by Dave Westerman

The final race of the FASCAR Pro Modified Tour turned out to be a good one Friday night at Orlando Speedworld with Jerry "the Hammer" Symons making a late-race move to secure the victory in his Kelly Roofing special. Twenty-three modifieds were on hand for the event with Tampa's Aric Almirola setting fast time and earning the pole for the 35-lapper.

Almirola jumped to the lead at the drop of the green only to see Symons quickly squeeze past for the top spot. That lead was short-lived as a caution came out for a turn one multi-car tangle. With the line-up reverting back to the last completed lap, Almirola was back out front and he made no mistakes on the restart as Symons tried every trick in his arsenal to pass the young driver who plans to move up to the Sunbelt Super Late Models next year.

Symons had the faster car, but Almirola was doing a great job battling a loose race car and holding Symons at bay until they came upon lapped traffic. Almirola drifted high in turn four and Symons dove through the middle to grab the lead with five laps to go. Symons easily led the remaining distance with Almirola holding off a late charge from Jason Boyd to get second. Boyd was third with Junior Purcell, making his first start here in some time driving a rather interesting-looking new machine, fourth and Andy Safiotti fifth. Mike Fitch, Scott Millar, Frank Polly, Tom Root, and Rob Underwood rounded out the top ten.

Rusty Ebersole wrapped up his 2001 Super Late Model championship in style by dominating the 25-lapper for the Super Late Models. Ebersole grabbed the lead from Scott Reeves on lap seven and never looked back for his fifth win of the season in Mike Garrett's potent Garrett Fasting Systems Ford Taurus.

Kenny Crites finished a distant second followed by Russ Thomson, Mike Good and Matt Griffin. Reeves had problems and dropped out late in the race after a good run.

Bobby Orr drove the Ugly Duckling Car Sales/Alafaya Automotive machine to his second consecutive Mini Stock win in impressive style. Starting 16th in an 18 car field, the 15-year-old methodically picked his way to the front. When early leaders Tim Clark and Trisha Gray tangled while battling for the lead, Orr found himself in second and quickly worked his way around Bo Davis for the top spot on the restart and was never headed from that point. Mini-Stock point champion Tim "Missileman" McPhail took up the chase but had to settle for second. Davis was third ahead of Dick Laszlo and Randy Blakeslee.

Duane Freed stayed out front all the way to capture his third Super Stock win of the year. Being in front was the place to be as there was plenty of action behind him with numerous spins and crashes eliminating much of the field.

Rick Johns used his many years of Speedworld experience to slice & dice his way back to second after some early problems followed by John Hodge, Carl Peters, and Tim Russell who made a nice run from 17th on the grid to fifth. 2001 point champion Big Bob Wines could do no better than tenth on this night.

A determined Kelly Jarrett held off Bill Loomis at the line to win the Sportsman finale for just his second win of the year. Chuck Abell was the only other car to finish with Craig Seawald and Bruce Gayton credited with fourth and fifth after dropping out late in the going. 2001 Sportsman title holder Doug Samion chose to sit out the evening while undergoing training for next week's school bus figure-8 race.

David Smith won his third Strictly Stock race of the year, easily outdistancing Charlie Pitts, 14-year-old Michael Seay, John Stevens and Jim Leslie.

Jason Reisman topped Scott Seither, Jeff Johnson, James Rodriguez, and Gary Tinker to win the Florida Legends feature.

Orlando Speedworld wraps up the 2001 season next week with Crasharama!! Featured will be a school bus figure-8 race, camper-trailer race, boat and trailer race, the Chitwood Thrill Show, two demo derbies, plus the Southern Championship for the South 40 Motorsports Classic Auto Racing Series, and action with the Florida Dwarf Car Series. Grandstand gates open at 6PM with racing and all the wacky stuff starting at 8PM.

RESULTS - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD (11/16/01):


FASCAR PRO MODIFIED TOUR (35 Laps):
1. Jerry Symons #66
2. Aric Almirola #14
3. Jason Boyd #2X
4. Junior Purcell #1C
5. Andy Safiotti #1B
6. Mike Fitch #1
7. Scott Millar #20
8. Frank Polly #34
9. Tom Root #19
10. Rob Underwood #09
11. Jimmy Wilkens #1X
12. Tank Tucker #15
13. Jim "Hoot" Flynn #57
14. John Clark #4
15. Donald Slappey #91
16. Justin Henderson #16
17. Tim Dyson #22
18. Bobby Blake #00
19. Dink Sullivan #12
20. John Bennett #721
21. Shane Held #55
22. Ted Head #92
23. Wayne Parker #3 (DNS)


SUPER LATE MODEL (25 Laps):
1. Rusty Ebersole #47
2. Kenny Crites #1
3. Russ Thomson #54
4. Mike Good #27
5. Matt Griffin #7
6. Don Fenn #72
7. Scott Reeves #72


MINI STOCK (15 Laps):
1. Bobby Orr #30
2. Tim McPhail #7
3. Bo Davis #67
4. Dick Laszlo #07
5. Randy Blakeslee #77
6. Jim Ervin #0
7. Jamie Dixson #6
8. Rose Dickerson #51
9. Tim Clark #15
10. Derrick Reeves #11
11. Chris Jones #20
12. Trisha Gray #8
13. Kirby Sisk #37
14. Rae Williams #17
15. Rex Hollinger #85
16. Rick Tumey #55
17. Jeff Davis #98
18. Tom Rose #43


SUPER STOCK (15 Laps):
1. Duane Freed #11
2. Rick Johns #12X
3. John Hodge #00
4. Carl Peters #1
5. Tim Russell #36
6. Warren Schurr #77
7. Charles Fry #3
8. Homer Gordon #22
9. Cory Freed #12
10. Bob Wines #7B
11. Jeff Wright #50
12. Rich Clouser #17
13. Bobby Simcox #92
14. Bob Beiler #44
15. Lenny Crary #81
16. Ronnie Sutton #38
17. Bill Loomis #67 (DQ)


SPORTSMAN (15 Laps):
1. Kelly Jarrett #97
2. Bill Loomis #17
3. Chuck Abell #7W
4. Craig Seawald #44
5. Bruce Gayton #93
6. Bill Hall #7
7. Justin Hall #44B


FLORIDA LEGENDS (15 Laps):
1. Jason Reisman #25
2. Scott Seither #00
3. Jeff Johnson #99
4. James Rodriguez #19
5. Gary Tinker #49
6. Jim Smith #27
7. Greg Montgomery #97


STRICTLY STOCK (10 Laps):
1. David Smith #48
2. Charlie Pitts #5
3. Michael Seay #0
4. John Stevens #74
5. Jim Leslie #45
6. Tim Edmondson #66
7. Barry Parks #27
8. Ken Marshall #24
9. Paul Hudson #08

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