By Dave Westerman

While other tracks were having issues with Mother Nature Saturday,
Auburndale Speedway saw clear, cool, windy weather for week number two of the
2011 racing season that produced three new winners.

The Legend Cars made their first appearance of the regular season and showed
up 19 strong even with a number of "regulars" not in attendance as they
"recuperate" from the February Winternationals.

Young sophomore drivers Dakota Baggette and Austin Blankenship split the
pair of heat races and made up row one of the 25 lap feature race.  Of the
starters, only two drivers had ever won a regular season feature at Auburndale
Speedway - Devin McLeod and Justin Brown, but this night would belong to
Lakeland driver Baggette who simply had the field covered from start to
finish.

Baggette got the jump at the start and began to pull away from Blankenship,
McLeod and Lynn Wiles before Danielle Stratton's spin slowed the action on lap
seven.  Zach Napoleon looped his new mount before another green flag lap could
be completed to keep the yellow flag flying.

Following the restart, Blankenship got "freight trained" and fell back to
fifth as McLeaod and Wiles set their sights on the fleet Baggette only to see
caution again on lap nine for a tangle between rookie Andy Metz and Brazilian
visitor Marcello Henriques that sent Henriques to the sidelines for the rest
of the night.

Once the green flew it was Blankenship back on the move as he worked his way
back up to second by lap 15.  One lap later things got a bit rough for the two
ladies in the race as Stratton and rookie Becca Monopoli tangled in turn
three.  Both cars received damage but were able to continue.

The race ran the final nine laps under green and Baggette drove away to
claim his first regular season points-paying feature win at Auburndale. 
Baggette, a 15 year old student at McKeel Academy in Lakeland, did score a
pair of wins during the January Saturday Legend Car Fun Runs, but those
weren't "official" race wins like this one was.  Baggette is in his second
season of Legend Car racing after having take three National and four State
Karting championships.

Blankenship was impressive with his run back to finish second while McLeod
nabbed third spot ahead of Wiles and Brown.  Rounding out the top ten were
Mason Ketterman, Anthony Cataldi, Seth Adams, Joey Collins and Gary Verdier.
The 2011 season for the Sportsman class looks to be a banner one with a slew
of competitive cars on track for the year.  For the first time in quite
awhile, two heats were needed to set the starting line-up for the feature with
Richard Elkins, Jr. and OWM Modified veteran Tommy Schnader taking the
preliminary victories.

Elkins raced out to a quick advantage at the start of the 25 lapper as the
cars behind him were really going at it.  One driver tried to cut turn four a
little too close on lap four and sent the orange cone placed there all the way
to the middle of the front stretch to bring out the first caution.

Lap six saw George Gorham, Jr. go for a spin in turn four.  During the
caution period, third-running Kevin Ingram retired his new machine to the
pits.

Elkins continued to set the pace and left the others to fight amongst
themselves for what they could get.  Lap 20 saw opening week winner Lance
Daubach tangle with Brandon Duchscherer in turn two as they battled for third
spot.  Scotty Sharpe could not avoid Daubach's car and the altercation put
Daubach out of the event.

Elkins went on to score a wire-to-wire victory, his first in quite some time
here.  Mark Medeiros had a great run to finish second in the Blue Goose team
car trailed by Schnader, Gorham and James Wright III, again subbing for
regular driver Dave Dunkin in the other Blue Goose machine.  Sixth through
tenth were Duchscherer, Sharp, Daubach, Jordan Harris and Ingram.

The Open Wheel Modifieds were in action for the first time this year and
defending track champion James Wright III was unstoppable all night winning
both the heat and the 35 lap feature.  Wright was never seriously challenged
as he took the checker ahead of Josh Todd and Mike Sweet who was very
impressive in his first OWM race after moving up from the Modified Mini Stock
ranks.  Ronnie Heard took fourth while Keith Lilley battled an ill-handling
car all night but still managed a top five.

Another big field of Scrambler cars was in attendance with Bill Bennett and
Jeramiah Frere splitting heat race wins.  The feature belonged to Brian Tyre
however as he led from green to checker to take the victory over Bill Bennett,
Ronnie Sorensen, George Gorham, Jr. and Jeff Porter.  Dave Canfield, Shane
Bennett, Bruce Cozad,  Eric Wallace and Frere completed the top ten.


