May 15, 2005 Choquette tops Super Late Model, Curreli takes Late Model Win at New Smyrna Speedway by Jane Smith Samsula, Fla. (May 15, 2005) If you stayed home to watch the NASCAR race on tv, you missed some great racing action Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway. The asphalt was HOT and the night air was perfect. The Late Model feature saw Allie Owens on the pole and taking the lead followed by Mark Smith, David Gibbs, Jeremy Fitch and A.J. Curreli. But it was a short green as Gibbs spins in turn 4 bringing out the yellow. Gibbs goes in and come back out but the car is just not right and he retires it to the pits. Owens holds the point on the restart followed by Jeremy Fitch, A.J. Curreli, Robert Andercheck, and Mark Smith. Curreli passes Fitch for second and begins to reel in Owens for first. Curreli finally makes the pass with Owens stuck on the outside and sliding backwards. Owens settles into fifth as Curreli leads the way over Fitch, Andercheck, and Mike Murphy. Robert Andercheck brings out the next yellow as he spins in turns 1 and 2. The race goes back green with Curreli, Mike Murphy, Fitch, Owens and Rusty Ebersole in the top five. Murphy gives a good try to pass Curreli but Curreli is having nothing to do with it and holds strong. Alan Bruns takes over fifth from Ebersole as Ebersole seems to slow alittle. After feeling the hard walls of New Smyrna Speedway too many times, A.J. Curreli takes the checkered followed by Mike Murphy, Jeremy Fitch, Alli Owens and Alan Bruns. David Gibbs and A.J. Curreli took the heat wins. In the Late Model feature were a few new cars that we have not seen this year - Charlie Vest in his new #44 VCR Late Model, Alan Bruns in his #4b Late Model, Alan Davis in his #82 Late Model and Michael Weaver in his white #11 Late Model. Also there but not being able to race was Phillip Bessette #17 who had mechanical problems and was unable to start. Super Stocks were out in force as Ron Whaley had the pole for their feature event. But it was not a good start as George Spears took flight on the first lap going down the frontstretch as the cars went three wide. Spears settled against the frontstretch pit wall as Jason Foster tried to avoid the mess by going off the track and into the grass but skidding into Spears. Spears was not hurt and Foster was able to rejoin the field after a quick pit stop. The race goes back green with Whaley on the point followed by Josh Wronkowski, Faris Crews, Jonathan Rowe, and JT Tippins. Whaley and Wronkowski are doing a lot of side-by-side action for first with each inching in front of the other but Whaley finally take the point. Foster moves into third as James Adams shows his power and moves into fifth as Crews holds on to fourth. Whaley and Wronkowski continue their battle for first as Pat Buckley now moves into the top five in fourth followed by Adams in fifth. Foster lays back and watches as the top front runners do battle. The caution comes out for Bill Wingate who has spun in turns 3 and 4. On the restart, Whaley and Wronkowski are battling hard as they touch going into turns 1 and 2 and Whaley spinning in front of the charging pack. Both cars are sent to the rear of the field for the restart turning the lead over to Foster followed by Buckley, Adams, Crews and Rowe. Wronkowski and Whaley take no time coming from the rear as Foster takes the checkered for the win. Following Foster to the checkered was Pat Buckley, James Adams, Ron Whaley and Josh Wronkowski. Ron Whaley and Josh Wronkowski won the heat races. Mike Soukup had the pole for the Sportsman feature and quickly took the point on the green followed by John Nusbaum, Ken Lewton, Ron Lufcy, and Dale Clouser. Lewton falls back as Lufcy takes over third followed by Clouser in fourth and Brian Dula in fifth. Clouser puts the heat on Lufcy and takes over third and then passes Nusbaum for second as Donny Williams moves into the top five in fifth. Soukup does a great job of holding the point but eventually has to give way to Clouser who takes over first as Soukup settles into second. Donny Williams is now putting the heat on and passes Lufcy and Soukup and takes over second trying to reel in Clouser in first. With only one caution for a car that spun on the backstretch, Clouser is able to hold tight on the restart as he and Williams go side-by-side for first. Clouser takes the checkered followed closely by Donny Williams, Mike Soukup, Mark Peterson, and Ron Lufcy. Donny Williams and Dale Clouser took the heat wins. In tech, Clouser was protested but found to be completely legal. Don't forget, May 28 will be the first 100 lap event for the Sportsman and if Saturday night was any indication for the 100 lapper, fans will see plenty of action that night. The Super Late Model field may have been alittle short on car count but the racing action on the track was hot. Corey Choquette, younger brother of Jeff Choquette, made his debut in the #25 Super Late Model and did a great job for never having raced at New Smyrna and only his second Super Late Model event. Dave Riley also had his new Super Late at New Smyrna but had to withdraw from the heat and feature as he is still working out the bugs on his car. Jeff Choquette, who won Friday night at Orlando SpeedWorld, was on the pole for the feature event and quickly took the lead over David Rogers, Joe Fitos, Corey Choquette, Dalton Zehr, and Steve Airnger. The caution came out for Dalton Zehr who spun in turns 