Sunday, September 28, 2003 David Rogers Comes home the Victor in FASCAR Sunbelt Super Late Model Race at New Smyrna Speedway by Jane Smith Samsula, Fla (September 27, 2003) It seemed that rain was all around New Smyrna Speedway Saturday but the skies and Mother Nature were kind and never let one drop of rain come down to spoil the program. Dick Anderson of Wildwood qualified fastest out of the twenty three Super Late Models. Anderson ran a 18.101 second lap with Aric Almirola at 18.202, David Rogers at 18.204, B.J. McLeod at 18.222 and Jacob Warren at 18.243. In tech, Anderson was disqualified putting Almirola on the pole. After the No. 9 pill was drawn, it was Eric Black of Vero Beach on the pole for the 125 lap event. The cars were lined up on the frontstretch as the drivers were introduced to the crowd. Fans were excited to see some of the best Super Late Model drivers in the state in the field. As the parade laps twindled down, the crowd stood and waved to the drivers. The green flag waved with Eric Black quickly jumping to the lead over Wayne Anderson, David Froelich, Bruce Lawrence, Sr., and Justin Drawdy. Dick Anderson joined the field late and never did really catch up and pulled off the track on lap 4. Just as Anderson pulled off, Barry Willoughby found his car very loose and going into a spin coming off turn 2. Jay Middleton and Fain Skinner both were involved. Middleton and Skinner were able to make repairs but Willoughby retired from the race. Lap 7 the race went back green with Black, Froelich, Lawrence, Sr., Drawdy and Almirola in the top five. On lap 9, Wayne Anderson retired from the race. Jonny Kay brought out the next caution on lap 11 when he spun coming down the backstretch. The field was realigned with Kay at the rear and goes back green on lap 14. Just as Almirola and Drawdy are going neck-in-neck for the fourth place position, Froelich takes the lead from Black with Black moving back to second. The yellow is thrown for Patrick Williams who has spun. Lap 24 sees the restart with new leader Froelich, Black, Almirola, Lawrence, Sr., and Rogers. By lap 29, Almirola has moved past Black for second with Rogers passing Lawrence, Sr., for fourth. Now it is Froelich, Almirola, Black, Rogers, and Lawrence, Sr. On lap 34, Jamie Skinner brought out the caution as he spun. Lap 37 sees the restart with Froelich and Almirola going side by side for the lead. On lap 39, coming off turn 4, a number of cars spin avoiding a spun car. Mac Johnson, Jonny Kay, Jacob Warren and Wayne Parker are all involved. All were able to continue except for Parker who had to be towed back to the upper pits and Kay who retired to the pits. By lap 48, the track was cleared and it was back to green flag racing with new leader Almirola, Froelich, Rogers, Black and Lawrence, Sr. in the top five. B.J. McLeod, who had a top running car, retires from the race with a broken trailing arm. In the meantime, Froelich has his hands full of Rogers who is looking to take away the second spot. After doing some great side-by-side action around the track, Rogers takes the spot putting Froelich third. In the meantime, back in the field, Powell, Good and Finney are doing some great racing of their own as they all run in the top ten. Robert Jenkins brought out the caution on lap 60 when he spun at the bottom of turn 4 and was temporarily stuck in the mud. Jenkins was towed out and continued racing. The race restarted on lap 65 with Almirola, Rogers, Froelich, Black and James Powell. On lap 68, Lawrence, Sr., and Brian Finney are doing some dancing as they go side-by-side for the seventh position. Finney finally takes the spot with Lawrence sliding to eighth. Michael Williams, who never seemed to get his car where he wanted, retired from the race on lap 80 with Robert Jenkins retiring on lap 87. Jenkins, who has probably the oldest Super Late Model in the field, ran a very good race and did a great job. Lap 89 sees the "red" flag come out as Mac Johnson and Jacob Warren get together in turns 1 and 2. Both drivers are fine but with fluid all over the track, the race had to be red flagged for the clean up. James Powell retires from the race at this point. The race goes back green on lap 90 with Almirola, Rogers, Froelich, Black and Good in the top five. Good finds his hands full of Finney who is trying for the fifth place spot. Coming down the backstretch, Finney goes under for the pass as Good gets loose and hits Finney. The race is "red" flagged