Scofield tops action packed City Beverage/Budweiser Sunbelt 125 at Orlando SpeedWorld
By Dave Westerman
The FASCAR Sunbelt Super Late Model teams were out in force Friday night as 26 competitors signed in for the City Beverage/Budweiser 125 at Orlando Speedworld.
With his regular car having the engine freshened and his other machine on hold for a race the following night at another track, Jeff Choquette borrowed brother Corey's car, slapped the #70 on it and proceeded to surprise everyone by setting fast time of 13.596 seconds. Wayne Anderson was second quick at 13.628 followed by Brian Finney at 13.682 with Rich Pratt, Jason Boyd and Justin Drawdy the next three fastest. Mike Fritts, the most recent Sunbelt winner at USA Speedway in Lakeland, was the fastest car in practice on Thursday night but qualified a disappointing 11th.
The inversion saw Jeff Scofield and Mike Bresnahan on the front row for the start of the 125 lap grind. As the field was warming up their tires, the night came to a quick end for South Florida driver Tommy Styer as his car lost power and was pushed to the pits.
Bresnahan got the jump at the start but could only hold off Scofield for three laps as the Plant City driver powered by for the lead. The first of many cautions flew on lap six as Mario Hernandez and Ron DiCandio tangled in turn two. With Scofield still at the point, caution number two was displayed for a turn four crash on lap 14 involving Chet Morrison and Speedworld regular Chris Staggs. Staggs' car went off on the hook while the Houma, LA driver Morrison continued.
As the field took the green it was Scofield on top of Bresnahan, a hard-charging Justin Drawdy, Jason Boyd, Tim Russell, Wayne Anderson, David Rogers and Jeff Choquette.
DiCandio spun on lap 27 to bring out the caution a third time, then on the restart, Russell got turned around in turn four and lost fifth spot while at the same time Scott Millar, Matthew Stichmann and Mario Hernandez got tangled up in turn one.
Scofield continued to set the pace as Boyd took third from Drawdy on lap 41.
Moments later, Drawdy's car began to fall off the pace. The winner of the Sunbelt race held here last year pulled off the track three laps later and called it a night.
At the half-way mark it was Scofield leading Bresnahan, Boyd, Rogers, Anderson,Mike Fritts, Choquette, Rich Pratt, Patrick Conrad and Jared Allison.
Dusty Cornelius looped his machine on lap 67 to bring out the yellow flag once again. Then on the restart, Brian Finney and Mac Johnson locked horns in turn four.
It was during this caution that, unknown to drivers or track officials, a rear-end cap had come off one of the cars putting down a very light film of rear end grease. The drivers quickly found out they had big problems. As the green was thrown, Boyd nearly lost it coming down the front stretch while leader Scofield somehow managed to keep his car going straight. Second running Bresnahan wasn't as lucky as his car went into a long slide entering turn one where it backed hard into the wall. The cars running behind the leaders began to either spin, crash or scatter. When all was said and done, the machines of Bresnahan, Mike Fritts, fast qualifier Jeff Choquette and Patrick Conrad would be done for the night. Rich Pratt, and Dusty Cornelius pitted for repairs and continued.
On the restart after the long red flag period to clean things up it was Scofield still at the point but now followed by Boyd, Rogers, Anderson, Allison and Chris Fontaine.
Wayne Anderson was like a rocket following the restart as he went to the outside and passed Rogers. He was about to do likewise to Boyd when the caution came out on lap 80 for a hard crash in turn two involving Cornelius and Fain Skinner. Both drivers were OK but their racers left on wreckers.
On the restart, Boyd got a jump to the inside of Scofield and with a little "bump" took the lead. Scofield returned the favor and was about to re-take the top position when Tim Russell spun again in turn four on lap 95.
Boyd set the pace on the restart and was looking good although Scofield was in his shadow. David Rogers was trying a low side pass on Wayne Anderson but spun going into turn one on lap 102 to bring out the caution again. Rogers continued but had to go to the rear of the field.
Scofield really began to put the pressure on Boyd as the green reappeared. The two put on a crowd-pleasing display of good, hard, clean racing with Scofield grabbing the lead back with just ten laps to go. A late caution for Scott Millar's spin in turn four gave Boyd one final chance but Scofield was up to the task as he took his second Sunbelt win of the year. Boyd came home second with Anderson third. Chris Fontaine and Jared Allison both drove a steady heads-up race and claimed fourth and fifth spots with Brian Finney, Rich Pratt, Tim Russell, Chet Morrison and David Rogers completing the top ten.
Scofield now leads Boyd by only 9 points (347-338) in the Sunbelt standings with Anderson third, 32 markers behind Boyd. Finney and Choquette round out the current top five in the 2006 points chase.
Other Speedworld Racing Friday Night Shain Held scored a popular win in the Modifieds, his first since coming back from a serious work-related accident almost two years ago.
