| Bobby Beauchemin Wins SARA Opener at Sunshine | by Jane Smith
 Bobby Beauchemin was the 2000 SARA Late Model Sportsmen Champion, in 2001, he is the winner of the first race of the season. Thirty Late Models came to a very warm, windy Sunshine Speedway to try their hand at winning the first race of the year.
Scott Hawkins, the SARA announcer, said that out of the thirty cars there, twenty eight would race. So a consi race of fourteen cars was run and eight of those would go into the main race. But after the beat and bang consi race, there were not even 8 cars left to go into the main race. Brad Barkis, Tommy Younkman were among the drivers that raced their way into the main.
After the consi race and a few local races, Sunshine paid a very nice tribute to Dale Earnhardts. Fans had their Earnhardts shirts and hats and some of the racers had the #3 on their cars. Garth Brooks's The Dance and Amazing Grace paid tribute to the driver who has touched so many hearts in the last two weeks since his death.
The drivers, twenty six, were introduced to the fans and it was finally time to race. Jason Crossey, in the #l7 car, set fast time and had the pole. But on the first lap, Jason Boyd jumepd out in front and took the lead. Boyd kept the lead caution after caution until he and Beauchemin battled a little too hard and Boyd turned Beauchemin and was sent to the back. Boyd tried to get back up to the lead but was taken out of the race by an overheating, steaming car.
This left Beauchemin and Michael Faulk, Rookie of the Year for 2000, battling for first with Wayne Morris trying to take second from Faulk. This made the race extremely exciting and at one point Faulk made a very gutsy move and tried to go under Beauchemin for the lead and almost had it but just not quite.
Chris Lawrence, the #63 machine, had fourth place for most of the race but was either turned around or turned around all on his own and was sent to the back. Lawrence literally was "flapping in the wind" as the right hand side of his car was flapping.
Beauchemin held on even with Faulk knocking on his rear door constantly and Faulk held on with Morris on his rear door. A very good race and nice season opener. And, all cars passed tech.
As this was my first visit to Sunshine Speedway, and some very good friends got me there, I found everyone very friendly to us. They had good car counts and fans in the stands and most importantly, they had nice bathrooms in the pits. All in all, except for the 3 hour drive, we had a great time.
Thanks Sunshine.
Jane Smith
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