once again as Finney's car wheel has gone into Good's window. Both drivers were fine and once again, the field was cleared. Lap 94 sees the restart and the yellow as Bruce Lawrence, Sr. spins coming down the frontstretch on the green. A fender is seen flying into the fence but no one was hurt. One more try at a restart on lap 94 goes good as Almirola still holds the point. By lap 102, eight cars out of the 23 car field are left on the track. Almirola now finds his hands full of Rogers on his rear. It is very hard to hold back Rogers but Almirola does a valiant job until lap 117 when Rogers is finally able to pass Almirola and Almirola has worn out his car protecting his lead. Rogers holds the point and takes the checkered followed by Aric Almirola, David Froelich, Eric Black and Jay Middleton. In Victory Circle, Rogers tells the standing crowd, "It has been a long time since I won a Sunbelt race. This feels great. My car was never good as Aric's and I knew if I was going to pass him, he would have to slip up just a little." Almirola told the crowd, "David is hard to beat but we had a good car. But the car started to go away on me and I started to go away on me since I have been fighting the flu all week. But it was a good race." The next race for the Sunbelt Super Late Models will be October 18 at USA International in Lakeland. Billy Spade had the pole for the Sportsman 20 lap feature but before a lap was down, Bruce McGonegal brought out the yellow as he was smoking badly. McGonegal retired to the pits and the race was restarted. Spade quickly jumped to the lead on the green followed by John Nusbaum, Jim Snyder, Ron Lufrcy and Dale Closuer. By lap 2, Clouser had moved into the third place position with Snyder fourth and Lufcy fifth. With no cautions, by lap 6 Clouser was now right on Spade's tail going for the lead. Spade tried to hold but eventually by lap 11, Clouser was able to pass Spade and take the point. Clouser holds on to the lead and takes the checkered followed by Billy Spade, Ron Lufcy, Jim Snyder, and John Nusbaum. Jack Lenzen had the pole for the Super Stock feature and quickly took the lead. But on lap 2, Lenzen loses a tire coming down the frontstretch bringing out the caution. On the restart, it is new leader Jeff Colburn, Charlie Collins, Mike Amato, Dustin Skinner, and Billy Cuddy in the top five. Skinner puts the pedal to the metal and passes Amato and Collins taking over the second place. On lap 5, Skinner brushes the turn 4 wall but continues falling back to third. On lap 8, Collins blows yet another engine which brings out the caution. On the restart it is Collins, Skinner, Cuddy, Wronkowski, and Amato. Cuddy goes backwards as Wronkowski takes over third, Amato fourth and Mike Soukup in fifth. Lap 12 Skinner spins hitting the frontstretch wall. Amato hits Skinner as he comes down the frontstretch and both cars are done. Not a good night for Super Stocks. Colburn holds the point on the restart followed by Wronkowski, Soukup, Chuck Smith and Ron Whaley. One more caution would damped the green flag laps as Jason Foster blows his engine on lap 16. The race restarts with Colburn holding the point and taking the checkered followed by Josh Wronkowski, Mike Soukup, Chuck Smith and Ron Whaley. The Classic Auto Racing Series saw Ben Booth on the pole for their feature event. But it was Jim Rahman who took the lead on the green and lead from green to checkered. Following Rahman on the green was Patrick Sanders, Ben Booth, Bill Posey and Joey Strehle. By lap 2, Al Hagan had taken over fifth from Strehle. Lap 3 saw the caution come out for Ben Booth and Patrick Sanders who spun at the top of turn 4. The race was restarted as Rahman held the point followed by Posey, Hagan, Strehle, and Daryl Grief. But before a lap was down, Sanders brought out the caution again for a spin on the backstretch. Rahman holds the point on the restart followed by Posey, Hagan, Grief, and Strehle. Lap 7, Grief tried to take over third from Hagan but Hagan holds strong and Grief remains fourth. On lap 9, Booth comes back into the top five taking over fifth from Strehle. Lap 17, Booth moves to fourth with Grief sliding to fifth. One lap later, lap 18, Rahman has got his hands full of Posey who is looking high-low, sideways to pass Rahman. But Rahman holds strong and does not give Posey any room and maintains the point. Booth moves to fourth with Wayne Ashton taking over fifth. Rahman holds strong although Posey