When leaders Mark Emberson and Corey Freed tangled with two laps to go, Held took over the top spot and sped to the win over Terri Bryant (her best career finish), Randy Froelich, Freed, Gary Fountain, Sr. and Emberson.
It had also been some time Since Cocoa's R.J. Arnone had paid a visit to victory lane, but he did it in style on this night driving to a green to checker win in the Mini Stocks. The race ran the entire distance without a caution. Kelly Jarrett pressured Arnone but had to settle for second over Randy Blakeslee, Dick Laszlo and Josh Hermann.
After going two years without a win in the tough RE/MAX Legends Car Series on Saturday nights, Palm Bay's Bobby Byars switched to the Friday night FASCAR Super Stock division in 2006.
Byars had already been close a few times this year but he was the class of the field on this night as he led all the way to take his first career win at Speedworld, even after finding out from his doctor during the week that he had a torn rotator cuff.
James Frisbie did all he could to catch Byars but he had to settle for the runner-up slot ahead of Lee Wagner, Vince Keeler and Jason Foster. Rounding out the top ten were last weeks winner Johnny Brown, Rick Taylor, Robert Ward, Bobby Riley and Daniel Laszlo.
The Sportsman race saw plenty of wild action including a hard turn four crash that sent Bryan Silas to the pits on the hook.
After the dust had settled, Andy Nicholls had his fourth win of the year being chased to the checker by Richard Hight, Spencer Lemmerman, Brett Woodley, Pete Starr and John Hodge.
Robert Remus drove to his third Strictly Stock win of the year taking the measure of Clinton Love, Steven Streight, Bob Snyder and Adam Soukup.
In the Junior Stocks, Luke Gaier took his third straight win in the 8-11 year old class topping Trey Edenfield, Zachary Curtis, Luke Burke, Wes Railing, Jr., Jessica Railing, Jeff Cuddy and Jacob Cameron.
The race for the 12-15 year olds went to Chad Cameron and it was his first win. Cody Pierson, Kaisee Crites, Alex Fortune, B.J. Hefler, Justin Curtis and Jessie Cuddy completed the finishers.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD MAY 19, 2006
CITY BEVERAGE/BUDWEISER SUNBELT 125
1. #07 Jeff Scofield 2. #15 Jason Boyd 3. #84 Wayne Anderson 4. #47 Chris Fontaine 5. #18 Jared Allison 6. #80 Brian Finney 7. #0 Rich Pratt 8. #36 Tim Russell 9. #86 Chet Morrison 10. #11 David Rogers 11. #20x Ron Dicandio 12. #6 Mac Johnson 13. #2 Patrick Conrad 14. #20 Scott Millar 15. #12x Steve Weaver 16. #22 Dusty Cornelius 17. #59 Mike Bresnahan 18. #27 Mike Fritts 19. #70 Jeff Choquette 20. #1 Fain Skinner 21. #12 Justin Drawdy 22. #5x Mario Hernandez 23. #52 Matthew Stichmann 24. #56 Chris Staggs 25. #5 Jerry Artuso
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #55 Shain Held 2. #08 Terri Bryant 3. #8 Randy Froehlich 4. #12 Corey Freed 5. #33 Gary Fountain St. 6. #30 Mark Emberson
SPORTSMAN
1. #66 Andy Nicholls 2. #23 Richard Hight 3. #6 Spencer Lemmerman 4. #99 Brett Woodley 5. #85 Pete Starr 6. #00 John Hodge 7. #44 Bryan Silas
SUPER STOCK
1. #12 Bobby Byars (First win) 2. #3 James Frisbie 3. #74 Lee Wagner 4. #7 Vince Keeler 5. #49 Jason Foster 6. #86 Johnny Brown 7. #77 Rick Taylor 8. #25 Robert Ward 9. #52 Bobby Riley 10. #07 Daniel Laszlo 11. #00 Mike Gennett 12. #71 Mike Hendrix 13. #9 Matthew Jarrett 14. #28 Ray Mullis 15. #11 Jeremy Shelton
MINI STOCK
1. #30 R.J. Arnone 2. #97 Kelly Jarrett 3. #77 Randy Blakeslee 4. #07 Dick Laszlo 5. #98 Josh Hermann 6. #10 Michael Seay 7. #43 Tom Rose 8. #06 Heather Suggs 9. #85 Rex "Boneman" Hollinger 10. #7 Tim "Missileman" McPhail 11. #24 John Cook
1. #16 Robert Remus 2. #10 Clinton Love 3. #80 Steven Streight 4. #17x Bob Snyder 5. #14 Adam Soukup 6. #54 Brian Lynch 7. #15x Chuck Smeltzer 8. #01 Bobby Crites, Jr. 9. #8t Jared Mullinix 10. #3 Todd Preston 11. #8r Neal Kirby 12. #11 Grady Ward 13. #1 Bobby Crites Sr.
