by Dave Westerman

Orlando's Jason Boyd took the checkered flag first Friday night in the 50-lap Super Late Model feature at Orlando Speedworld, but the real winner was veteran racer Pete Orr and his family. The race was run as a benefit for the Orr family to help meet mounting bills and expenses while Pete undergoes treatment for cancer and is unable to operate his business.

Orr, a two time winner of the Florida Governor's Cup race, was at the race track for a short time and even rode in the parade lap during the National Anthem in a PT Cruiser being raffled off by Fairway Chrysler of Orlando to help in raising funds. The benefit evening was spearheaded by Super Late Model driver Mike Murphy who worked hard to make sure it was a success. Although an accurate account had yet to be tallied, the event appeared to have raised nearly $15,000 for the Orr family.

Orr was beaming after time trials as two young drivers he has been working with during the season, Justin Drawdy and Travis Kittleson, had the quickest laps. Drwady ran a 13.674 to set fast time while Kittleson, the 2000 Speedworld Super Late Model champion and part-time ASA competitor this year, tripped the clock at 13.796. Drawdy drew the six pill, putting himself and Kittleson in row three for the start of the 50-lap grind.

It took three tries just to get the race started. Outside polesitter George Murphy slipped high in turn one, got tapped and spun. The field took evasive action with several cars sustaining minor body damage. The nose of Murphy's car was knocked askew and he was forced to the pits.

On the second try, Russ Thomson and David Hart tangled in turn four before a lap could be completed while Larry Osteen, Ronnie Roach and Jared Allison made it back to turn one before they locked horns. Osteen backed his car into the wall and was done for the night while the rest continued.

The third try was not the charm as Billy Pratt had to check up going into turn one and he spun wildly to a stop without hitting anything or anyone. The force of the spin apparently broke something on Pratt's car and he too was forced to the sidelines.

17 of the 20 starters finally took the green flag with polesitter Jacob Warren grabbing the early advantage in his new Gator Golf sponsored car. On lap seven, Warren got a bit out of shape going into turn one starting a chain reaction that eventually saw Travis Kittleson spin to bring out the caution.

Once under green, it was Jason Boyd who began to apply the pressure finally diving under Warren for the lead on lap 14. Boyd began to stretch his advantage while Justin Drawdy moved into second. On lap 24, Drawdy made contact with the lapped car of Don Fenn and spun to bring out the yellow flag. After being told he would have to restart from the back of the pack, Drawdy opted to retire from the event.

Boyd continued to dominate the field in his Racecar Engineering Monte Carlo as caution flew once more on lap 32 for a tangle between Kittleson and Eddie King. Again it was Boyd heading the field by a comfortable margin and on his way to victory only to see the caution flag fall again on the last lap as Kittleson spun again in turn two.

Boyd easily led the final circuit to claim the win over steady Rusty Ebersole, the current Speedworld SLM point leader who was driving Mike Garrett's Garrett Fasting Systems Ford Taurus. Jacob Warren held on for third spot followed by Jared Allison and Eddie King. David Hart, Mike Murphy, Ronnie Roach, Kittleson, and Robert Hight rounded out the top ten. Nearly all of the drivers donated all or a part of their winnings to the Pete Orr fund as did many of the drivers in the support classes.

The Legends cars made their first appearance at Speedworld in some time and several drivers probably wished they'd stayed home. On the initial start, Rich Morlan tagged the turn one wall hard and he was out of the running. Following the restart, David Tart and Kenny Curley were involved in a horrifying crash coming out of turn four which sent Tart's racer head-on into the concrete.

Tart's car was completely destroyed, but he managed to walk away from the wreckage athough he was later treated in the pits by Orange County Fire Rescue for a possible ankle injury. Curley's car was also badly damaged but he emerged from his machine unhurt. Once the 15 lap race got underway it was a green to checker affair with Legends veteran Andy Logan claiming the win over Scott Seither, Jason Reisman, Tim Bagnall, and James Rodriguez.

