ASA Late Models Hit the Target With Opening Florida Show
By Jack Smith
The handwriting was on the wall Friday when 41 racers from around the southeast United States descended on Bronson Motor Speedway near Gainesville, Fl. for the ASA Late Model South Division season opener. The drivers presented a mix of new fresh, sharp, young talent and tough veterans of southern short track racing.
Florida drivers Wayne Morris, Tommy King, Chris Fontaine and Rob Partelo have been banging fenders in everything from Street Stocks to Modifieds to Late Models for years. David Wilson, Sean Bass, Dalton Zehr and Jeff Choquette represent the new generation of rising stars looking for that big break.
There were so many story lines for this race, beginning with Friday's practice, where over 30 teams were running within a half-second of each other. Wilson and Choquette were decidedly the fastest after the 3 full practice runs on Friday night. Saturday the weather turned cold by Florida standards and would drop into the low 40s by Saturday night.
Qualifying began with a bang, literally. One of the early qualifiers, Kevin Macy (Winter Haven, Fl) took off down the front straight, had a mechanical problem that prevented the car from turning and drove up into the turn one retaining wall, and flipped on its roof. Several drivers raced along with track officials to the scene. Macy was not injured but he was now a spectator instead off racing.
Bronson Motor Speedway is a very tight 1/3 mile track, and every driver would concede it is very tough to pass on this track, making a good qualifying effort vital to a good finish. Qualifying got underway at 4:30 PM, and it was clear right away there was going to be an extra challenge to this qualifying session. Early cars on the track did not fare well and the times generally tended to improve towards the end of the qualifying. Choquette and King had been among the top five fastest cars all practice and both had dismal times running early. Lakeland Fl. driver Chris Fontaine took the last run and won the pole award, only to be relegated to the ninth starting spot after the pill draw setting the inversion for the top cars.
The happiest team on the track was now the Suncoast Plastering/ Winners Circle Automotive sponsored #93 of Rob Partelo of St. Petersburg Florida. They would start on the pole with Jimmy Lang of Hilton Head Island, SC on the outside in the #86. Colt James, coming off a huge win at the Alamo 200 at San Antonio (ASA Challenge Division), would be starting sixth.
The starting field was set at 28 after a seriously flawed 10 car consi race that saw nearly a caution a lap. Josh Byrns started on the inside pole and somehow survived to take the checkered flag. The race was eventually and mercifully cut to 12 laps. This lead to ASA Officials having a heart to heart private meeting with the drivers before the start of the Camp Boggy Creek 100.
After a lengthy and well received autograph and interview session, a local sportsman race and other pre-race festivities the lights were on and at 9:08 PM the most competitive field of cars Florida racing fans have seen in many years took the green flag on one of the toughest tracks these drivers will see all year.
On the first lap #41 Brandon Johnson spun into the infield bringing out the first caution of the night. John Wes Townley of Watkinsville, GA took his #09 into the pits for his crew to check something and came back out at the rear of the field in time for the restart.
Bronson Motor Speedway, known affectionately as the "Bullring" by Florida fans, presented an interesting spectacle as Partelo fired off the line in turn three and by the time he crossed the start line, with Jimmy Lang glued to his rear, the last car in the field was not even half way down the back straightaway. The leaders were on the back of the field with two laps and the cars completely circled the track.
The fans a got a 29 lap green flag run with racing all around the track. David Wilson got his #83 caught up on the outside and lost a spot falling to 6th place in behind Colt James and Travis Wilson. Colt James started putting extreme pressure on his good friend Travis Wilson, driver of the #62 Food Country USA machine and by lap 25 had moved James up the track and as the two screamed side by side down the back straight the rest of the leaders followed James. Bo Miller (#38) and #32 Sean Murphy closed the door on Travis Wilson and by the time he got his number #62 ASA Late Model in line he had lost at least five spots.
But the show was soon over for Travis Wilson, son of former NASCAR driver Rick Wilson, when on lap 29 he got together in turn one with Brandon Johnson of Long wood, Fl. bringing out the second caution of the night. Wilson's car was sideways and Johnson's nose was in the window of the #62.
Rick Warren of RicksDarkRoom.com took these shots of the wreck.
Sean Bass dipped low to avoid the wreck but John Wes Townley made contact with the rear of Johnson, shoving Johnson's car further onto Wilson. Wilson was gone for the night, as was David Wilson who had a malfunction with his fuel tank, preventing his car from getting gas,ending his night under the caution. On the very next lap Colt James was involved in a spin bringing out the yellow.
