by Dave Westerman

 A huge crowd of fans enjoyed very pleasant weather and plenty of great racing Saturday evening at Auburndale Speedway. The Legend Cars ran their Regional Qualifier that had been rained out at another race track, then ran a second feature for the 22 cars that had signed in. Capping off the evening was a great School Bus Figure 8 race and a Demolition Derby.

Only eleven of the 22 Legend Cars that signed in were eligible for the Regional Qualifier as it was open only to drivers who qualified at Punta Gorda Speedway before rain washed out the rest of the program there.

Auburndale Speedway point leader “No Brake” Jake Perkins trailed Lynn Wiles for seven laps before making the winning pass and led the rest of the way to win the Regional and get an automatic spot in the Young Lions division race at the U.S. Legend Car Asphalt Nationals next month at Langley Speedway in Langley, VA. Wiles held on to finish second while Justin Brown was third ahead of Chase Fitzgerald and Dakota Baggette. Gerald White, Jr., Zach Napoleon, Mason Ketterman, Joey Collins and Donovan Ponder rounded out the top ten.

Drivers qualified for starting spots in the second feature race of the night which was for both Auburndale Speedway and National points. Tyler Smith topped time trials with a lap of 15.087 seconds with Perkins second quick at 15.097 and Kory Abbott third quick at 15.243 despite having no practice laps.

The race would not get off to a good start as several cars got tangled up heading into turn one after the drop of the green. Both Chase Fitzgerald and Justin Brown got into the wall. Gary Verdier was also involved but both he and Brown continued while Fitzgerald was done before the actual start of the 25 lapper.

The second try went much better as Smith set sail with the field slicing and dicing behind him. Abbott was on the charge in a hurry and the veteran driver slipped by Smith on lap five for the lead bringing Jake Perkins with him. Caution was out one lap later as Donovan Ponder and Mason Ketterman tangled up in turn two with Ketterman’s car too damaged to continue.

Abbott and Perkins pulled away from the field following the restart and things stayed uneventful until lap 14 when Matt Larmore spun in turn two and was hit by Brown. Both were able to continue and would put on quite a show coming from the back of the restart line-up. Again Abbott and Perkins ran off and hid only to see one more slow-down on lap 23 when Zach Napoleon spun in turn four. Abbott easily withstood the pressure to score his second staight Auburndale points win in his 5R Truck & Trailer sponsored car. Perkins was a close second with Smith holding on for third ahead of Lynn Wiles and Gerald White, Jr. Completing the top ten were Dakota Baggette, Gary Verdier, Donovan Ponder, Dave Gleason and Joey Collins.

Preston Davis has made it a habit of starting near the back of the V-8 Bomber feature field and passing a slew of cars to score his victories. This week though, Davis won the heat race and earned the pole starting spot for the 15 lap headliner. Davis had no trouble scoring his fourth win of the year as he led flag to flag. Larry Chumney II gave chase but could not do anything with Davis. Third spot went to James Wright, Jr. in front of Matt Johns and Jason Howell. The rest of the top ten were Buddy Phillips, Jr., Kevin Barton, William “Huggy Bear” Hindman, Josh Borem and Mark Roadarmel, Jr.

Kim Gullett ended up winning a wild Scrambler class heat race then led all the way to score her third feature win of the year and add to her point lead after second place Brian Tyre could not make the call for the feature start.  Gullett topped Gary Brown, Jerry Pruitt, Reggie Ware and Richard Brown to take the win.

After heat winner Fred Harrison, Jr. dropped out with mechanical ills, point leader Chris Spring breezed to his ninth Mini Stock feature win of the year. James Pate took second trailed by Jason Swilley, Matt McCrary and Mark Wells.

Ryan Shattuck topped a pair of Bandolero feature races. Shattuck out-ran Cameron White and Joey Padgett in the first feature which was open to drivers who were at Punta Gorda for the rained out Legend Car Regional Qualifier.

After leading the way qualifying with a lap of 15.924 seconds, Shattuck again led all the way in the nightcap finishing well in front of point leader Teddy Lively, Coty Bibeau, Michael Held and Cameron White.

John Baranauskas led all the way and held off point leader Wayne Calkins to win the Figure 8 feature race. Paul Bookmiller took third ahead of William Hindman and Wayne Whitehead.

The School Bus Figure 8 race featured quite a bit of close competition, sometimes going three-wide. Doing that eventually cost Danny Taylor as his bus tipped over on its side between turns one and two. Taylor was unhurt and he even re-fired his machine but opted to sit out the rest of the event.