There was also a nasty crash in the Sportsman feature when Angelo Arcure spun in turn two and hit the car of Bill Hall. Arcure's car came to rest facing traffic and was hit head-on at full speed by newcomer Jake Sullivan. All three drivers involved luckily escaped injury but were done for the night.

Doug Samion went on to record his seventh Sportsman win of the year holding off his arch-rival Bill Loomis at the stripe. Rick Johns drove the Dick Owens machine for the first time this year and drove to a hard-fought third place ahead of Kelly Jarrett and Brett Bultemier.

Making only his second start here, Tom Clark had his way with the Mini Stock division taking a relatively easy win. Rex "Boneman" Hollinger came home second trailed by Jeff Davis, Tim Clark and Tony Elrod. Tom Clark and Davis won the heats.

Carl Peters used his patented outside line to take the lead and the win in the Super Stocks outrunning John Hodge, Big Bob Wines, Bob Beiler, and John Q. Smith. Peters and Jeff wright won the heats. David Smith led all the way to capture the Strictly Stock feature. Brian Anderson, Michael Seay, John Stevens and Vernon Ward completed the top five.

RESULTS FROM ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 10/5/01:

SUPER LATE MODEL PETE ORR BENEFIT (50 Laps):
1. Jason Boyd #115
2. Rusty Ebersole #47
3. Jacob Warren #51
4. Jared Allison #18
5. Eddie King #16
6. David Hart #5
7. Mike Murphy #26
8. Ronnie Roach #14
9. Travis Kittleson #88
10. Robert Hight #13
11. Matt Griffin #7
12. Don Fenn #72
13. Justin Drawdy #30RR
14. Russ Thomson #54
15. Mark Emberson #30
16. Mack Hanbury #45
17. Greg Brook #44
18. George Murphy #40S
19. Bill Pratt #51X
20. Larry Osteen #22

SPORTSMAN (15 Laps):
1. Doug Samion #04
2. Bill Loomis #17
3. Rick Johns #4
4. Kelly Jarrett #97
5. Brett Bultemier #2
6. Richard Hight #23
7. Trick Thomas #25
8. Justin Hall #44
9. Angelo Arcure #22
10. Bill Hall #7
11. Jake Sullivan #31

MINI STOCKS (15 Laps):
1. Tom Clark #99
2. Rex Hollinger #85
3. Jeff Davis #98
4. Tim Clark #15
5. Tony Elrod #70
6. Jamie Dixson #6
7. Tim McPhail #7
8. Dick Laszlo #07
9. Rae Williams #17
10. Chris Jones #20
11. Rose Dickerson #51
12. Randy Blakeslee #77
13. Brad Stevens #3
14. George Gorham, Jr. #07X
15. Jamie Mackie #69 (DNS)
16. Bobby Orr #30 (DNS)

SUPER STOCK (15 Laps):
1. Carl Peters #1
2. John Hodge #00
3. Bob Wines #7B
4. Bob Beiler #44
5. John Smith #34
6. Butch Pierce #36
7. Rick Johns #12X
8. Jeff Wright #50
9. Bill Loomis #67
10. Leonard Story #L3
11. Rob Watford #17
12. James Adams #3
13. Dean McGlothin #66
14. Lenny Crary #81
15. Warren Schurr #77
16. Ronnie Sutton #38

STRICTLY STOCKS (15 Laps):
1. David Smith #48
2. Brian Anderson #77
3. Michael Seay #0
4. John Stevens #74
5. Vernon Ward #6
6. Charlie Pitts #5S
7. Barry Parks #27
8. Rex Carr #100
9. Tim Walters, Jr. #69
10. Tim Edmondson #66
11. Roger Ladeau #10
12. Steve Hoerner #5

LEGENDS CARS (15 Laps):
1. Andy Logan #1
2. Scott Seither #00
3. Jason Reisman #25
4. Tim Bagnall #47
5. James Rodriguez #19
6. Ray Sasser #8
7. Jeff Johnson #99
8. Bruce Sasser #6
9. Ken Penta #76
10. David Hall #22
11. Bob Wilson #27
12. Kenny Curley #31
13. David Tart #3
14. Rich Morlan #68
15. Sam Whiting #30
16. Dale Horne #20

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