The race resumed and had another long green flag run, the drivers racing hard until a caution flag waved at lap 72. During this run Bo Miller, Sean Murphy and Chris Fontaine moved up behind Partelo and Lang to make up the top five. Lang and Partelo had separation from the rest of the field, and had to negotiate the cars at the back of the pack.
Michael Seewright, a Haines City, Fl racer, was running in the third spot until lap 54 when he got shuffled to the outside and, just as had happened with Travis Wilson, Seewright started a backwards run, settling in 11th after a five lap retreat.
Each time the cars got a good long green flag run going, the fans were treated to spirited racing all around the track and it was clear one slip could change the whole complexion of the race, giving 15 cars a good chance to win with 30 laps left. When is the last time we have seen that situation in late model racing? PHOTO GALLERY:ASA Late Models at Bronson...Click to visit!
Tommy King spun in turn two on lap 71 to bring a halt to the action. When the cars fired off again Partelo continued to lead but now Partelo and Lang no longer had the ability to pull away and get separation from Miller, Murphy and Fontaine. Lang, who had begun to seriously get after Partelo for the lead a few laps earlier, got into the back of Partelo of coming off turn four on lap 81, seemed to check up to keep from wrecking Partelo, allowing Miller and Murphy to nose under and Lang slid to fourth in a heartbeat.
Action was halted at lap 81 for a multi car wreck in turn 4 that nearly resulted in the leaders all piling up on the cars in the back of the field, and somehow each car picked the right line to avoid disaster. With a 20 lap Saturday Night Shootout left to decide the winner of the first of 12 races in the South Division, Partelo would have to hold off Bo Miller and Sean Murphy, both seeming very eager to move to the front of the pack.
Dillon Oliver soon after on lap 83 the restart got into the back of Jimmy Lang, resulting in being sent to the rear. Lang would hold on to finish in the eighth position. Several more cautions marred the final 18 laps, one was by Choquette getting into the rear of Sean Bass, sending Choquette to the rear. Tommy King spun Wayne Morris, King went to the rear.
The top 10 cars were nose to tail the rest of the way and fans were on their feet with the racers getting very aggressive trying to gain positions. Several times Miller made serious attempts to get under Partelo with Murphy and Fontaine trying to follow Miller. Partelo, a veteran of old Sunshine Speedway's 1/4 mile knows how to keep the car on the bottom and protect a lead, and his experience was evident in the closing laps as he held on to take the win in his first ASA race.
In the post race celebration Partelo told KARNAC.com, "I had to hold the bottom, I knew I wasn't fast particularly fast though 3 and 4 and that was my only shot." Asked about the pressure Lang put on him during the first 70 laps, he Partelo said, "I came up racing street stocks and the beating and banging, so I really didn't think about. I was ready to get pushed up the track, I knew I was holding everybody up pretty bad, but we ran about where we qualified at."
Partelo's crew had to work hard to get the car ready to compete with the field, "We were really worried the whole weekend we weren't going to make the race, we were about 25th fastest all weekend, and then we made a last ditch effort and gained a couple of tenths and got lucky qualifying ninth."
Tommy King, one of the fastest during practices, put the blame on his 19th qualifying run on the rubber put down by local cars prior to qualifying, making it take some time for the track to "come in". The later cars did do much better than the first cars out. King is actually preparing the cars and setups for next years ASA season where young gun Casey Caudill is expected to step into the car.
Chris Fontaine, the pole winner summed up his night, "It came out all right, our highlight will be the pole, happy to represent our sponsors well, I really wish we could have got a better draw there, we started ninth, ended up fourth, and a couple of late cautions hurt us. I really think we could have done a little more late in the race. I think we had the fastest car in open air."
Twenty-one cars finished the race and sixteen of them were on the lead lap, giving more ammunition to the proponents of Crate Late Model programs. Several very talented Florida drivers, including Anthony Campi, Cody Pitts and Patrick Staropoli were not ready for this race but will be ready for Cordele. The ASA and Bronson Motor Speedway combined with 41 talented teams for a opening night "home run", a great turnout of fans and racers and not just a good show, but a great show by all accounts, fans and drivers alike.
The next race for the ASA Late Model South Division is at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia on May 5th. KARNAC.com will bring full coverage including photo galleries and audio interviews, live updates and more.