The only place there wasn’t any competition in the Bus run was for the lead as Bobby Gordon simply dominated things and had a big enough lead that he could easily time his driving through the “X.” Dustin Aaron made a late pass to snare second spot ahead of Gary Swing, Andrew Tweety and Doris Thorne.

Michael Malverty outlasted his brother Eugene to win the Demolition Derby.

This Saturday night the Open Wheel Modifieds return along with Modified Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, Street Stocks and Kids Club. Racing starts at

7 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com powered by Palm Tree Computers.

LEGEND CARS (Regional Qualifier):
1-#59 Jake Perkins
2-#31 Lynn Wiles
3-#8 Justin Brown
4-#96 Chase Fitzgerald
5-#7 Dakota Baggette
6-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
7-#1 Zach Napoleon
8-#71 Mason Ketterman
9-#28 Joey Collins
10-#81 Donovan Ponder
11-#5 Seth Adams

LEGEND CARS (Regular Feature):
1-#5R Korey Abbott
2-#59 Jake Perkins
3-#4 Tyler Smith
4-#31 Lynn Wiles
5-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
6-#7 Dakota Baggette
7-#44 Gary Verdier
8-#81 Donovan Ponder
9-#17 Dave Gleason
10-#28 Joey Collins
11-#5 Seth Adams
12-#57 Bryan Silas
13-#8 Justin Brown
14-#67 Matt Larmore
15-#99 Leroy Moore
16-#2 Corey White
17-#47 Eric Eichelberger
18-#83 Danielle Stratton
19-#51 Roger Englund
20-#1 Zach Napoleon
21-#71 Mason Ketterman
22-#96 Chase Fitzgerald

BANDOLEROS (Feature 1):
1-#13 Ryan Shattuck
2-#38 Cameron White (Bandit)
3-#83 Joey Padgett

BANDOLEROS (Feature 2):
1-#13 Ryan Shattuck
2-#96 Teddy Lively
3-#65 Coty Bibeau
4-#55 Michael Held (Bandit)
5-#38 Cameron White (Bandit)
6-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr.
7-#48 Andy Metz
8-#1 Mark Bibeau
9-#16 Nicholis Baluch
DNS #83 Joey Padgett

MINI STOCKS:
1-#42 Chris Spring
2-#55 James Pate
3-#40 Jason Swilley
4-#3 Matt McCrary
5-#551 Mark Wells
6-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.
DNS #24 Gene Harrison

V-8 BOMBERS:
1-#89 Preston Davis
2-#96 Larry Chumney II
3-#56 James Wright
4-#51 Matt Johns
5-#4 Jason Howell
6-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.
7-#18 Kevin Barton
8-#89x William Hindman
9-#111 Josh Borem
10-#81 Mark Roadarmel, Jr.
11-#22 Roger Harrison
DNS #7 Frank Pierce

SCRAMBLERS:
1-#28 Kimberly Gullett
2-#52 Gary Brown
3-#17 Jerry Pruitt
4-#96 Reggie Ware
5-#62 Richard Brown
6-#14 Dale Philibotte
7-#67 T.J. Tanner
DNS #10 Jerrell Cook
DNS #66 Brian Tyre

SCHOOL BUS FIGURE 8’s
1-#4 Bobby Gordon
2-#007 Dustin Aaron
3-#701 Gary Swing
4-#9 Andrew Tweety
5-#10 Doris Thorne
6-#17 Tom Carroll
7-#11 Chick Whitehead
8-#13 Marcus Sumner
9-#1 Robert Aaron
10-#19 Danny Taylor
11-#6 David Ross

FIGURE 8’s:
1-#27 John Baranauskas
2-#14 Wayne Calkins
3-#03 Paul Bookmiller
4-#89x William Hindman
5-#31 Wayne Whitehead
6-#111 Josh Borem
7-#89 Seth Nistok

DEMO DERBY:
1-#17 Michael Malverty
2-#16 Eugene Malverty
3-#238 Todd Cox
4-#99 Leonard Fussell
5-#12 Ralph Murchie

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by Dave Westerman

Longwood’s Tim Russell used a “wait and see” strategy before scoring his third Late Model victory of the year Saturday night at Auburndale Speedway. Another large crowd enjoyed some early Fall-like weather and some great racing including a “feel good” win by a little nine year old girl who stands barely three feet tall.

