| Notes FromThe State Championships | By Jack Smith
-KARNAC.com
Saturday night past at USA International Speedway, the FASCAR organization and the management and staff of Florida's biggest short track hit a home run.
The FASCAR Pro Trucks and the Southern Sportsman both brought entertaining shows that held the fans' interest, a feat not always achieved by support races at these big events. Most often the fans leave the support divisions to race to a small group of hard core fans, but not this night. Whether it was the sons of famous fathers in the trucks or the mystique of the Southern Sportsman, they stayed, and were not disappointed.
The FASCAR Pro Trucks series, along with some FASTRUCK regulars, had the race fans screaming, clapping, waving and some of course booing.
 When Matt Martin took the lead from James Wright, the fans roared their approval, and when Martin, looking for all the world like he was going to win the 50 lap event, lost he lead on lap 36 to Jamie Skinner they roared their disapproval. Though FASCAR officials said Todd Bontrager was not responsible for Martins's late race spin into the infield grass while he was racing his wheels off to get the lead back, many Martin fans felt otherwise. Martin did do a wonderful job keeping his number 66 race truck off the wall, and was able to continue. Bontrager went onto place second.
Matt Martin, probably because of his size and age, more than his famous father, has won the Florida fans hearts, that was evident at USA this night.
In the final event of the night the Southern Sportsman Series, lead by series promoter Todd Hutto and his crew, were making their first appearance at the big track.
They too held more of the crowd that you normally find for a Lakeland finale.
 And those who stayed saw a quick and cleanly run 35 lap race, won by Patrick Thomas. Thomas gave a lot of credit to Brad May, a racer no stranger to USA International.
James Wright had been on the pole for the FASCAR Pro Trucks and did the same for the Southern Sportsman. It was a delight seeing these racers, most of whom had never raced on a track anywhere near this big make Hutto both relieved and proud. They came from far and wide, Cape Coral sending Bill VanDevender, while longtime DeSoto Speedway drivers Brian Teeters and Hal Vickery came from Bradenton, Kyle Tenbusch from Port Charlotte and Travis Nichols from Brooksville.
These cars hopefully will be back to Lakeland, they were fun to watch as they used more of the track than the trucks did.
It is tough for the supporting classes to hold the fans after the lightning fast Super Late Models get in 200 laps, but these two traveling series did indeed do that.
One snafu in the ticket lines caused a few fans consternation before the call "gentlemen start your engines" was heard for the Super Late models. The Ticket Master connection went down for about 12 minutes just prior to the start of the races, causing the lines to jam up up and get a few race fans ruffled. "When Ticket Master went down, we had no way to sell tickets", General Manager Billy Martino explained. "We have a plan 'B' we can go to if the system is down for over 15 minutes, that allows us to sell tickets in an absolute emergency."
USA had a scheduled meeting with Ticket Master today to resolve whatever the issue was and Martino was confident that this was an isolated incident.
Mother Nature, to outsiders, may have looked as if she were mad at the racing world, but in actual fact it could have been much worse.
Brian Finney autographs Choquette's Ford.
We arrived at Lakeland, prepared as always in July, for the worse. The skies were overcast, with the sun's rays muted most all afternoon and through dusk.
The real killer was the intense humidity that descended on Lakeland about an hour before sundown, just as the fans were enjoying the extended autograph session and Sunbelt Super Late Model drivers intorductions.
USA International Speedway hosts the Florida State Super Late Model Championship every year. Each summer since the year 2002 most of the top Super Late Model teams in Florida have converged in Lakeland for a 200 lap marathon to determine the State Champ. The race has been run under different sanctions since the late 1990s, but had usually been a 125 lap race.
 Though some fans can knock this or that about the race or the competitors but Florida race fans should be proud of the show these 28 teams put on under very tough conditions. Racing 200 laps for a Saturday night racing team is a big deal, and puts a lot of added stress on the crews, the equipment and of course the guy wheeling that race car around 800 turns. In the photo above Fain Skinner is trying to get a bite on reality, the only one not smiling in the winner's circle.
Jimmy Cope, Jacob Warren, Dwayne Dempsey and now Fain Skinner have survived the extra 75 laps and held the checkered flag at the 3/4 mile race track. Interesting names considering the racers in the big series who have been making names for themselves in Florida and elsewhere and haven't won at Lakeland in midsummer.
Former ASA star Travis Kittleson, one the Roush Gong Show invitees, broke before race time and did not compete. The first 50 laps ate up Justin Drawdy, Mike Fritts, Jacob Warren, Brian Finney and David Rogers.
