, Dorer, Keith Lilley, George Gorham, Jr. and David Weaver were able to continue.
Webster continued to set the pace on the restart and again on restarts from caution flags on laps 20, 23 and 27, all for minor spins. Campi moved up to fourth spot during lap 32 while Lofquist pulled off the track and out of sixth place on lap 36 as the caution flew once again to see if he had laid any fluid down on the track.
David Weaver brought out the yellow as his badly damaged machine started overheating and watered down the track surface on lap 46. Just as the field took the half-way signal, the caution flew yet again for debris. The running order at lap 50 found Webster in the top position followed by Scofield, Ingram, Campi, Joe Boyd, David King, Perry Lovelady, Bobby Shelton, Josh Todd and Lisak. Just 15 of the starters remained on the speedway at that point.
The second half of the race saw just two more yellow flags for single car spins on laps 64 and 67 and the final 33 laps ran under green as Webster made it a cakewalk, taking the checkered flag a full straightaway in front of Scofield. Ingram held on for third while Campi took fourth and David King a strong fifth. Completing the top ten were Joe Boyd, Perry Lovelady, Bobby Shelton, Ryan Lisak and Josh Todd. The win was worth a cool $3,000 to Webster.
The 40 lap run for the Open Wheel Modifieds was a barn-burner from the start as pole sitter Kevin Macy and Travis Roland ran side by side for five laps before they bumped slightly coming across the start-finish line sending Macy into a long slide into the infield. Track officials deemed it a “racing incident” as the restart found Roland in the lead and an unhappy Macy going to the rear of the field.
From that point the race ran the remainder of the way under green as Roland held off all challengers to score his first win of the year. Fast qualifier James Wright III threw everything he could at Roland but had to settle for second while point leader Wayne Morris finished several car lengths back in third. Harold Crooms took fourth and Bobby Blake fifth while Billy Bectelheimer, Tommy Schnader, Johnnie Newsome, Rick Coffin and Dwayne Dempsey rounded out the top ten.
Old pro Dave Dunkin passed Mark Medeiros for the lead on lap 12 then led the rest of the way to score his fifth Sportsman win of the year. Bart Weatherford slipped by Medeiros for second on lap 16 but could not track down Dunkin before the laps ran out. Medeiros held on for third trailed by Brandon Duchscherer and Richard Elkins, Jr.
Jake Perkins set quick time, then led from green to checker in the 25 lap Legend Car feature. The race was pretty tame for most of the distance until point leader Gerald White, Jr. spun out of fifth place on lap 21 to bring out the only caution. Perkins led the rest of the way for his fourth win of the year as Lynn Wiles took the runner-up spot ahead of Justin Brown, Devin McLeod and Mason Ketterman.
Cody McDuffie led all the way to score his first career win in the Street Stocks. The former Kids Club driver held off a furious last-lap charge by Bobby Mobley to take the win. Mobley was given his chance when the second and third place cars of Mike Rowland and Kyle Hall tangled just before the white flag flew. Following McDuffie and Mobley to the checker were Matt McCrary, James Wright III and Kyle Peters.
Tyler Scofield was also a first time winner as he topped the Mini Cup field, leading every lap. Rick Ragan, Cindarae Irish, Corey White and Cole Partelo finished behind Scofield.
Chris Spring took yet another Mini Stock win, taking the lead from Jason Rendell on lap five and pulling away for the victory. Steve Routt, Jr. was unhurt after a nasty bout with the turn three wall on lap twelve while Fred Harrison, Jr. slowed to a halt on the restart and had to be towed from the track. Trailing Spring and Rendell were Gary Brown, Jr., Kevin Steadman and Mark Wells.
Preston Davis led all the way to snare his first V-8 Bomber win of the year taking an easy victory over Gene Harrison, David Hartin, Edward Howell and Larry Chumney II. Teddy Lively took his third straight Bandolero win over Andy Metz, Cameron White, Daniel Conlin, Jr. and Nick Baluch while Matt Anderson topped the Kids Club feature over Dakota Hunt and Magan Gosselin.
Auburndale Speedway will be closed July 3rd for the Independence Day Holiday, but will re-open On July 10th with the Auburndale Trucks, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Legends, Bandeleros and Outlaw Modifieds. Racing starts at 7 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.
OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 6/26/10:
LATE MODELS:
1-#33 Daniel Webster
2-#42 Jeff Scofield
3-#54 Kevin Ingram
4-#81 Anthony Campi
5-#22 David King
6-#5 Joe Boyd
7-#50 Perry Lovelady
8-#8 Bobby Shelton
9-#17 Ryan Lisak
10-#89 Josh Todd
11-#97 Brian Dorer
12-#11 Donny Williams
13-#16k Tommy King
14-#15 George Gorham, Jr.
15-#10 Talon Craft
16-#71 John Markovich
17-#11 David Weaver
18-#49 Ron Lofquist
19-#87 Keith Lilley
20-#20 Scott Millar
21-#23 Rusty Ebersole
22-#47 Chris Fontaine
23-#82 Danny Maddox
24-#14 Randy Plantz
DQ #36 Gary Padula
DNS #21 Johnathan Waters
?
SPORTSMAN:
1-#71 Dave Dunkin
2-#1 Bart Weatherford
3-#13 Mark Medeiros
4-#8 Brandon Duchscherer
5-#55 Richard Elkins, Jr.
6-#19 Chris Lewellen
7-#89 Brett Jenkins
8-321 Chuck Harrison, Jr.
9-#92 Raulie Morse
?
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS:
1-#10 Travis Roland
2-#56 James Wright III
3-#98 Wayne Morris
4-#07 Harold Crooms
5-#75 Bobby Blake
6-#6 Billy Bechtelheimer
7-#19 Tommy Schnader
8-#31 Johnnie Newsome
9-#29 Rick Coffin
10-#101 Dwayne Dempsey
11-#89 Josh Todd
12-#65 Ken Lawrence
13-#06 Brian Hutcheson
14-#9 Ron Armillei
15-#01 Von Pope
16-#00 Shawn Harper
DQ #19 Kevin Macy
?
MINI STOCKS:
1-#42 Chris Spring
2-#5 Jason Rendell
3-#52 Gary Brown, Jr.
4-#88 Kevin Steadman
5-#551 Mark Wells
6-#40 Jason Swilley
7-#89 Shawn Jenkins
8-#17 Mark Nagle
9-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.
10-#55 Steve Routt, Jr.
11-#24 Larry Hallam
12-#2 Paul Bookmiller
?
V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#89 Preston Davis
2-#88 Gene Harrison
3-#42 David Hartin
4-#123 Edward Howell
5-#96 Larry Chumney II
6-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.
7-#93 Bruce Gayton
8-#29 Bobby Mobley
9-#51 Matt Johns
10-#111 Josh Borem
?
STREET STOCKS:
1-#25 Cody McDuffie
2-#29 Bobby Mobley
3-#5 Matt McCrary
4-#56 James Wright III
5-#53 Kyle Peters
6-#89 Austin Jenkins
7-#42 Jeff Waterman
8-#891 Edward Howell
9-#142 Chris Spring
10-#17 Kyle Hall
11-#52 Mike Rowland
12-#45 Joe Dowdy
DQ #4 Dave Colpritt
?
LEGEND CARS:
1-#59 Jake Perkins
2-#31 Lynn Wiles
3-#8 Justin Brown
4-#21 Devin McLeod
5-#71 Mason Ketterman
6-#57 Bryan Silas
7-#4R Zach Napoleon
8-#44 Gary Verdier
9-#07 Dave Gleason
10-#5 Seth Adams
11-#59x John Inman
12-#7 Dakota Baggette
13-#65 Coty Bibeau
14-#83 Danielle Stratton
15-#51 Roger Englund
16-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
17-#11 Daniel Conlin, Sr.
18-#99 Leroy Moore
?
BANDOLEROS:
1-#96 Teddy Lively
2-#48 Andy Metz
3-#38 Cameron White
4-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr.
5-#16 Nick Baluch
?
KIDS CLUB:
1-#22 Matt Anderson
2-#9 Dakota Hunt
3-#10 Megan Gosselin
?
MINI CUPS:
1-#07 Tyler Scofield
2-#21 Rick Ragan
3-#05 Cindarae Irish
4-#77 Cory White
5-#9 Cole Partelo
6-#2 Skip Baird
7-#6 Kenny Sarrasin
8-#3 Brett Suggs
9-#27x Dale Pulst
10-#7 Harold Crooms
11-#12 Devin McLeod
Auburndale Speedway will be closed July 3rd for the Independence Day Holiday, but will re-open On July 10th with the Auburndale Trucks, Sportsman, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Legends, Bandeleros and Outlaw Modifieds. Racing starts at 7 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.