It was Christmas in August at New Smyrna Speedway Saturday night as three of the five winning drivers had their victories “gift wrapped” for them.  Zach Jarrell had the pole position for the Pro Late Model feature and he used that to his advantage as he built up a huge lead while a wholesale battle took place behind him.  Ricky Anderson did his best to hold off an onslaught of other drivers for second spot but eventually Rich Clouser, Brad May and point leader Will Carroll were able to slip by but found themselves with considerable ground to make up to leader Jarrell.  Most fans figured that it would take little time for Clouser and May to catch the leader since the duo had won the last four PLM races contested here, but as the laps began to wind down it became apparent Jarrell had his car on rails and looked to be on his way to his second win of the year.  Suddenly Jarrell’s car slowed heading into turn two on lap 16 victim of a broken distributor and
he dejectedly coasted to pit road.  Clouser took over at that point and was looking strong but May closed quickly in the late laps to put the pressure on him.  May’s charge fell just short at the checker as Clouser claimed his fourth win of the season over May and Carroll.  Anderson held on for fourth trailed by Daniel Miller, Noah Cornman and Jarrell. (more…)

A great field of 18 Pro Late Models filled the pits Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway for their second 50-lap event of the year, but when all was said and done, Daniel Keene, Jr. had pretty much dominated the evening.  Keene, who hails from Weeki Wachee, came out 11th for qualifying and blistered the track with a time of 17.635 seconds, over two-tenths of a second quicker than Jacksonville driver Ray Black, Jr. who ran a 17.849 second lap.  Cody Blair of Winter Park was third fastest at 17.880 seconds.  Keene drew a six for the inversion placing he and Black in row three for the start while Ricky Anderson and Jarrett Snowden lined up on the front row.  Snowden moved out to the early lead only to see Tyler Thomas loop the Tim Russell Driver Development car in turn two during lap three.  On the restart, Cody Blair drove by Snowden for the top spot but it was Keene on the charge, taking the lead for good on lap ten.  Being in front of everyone else would prove to be advantageous for Keene in this race.  Lap 16 produced the second yellow flag as Michael Williams did a solo spin in turn one.  A lap after the restart, a multi-car tangle took place in turn four involving Alan Bruns, Tyler Audie and Rich Clouser.  Clouser's car was towed to the pits but he would return to the fray a bit later, although eight laps down.  Keene continued to set the pace, leading easily.  Just as the field took the crossed flags for half-way at lap 25, Blair and Black tangled on the front stretch.  David Rogers had nowhere to go and he plowed into Blair's machine as Will Carroll hit Rogers' car from behind.  Both Blair and Rogers were done for the night.  Black had minimal damage but was sent to the rear of the field for the restart.  Carroll's car suffered some front end damage but he checked the car out after the red flag period was over and determined it to be just cosmetic and he continued without pitting.

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The Tampa Bay Area Racing Association Sprint Cars made their first appearance of the year Saturday night with Scotty Adema of Ft. Myers holding off a hard-charging Sport Allen to take the victory at what he describes as his


favorite race track.  Twenty-one Sprint Car teams made the tow to the high-banked half mile with 19 cars still around for a trio of heat races after both Matt Alfonso and Mickey Kempgens had trouble during hot laps and parked their machines for the night.  Heat race victories would go to Ben Fritz, Dude Teate, and Brian Gingras setting the stage for the 30-lap nightcap.  One driver who had a rough go was "Flyin" Ryan Partin who had the brakes fail on his mount going into turn three during the second heat race.  Partin hit the outer wall virtually head on, then, with no way of stopping the car, slid back down the track and crashed hard into the inside railing.  Even though the car was shortened up a good two feet, Partin climbed out unharmed.  Partin was racing a second Sprinter for eventual feature winner Adema who got to experience both the highs and lows of being a race car owner on this night.  Dave Retzlaf and Larry J. Brazil, Jr. brought the field down for the start of the feature with Retzlaf leading the opening lap.  Adema, who started sixth, was on a roll right from the get-go and took the lead during the second lap bringing Fritz with him by Retzlaf.

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It was Fan Appreciation Night at New Smyrna Speedway Saturday and a nice crowd was treated to some great racing plus a large number of kids and their parents took part in a fun “Tire Race” at intermission that produced two of the worst “crashes” of the night.  All the kids were OK (especially after an ice cream treat) and got a chance to head home with a real race car tire in their possession.

Both the Super Stock and Open-Competition Modifieds ran 50-lap events while the Mini Stocks hit the track for a 25-lap feature.  The Super Stock drivers came out in force with 23 cars signing in although Warren Schurr’s Ford Torino broke in warm-ups and he was unable to start the big race.  Garrett Hill of Orlando established himself as the early favorite by blistering the track in qualifying with a lap of 20.753 seconds easily outdistancing the second-fast qualifier, Merritt Island’s Justin Reynolds who turned a lap at 21.170 seconds.  Hill pulled a five pill placing him fifth on the starting grid while it would be David Gould and Danny Frye on the front row for the start. Gould led the opening lap only to see the caution flag quickly out for Michael Bedient who spun in turn four.  Frye snared the lead on the restart and was out front when Michael Held bit off a chunk of the turn four wall to bring out the yellow on lap seven.  On the restart a multi-car melee took place in turn one involving the cars of Brandon Christian, Charles King, Butch Herdegen, Bedient and Joe Gerard.  Both Christian and Bedient were done for the night while all others continued with just “cosmetic” damage.  Frye set the pace for a few laps after the restart but Reynolds was on the charge in his “Mellow Yellow” Chevrolet and he took the lead, proceeding to draw away from the field, lapping cars well into the top ten before a caution flag appeared with five laps to go as Joe Bandur spun on the front stretch.  Hill was now up to second and everyone though Reynolds would now get a real challenge but is was not to be as he pulled away easily from Hill to claim a big victory made even sweeter because his grandfather was in attendance from Niagra Falls, NY to watch him race. (more…)

