By Carol Andrews

 By Carol Andrews

by Dave Westerman

 Race drivers are often asked how much “luck” plays a part in their sport. Saturday night at Auburndale Speedway, Bobby Blake used a very well-timed caution flag to score his second Open Wheel Modified feature of the year in front of yet another big crowd.

Keith Lilley and Shawn Harper won the heat races for the 19 cars entered for the nights’ Modified competition, but it would not be a good feature race for either driver. The pair tangled on the opening lap in turn three causing a wild melee that saw several cars bruised and bent. Harper took his car to the pits for repairs along with Josh Todd who had to replace a flat right rear tire.

Both drivers made it back out for the restart, but Harper now found himself going from the pole position to the rear of the restart line-up. With the inside row moving up a position, that now put Bobby Blake on the pole with Lilley on the outside front row.

Blake zipped to the lead as Lilley fought to maintain the high line. This time it was Colin Cabre drifting into Lilley in the exact same spot as the first incident happened. Again, Lilley went for a spin, but this time no one else received any damage and a third complete restart was called for.

This time a full lap would be completed before things went awry again… and again it was Lilley involved as he slid high off turn four, collided with Raymond Lovelady and went sliding full-speed into the infield. Lilley’s car struck the Elkins Automotive push truck but fortunately no one was injured. Lilley’s car had the rear end shoved to the side and he was done for the night while the push truck was badly damaged and needed a tow home at the end of the evening.

On the restart, Blake began to set the pace with James Wilkins in tow as the pair sped away from third-running Cabre. Action continued under green until Harper looped his mount in turn two on lap 14. Blake continued to set the pace with Wilkins all over him. On lap 25, Wilkins drove by Blake on the outside to take the lead only to see the caution flag out for a tangle between Eddie Hartin and Ken Lawrence in turn two.

For the restart, the field reverted back to the running order from lap 24 place a relieved Blake back in the lead. Wilkins kept up his charge but things were changing behind the lead duo as Travis Roland and James Wright III both got by Cabre and closed on the front pair.

Wilkins tried his best but had to settle for a close second to Blake who won his second Modified race of the year after taking the checker on opening night this year. Only one driver, Lilley, was able to win two OWM features in all of 2009, now Blake and Kyle Bookmiller have already turned the trick in 2010.

Action continued right to the checker as Wright passed Roland for third on the final lap. Roland settled for fourth with point leader Wayne Morris fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Von Pope, Kevin Macy, Harold Crooms, Cabre and Harper. As a testament to the quality of the field, once again all cars running finished on the lead lap of the 40 lap feature.

The Sportsman feature race was very un-sportsmanlike in the early going with caution flags flying numerous times before the first three laps could be completed with many cars suffering body damage and a few left “dragging their tails.”

Once things settled down, first heat winner Mark Medeiros settled into the lead with Dave Dunkin and second heat winner Bart Weatherford in tow. Weatherford eventually got by Dunkin for second but Medeiros was up to the task and led all the way for his second win of the year with Weatherford a very close runner-up. Dunkin held on for third trailed by Brett Jenkins and Chris Lewellen.

The Mini Cup feature was a much tamer affair than last time out as Harold Crooms won his second straight 25 lap headliner.

Crooms and Sam Scott won the heats but Scott never got a chance to challenge as he slapped the front stretch wall on lap three and retired from the race. From that point Crooms was on cruise-control as he easily topped Rick Ragan and Georgia’s John Beach who were the only two cars within a half-lap of him. Tyler Scofield was fourth and Rick Cline, Jr. took fifth spot.

The Legend Car feature saw some wild late race action, but it was all well behind winner Gerald White, Jr. as he took his fourth win of the year. Just two cautions slowed the event for minor incidents. Justin Brown led the opening 16 laps before giving way to White who drove off from the field at that point.

Jake Perkins would ultimately end up second followed by Tyler Smith, Mason Ketterman and Brown. Heat race wins went to Brown and Smith.

Heat winner Jeff Lacy spun out in turn two while leading the V-8 Bomber feature handing the lead and eventual win to Larry Chumney II. Point leader Josh Borem was second while Lacy got back to third at the finish. Matt Johns and Gene Harrison were fourth and fifth.

Bandolero racing saw the Bibeau family back in action and they scored a one-two finish as son Coty topped dad Mark. Cameron White was third ahead of Teddy Lively, Daniel Conlin, Sr. and Andy Metz.

