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| Boyd First to Worst to First in FASCAR Goodyear Challenge at SpeedWorld | by Dave Westerman
It was one of those story book nights at Orlando Speedworld as young Orlando driver Jason Boyd put on an incredible show for the fans in winning the season-opening race for the Goodyear Challenge Series for Late Models presented by Racecar Engineering of Lakeland.
Thirty-three Goodyear Challenge machines made the trek to Orlando for the100 lap event with engine problems side-lining both Martin Pierce and Glenn Morris before qualifying.
Pierce's sponsor, BBM Clearing and Grading, had put up $200 to the fast qualifier and that appeared to be Jason Boyd with a blistering lap of 13.703 seconds. However, Boyd's car came up light on the left side weight and his time was disallowed, forcing him to start dead last in the field of 31.
That meant the cash went to defending Goodyear Challenge Series Champion Jerry Artuso of Sault St. Marie, Ontario whose 13.769 became quick time closely followed by Joe Winchell at 13.834 and Rich Clouser at 13.873.
Artuso pulled a seven pill for his starting spot while Doug Samion and Tate Pierce drew the pole spots. However, everyone was wondering if Jason Boyd could make his way to the front from last on the grid, especially with the quality of cars in the field.
Samion put his Trane/Rinaldi's Air Conditioning Chevy out front at the drop of the green. For much of the race though, the drivers would see plenty of yellow and red.
The first caution was out early on lap two as Tony Amico slapped the turn three wall. Amico's car was taken to the pits and he returned to the fray several laps later.
Samion was cruising pretty well out front when Titusville's Mark Stevenson hit the front stretch wall on lap 12 and came to a halt under the flag stand just as Samion was exiting turn four. Samion had to take evasive action and spun wildly into the infield.
Stevenson's car was a mess and left the race track a mess as well as the red flag was put out so track crews could clean things up. Samion was placed back in the lead as his spin was judged to have been due to missing Stevenson's crash.
As the field took the green, Jason Boyd had already passed half the field and was running 15th. Samion continued to build a lead as Michael Williams moved to third place on lap 17.
Caution was back out one lap later for a Kenny Hankins spin in turn two. On the restart, Charles Kopach and Wade Lynn locked horns in turn three to keep the yellow out.
Samion continued to set the pace but Williams was on the charge, taking second spot on lap 27 while Boyd had now made his way to tenth.
Bobby Newton brought out the caution yet again with a harmless spin in turn two on lap 29. Samion was now having to battle Williams for the top spot as Boyd charged into eighth just as Chuck Burkhalter and Sean Murphy tangled in turn two with Murphy's car taking a hard shot into the wall. Both cars went pit side.
Williams continued to put the pressure on Samion, finally taking the lead on lap 45 as Boyd climbed to 5th. Boyd made quick work of two more cars and was third by the halfway mark.
Kenny Hankins and Rich Cordis performed a double spin on the backstretch on lap 52 to bring out the caution, allowing Boyd to close in on Williams and second-running Samion.
On the restart, Tony Amico's night went from bad to very bad as he was on the back end of a restart "accordion" and he plowed into the back of Chuck Abell's machine. Amico's car suffered a smashed radiator and he was done for the night while Abell was "able" to continue.
The field restarted again on lap 58 with Boyd making quick work of Samion and moving to second spot and setting his sights on Williams. Joe Winchell got past Samion for third on lap 67 as Samion began to fade back in the field.
Boyd made a move to the low side of Williams and took the lead on lap 69 completing his drive from "worst to first." Nine laps later, Winchell ducked under Williams and took over second.
Caution was displayed on lap 80 as Joe Sumansky spun out of fourth place in turn one. On the ensuing restart, Steve Arnold and Kendrick Gomez tangled and hit the wall in turn one. Trailing close behind, Greg Kaouk and Jim Keating also got caught up in the action with Keating hitting the wall a ton. Although visibly shaken, Keating emerged from his car unscathed. All the others involved in the fracas were OK as well but only Kaouk was able to continue.
Boyd easily led the rest of the way to take a very popular win in his Tom Donnelly Plumbing sponsored Pontiac Grand Prix. "We sorta messed up the qualifying deal and I wasn't sure just what to expect starting so far back," said the winner. "I just can't believe how clean these guys ran me all race. I think I may have bumped into just one car the entire 100 laps. I want to thank my crew for giving me such an awesome race car," said Boyd.
"If he (Boyd) hadn't got by us in that traffic, I think it would have been a different story," said second place finisher Winchell. "I think we had a car capable of holding him off, but we'll take second and try to do better next time," he said.
Williams held on for third driving the Mike Murphy Motorsports Chevy with Rich Clouser driving a steady heads-up race to checker third in Bobby Sears' Advance Auto Parts Monte Carlo. Tate Pierce stayed in the lead pack all night and finally came home fifth with Jerry Artuso, Dewayne Bryan, Doug Samion, Steve Smith and Bobby Newton rounding out the top ten. Nineteen cars were running at the finish.
In other FASCAR racing action, it looked like Chad Pierce had the measure of the Modified field until he dropped out with a water leak on lap three.
George Murphy took over the lead, but couldn't hold off a high-flying Skip Honaker who motored to the front on lap nine and never looked back.
Honaker pulled away over the final laps with Murphy claiming the runner up spot over heat winner Mark Emberson, Ricky Wood and Dave Debelius.
When leaders Josh Hermann and R.J. Arnone tangled while battling for the lead,Sean "Weasel" Bass, driving a new car completed that afternoon, took over the top spot and led the remaining distance for the win.
Chad Ashley had another strong run finishing second. Arnone came back to checker third but was the victim of a DQ in tech moving rookie driver Stephen Simpson up to third followed by Dick Laszlo and Alli Owens.
Arnone won the Mini Stock Heat.
For the second week in a row, Earl "Junior" Beckner was the class of a strong field of Sportsman cars as he dominated in his Quality Auto Repair Chevrolet.
Beckner nabbed the lead from Bobby Joe Woodley on lap three and drove away from the field despite several caution flags that kept the cars bunched up behind him. Richard Hight managed to miss all the spins and crashes to take second with Ricky Wood third. Woodley came back from a spin to finish fourth ahead of Donnie Smith.
Beckner and Hight won the Sportsman heats.
Ron Whaley used a banzai move in turn one to secure the lead and picked up the Super Stock win after having been disappointed the week before. Corey Freed crossed the stripe in second with Andy Nichols, Bill Loomis, and Harley Gibbons trailing.
Heats for Super Stock were won by Ted Head and Bob Beiler.
Richie Laszlo picked up the Strictly Stock win in his Ford Fairmont.
Next Friday, the RE/MAX Legends make a special Friday night appearance along with Super Late Models, Modifieds, Mini Stocks, Sportsman, Super Stocks and Strictly Stocks.
RESULTS - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 3/19/03:
GOODYEAR CHALLENGE LATE MODELS (100 Laps):
1) Jason Boyd, Orlando #15
2) Joe Winchell, Davie #57
3) Michael Williams, Mims #26
4) Rich Clouser, Palm Bay #9
5) Tate Pierce, Zephyrhills #81
6) Jerry Artuso, Sault St. Marie, ONT #5
7) Dewayne Bryan, Lake Alfred #63
8) Doug Samion, Orlando #04
9) Steve Smith, Lakeland #28
10) Bobby Newton, Astatula #01
11) Greg Kaouk, Miami #31
12) Chuck Burkhalter, Groveland #1X
13) Tim Clark, Cocoa Beach #8
14) Wade Lynn, St. Augustine #21
15) Chuck Abell, Orlando #19
16) Dan Crowe, Lantana #926
17) Bill Ostriker, Ridge Manor #0
18) Charles Kopach, Clermont #81X
19) Steve Arnold, Cape Coral #119
20) Kendrick Gomez, Plantation #121
21) Jim Keating, Bonita Springs #105
22) Rob Kayse, Jr., Winter Springs #77X
23) Joe Sumansky, Lehigh #2X
24) Kenny Hankins, Lakeland #88
25) Rich Cordis, Royal Palm Beach #40X
26) Tony Amico, Clearwater #77
27) Sean Murphy, Ft. Lauderdale #32
28) Danny Esposito, Jr., Loxahatchee #40
29) Mark Stevenson, Titusville #21X
30) Troy Atkins, Orlando #14
31) A.J. Curreli, Daytona Beach #2 DNS Martin Pierce, Sanford #75 DNS Glenn Morris, Bonita Springs #100
MODIFIEDS (15 Laps):
1) Skip Honaker #2
2) George Murphy #40
3) Mark Emberson #34
4) Ricky Wood #81
5) Dave Debelius #38
6) Ken McCracken #56
7) Chad Pierce #51 DNS Wayne Heckle #9
MINI STOCKS (15 Laps):
1) Sean Bass #28
2) Chad Ashley #87
3) Stephen Simpson #07X
4) Dick Laszlo #07
5) Alli Owens #22
6) Michael Seay #10
7) John Cook #24
8) Matt Roller #72
9) Josh Hermann #98 DQ R.J. Arnone #30
SPORTSMAN (15 Laps):
1) Earl Beckner #3
2) Richard Hight #23
3) Ricky Wood #29
4) Bobby Joe Woodley #98
5) Donnie Smith #48
6) Glenn Castro #24
7) Bobby Owens #21
8) Donnie Seewald #47
9) Cory Kaiser #48K
10) Bill Hall #56
11) Justin Hall #50
12) Bruce Gayton #93
13) Joe Adams #62
14) Dennis Gilliam #40
15) Jeff Wright #50W
SUPER STOCKS (15 Laps):
1) Ron Whaley #2
2) Corey Freed #12
3) Andy Nichols #66
4) Bill Loomis #22
5) Harley Gibbons #17
6) Bob Beiler #44
7) Dave Wright #65
8) John Bennett #721
9) Ron Edwards #28
10) Robert Remus #16
11) Brian Soukup #52
12) Ted Head #92
13) James Frisbee #49
14) Bobby Riley #46
15) Roger Benton #14
16) Jay Poffinberger #52W
17) Mike Hendrix #71
STRICTLY STOCKS (6 Laps):
1) Richie Laszlo #07
2) Dallas Ingram #56
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