Photo Courtesy of Jim Jones Photography

It was a nice and breezy Easter Eve at New Smyrna Speedway Saturday night and along with a big Easter Egg hunt for the kids, there was plenty of great Stock Car Racing action for both young and old alike.  The big event of the evening was a 50-lap showdown for the E-Modifieds and it was defending track champion Jarrett Korpi of Deltona making it known early on that his would be the car to beat as he topped the rest of the competitors in qualifying with a lap of 19.367 seconds with Earl “Junior” Beckner his closest challenger at 19.542.
The pill draw was a two that meant Korpi and Beckner would simply swap starting spots on the front row for the feature.  At the drop of the green, Korpi wasted little time taking the top spot while Beckner was forced to come from the back of the starting grid because he was late to line up on pit road.  Korpi continued to set a hot pace but Cody Blair was not far behind in second until his car shut off on lap seven and he coasted to a stop.  Blair made it back to the pits where his crew quickly diagnosed the problem and he returned to the race.  Korpi maintained his advantage following the restart but Beckner was now up to second and beginning to apply some pressure.  Roger Benton spun in turn two on lap 16 to bring out the yellow once again.  On the restart, Beckner powered to the front and began to pull away.  On lap 35, Beckner got loose and spun coming off turn two but managed not to hit anything or be collected by anyone else.  Beckner restarted from the rear of the field leaving Korpi in charge once again.  From that point, Korpi pretty much had it in cruise control as he claimed his third win of the new season over Blair and Matthew Green.  Beckner, battling an extremely loose race car, held on to take fourth just ahead of Robert Glover.  Benton, Jim Higginbotham, Mike Dahm, Jon Compagnone and George Dahm rounded out the finishing field. (more…)

Saturday night racing action at New Smyrna Speedway featured the Sportsman cars and drivers racing for 50 laps and a nice $1,000 payday.  Sixteen cars checked in for time trials and it was Lakeland-area driver Brandon Morris setting the quick lap at 19.680 seconds.  Aaron Williamson of Palm Harbor was second fastest with a 19.788 lap while Garrett Hill was third with a lap of 19.932.  Morris drew the eight pill for the line-up inversion placing Shelton Bowers and Richard Goodrich on the front row for the start of the big race.  Bowers led the opening circuit before Earl Beckner powered by to take the lead.  Bowers held strong in second until Morris made his move to the runner-up spot on lap 11.  Caution flew for the first time on the 13th lap as Williamson looped his car while ducking low to make a pass in turn one.  Williamson went to the rear for the restart as Beckner continued to hold tough to the lead before Morris was finally able to sneak by on lap 19.  Collin Allman had a solo spin to bring out the yellow flag on lap 22 while Goodrich spun his mount on lap 27 in turn four for yet another caution.  On the restart Williamson, who looked to have the fastest car on the speedway, took second from Beckner and began to chase down Morris, passing him on lap 30.  Action behind the leaders was frantic at this point but the race remained under green until the 46th lap when Bowers and Hill tangled in turn four.  There was an altercation during the caution laps between Beckner and Daniel Conlin, Jr. stemming from a run-in as the two battled a few laps earlier during the long green flag run.  Both pitted with Beckner dropping out while Conlin took on a new left rear tire and returned to the fray. (more…)

New Smyrna Speedway was the place to be Saturday night for some outstanding racing as the NASCAR Whelan All American Series continued for 2014 featuring 100 laps for the Super Late Models as leg number two of the 2014 Bright House Challenge.  Twenty-five Super Late Model cars went through afternoon tech inspection, but before time trials could be held, three top teams already had their cars in the trailer after suffering mechanical woes in practice.  All Wayne Anderson, Daniel Keene, Jr. and Kevin Dicks could do was sit back and watch the action as the 22 remaining drivers hit the track for qualifying.  Defending Bright House champion Travis Cope of Weeki Wachee was first out to take time and he set the standard at 17.333 seconds that no one would be able to touch.  T. J. Duke was the closest at 17.413 followed by a 17.459 second lap for Rich Clouser.  David Rogers, Brad May and Daniel Webster rounded out the top six qualifiers.  Cope’s luck was not so good when it came to the inversion pill draw as he pulled a ten to invert the top five rows for the start of the century grind placing tenth fastest qualifier Jesse Dutilly on the pole and Stephen Nasse on the outside pole after an uncharacteristically slow time trial lap for the young driver out of Pinellas Park that would ultimately work in his favor. (more…)