Heather Guy shook off a balky engine to top the Kids Club feature over Dakota Hunt, Megan Gosselin and Brandon Guy.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY – 5/15/10:

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED:

1-#75 Bobby Blake

2-#76 James Wilkins

3-#56 James Wright III

4-#10 Travis Roland

5-#98 Wayne Morris

6-#01 Von Pope

7-#19 Kevin Macy

8-#07 Harold Crooms

9-#51 Colin Cabre

10-#00 Shawn Harper

11-#5 Eddie Hartin

12-#35 Ron Abney

13-#65 Ken Lawrence

14-#11 Jimmy Wilkins

15-#101 David Grogan

16-#89 Josh Todd

17-#87 Keith Lilley

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LEGEND CARS:

1-#38 Gerald White, Jr.

2-#59 Jake Perkins

3-#4 Tyler Smith

4-#71 Mason Ketterman

5-#8 Justin Brown

6-#07 Dave Gleason

7-#31 Lynn Wiles

8-#21 Devin McLeod

9-#7 Dakota Baggette

10-#67 Matt Larmore

11-#5 Seth Adams

12-#4R Zach Napoleon

13-#51 Roger Englund

14-#83 Danielle Stratton

15-#99 Leroy Moore

16-#11 Daniel Conlin, Sr.

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SPORTSMAN:

1-#13 Mark Medeiros

2-#1 Bart Weatherford

3-#71 Dave Dunkin

4-#89 Brett Jenkins

5-#19 Chris Lewellen

6-#22 Austin Carr

7-#8 Brandon Duchscherer

8-#35 Greg Krom

9-#16 Wayne Jones

10-#01 Pat Dent

11-#21 Chuck Harrison, Jr.

DNS #60 Richard Fiore

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V-8 BOMBERS:

1-#96 Larry Chumney II

2-#111 Josh Borem

3-#105 Jeff Lacey

4-#51 Matt Johns

5-#88 Gene Harrison

6-#1 David Fletcher

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MINI CUPS:

1-#07x Harold Crooms

2-#21 Rick Ragan

3-#74 John Beach

4-#07 Tyler Scofield

5-#37 Rick Cline

6-#71 Duane Foster

7-#27x Dale Pulst

8-#2 Skip Baird

9-#22 Rick Cline, Sr.

10-#66 Shawn Edge

11-#57 Brittney Huntington

12-#9 Cole Partelo

13-#46 Frank Beach

14-#14 Sam Scott

DNS #47 Brandon Beach

DNS # 4 Ray Black

DNS #05 Cindarae Irish

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BANDOLEROS:

1-#4 Coty Bibeau (Bandit Winner)

2-#1 Mark Bibeau (Outlaw Winner

3-#38 Cameron White (Bandit)

4-#96 Teddy Lively (Outlaw)

5-#11 Daniel Conlin, Jr. (Outlaw)

6-#48 Andy Metz (Outlaw)

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KIDS CLUB:

1-#30 Heather Guy (Junior Division Winner)

2-#9 Dakota Hunt (Novice Division Winner)

3-#10 Megan Gosselin (Novice)

4-#32 Brandon Guy (Novice)

Next week on May 21, it’s a special Friday night practice at 5PM and party at 8PM. Only the pits will be open but all fans are welcome. Admission is just $10. Saturday, grandstands open at 5PM, qualifying for all divisions startsat 5:30PM and racing starts at 7 PM with the Late Models running the AMF Chassis/Chassis Works 100 plus Modified Mini Stocks, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks, Legends, Bandoleros, Scramblers, and V-8 Bombers. For more informationcall 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.

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by Dave Westerman

It was yet another outstanding night at Auburndale Speedway Saturday although many of the division point leaders probably would not agree with that statement.

It was actually a full day of activity as Auburndale Speedway partnered with the Red Knights Motorcycle Club for the “World’s Largest Poker Run” which ended as riders arrived during the afternoon at the speedway, most of them hot, tired and sunburned, but happy as their efforts raised over $4,000 for the Fallen Firefighters Survivors Foundation. Activities included a car show and live music in the parking lot before the races and an appearance at intermission by “Wheelie Magic,” a specialized one-of-a-kind wheel-standing fire truck handled by former driver Dennis Coyle of Miami.

Firefighters went through the grandstands at intermission with their helmets and the track also donated their portion of the 50/50 raffle to the FFSF, bringing total donations to around $5,000.

The race evening was also dedicated in the memory of Auburndale resident Sgt. Keith “Coe Daddy” Coe, who died in Khalis, Iraq earlier in the week from wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an explosive device. The young man who grew up in New York and nearby Winter Haven, FL leaves a wife and four children.

