Robbie Cooper(Bronson, FL.)is the hot ticket in 2007 Modifieds.
It was a great weekend for Open Wheel Modified Racing this weekend. With the Extreme Modified Series at Orlando Speedworld, and the Gulfcoast Modifieds at Bronson Motor Speedway, their was plenty of racing action.
The action started Friday night with the Extreme Modifieds thundering around the track in Orlando. Lee Collins set the fastest qualifying time with a lap of 14.060 seconds, followed by Jason Garver with a lap of 14.130 seconds.
Collins pulled a 3 for the inversion, placing Alan McCafferty on the pole position, with Garver alongside on the front row. Collins started from the inside of the second row, with Robbie Cooper in the 4th starting spot. Chris Escott, Jerry Symons, Kurt Jett ,Skip Honaker, Jimmy Wagner, and Mark Emberson filled the top ten Starting Spots.
When the green flag waved to start the 75 lap race, McCafferty took the lead with Collins right behind, followed by Garver and Cooper. As the race progressed thru the early stages, McCafferty looked to have the race well in hand, as he was able to open a slight lead on Collins. Cooper, meanwhile was putting lots of pressure on Garver, trying to force a mistake and take the position. The rest of the field were involved in a dogfight, trying to break free and chase down the lead pack, which had opened a several car length gap.
As the race neared the 20 lap mark, Collins started to lose the handle on his racer, and began drifting back to the battle for third position. The caution flag came out on lap 25 for the car of Dustin Beckelheimer, spinning off turn 2. As the field was being reset for the restart, Collins took his car to the pit area for an adjustment. The running order for the restart had McCafferty still out front, followed by Garver, Cooper, Escott, and Jett in the top 5. On the restart, Garver and Cooper were all over McCafferty looking for a way around the leader.
The top 5 remained the same at the ½ way point, with McCafferty still being pressured by Garver and Cooper. About lap 45, Garver got into the rear of McCafferty exiting turn 4, with McCafferty spinning into the infield. The Caution came out, and the field was slowed and reset, with McCafferty returned to the lead, followed by Cooper, Escott, Jett, and Symonds in the top 5. The field went green once more on lap 53, With Garver restarting from the rear of the field.
Lap 55 saw Cooper drive under McCafferty and take the lead. Cooper soon checked out on the rest of the field, and was never challenged for the lead. The racing in the rest of the pack remained very tight, with Garver making his way back toward the front of the field. The field took the checkered flag with Cooper holding a sizable lead, followed by McCafferty, Garver, Escott and Jett in the top five positions.
GULFCOAST ACTION The following night the action moved to Bronson Speedway with the Gulfcoast Modifieds. This race was rescheduled from a rainout 2 weeks earlier.
Robbie Cooper set fast time in qualifying, with a lap of 13.636 seconds, followed by Curtis Neumann, with a lap of 13.662. After qualifications were done, Cooper pulled a zero for the inversion, starting the field heads up, by qualifying results. The field lined up with Cooper and Neumann on the front row, followed by Chet Senokossoff, Alan McCafferty, Andrew Alderman, Lee Collins, Sean McLaughlin, John Sarppriacone Jr., David Davis, and Chris Escott in the top ten.
As the field came to the green flag to start the 50 lap feature, Neumann, on the outside of the front row, buzzed the tires and spun around exiting turn 4.
Mayhem resulted, with cars spinning all over the track to avoid the incident. Sean McLaughlin received the brunt of the damage, and was forced to pit, done for the evening before the race got started. The field was once more set, and came to the green flag, with a clean start this time. Cooper powered to the front, with Neumann right behind. As the field entered turn 1, Senokossoff pushed up the track, forcing McCafferty very high, allowing several cars to get by McCafferty. Andrew Alderman was able to fill the hole left by McCafferty, followed by Collins, and Sarppriacone. Lap 4 McCafferty is able to drive by Sarppriacone and move into 5th spot.
The race for 4th position was turning into a hard fought battle. Alderman, Collins, and McCafferty were all over each other, trying to force a mistake and take a position. McCafferty seemed to be able to pick up the throttle a bit quicker than Collins, and was tapping on Collins’ rear bumper regularly. As the race moved on McCafferty drove to the outside of Collins, and as the two raced into turn 1, Collins pushed way up the track, forcing McCafferty in to the marbles, which didn’t allow McCafferty to make the pass. As the field neared the 20 lap mark, the 2 front runners had a 10 car lead on the 3rd place car, and 4th place Alderman was closing in on Senokossoff in third. Alderman caught Senokossoff, and soon the cars of Collins and McCafferty also joined the battle for third.
Cooper continued to drive away from the field, but was unable to shake the hard charging Neumann. Neumann never let Cooper gain more than a 2 car length lead. With the laps winding down, the battle for third was really heating up. Alderman was able to grab third from Senokossoff, but it didn’t last long.
Coming for the checkered flag, Alderman spun exiting turn 4, as the race finished. Alderman thought Senokossoff caused the spin, however Senokossoff thought otherwise. Tough racing. Cooper and Neumann had nearly a ½ track lead at the finish.
Final Results 05-18-2007 Extreme Modifieds Orlando 75 laps
1. #98 Robbie Cooper Bronson Fl. 2. #32 Alan McCafferty Clermont, Fl. 3. #27 Jason Garver Starke, Fl. 4. #8 Chris Escott St. Petersburg, Fl. 5. #9 Kurt Jett Orange Park, Fl. 6. #66 Jerry Symons New Smyrna, Fl. 7. #2 Skip Honaker Titusville, Fl. 8. #30 Mark Emberson Clermont, Fl. 9. #27X Dustin Beckelheimer Deltona, Fl. 10. #17 Jimmy Wagner Zephyrhills, FL. 11. #89 Lee Collins Immokalee, Fl.
Final Results 05-19-2007 Gulfcoast Modifieds Bronson 50 laps
1. #98 Robbie Cooper Bronson, Fl. 2. #01 Curtis Neumann Inverness, Fl. 3. #61 Chet Senokossoff St. Petersburg, Fl. 4. #89 Lee Collins Immokalee, FL. 5. #32 Alan McCafferty Clermont, FL. 6. #8 Chris Escott St. Petersburg, Fl. 7. #88 John Sarppriacone, Jr. Myakka City, FL. 8. #83 Andrew Alderman Pinellas Park, Fl. 9. #08 David Davis Floral City, FL. 10. #07 Kevin Durden Archer, FL. 11. #99 Sean McLaughlin Port Charlotte, Fl. DNS #39 Gary Southard Bronson, FL.