Qualifying Results:
1. 47, Chris Fontaine 13.296 2. 32, Sean Murphy 13.357 3. 38, Bo Miller 13.381 4. 15, Colt James 13.484 5. 83, David Wilson 13.489 6. 62, Travis Wilson 13.500 7. 8, Michael Seeright 13.530 8. 86, Jimmy Lang 13.546 9. 93, Rob Partelo 13.547 10. 56, Wayne Morris 13.553 11. 09, John Wes Townley 13.568 12. 33, Dillon Oliver 13.573 13. 147, Dakota Stroup 13.611 14. 41, Brandon Johnson 13.626 15. 070, Jeff Choquette 13.661 16. 28, Sean Bass 13.674 17. 59, Dustin Dunn 13.681 18. 5, Wes Burton 13.702 19. 16, Tommy King 13.727 20. 156, James Wright III 13.736 21. 6, Devan Hall 13.741 22. 119, Dalton Zehr 13.747 23. 01, Keeton Feller 13.756 24. 31, Josh Byrns 13.779 25. 120, Kyle Eastham 13.790 26. 18, Cody Smith 13.808 27. 21, Fain Skinner 13.814 28. 3, Brian Blum 13.817 29. 70, Jeremy Gerstner 13.832 30. 94, Jason Miller 13.871 31. 04, Jerrod Foley 13.875 32. 12, Tyler Townsend 13.971 33. 91, Doug Smith 13.988 34. 9, Eric Wallace 14.088 35. 87, Kyle Lilley 14.138 36. 66, Zach Holloway 14.223 37. 13, Ricky Ruben 14.269 38. 19, Kevin Macy - No Time 39. 30, Preston Walker – No Time 40. 46, Chris Gillepie – No Time 41. 99, Chad Willis – No Time
Un-Official Results – Round 1) 1. 93, Rob Partelo 100 Laps – Running 2. 38, Bo Miller 100 Laps – Running 3. 32, Sean Murphy 100 Laps – Running 4. 47, Chris Fontaine 100 Laps – Running 5. 86, Jimmy Lang 100 Laps – Running 6. 28, Sean Bass 100 Laps – Running 7. 15, Colt James 100 Laps – Running 8. 56, Wayne Morris 100 Laps – Running 9. 119, Dalton Zehr 100 Laps – Running 10. 16, Tommy King 100 Laps – Running 11. 33, Dillon Oliver 100 Laps – Running 12. 070, Jeff Choquette 100 Laps – Running 13. 8, Michael Seeright 100 Laps – Running 14. 156, James Wright III 100 Laps – Running 15. 59, Dustin Dunn 100 Laps – Running 16. 6, Devan Hall 100 Laps – Running 17. John Wes Townley 99 Laps – Running 18. 94, Jason Miller 98 Laps – Running 19. 01, Keeton Feller 98 Laps – Running 20. 3, Brian Blum 97 Laps – Running 21. 70, Jeremy Gerstner 91 Laps – Running 22. 31, Josh Byrns 83 Laps – Mechanical 23. 5, Wes Burton 81 Laps – Accident 24. 147, Dakota Stroup 81 Laps – Accident 25. 83, David Wilson 29 Laps – Accident 26. 62, Travis Wilson 29 Laps – Accident 27. 41, Brandon Johnson 29 Laps – Accident 28. 91, Doug Smith 14 Laps - Accident
Qualifying began with a bang, literally. One of the early qualifiers, Kevin Macy (Winter Haven, Fl) took off down the front straight, had a mechanical problem that prevented the car from turning and drove up into the turn one retaining wall, and flipped on its roof. Several drivers raced along with track officials to the scene. Macy was not injured but he was now a spectator instead off racing.
Bronson Motor Speedway is a very tight 1/3 mile track, and every driver would concede it is very tough to pass on this track, making a good qualifying effort vital to a good finish. Qualifying got underway at 4:30 PM, and it was clear right away there was going to be an extra challenge to this qualifying session. Early cars on the track did not fare well and the times generally tended to improve towards the end of the qualifying. Choquette and King had been among the top five fastest cars all practice and both had dismal times running early. Lakeland Fl. driver Chris Fontaine took the last run and won the pole award, only to be relegated to the ninth starting spot after the pill draw setting the inversion for the top cars. 
The starting field was set at 28 after a seriously flawed 10 car consi race that saw nearly a caution a lap. Josh Byrns started on the inside pole and somehow survived to take the checkered flag. The race was eventually and mercifully cut to 12 laps. This lead to ASA Officials having a heart to heart private meeting with the drivers before the start of the Camp Boggy Creek 100. 
Action was halted at lap 81 for a multi car wreck in turn 4 that nearly resulted in the leaders all piling up on the cars in the back of the field, and somehow each car picked the right line to avoid disaster. With a 20 lap Saturday Night Shootout left to decide the winner of the first of 12 races in the South Division, Partelo would have to hold off Bo Miller and Sean Murphy, both seeming very eager to move to the front of the pack. 
Listen to Rob Partelo's post race interview 