The Open Wheel Modifieds were out in force for their second of back-to-back race weeks with 19 cars in the pits. Keith Lilley and Big Wayne Morris split the heat wins and made up row one of the 40 lap feature race.

Morris sped off at the drop of the green while Lilley fell back trying to maintain the tough outside groove. Contact with another car saw Lilley off the pace and taking his car to the infield as the caution flew on lap two.

Morris had things under control on the restart as Colin Cabre was doing all he could to hold off a snarling pack of cars for second.

Caution number two flew on lap 14 as James Wright III and Bobby Blake made contact sending Wright spinning down the front stretch. Wright, already nursing damage from a heat race crash that also eliminated Phil Morrison from further racing on the evening, restarted while Blake zipped into the pits to change a flat tire.

Two laps after the restart, Jimmy Wilkins looped his mount off turn two for yellow flag number three. On each restart, Morris was able to motor away from the field with relative ease. Lap 19 saw Rick Coffin’s engine blow up in a cloud of smoke however no caution was needed.

The final slow down of the race took place on lap 31 as Sammy Coghill went around in turn one.

No one had anything for Morris as he easily led the remaining nine laps to score his first win of the year. Morris also took over the division point lead as previous point leader Kevin Macy had a rough evening, eventually settling for a 12th place finish.

Cabre held off all advances from last weeks winner Kyle Bookmiller to grab a hard-fought second with Bookmiller third ahead of James Wilkins and Travis Roland. Von Pope, Coghill, Wright III, Shawn Harper and Jimmy Wilkins completed the top ten.

Dave Dunkin came in with a nice 30 point edge in the Sportsman standings but saw much of it erased in a grinding back stretch crash during the feature.

Sixteen year old Austin Carr, driving for Chuck Harrison, Sr., won the heat race and zipped out to the early lead in the feature with veteran Bart Weatherford right on his back bumper. As the two were lapping Austin’s uncle, Butch Carr, Jr., Weatherford made contact with the lapped machine and saw all the left-side sheet metal stripped from his racer.

The damage was only cosmetic and gave Weatherford a little extra “air conditioning” on a very warm night. He continued after the caution to remove the body work in second behind Carr.

Dave Dunkin had been trying to work his way up through the field but Kyle Alford got sideways off turn two during lap 16. Dunkin dove low to avoid Alford but the two cars touched sending Dunkin head-on into the back stretch wall. Despite the severity of the crash and a virtually destroyed race car, Dunkin emerged unhurt from the incident.

Carr managed to hang on all the way to score his first career Sportsman win.

Weatherford tried everthing he could to get by, then spun off turn four on the final lap handing the runner-up spot to Mark Medeiros. Chris Lewellen was third while Josh Todd (driving in a substitute role for Brandon Duchscherer -for a reason we’ll get to later) took fourth and Ted Head fifth. Weatherford recovered for sixth.

The Mini Stock feature was yet another close contest as Chris Spring and point leader Fred Harrison, Jr. duked it out all 20 laps before Spring prevailed for his third win of the year. Marilyn McCrary served notice she is about to return to form as she posted a close third place finish just in front of Donnie Guy and young rookie contender Jason Swilley. Spring also won the heat race.

The Outlaw Modifieds were scheduled to run at another track in Southwest Florida Saturday night. When that track unexpectedly closed at mid-week, Auburndale Speedway offered them a chance to run their points race here and they did not dissapoint.

Zach Rudd led the early laps but former class champion Doug Hopper of New Port Richey, sporting a new engine in his car, was not to be denied as he took over and sped to a convincing victory.

Rudd held off Tom Meyer for second with Ric Mills and John Gula fourth and fifth. Heat wins went to Rudd and Hopper.

Although his run in the Open Wheel Modifieds was laden with problems, James Wright III had no trouble in winning his second Street Stock feature of the year. The 2009 class champion led all the way to defeat a large field of cars.

Eddie Hartin came home second with Matt McCrary third. Chris Narramore, Jr. and Kyle Hall tangled with two laps to go while battling for fourth place. That allowed Chris Spring to notch a fourth place finish in just his second week out with his new car. Dave Colpritt had to claw his way forward all night but ended up fifth in the final tally.

Action in the V-8 Bombers started in their heat race as Brandon Duchscherer ended up pounding the front stretch wall after contact with Paul Bookmiller. Duchscherer was none to happy about the incident and threw his steering wheel into the cockpit of Bookmiller’s car. Duschsherer was then disqualified from all track activity which is why Josh Todd took over the Sportsman car that had been assigned to him. Bookmiller did give the steering wheel back though.