gave him a good workout and takes the checkered followed by Bill Posey, Al Hagan, Wayne Ashton, and Ben Booth. Rob Underwood lead the Open Wheel Modified division from green to checkered for their feature event. Longtime racer Jimmy Winks returned to the wheel of the No. 2x and fans were happy to see him driving once again. Underwood quickly took the point on the green followed by Mark Vandevender, Randy Moxley, Jimmy Winks and Bobby Blake. Lap 1 saw the caution come out for Red Vann and David Labeau who spun at the top of turns 1 and 2. Underwood holds the point on the restart followed by Vandevender, Winks, Blake and Moxley. Van has now worked his way back into the top five taking over fifth from Moxley. Slowly Vann begins to make his journey to the front of the pack taking over fourth and then third. By lap 9, it is Underwood, Vandevender, Vann, Winks, and Blake. Lap 13 sees Blake pass Winks taking over fourth with Winks sliding back to fifth. On lap 16, Ricky Moxley and Dan Wheeler are going side-by-side as they race sixth and seventh. Moxley spins coming down the frontstretch bringing out the yellow. On the last restart, Underwood holds the point with Vandevender, Vann, Blake, and Winks in the top five. But Vann passes Vandevender and takes over second sliding Vandevender to third. Underwood takes the checkered followed by Red Vann, Mark Vandevender, Bobby Blake and Jimmy Winks. Both Underwood and Vann were teched and both were found legal. Farris Crews had the pole for the Strictly Stock feature and quickly jumped to the lead followed by Roger Ladieu, Theresa Trombley, Tim Edmundon, and Eric Hodge. With no cautions in their race, it was a door-to-door battle from beginning to end. Crews was able to lead for most of the race but working his way up front on the outside was Eric Hodge. Hodge eventually was able to work his way to the front along with Tim Edmundson taking over second. Crews slide back to third. Hodge took the checkered followed by Tim Edmundson, Farris Crews, Roger Ladieu, and Theresa Trombley. In tech, Hodge was disqualified giving the win to Tim Edmundson followed by Farris Crews, Roger Ladieu, Theresa Trombley, and Scott Sharrell. Next weekend at New Smyrna Speedway - MONSTER TRUCKS. OFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS Sunbelt Super Late Model 125 Lap 1. #11 David Rogers, Orlando, Florida 2. #14 Aric Almirola, Tampa, Florida 3. #22 David Froelich, Loxahatchee, Florida 4. #10 Eric Black, Vero Beach, Florida 5. #74J Jay Middleton, Lake City, Florida 6. #7 Jamie Skinner 7. #57 Patrick Williams, Archer, Florida 8. #16 Bruce Lawrence, Sr., Sorento, Florida 9. #27 Mike Good, Lake Mary, Florida 10. #80 Brian Finney, Merritt Island, Florida 11. #37 James Powell, III, Astor, Florida 12. #6 Mac Johnson, Gainesville, Florida 13. #51 Jacob Warren, Orlando, Florida 14. #17 Robert Jenkins 15. #40 Michael Williams, Mims 16. #12 Justin Drawdy, Ft. Pierce, Florida 17. #78 B.J. McLeod, Wauchula, Florida 18. #3 Wayne Parker, Mt. Dora, Florida 19. #48 Jonny Kay, Deerfield Beach, Florida 20. #1 Fain Skinner, Live Oaks, Florida 21. #84 Wayne Anderson, Wildwood, Florida 22. #74 Barry Willoughby, Port St. Lucie, Florida 23. #92 Dick Anderson, Wildwood, Florida OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS 1. #09 Rob Underwood 2. #32 Red Vann 3. #7 Mark Vandevender 4. #75 Bobby Blake 5. #2x Jimmy Winks 6. #97 Dan Wheeler 7. #38 Ricky Moxley 8. #20 Ed Kuhel 9. #8 Sean Price 10. #16 David Labeau SPORTSMAN 1. #30 Dale Clouser 2. #15x Billy Spade 3. #07 Ron Lufcy 4. #55 Jim Snyder 5. #70 John Nusbaum 6. #64 Chris Peludat 7. #75 Scott Stone 8. #51 Ed Kennedy 9. #6 Bruce McGonegal CLASSIC AUTO RACING SERIES 1. #5 Jim Rahman 2. #00 Bill Posey 3. #6 Al Hagan 4. #78 Wayne Ashton 5. #12 Ben Booth 6. #x11 Joey Strehle 7. #88 Tim Ousley 8. #9 George Hall III 9. #31 Bud Spencer 10. #1 Daryl Grief 11. #32 George Hall, Sr. 12. #8 Patrick Sanders SUPER STOCK 1. #3 Jeff Colburn 2. #21 Josh Wronkowski 3. #45 Mike Soukup 4. #01x Chuck Smith 5. #2 Ron Whaley 6. #49 Jason Foster 7. #50x Dustin Skinner 8. #2x Mike Amato 9. #64 Billy Cuddy 10. #17 Sean Bass 11. #23 Charlie Collins 12. #50 Robert Skinner 13. #211 Jack Lenzen 14. #59 John Kunsbeck STRICTLY STOCK 1. #66 Tim Edmundson 2. #8x Farris Crews 3. #10 Roger Ladieu 4. #8 Theresa Trombley 5. #73b Scott Sharrell 6. #73G Jose Riveria 8. #21 9. #00 Eric Hodge - DQ'D Have an opinion on this story? 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