Matt McCrary took home the Street Stock point championship in 2010 by being
consistent even though he never tasted victory.  That all changed this week as
McCrary took the lead at the drop of the green and never looked back as he
took a popular win.  Jeff Waterman crossed the stripe in second followed by
heat winner Brian Harbin, Sammy Cressman and Kyle Peters.

The Mini Stock feature was a crazy one both on and off the track.  Heat race
winner Marilyn McCrary spun on lap two and was hit by Sonny Miles eliminating
both from the race.  From that point Eugene Davidson ran off to an apparent
win.  However, Davidson, along with second place Jason Swilley and third place
Mark Wells were all disqualified in tech for unapproved strut tops that did
not match.

Chris Nichols, driving his first-ever race, crossed the line fourth but was
awarded the victory.  The only other car still running on the track was 2010
Scrambler champion Kimberly Gullett who moved up to the class and ended up 
with a second place effort.  McCrary and Miles were scored third and fourth.


Alan Seay became the only driver to repeat his opening night win as he
passed Mark Roadarmel, Jr. on lap seven then went on to claim the V-8 Bomber
win.  Heat winner Matt Bozeman came on late to finish second ahead of
Roadarmel, Buddy Phillips, Jr. and Byron Curry.

Daniel Conlin, Jr. finally got his first Bandolero win this week after two
years of trying.  His dad, Daniel, Sr. was running second but dropped out
during the white flag lap allowing Noah Cornman and Trey Lively to claim the
second and third spots. 

 This coming Saturday night the Auburndale Trucks make their first
appearance of 2011.  Also on the card are the Modified Mini Stocks, Street
Stocks, Legend Cars, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, Bandoleros, and
Kids Club. Racing starts at 7 PM. Kart racing will also be held on the dirt
track on the east end of the parking lot during the day on Saturday.  Gates
open for Karting action at 7AM, practice starts at 10AM and racing at 12 Noon.
 For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com


OFFICIAL RESULTS - AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY - 3/5/11:

LEGEND CARS: 1-#7 Dakota Baggette 2-#87 Austin Blankenship 3-#21 Devin McLeod
4-#31 Lynn Wiles 5-#8 Justin Brown 6-#71 Mason Ketterman7-#00 Anthony Cataldi
 8-#5 Seth Adams 9-#28 Joey Collins 10-#44 Gary Verdier 11-#9 Camron Ray
12-#52 Torstein Larsen 13-#99 Leroy Moore 14-#6 Zach Napoleon 15-#48 Andy Metz
 16-#83 Danielle Stratton 17-#59x Becca Monopoli 

SPORTSMAN:1-#55 Richard Elkins, Jr. 2-#171 Mark Medeiros 3-#121 Tommy Schnader
4-#10 George Gorham, Jr. 5-#71 James Wright III 6-#42 Brandon Duchscherer
7-#89 Scotty Sharp 8-#77 Lance Daubach 9-#15 Jordan Harris 10-#4 Kevin Ingram
11-#8 Joe Dowdy 12-#22 Chuck Harrison, Jr.

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS: 1-#56 James Wright III 2-#0 Josh Todd 3-#55 Mike Sweet
4-#81 Ronnie Heard 5-#87 Keith Lilley 6-#75 Bobby Blake 7-#65 Ken Lawrence
8-#29 Bobby Mobley DNS #31 Johnnie Newsome

SCRAMBLERS: 1-#56 Brian Tyre 2-#20 Bill Bennett 3-#84 Ronnie Sorensen
4-#7 George Gorham, Jr. 5-#71 Dave Canfield 6-#1 Jeff Porter 7-#25 Shane Bennett
 8-#93 Bruce Cozad 9-#21 Eric Wallace 10-#68 Jeremiah Frere 11-#77 Jeremy Watts
DNR #67 T. J. Tanner DNR #96 John Robson III