The feature was more anti-climactic although still not without a little “rouch driving.” It didn’t matter to Chris McGivern though as he easily drove off to the win and let everybody else duke it out behind him. Bookmiller wound up second in the feature ahead of Jeff Lacy, Kevin Barton and heat winner Buddy Phillips, Jr. Point leader Josh Borem had another off night taking sixth while still battling transmission issues.

The Scrambler feature got off to a rough start for point leader Kim Gullett as she tangled with Brian Tyre (who is second in points) and hit the front stretch wall. Gullett just made it out in time for the restart well behind the field.

Ron Norman and Scott Sharpe finished one-two in the feature run but both were set down in tech for not making minimum weight moving Gene Harrison into victory lane. Chad Cutting was second followed by Richard Brown and Tyre while Gullett charged back up to finish fifth. Harrison won the heat.

Heather Guy out ran Brandon Guy to win the Kids Club feature.

Next week on May 8, the Auburndale Trucks will race for 25 Laps. Also on the card are the Street Stocks, Modified Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, Mini Stocks, Legends and Bandeleros. Races start at 7PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.

OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS:

1-#98 Wayne Morris

2-#51 Colin Cabre

3-#03 Kyle Bookmiller

4-#76 James Wilkins

5-#10 Travis Roland

6-#01 Von Pope

7-#22 Sammy Coghill

8-#56 James Wright III

9-#00 Shawn Harper

10-#11 Jimmy Wilkins

11-#35 Ron Abney

12-#19 Kevin Macy

13-#21 Jimmy Alvis

14-#89 Josh Todd

15-#65 Ken Lawrence

16-#75 Bobby Blake

17-#29 Rick Coffin

18-#87 Keith Lilley

DNS-#63 Phil Morrison

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SPORTSMAN:

1-#22 Austin Carr

2-#13 Mark Medeiros

3-#19 Chris Lewellen

4-#8 Josh Todd

5-#92 Ted Head

6-#1 Bart Weatherford

7-#22x Butch Carr, Jr.

8-#21 Chuck Harrison, Jr.

9-#51 Kyle Alford

10-#71 Dave Dunkin

DQ-#8 Brandon Duchscherer (car taken over by Josh Todd)

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MINI STOCKS:

1-#42 Chris Spring

2-#21 Fred Harrison, Jr.

3-#4 Marilyn McCrary

4-#33 Donnie Guy

5-#40 Jason Swilley

6-#88 Kevin Steadman

7-#46 Mike Bruno

8-#11 Josh Borem

9-#551 Mark Wells

10-#90 Danny Pearson

11-#3 Chris Narramore, Sr.

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STREET STOCKS:

1-#56 James Wright III

2-#48 Eddie Hartin

3-#5 Matt McCrary

4-#142 Chris Spring

5-#4 Dave Colpritt

6-#65 Ken Lawrence

7-#10 Kenny May

8-#17 Kyle Hall

9-#21 Chris Narramore, Jr.

10-#81 Joe Young

11-#42 Jeff Waterman

12-#52 Mike Rowland

13-#26 Mike Bruno

14-#45 Joe Dowdy

DNS-#44 Mark Waterman

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SCRAMBLERS:

1-#88 Gene Harrison

2-#00 Chad Cutting

3-#62 Richard Brown

4-#66 Brian Tyre

5-#28 Kimberly Gullett

6-#48 Chase Pointer

7-#4 Scott Russ

8-#42 Mike Bauer

9-#71 Dave Canfield

DNS-#51 Matt Johns

DQ-#98 Ron Norman

DQ-#7 Scott Sharpe

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V-8 BOMBERS:

1-#87 Chris McGivern

2-#0 Paul Bookmiller

3-#105 Jeff Lacey

4-#18 Kevin Barton

5-#05 Buddy Phillips, Jr.

6-#111 Josh Borem

DQ-#42 Brandon Duchscherer

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OUTLAW MODIFIEDS:

1-#15 Doug Hopper

2-#29 Zach Rudd

3-#04 Tom Meyer

4-#22 Ric Mills

5-#6 John Gula

6-#63 Ricky Gervasi

7-#7 Mel Mel Braden

8-#26 Mike Endee

9-#5 Craig Sherar

10-#3 Garrett Green

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KIDS CLUB:

1-#30 Heather Guy

2-#32 Brandon Guy

Next week on May 8, the Auburndale Trucks will race for 25 Laps. Also on the card are the Street Stocks, Modified Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, Mini Stocks, Legends and Bandeleros. Races start at 7PM. For more information call 863-551-1131 or log on to www.auburndaleracing.com.

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