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Fans were treated to plenty of wild action that produced several torn-up race\ncars and some wild finishes Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway as the track
\nopened its 48th season of racing and its second under the NASCAR Whelen All
\nAmerican Racing Series.
\nWhen Michael Seay showed up at the race track Saturday afternoon all he
\nexpected to do was to hang out with friends and help whichever team needed his
\nassistance.\u00a0 However, the Sheppard Racing Enterprises team out of Deland had
\nfour Sportsman cars on hand for owners Jim Daley and Sandy Lee and were one
\ndriver short.\u00a0 Seay was offered a ride in Lee’s #10 car as Lee had already
\ndecided to drive Daley’s #77 in the race while R. J. Glaser was set to run the
\n#20 machine while Ron Gustafson would be wheeling the #38.
\nThe only problem was that Seay had no racing uniform, helmet, shoes etc. with
\nhim.\u00a0 But he could not pass up the opportunity, so Seat borrowed the gear he
\nneeded and decided to take the ride he was offered which ultimately would be a
\nvery good move.
\nA very nice field of Sportsman cars were on hand for the first point race of
\nthe year as 19 cars signed in to do battle.\u00a0 Eighteen would start the 25-lap
\nfeature as Levi Hammond, moving up from the Mini Stock ranks, had problems
\nwith his new racer in hot laps and headed home early.
\nLuck of the draw placed defending Sportsman champion Donny Williams on the
\npole with Glaser on the outside for the start.\u00a0 Williams grabbed the lead at
\nthe outset but, just as the field was about to complete the second lap, Glaser
\ngot a bit high coming off turn four and checked up.\u00a0 That caused a big melee
\non the front stretch that would eventually collect over half the field with
\nseveral cars receiving major damage including the ones of George Gorham, Jr.
\nand Scott Bramlett who hit head-on just to the left of the flag stand.\u00a0 When
\nall was said and done, Bramlett and Gorham were done for the night as were
\nPatrick Thomas, Daniel Conlin, Jr., Timmy Todd, Jr., Brandon Christian and
\nAustin Howell.\u00a0 Richard Goodrich and Mike Pletka were also involved but were
\nable to continue while Seay, who started last on the grid, just did manage to
\nget his car stopped in time.
\nOn the restart, Pletka looped his mount in between turns three and four.
\nGustafson, who was trying to get to the pits with a faltering engine, had
\nnowhere to go and hit Pletka’s car while trying to get around the spinning
\nmachine.\u00a0 Gustafson was done for the evening but Pletka again was able to stay
\non the track after making a brief pit stop for repairs.\u00a0 By this time only ten
\nof the 18 starters were left in competition with just one circuit officially
\nin the books.
\nWilliams maintained his advantage once the field actually settled into racing
\nmode as Junior Beckner moved in to challenge.\u00a0 The pair began to run and hide
\nfrom third-running Justin Starr and everyone else with Beckner trying
\neverything in his bag of tricks to get around Williams.\u00a0 Coming off turn two
\non lap 17, Beckner made an outside move on Williams and the two cars touched
\nknocking the rear bumper loose on Williams’ car.\u00a0 The contact also flattened
\nthe left front tire on Beckner’s car but, before he could realize the trouble
\nhe was in, Beckner’s car slid up the track in turn three and pounded the wall
\nwith a loud boom that was enough to shake the grandstands.\u00a0 Beckner was a bit
\nshaken but unhurt by the impact.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Williams was forced to pit to
\nhave his loose bumper removed which meant he would have to restart from the
\ntail of the field.
\nStarr inherited the lead but Seay was on the charge as he had become quite
\ncomfortable with his new ride, sliding into second just after the green flew.
\nStarr managed to hold on for three laps but Seay zoomed by him on lap 20 while
\nWilliams charged hard back up to second but was unable to unseat Seay from the
\ntop spot.\u00a0 Seay, who has run at New Smyrna Speedway for several years
\nprimarily in Mini Stocks and Super Late Models, took his first win of any kind
\nhere.\u00a0 Interestingly, the car he was driving was carrying the #10 which is the
\nnumber Seay has run on his own cars over the years.
\nSeay was joined in victory lane by a jubilant Sheppard Racing Enterprises crew
\nand his friends and he indicated he was simply “stunned” by the way things
\nturned out.\u00a0 Williams was happy with his second place finish despite the
\ndamage to his car that also developed a “miss” in the engine during the late
\nlaps.\u00a0 Starr came home third for his first career podium finish while Goodrich
\nran steady to fourth ahead of Sandy Lee, Seay’s car owner.\u00a0 Pletka and Mike
\nDahm were sixth and seventh and the only other cars still running.\u00a0 Rounding
\nout the finishers (all DNF’s) were Glaser, Beckner, John Emerson, Howell,
\nTodd, Bramlett, Christian, Coblin, Gorham, Thomas and Gustafson.
\nThe Modified feature produced another first-time winner as popular Ricky
\nMoxley scored his first-ever victory in wire-to-wire fashion after running
\nsecond and third on several occasions.