Russell started off the evening by setting quick time among the 21 machines that survived afternoon practice. 23 cars signed in but both Raymond Lovelady and Gayle Haines suffered machanical ills and had their machines in the trailer by qualifying time.

Russell’s lap of 13.475 seconds topped the 13.577 lap turned in by Daniel Webster. Anthony Campi was third quick at 13.610 followed by Jason Vail, Ryan Lisak and Johnathan Guy. The re-draw saw Russell pull a six pill while Webster drew the pole with Guy starting from the outside pole slot.

Webster grabbed the initial lead as Guy slipped a bit on the high side and dropped to fourth. Russell also got hung on the outside and dropped back to eighth. The caution was out quickly at the beginning of lap two as Joe Boyd went around in turn two with Russell just missing him having to come to a complete halt on the low side of the track.

Webster set the pace on the restart but the yellow was back out again as Sean Bass, running as a teammate to Webster, tangled up with Johnathan Waters on the back stretch. The third caution flew on lap 11 when Jimmy Castleberry pounded the back stretch wall and rode the concrete all the way to turn three.

Castleberry was OK but his car needed a tow from the track.

Webster continued to hold the point but now had huge pressure from both Anthony Campi and Jason Vail. Campi grabbed the lead on lap 22 bringing Vail with him. Just one lap later, Vail dove under Campi going into turn one and the two raced side-by-side off turn two before encountering the lapped car of Waters who was blocking Campi on the outside lane. Campi took evasive action and, in turn, punted Vail off into the infield grass. Vail’s car slid wildly into the dirt bank surrounding the turn three light pole.

Unbelievably, Vail’s car received little damage and he returned to the race.

Both teams became livid when track officials placed the two drivers at the rear of the field for the restart as they felt the lapped car triggered the incident. Campi took his car off the speedway with damage from the encounter and did not return while Vail reluctantly restarted from the tail of the field.

That put Webster back out front for the restart ahead of Guy and Ryan Lisak and he began to pull ahead off the pair chasing him. The green was out only until lap 30 when Donny Williams went for a spin in turn two.

On the restart only some great driving would avoid a major mess. Webster’s car would not fire and he pulled off into the infield as second-running Guy somehow managed to keep from smashing into Webster’s slowing car. Other drivers weren’t as lucky as several found themselves looking the wrong way. Fortunately the only damage was cosmetic and everyone continued including Webster who pitted while the cars were being lined up, made repairs, and came back out to start from the rear of the restart line-up still on the lead lap.

Johnathan Guy now became the leader and he quickly began to put distance between himself and second place Ryan Lisak who found himself being hounded by Russell who had worked his way up to third spot. Again, green flag racing was short-lived as Josh Todd spun off turn four to bring out the caution on lap 40.

The field returned to green but just six laps later the leaders encountered their second close call of the event as David Weaver, running near the tail of the field, blew his engine headed into turn one. Before flagman Scott Jackman could throw the yellow, the lead group hit the oil. Guy did a “slide fo life” but kept going straight. Lisak spun and tagged the wall slightly while Russell somehow missed him. Several other cars spun or went sliding with Ron Lofquist also getting a piece of the concrete. Once again though, all the damage was merely cosmetic and only Weaver was out of the race.

No one was penalized and the field hit the half-way mark shortly after the green flag flew with Guy leading Lisak, Russell, David King, Steve Tregear, a resurgent Jason Vail, Rusty Ebersole, Jason Rendell, Webster and Ricky Diaz.

Lap 51 saw Russell finally get a run on Lisak and he took second spot with King following him through for third spot. Vail moved into the top five by passing Tregear on lap 54. Lap 61 saw caution number eight as Diaz spun in turn one.

The restart put Russell right on the back bumper of Guy and the race for the lead was under way. Russell was simply too strong and he powered by Guy on the outside to take the lead on lap 66 and began building a sizeable lead while Guy had a similar advantage over third place King.

Lap 79 saw the good race back to the front for both Vail and Webster come to an abrupt halt as the two tangled earning them both a trip back to the tail of the restarting field. One lap later, Diaz spun again for yellow flag number ten.

Russell continued to lead easily but would have to slow three more times before the end of the race. Both Donny Williams and Ricky Diaz spun at the same time on lap 86 for caution number 11. Webster made it an even dozen caution periods when he stopped on the back stretch one lap later needing a push back to the pit area. It would be a baker’s dozen 13 cautions when Vail spun out on lap 96 for the final caution.