STREET STOCKS: 1-#5 Matt McCrary 2-#42 Jeff Waterman 3-#29 Brian Harbin
4-#97 Sam Cressman 5-#53 Kyle Peters 6-#25 Cody McDuffie

MINI STOCKS: 1-#97 Chris Nichols 2-#28 Kimberly Gullett 3-#4 Marilyn McCrary
4-#53 Sonny Miles  DQ #5 Eugene Davidson DQ #40 Jason Swilley DQ #55 Mark Wells

V-8 BOMBERS: 1-#2 Alan Seay 2-#58 Matt Bozeman 3-#81 Mark Roadarmel, Jr.
 4-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr. 5-#63 Byron Curry DNR: #96 Larry Cumney, Sr.

BANDOLEROS: 1-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr. 2-#30 Noah Cornman 3-#24 Trey Lively
 4-#1 Daniel Conlin, Sr.

By Dave Westerman

  A great crowd and very unusual warm February weather helped
Auburndale Speedway kick off the 2011 racing season Saturday
night as seven divisions took to the track for a great night
of racing.

  Young Lance Daubach may well be the driver to beat this year
in the Sportsman class as he simply dominated things all night
taking the heat race win then surviving a rash of caution flags
to win the 25 lap feature race in flag to flag fashion. Sporting
a new ride, Brandon Duchscherer worked his way up to second by
the checker but had no real answer for Daubach's fleet machine.
Subbing for veteran driver Dave Dunkin, James Wright III came
home third ahead of Richard Elkins, Jr. and 2010 Modified Mini
Stock champion Scotty Sharpe who turned in a stellar performance
in his first outing with his new Sportsman.

  Lee Davis was as impressive as Daubach in taking both the heat
and feature over a quality field of Modified Mini Stocks. Jason
Rendell kept Davis honest but had to settle for the runner-up spot.
Sharpe came home third in this one just ahead of Chris Spring who
turned in a great run in his first Mod Mini feature after moving
up from the Mini Stock class where he was last years champ. Fifth
spot went to Nathan Florian who got to the track late but made
the proper adjustments to his car between the heat and feature
and passed a number of cars to net his top five.

  Although a number of Street Stock machines are still getting the
final touches put on them for the beginning of the year, James
Wright III had his machine ready to go even though his numbers had
to be put on the car after practice was over.  Wright then passed
heat race winner Cody McDuffie on lap 14 and raced to the Street
Stock feature victory.  McDuffie held on for second trailed by
Brian Harbin, Sammy Cressman and Jeff Waterman.

  The biggest field of Scrambler cars in more than a year put on
some wild racing as Richie Acres and Jeramiah Frere split heat
race wins. Acres led the feature in his Saturn from start to finish
as the action was "bump and grind" behind him.  George Gorham, Jr.
eventually grabbed second spot while Frere took the checker third
then lost that position in tech allowing Ronnie Sorensen to inherit
the third place finish ahead of the brother act of Shane and Bill
Bennett. Defending champion Kim Gullett had a rough night getting
the rear bumper of her car knocked off in an early incident then
having to pit to replace a flat tire later in the race.  She still
managed a ninth place finish.  Several new car and driver combos
were in action in the class with several sporting classy paint jobs.

  The Mini Stocks were short on cars but the fans had plenty to
cheer about as 15 year old Jason Swilley picked up his first career
feature victory in the class leading green to checker.  Mark Wells
had a career-best second place run while Sonny Miles took third.
Heat winner Eugene Davidson did not start the feature.

  Apparent V-8 Bomber heat and feature winner Bobby Mobley was 
DQ'd in tech for unapproved guide plates on the push rods of 
his car's engine allowing Alan Seay to take the win after starting 
deep in the field. Matt Bozeman brought his new car home second in 
front of Preston Davis, Larry Chumney II and John Smith.

  Little 10 year old Kristin Clements did it again in the Kids Club
as she held off Dakota Hunt and Justin Cribbs for the victory, and,
as usual, her win was a very popuar one with the crowd.

  This coming Saturday night the Open Wheel Modifieds, Legend Cars
and Bandoleros have their season-openers and will be joined by the
Sportsman cars, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers and 
Scramblers. Racing starts at 7 PM. For more information call 
863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.