At East Bay Mother Nature Wins Again…

By Jeff Bean-NSF Media

Lake City, Fl. – On an action packed night of racing that featured the annual tradition of sending the local students back to school with new backpacks filled with supplies five drivers scored feature event wins. Open Wheel Modified action saw Donnie Hall collect his second win in his last three starts. Adam Bedenbaugh returned to familiar territory in victory lane at the end of the Late Model race and Chris Pacetti did the same in Florida Mini Sprint Association action. Nevin Gainey took Strictly Stock honors and Bobby Denard finished up the nights racing with a win in Box Stocks.

Open Wheel Modifieds were the first feature to roll onto the speedway and the field would take two laps in memory of P.J. Wiggins. Steven Skipper would pace the field in his number twenty five Late Model for the memorial laps and the pole position was vacant in honor of the missing number twenty five Modified. As Steven Skipper pulled the honorary pace car off the track Chief Starter Kyle Wiggins would get ready to turn the field loose. At the drop of the green flag Steve Whitener would take full advantage of his pole position starting spot and grab the early lead over Gary Sexton. Caution would wave with one lap complete for the spinning cars of Cody Garner and Kyle Arvin. The next run of green flag laps would prove to be the turning point of the race. First the runner up car of Gary Sexton would make contact with the wall coming off turn two. When the race resumed Whitener would now have Donnie Hall giving chase. But Hall would not have to chase for long as Whitener would slow on the front stretch and roll into the pit area handing the lead to Hall. Point leader David Crews Jr. would move into the runner up spot and try and find a way by the race leader. But Hall was in the lead to stay and he would be the first car to pass under the checkered flag being waved by Kyle Wiggins.

The front row of the Late Model field would be the same as the last race with Mark Whitener on the inside and Adam Bedenbaugh to his outside. And in a replay of the last race it would be Bedenbaugh getting the advantage when the green flag waved. As the leaders put the first lap in the book a three car incident further back in the field would bring out the first of several cautions. This would make it difficult for the field to get a rhythm going. With the numerous restarts Bedenbaugh would give Whitener a look to the inside but he could not find the momentum he would need to overtake the leader. Once things settled down and the field got some consecutive green flag laps in Bedenbaugh would hold on to a comfortable advantage. But the race leader would have one more challenge ahead of him and and that would be a three wide battle at the end of lap sixteen between with himself, Whitener and a lapped car. Once successfully negotiating this obstacle Bedenbaugh would see the familiar sight of the checkered flag and another win for the 2010 Late Model champion.

The Florida Mini Sprint Association always provides entertaining races for the North Florida Speedway fans and they didn’t disappoint anyone this time. With the drop of the green Darrin Davis would take the early lead and then on lap three Gavin Thomas would emerge as the race leader. After sizing Thomas up Davis would wage an attempt to take back the lead on lap seven but then Chris Pacetti joined the fray and would be the leader at the half way mark. A red flag for a flip by John Moss would be the only thing to slow down Pacetti’s march to his second straight win.

Doran Cheney would jump to the early lead in Pure Stock action and pace the field for the first six laps. While looking strong at the front of the field Cheney would see Nevin Gainey go by on the outside on lap seven. One lap later Cheney, Jerry Fortner and Brent Zimmerman would tangle in turn four and Cheney and Zimmerman would suffer extensive damage to their cars and their night would be over. Shane Taylor would suffer some damage to the right side of his car but would be able to continue on. Taylor would spend the rest of the race stalking Gainey and on the last lap he would try both the inside and outside of Gainey but his efforts would come up  short.

The Box Stocks would be the last division to hit the clay and after the first attempt at green was a no go Bryar Zimmerman would lead the first two laps. Lap three would see Bobby Denard move to the lead and from there he had a clear path to the finish. A heated last lap battle for second between Zimmerman and Billy Wilson would see Zimmerman taking second and Wilson facing the wrong way on the front stretch.

Next race night is Saturday September 3rd with the Late Models, Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, Sportsman and Box Stocks scheduled to compete. Visit www.northfloridaspeedway.com or call 386-754-8800 for more info.

Official Results August 20th 2011
Open Wheel Modifieds
1. Donnie Hall #31
2. David Crews Jr. #10
3. Dave Wansley #28w
4. Kyle Arvin #96
5. Timmy Roach #44
6. Duane Paul Jr. #51
7. Garland Spangler #1g
8. James Edgley #95
9. Johnny Mullner #28
10. Travis King #231
11. Steve Whitener #8
12. Gary Sexton #41
13. Cody Garner #8s
14. Paul Sizemore Jr. #1s

Late Models
1. Adam Bedenbaugh #26
2. Mark Whitener #58
3. Christian Augspurger #35
4. Doug Watson #07
5. Travis Varnadore #41
6. Rich Pratt #0
7. Chuck Cumby #88
8. Brandon Cameron #55
9. Clay Bedenbaugh #6
10. Steven Skipper #25
11. Travis Saunders #93
12. Allen Cribbs #14c
13. Fred Schell #38
14. Seth Caudill #1c
15. Maverick Varnadore #14v
16. Larry Anderson #51
17. David Crews Sr. #10
18. Bill Gould #17
19. Shan Smith #99w
20. Bo Allen #71
21. Daryl Brinkley #37

Florida Mini Sprint Association
1. Chris Pacetti #16
2. Justin Kolves #83
3. Gavin Thomas #88
4. David Pleaugh #711
5. Darrin Davis #92
6. John Crowder #30
7. Steve Crabtree #5
8. Eddie Moss Jr. #8
9.Rae Lynn Moss #23
10. Ken Penta #24
11. Dirk Miller #67
12. Dylan Colding #23d
13. Jody McKenzie #18
14. David Hall #67
15. Danny Statter #76
16. Eddie Moss #1m
17. John Moss #44

Pure Stock
1. Nevin Gainey #57
2. Shane Taylor #82
3. Jerry Fortner #F16
4. Andy Olson #13
5. Shawn Creech #07
6. John Roberts #1x
7. Veronica Clark #17
8. Duane Paul Jr. #71
9. William Martin #06
10. Chris Rowe #23
11. Clay McRae #28
12. Frank Ziesmer #31
13. Jimmy Carter #4
14. Ed Polbos #25
15. Doran Cheney #98c
16. Brent Zimmerman #ooz
17. James Trowell #58
18. Swede Melgaard #15

Box Stock
1. Bobby Denard #7L
2. Bryar Zimmerman #lil ooz
3. Amber Willis #12
4. Dylan Hurston #26
5. Billy Wilson #32w
6. Tami Clark #17
7. Steven Wethrington #311
8. Corey Crews #21
9. Daryl Larson #15d

Late Model Dash 6 Laps
1. Larry Anderson #51
2. Fred Schell #38
3. Allen Cribbs #14
4. Seth Caudill #c1
5. Bill Gould #17