Photo Courtesy of Mike Horne Photo

It was an absolutely gorgeous day Sunday at Auburndale Speedway as the track hosted the season finale for the Sunoco Super Late Model Series and the fans were treated to a great race featuring former ‘legendary” drivers along with features in six other classes.

Qualifying for the Sunoco 100 presented by Speedway Auto Sales was held on Saturday with Jesse Dutilly of Bradenton setting the quick time with a lap of 13.404 seconds, nearly a tenth of a second faster than second qualifier Nick Neri’s lap of 14.499. George Gorham, Jr., Joe Boyd and Jon Guy rounded out the top five in time trials.  The top eight from qualifying had eight youngsters from the grandstands pick Jeg’s hats that had the top eight starting positions on them and it was Patrick Staropoli getting “hat number one” to place himself on the pole flanked by Gorham with Dutilly’s hat coming up with the number three for third starting spot. (more…)

Photo Courtesy of SpeedRacer Photo

The weather was cool but the action was hot Saturday night at Auburndale Speedway as the DeSoto-Auburndale Sportsman Series hit the track for their season finale, a 75-lap contest with double points on the line. A nice field of 22 cars signed in and was set by qualifying times set three weeks previous when their event fell victim to rain that fell just after intermission began.

Seventeen cars were at the track on 9/24 and two of those failed to show for this race. That meant there were seven cars that did not qualify for the rained out show and they had to start from the rear of the grid.
Junior Beckner and Jason Vail led the field to green with Vail leading the opening circuit before Beckner took control for four laps only to see George Gorham, Jr. blast by him on lap six for the point. Caution flew for the first time on lap nine for Tim Sozio’s spin in turn three with Dora Thorne also spinning and Jamie Kennedy coming to a quick halt to avoid everything. Kennedy’s quick stop damaged something in the driveline and he was pushed to the pits becoming the first car to retire from the fray. (more…)

After a ‘forced” week off to dry out from Hurricane Matthew, Auburndale Speedway was back to business Saturday night with the Desoto-Auburndale Race Truck Series (DARTS) heading up a great night of racing action.

Michael Goddard of Naples took his “Gray Ghost” National Roofing Special around the track in 14.670 seconds to just edge Lakeland’s Cody McDuffie for fast time.  McDuffie circulated the “bullring” at 14.676 seconds with third quick time going to Cody Martell with a lap of 14.842 seconds.  Rounding out the top five in qualifying were Derek Pugh and point leader Becca Monopoli.

McDuffie drew a five for the inversion placing Monopoli on the pole for the 50-lap feature and she wasted little time building up a nice advantage over Pugh as Martell could not find the handle on his truck, backsliding from third to tenth in the first ten laps.  Fast qualifiers McDuffie and Goddard were on the charge moving around Pugh for second and third on the 11th circuit.

This race would not go all 50 laps under green like the last one as Mike Kohut spun off turn two just as the 14th lap was completed.  On the restart, it took McDuffie just one lap to slip by Monopoli for the top spot while Goddard would fall victim to a multi-truck mess in turn three on lap 17 that damaged his truck along with those of Tommy Kelly, Jason Lester and others.  McDuffie continued to set a blistering pace as the third yellow flag of the night was displayed for Martell who spun in turn four. (more…)

After racing was canceled last week in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, the Desoto-Auburndale Race Truck series (DARTS) will be in action for their sixth points race of the season this Saturday night at Auburndale Speedway.  The Truck racers will go for 50 laps and be joined by the Legend Cars, Mini Stocks, Scramblers and Mini-Cup cars.  The V-8 Bombers and Mod Minis will have the night off here so that drivers who are also racing for points in those classes at DeSoto Speedway in Bradenton can compete there Saturday night.

Among the drivers expected to take part in the DARTS race are point leader Becca Monopoli of Lakeland, Derek Pugh of Crystal River.

Arcadia’s Cody Martell, Jason Lester of Palmetto, Big Donnie Burkhalter of Ocoee, Bradenton’s Danny Anderson, Cody McDuffie of Lakeland, Lehigh’s Michael Kohut, Billy Carlbert, Jr. of Palmetto, Naples driver Michael Goddard, Cody Carlbert of Zephyrhills, Tommy Kelley of Myakka City, Kristin Clements of Lakeland, Racin’ Mason Love of Pinellas Park, Lakeland’s Dakota Hunt, Travis Roland of Auburndale, Tyler Davis of Lakeland, Mike Gamache of Tarpon Springs and Lakeland driver Chase Lovelady.

Pit gates open Saturday afternoon at 2 pm with practice starting at 3:45 pm. (more…)

The DeSoto-Auburndale Sportsman Series is back in action for the first time since early July as the popular class will go for 50 laps Saturday night at Auburndale Speedway.  Along with the Sportsman cars, seven other classes will be in action including the Legend Cars, Mod Minis, Mini Stocks, V-8 Bombers, Scramblers, Mini Cups and the Daytona Antique Auto Racing Association will be making a special guest appearance.

It will be “The Results Companies Night” at the speedway as the company has teamed up with Auburndale Speedway as the track will be helping them gain new full time employees.  The Results Companies support Sirius XM and Healthmark with customer support and are looking for persons to fill available positions.

They will have a booth on the midway where fans can register to win a home Sirius XM radio unit (subscription service not included).

Saturday night will also feature the latest edition of Youth Nation Takeover.

Each child that enters the gate, ages 5-12, will either receive a pink or blue ticket accordingly.  To start, three tickets will be drawn and one child will get to ride in the pace car while another child will get to carry the flag in the safety truck with one other lucky child getting to drop the green flag for a race assisting flagman Julian Mullis. (more…)