\nMoxley had the outside pole for the start of the 25-lap contest and he wasted
\nlittle time building up a big advantage.\u00a0 Pole sitter Matt Bosowski of Hudson,
\nNH held the second spot for four laps but could not hold off defending track
\nchampion Jerry “The Hammer” Symons who took over the second position on the
\nfourth lap.\u00a0 Eveyone figured that Symons would quickly be on Moxley’s tail but
\nsuch was not the case as Moxley was simply flying in his new machine recently
\npurchased from Kevyn Terry.\u00a0 “Diamond” Jim Higginbotham fell off the pace just
\npast the mid point of the event as his engine lost oil pressure.
\nThis one looked like it might go green all the way but the yellow flag was
\ndisplayed on lap 20 for Matt Jarrett’s spin off turn two giving Symons and the
\nrest of the field a shot at Moxley.\u00a0 Moxley quickly opened up a decent
\nadvantage on the restart only to see the caution out again on lap 22 as
\nJarrett and Bosowski tangled and hit the wall in turn one eliminating both
\nfrom competition.
\nMoxley was again up to the task on the restart and held off Symons over the
\nfinal three circuits to claim the win.\u00a0 Matt Wheeler started eighth and
\nfinished third advancing five spots from his starting position to earn a
\nspecial $100 “Hard Charger Award” put up by Jacolone Enterprises Auto Sales
\nand Service of St. Augustine.\u00a0 Tank Tucker took fourth in front of Matthew
\nGreen with Bosowski, Jarrett, Mike Dahm and Higginbotham completing the
\nfinishers.
\nZach Jarrell led the first seven laps of the Pro Late Model feature but could
\nnot hold back veteran Rich Clouser who took over the point on lap eight and
\nsped to an easy win.\u00a0 Caesar Bacarella and young Noah Corman began exciting
\nthe crowd by putting on a ding-dong battle for third spot that culminated in
\nthe pair tangling in turn one just after the field took the white flag.\u00a0 The
\nrace thus ended under the checker and yellow flags with Clouser taking the win
\nwhile Jarrell was the runner-up over Blake Cejner and Blaize Hetznecker.
\nCornman and Bacarella were scored fifth and sixth.
\nA dozen Super Stocks took the green flag for the start of their 25-lapper with
\nJeff Colburn using his pole starting spot to grab the early advantage.\u00a0 On lap
\nfive something appeared to break on the car of Dale Howard and he hit the turn
\nfour wall hard.\u00a0 Howard, making a return to racing after several years away,
\nwas done for the night.
\nJustin Reynolds, sporting a new paint scheme and sponsor (Hot Colors Powder
\nCoating), took over on the restart and began to build up a big lead until the
\nsecond caution flew on lap 16 as Bobby Holley was spun off turn four, narrowly
\nmissing contact with the inner wall.\u00a0 Reynolds again led easily after the
\nrestart as the remainder of the race ran under green although J. T. Tippins
\nspun out of fourth spot with two laps to go but kept going.\u00a0 Following
\nReynolds to the checker were defending champion Shannon Kelly, a resurgent
\nHolley, Preston Hunt and Gino Tumminello.\u00a0 Becca Samsoe took sixth trailed by
\nnewcomer Eric Kottwitz, Tippins, Ronnie Hadden, Colburn, Mike Dahm and Howard.
\nJustin Spears did not start the feature.
\nTed Vulpius led all the way to claim the win in the Sunshine Seamless Gutters
\nMini Stock feature.\u00a0 Vulpius, known to his peers as “Mr. Mini Stock,” has a
\nnew ride this year driving a car owned by Guy Callon who is battling cancer
\nand Vulpius dedicated the win to Callon and told the fans he hopes to take a
\nfew more before the season ends.
\nVulpius won by a country mile in this one as Brad Blanton made a late charge
\nto second but was well behind the winner.\u00a0 Jamie Dixson took third in front of
\nDavid Russell and Mark Broat.\u00a0 New driver Bobby Dooley had problems during
\npractice and did not start.
\nZachary Curtis showed up to run the Bomber (formerly Strictly Stock) feature
\nwith a six-cylinder Hyundai that was driven last year by Charlie King.\u00a0 Curtis
\nwas the class of the field and led the first 12 laps before Aaron Overman
\nlooped his machine in turn four to bring out the caution.
\nOn the restart Curtis’ car lost power and he quickly fell off the pace and he
\nstopped in turn two to bring out the yellow again.\u00a0 Curtis got the car going
\nagain and re-took the lead from Robert Skinner on lap 17 and appeared on his
\nway to yet another win.\u00a0 However, the car shut off again on the white flag lap
\nand Curtis slowed to a crawl as Wes Railing, Jr. sped to the lead in his
\nSaturn station wagon and took the checker for his first-ever win at New Smyrna
\nSpeedway.
\nFollowing Railing to the stripe were Skinner, Shane Sutorus, Overman, Dan
\nWebb, and Megan Matheny with Curtis scored in seventh spot.\u00a0 Warren Howie did
\nnot start.
\nNext week, the Pro Late Models, Modifieds, Sportsman and Bombers return for
\nweek two of the 2015 season while the Sunshine Seamless Gutters Mini Stocks
\nand Super Stocks have the week off.
\nCongratulations are also in order for New Smyrna Speedway driver Michael Lira
\nof Port Orange who placed eighth in the ARCA race at Mobile (AL) International
\nSpeedway.\u00a0 Also, former NSS Super Late Model driver Brian Finney of Merritt
\nIsland came back from an altercation in the race to score a nice tenth place
\nfinish.<\/p>\n