The next 50 left Wayne Morris, Billy Mowery, James Powell, Wayne Anderson, Dave Pletcher behind the wall. That's a lot of talent and experience out early and nearly all of that attrition was mechanical failure.
Left to right, Choquette, Scofield, Joe Boyd and Wayne Jefferson before the race.
Joe Boyd, Jeff Scofield and Jeff Choquette, another Florida racer going to the Roush Gong Showall had to retire by the 150 lap mark, leaving Wayne Jefferson and Dwayne Dempsey the only top 10 starting race cars on the track, and a serious fight underway for the hard charger award.
Scofield and Dempsey, flying the same ownership flag, may be a story in itself. We don't know for sure, but it looked like some two team strategy was in play for the one pit stop the 200 laps require. Dempsey came in early along with early leader Choquette around lap 87, and while both Dempsey and Scofield's crews appeared to be ready to handle a stop for their car, Scofield remained out and pitted with the later bunch around lap 124.
This seemed to give the Guarantee Concrete teams the best of both worlds, but this is racing and there are no guarantees. Scofield, in obvious command of the race since lap 50, still waiting for the opportunity to make his pit stop, lost his rear end and ended his night by bringing out the 10th caution of the evening at lap 124.
Of course Dempsey took advantage of this track position and grabbed the lead immediately and it looked for all the world as if Dempsey would repeat, but of course Skinner came on strong and was able to get the lead and keep it the remaining 32 laps.
It was interesting watching Wayne Anderson, starting in 6th, begin to falter immediately, blow a tire, go a lap down, get it back and still end up being out of the race by lap 71.
These were a bunch of really good race car drivers, battling each other, the limits of their machines, and oppressive humidity and heat.
With less than 10 laps to go James Glover brought his machine behind the wall, in obviously severe heat distress. We didn't interview Fain Skinner. He started the interview and ended up in he ambulance after being unable to continue. Several other drivers around the track were treated for heat related issues at the conclusion of the race.
 Fourteen year old Dalton Zehr finished 9th and then went out and ran 50 laps in the FASCAR Pro Truck race. He said "Driving the truck was like being in air conditioning", compared to the super late model. Zehr finished in the 6th spot in the truck race. "We just kept coming in the pits and getting water, it helped out a lot", Zehr said. Zehr may be a youngster to watch in the future; a well spoken young man the family moved from Idaho to Daytona Beach, he won the FASCAR Pro Truck Pole Award. Running selected truck and late model races is the plan for this year for Zehr. Winning races looks like it may be in the cards too, after all he was the 2004 FASTKIDS champ.
A knowledgeable Late model fan commented before the race, "Wayne Jefferson can get more out of a car dollar for dollar than anybody". Jefferson seemed all day to be having a good time, started 7th and finished 8th.
Jay Middleton had another good run, qualifying a dismal 19th, the Gainesville native while never a threat to win the race collected 6th place money. Middleton recently raced in the Anderson 400 in Indiana where he came from four laps down to take 4th place.
Jason Boyd gave it everything he had trying to overtake Fain Skinner in the last 20 laps. Boyd could catch Skinner but could not pass him.
Boyd, driving the 92 under the tutelage of Dick Anderson, explained it this way: "When I caught Fain, I couldn't do nothing with him, he messed my rhythm up and I got an aeropush ."
Boyd says the air is very important at a track like Lakeland, where it isn't much of a factor at the smaller tracks."When I got behind him, I got too tight I couldn't get off the corners, I couldn't turn the car to get underneath him. That was because I didn't have any air hitting my front nose".
But more telling about the young racer from Orlando is the comment about not wanting to wreck Fain, "I could have run into the back of him or bumped him and went by him, but I didn't, Fain Skinner is a good friend of mine." Boyd is leading the Sunbelt Points Championship and is the leading rookie as a result of his consistent finishes this year, and is also heading to North Carolina for a chance at a NASCAR Craftsman Truck ride in the Roush Gong Show. KARNAC has interviewed Boyd at length and will be running an article in the next few days on this 23 year old veteran.
But Fain Skinner was the man of the hour and deserves a tremendous amount of credit for his performance in the grueling race. He ran a very smart race, stayed out of trouble and held on to the lead when he got it.
Fain Skinner, a true champion this day.
FASCAR Marketing Director Terry Roberts said "Those boys raced their hearts out, and fans should be proud of them all."
We could not agree more with that.
If you have never been to USA International Speedway, your next opportunity will be September 3, 2005 when "America's most exciting short track series", the USAR Hooters ProCup returns for the Lucas Oil 250. The FASCAR Pro Modified 50 will follow.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTO GALLERY CLICK HERE!
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