Russell had no problem claiming his third Late Model win of the year with Guy, in just his third Late Model race of his young career, coming home with a strong second. Russell was very complimentary of his crew in victory lane saying his car was running great. He indicated he used plenty of patience and dodged a few bullets before taking the checker. Guy had little say in victory lane as he was completely exhausted after just his third 100 lap effort in the class. King was very happy to take the show position as the veteran driver continues to run impressively this year. Lisak came home with a nice fourth place finish and Tregear was very happy as his low-buck effort came home fifth.

Rusty Ebersole kept his car totally clean throughout the 100 laps and he earned a sixth place finish. Jason Rendell, driving a car that “has just been sitting around the shop,” took seventh followed by Josh Todd and Perry Lovelady. Vail came back to eventually take the checker in tenth.

Brandon Morris grabbed the lead from Mark Medeiros on lap nine and went on to score his first Sportsman win of the year. Just three minor cautions slowed the action in this 25 lap race as Medeiros held off fast qualifier Lance Daubach for second. Eddie Hartin was running fourth on the last lap but blew his engine and dropped to eighth in the final run-down.

Fourth eventually went to point leader Dave Dunkin with Richard Elkins, Jr.

fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Chuck Harrison, Jr., Richard Fiore, Jr., Hartin, Ricky Todd and Brandon Duchscherer.

The Legend Cars were back after a couple of weeks off and showed up 21 strong. Point leader Jake Perkins set quick time but would see Gerald White, Jr. grab the lead at the start of their 30 lap feature.

White stayed out front for five laps before Mason Ketterman sped by to take the point before Dakota Baggett slowed to a stop in turn four to bring out the first caution. White re-claimed the lead on lap nine just before Brady Marshall spun for yellow flag number two on lap ten.

White continued to hold the front spot but Kory Abbott was on the charge. Abbott, who made it to the track just before qualifying after finishing his afternoon performance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios where he is a stunt driver, started fifth but snared the lead from White on lap 13 with Perkins following him into second spot.

Caution was out again on lap 23 as Corey White and Chase Fitzgerald tangled in turn two. On the ensuing restart, White spun out and lost several positions. One final yellow flag was thrown on lap 24 for a Leroy Moore spin.

Abbott had Perkins keeping him honest but the Apopka driver, the only Floridian to qualify for the “Legends Million” race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in July, grabbed his first Auburndale win of the year. Perkins was second trailed by Ketterman, Lynn Wiles and Donovan Ponder. Completing the top ten were Dave Gleason, Baggette, Gary Verdier, Zach Napoleon and Seth Adams.

The Legend Cars also ran a special show for national points only on Friday night. Lynn Wiles set fast time and Jake Perkins won the race.

Bobby Mobley set quick time then led every lap of the Street Stock feature. Only one caution, for a lap four tangle between Austin Jenkins and Kyle Hall, slowed Mobley’s pace. Cody McDuffie came home second followed by Jeff Waterman, James Wright III and Kyle Peters. Point leader Matt McCrary took sixth with Chris Spring, Dave Colpritt, Hall and Jenkins rounding out the top ten.

George Gorham, Jr. also scored a wire to wire win in the Scramblers after setting fast time. Driving a new car, Gorham had a relatively easy run topping point leader Kimberly Gullett. Third spot went to Reggie Ware followed by Jerry Pruitt and Brandon Strivel. Richard Brown took sixth with Dave Canfield, Gary Brown, Jr., Lee Tanner and Brian Tyre completing the top ten.

Rick Ragan topped a somewhat short field of Mini Cup cars leading the feature all the way after winning the heat race. Skip Baird was a distant second followed by Brandon Beach, Frank Beach and Brett Suggs.

Bandolero action saw Ryan Shattuck pass fast qualifier Joey Padgett on the second lap then speed to his second straight win. Teddy Lively grabbed the runner-up spot while Padgett held on for third. Andy Metz was fourth and Daniel Conlin, Jr. fifth. Noah Cornman was the top finishing Bandit (8 to 11 year old) driver in sixth.

Nine-year-old Kristin Clements made a bold move to win the Kids Club heat race, then led every lap of the feature race to score the victory in her first-ever competition. Kristin was happy but shaking like a leaf in victory lane as she was joined by her dad who was the co-driver in the passenger seat for the win. Dakota Hunt was second ahead of Justin Cribbs and Drew Kingsley.

