April 18, 2004 Durden Tops Penske Pro Modifieds At Orlando CLOSE RACING SPICES UP SPEEDWORLD EVENING By Dave Westerman Veteran driver Kevin Durden of Archer has hooked up with veteran driver/car owner Larry Martin and that combination proved a winning one Friday night at Orlando Speedworld as Durden led all the way to capture the Penske Racing Shocks United Pro Modified Tour race. Seventeen of the nineteen Pro Mods in attendance took time with Lee Collins of Felda the only driver to get into the thirteen second bracket at 13.992 seconds closely followed by Durden at 14.032 seconds and Alan McCafferty at 14.053. Engine problems kept Jerry "The Hammer" Symons from making a qualifying lap while J.F. McClellan's crew changed engines after problems in hot laps. Both drivers were forced to start from the rear of the talented field. The field started straight-up from qualifying but it was outside pole sitter Durden who got the jump on pole man Collins at the start. Durden set the pace but Collins was not happy running second and was putting the pressure on when the first caution flag of the race came out on lap seven as Rusty Perdue spun his car in turn two. Following the restart, Collins made a low side bid going into turn one but got down on the flat track apron where his car slid up into Durden's. Durden spun around as the field began to check up trying to miss him. Before all the smoke cleared, several cars had gotten together. George Murphy tagged the wall trying to miss the wreck and was done for the evening. Wayne Heckle suffered a flat tire and also headed to the pits while the cars of both John and Jeremy Gerstner along with Chad Pierce had damage but were able to continue although the back end of John Gerstner's car looked like it had been stepped on by the Jolly Green Giant. Tour officials determined Collins to be at fault and he was sent to the tail of the field for the restart while all other drivers able to continue were placed back in their positions including race leader Durden. Green flag racing was the order after the restart as Durden and John Gerstener now set the pace with officials keeping a close eye on the damage to Gerstner's machine which had a lot of sheet metal flapping in the breeze. It was pretty much nose to tail racing until Alan McCafferty zipped into third spot on lap 19. Two laps later Chad Pierce and Jeremy Gerstner got together going into turn four with Pierce spinning to bring out the caution. Durden continued to hold the point with John Gerstner and McCafferty in tow. as the field was taking the white flag, Jeremy Gerstner and Rusty Perdue touched coming off turn two. Perdue's car broke loose then hit the backstretch wall backwards and slid into the pit road divider. The water barrel at the divider did its job as Perdue was able to scramble out of his car unhurt. However, the upset driver then threw his helmet at Gerstner as he drove past. Tour officials immediately confiscated the helmet while Perdue and his crew were told to load up their car and leave the premises during the clean-up from the incident to prevent any after-race altercations. Perdue was also disqualified receiving no money or points for the race. After about a 15 minute delay to dry off the track from the broken water barrel, action resumed for one final lap. Durden was up to the test and took the win by a car length over John Gerstner. McCafferty took third spot with fellow Clermont driver Alan Bruns getting his best Pro Modified finish ever taking fourth and holding off a determined Jerry Symons in the process as Symons settled for fifth. Lee Collins came back from his early penalty to take sixth while J.F. McClellan, Mark Emberson, Doc McKinney and Jeremy Gerstner rounded out the top ten. PENSKE RACING SHOCKS PRO MODIFIED TOUR (50 Laps): 1) Kevin Durden #0 2) John Gerstner #77 3) Alan McCafferty #32M 4) Alan Bruns #4B 5) Jerry Symons #66 6) Lee Collins #89 7) J.F. McClellan #01 8) Mark Emberson #34 9) Doc McKinney #31 10) Jeremy Gerstner #70 11) Kevin Terry #13 12) Chad Pierce #51 13) Ricky Moxley #38 14) Ron "Blackie" Blackard #4 15) Wayne Heckle #9 16) George Murphy #40 17) Jimmy Crowe, Jr. #89C 18) Brad May #00 DQ Rusty Perdue #131 Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!