1 and 2 but was able to continue. Choquette holds the point on the restart in spite of Rogers right on his tail. Choquette and Rogers give the crowd some great action as they battle for the point. But Choquette did not waiver and held his position. As the laps were counting down, young Corey Choquette gets loose coming off 4 and spins coming down the frontstrech and hits the inside pit wall hard. Corey is fine but shaken and is checked out by the EMTs. Brother Jeff is making sure his young brother is okay and he goes by the wrecked car but sees that Corey is fine. Choquette holds the point on the restart and holds off David Rogers for the checkered. Following Jeff to the checkered was David Rogers, Joe Fitos (great having Joe back again), Dalton Zehr, and Steve Airnger. Jeff Choquette won the heat race. Jeffrey Shimmel had the pole for the Strictly Stock feature but before a lap was even in, Maureen Dahm and Chris Ridley spin in turns 3 and 4. Both are able to continue as Greg Dame takes over the point followed by Tammy Closuer, Jose Rivera, Ray Tanquay, and Steve SantoPietro. Dame takes the checkered followed by Tammy Clouser, Jose Rivera, Ray Tanquay, and Steve SantoPietro. Greg Dame took the heat win. Ron Karto had the pole for the Mini Stock feature but it was newly wed Ben Cutler Jr. who took the point over Ted Vulpius, David Castello, Karto, and Chad Carpenter. Carpenter passes Karto for fourth as Karto slides back and Pat Wells takes over fifth. Cutler and Vulpius are doing some hard side-by-side action for first as they touch putting Cutler into the frontstretch wall. Cutler is fine but done for the night and Vulpius is put to the rear of the field. Suddenly on the backstretch while under caution, David Castello has problems with the #34 and has to be pushed into the pits also done for the night. The field is realigned and goes back to green with Chad Carpenter the new leader followed by Pat Wells, Ron Karto, Rick Tumey, and Ted Vulpius. Wells passes Carpenter and takes over the lead but going down the frontstretch something breaks on Carpenter's car sending him into the frontstrech wall. Carpenter is fine but is also done for the night. Wells holds the point on the restart followed by Karto, Vulpius, Tumey, and newcomer Cody Blair. Vulpius puts the pressure on Wells as passes for first. Vulpius takes the checkered for the win followed by Pat Wells, Ron Karto, Rick Tumey, and Cody Blain. Ben Cutler took the heat win. Prayers go out to the Vulpius family who lost Melanie Vulpius's grandfather last weekend. Grandpa was 84 and lived a good life but we extend our sympathy to the Vulpius family. Modifieds saw only one caution in their 15 lap feature for track conditions. So this made for a action packed feature. Mike Dahm had the pole for the feature but it took no time for Bobby Blake, who was wheeling the #2x, to take the lead followed by Tank Tucker, Art Kunzeman, Alan Bruns, and George Murphy. Blake, who ran the #2x a few years back, tried but could not hold off Tank Tucker from taking over the lead. Tucker was on rails and hard to beat. Tucker took the checkered for his second win in 2005 followed by Bobby Blake, George Murphy (his first appearance this season), Alan Bruns and Jared Allison. Jared Allison took the heat win. The first Spectator race saw only 3 cars, two trucks and one Mustang. But the fans seems to really enjoy the hot action of spectator cars. Winning the first Spectator race of 2005 was Jason Trocki, who is a member of the Alan Bruns race team, Joe Pirtle, and Habeb One wheeled by non other than Donnie Nerone. Good job guys. OFFICIAL RESULTS NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY - MAY 14 SUPER LATE MODEL 1. #70 Jeff Choquette 2. #11 David Rogers 3. #63 Joe Fitos 4. #5 Dalton Zehr 5. #69 Steve Airnger 6. #25 Corey Choquette 7. #05 Dave Riley DNS LATE MODEL 1. #2 A.J. Curreli 2. #26 Mike Murphy 3. #11F Jeremy Fitch 4. #22 Alli Owens 5. #4b Alan Bruns 6. #90 Robert Andercheck 7. #23 Rusty Ebersole 8. #32 Charlie Vest 9. #48 Mark Smith 10. #82 Alan Davis 11. #11W Michael Weaver 12. #47 David Gibbs OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED 1. #15 Tank Tucker 2. #2x Bobby Blake 3. #40 George Murphy 4. #4b Alan Bruns 5. #18 Jared Allison 6. #70 Dave Savicki 7. #9 Art Kunzeman 8. #61 Ted Helmes 9. #21 Mike Dahm SPORTSMAN 1. #30 Dale Clouser 2. #111 Donny Williams 3. #45 Mike Soukup 4. #73 Mark Peterson 5. #07 Ron Lufcy 6. #07x Frank Buchenan 7. #55 Jim Snyder 8. #27 Phil Luizzo 9. #63 Dale Howard 10. #18D Brian Dula 11. #6 Bruce McGonigal 12. #18 Ken Lewton 13. #7 Tom Gamache 14. #330 Joe Gerard 15. #70 John Nusbaum SUPER STOCK 1. #49 Jason Foster 2. #34 Pat Buckley 3. #29 James Adams 4. #2 Ron Whaley 5. #21 Josh Wronkowski 6. #8 Faris Crews 7. #5 Jonathan Rowe 8. #31 JT Tippins 9. #22 Bruce McGonigal Jr. 10. #4 Russ Noyes 11. #33 Bruce Wingate 12. #01 Chuck Smith 13. #210 Bill Wingate 14. #18 George Spears MINI STOCK 1. #71 Ted Vulpius 2. #23 Pat Wells 3. #2 Danny Karto Jr. 4. #5 Rick Tumey 5. #81 Cody Blair 6. #69 Anthony King 7. #6 Mark Broat 8. #31 Chad Carpenter 9. #83 Ben Cutler Jr. 10. #34 David Castello 11. #v3 Rex Christensen STRICTLY STOCK 1. #67 Greg Dame 2. #30 Tammy Clouser 3. #73 Joe Rivera 4. #007 Ray Tanguay 5. #12 Steve Santo Pietro 6. #88 Nick Boley 7. #15 Mike Wofford 8. #21 Maureen Dahm 9. #83 Jeffrey Shimmel 10. #77 Chris Ridley Have an opinion on this story? 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