Next week the School Bus Figure 8’S return along with a Demolition Derby.

The Figure 8 cars will also make their third appearance of the year plus the V-8 Bombers, Mini Stocks, Scramblers, Legends and Bandoleros will also be on the card. The Legends will be running their Regional Qualifier and the Bandoleros will be running their Florida State Championship race. Racing action starts at 7PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com powered by Palm Tree Computers.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 9/18/10:

LATE MODELS:
1-#36 Tim Russell
2-#42 Johnathan Guy
3-#22 David King
4-#17 Ryan Lisak
5-#18 Steve Tregear
6-#23 Rusty Ebersole
7-#14 Jason Rendell
8-#89 Josh Todd
9-#50 Perry Lovelady
10-#407 Jason Vail
11-#111 Donny Williams
12-#49 Ron Lofquist
13-#33 Daniel Webster
14-#13 Ricky Diaz
15-#11 David Weaver
16-#72 Wally Warrick
17-#5 Joe Boyd
18-#21 Jonathan Waters
19-#81 Anthony Campi
20-#88 Jimmy Castleberry
21-#3 Sean Bass
DNS #7 Raymond Lovelady
DNS #60 Gayle Haines

STREET STOCKS:
1-#29 Bobby Mobley
2-#25 Cody McDuffie
3-#42 Jeff Waterman
4-#56 James Wright III
5-#53 Kyle Peters
6-#5 Matt McCrary
7-#142 Chris Spring
8-#4 Dave Colpritt
9-#17 Kyle Hall
10-#89 Austin Jenkins
11-#18 David Williams
12-#45 Joe Dowdy
13-#86 Jamie Castleberry

SCRAMBLERS:
1-#1 George Gorham, Jr.
2-#28 Kimberly Gullett
3-#96 Reggie Ware
4-#17 Jerry Pruitt
5-#7 Brandon Strivel
6-#62 Richard Brown
7-#71 Dave Canfield
8-#52 Gary Brown, Jr.
9-#67 Lee Tanner
10-#66 Bryan Tyre
11-#42 Mike Bauer

SPORTSMAN:
1-#56 Brandon Morris
2-#13 Mark Medeiros
3-#77 Lance Daubach
4-#71 Dave Dunkin
5-#55 Richard Elkins, Jr.
6-#8 Chuck Harrison, Jr.
7-#60 Richard Fiore, Jr.
8-#48 Eddie Hartin
9-#89 Richard Todd
10-#22 Brandon Duscherer
11-#111 Donny Williams
12-#07 Steve Smith
13-#89x Brett Jenkins
DNS #8x Austin Carr

MINI CUPS:
1-#21 Rick Ragan
2-#2 Skip Baird
3-#47 Brandon Beach
4-#46 Frank Beach
5-#3 Brett Suggs
6-#71 Duane Foster
7-#74 John Beach

KIDS CLUB:
1-#5 Kristin Clements
2-#99 Dakota Hunt
3-#18 Justin Cribbs
4-#55 Drew Kingsley

LEGEND CARS:
1-#5R Kory Abbott
2-#59 Jake Perkins
3-#71 Mason Ketterman
4-#31 Lynn Wiles
5-#81 Donovan Ponder
6-#17 Dave Gleason
7-#7 Dakota Baggette
8-#44 Gary Verdier
9-#1 Zach Napoleon
10-#5 Seth Adams
11-#38 Gerald White, Jr.
12-#8 Justin Brown
13-#2 Cory White
14-#14 Brady Marshall
15-#00 Anthony Cataldi
16-#83 Danielle Stratton
17-#51 Roger Englund
18-#96 Chase Fitzgerald
19-#21 Devin McLeod
20-#28 Joey Collins
21-#99 Leroy Moore

BANDOLEROS:
1-#13 Ryan Shattuck
2-#96 Teddy Lively
3-#83 Joey Padgett
4-#48 Andy Metz
5-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr.
6-#30 Noah Cornman (Bandit)
7-#38 Cameron White (Bandit)
8-#03 Jacob Hunter

Next week the School Bus Figure 8’S return along with a Demolition Derby. The Figure 8 cars will also make their third appearance of the year plus the V-8 Bombers, Mini Stocks, Scramblers, Legends and Bandoleros will also be on the card. Racing action starts at 7 PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com powered by Palm Tree Computers.
 

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We had a good night of racing at Auburndale Speedway Saturday Night. the winners in each division are as follows: