| Shellig Gets First Legends Win | Bassetts Dominate Bandeleros At Speedworld
By Dave Westerman
A rare cloudless sky for a late June day greeted competitors and fans alike as Orlando Speedworld had another busy Saturday with eleven feature races being contested.
The RE/MAX Legends Cars were out in force again with a pair of heat races going to Shaughn McCormick and Jimmy Norman. The top three finishers from each heat drew for the front six starting spots for the 25 lap feature with Gerald White, Jr. and Bryan Beland finding themselves on the front row.
Beland, in his rookie season, led his first two laps of feature race competition before handing the top spot over to Norman. Beland would bring out the first caution flag of the race as he spun out of third spot in turn four scattering the rest of the field behind him. Alex Kempf saw his night come to an early end as he hit the wall trying to avoid other slowing cars.
Norman continued to set the pace after the restart but Chelsea Schillig had moved into second and was beginning to apply plenty of pressure. The second and final caution waved on lap 15 as Eric Eichelberger went around in turn one and he was tagged by McCormick. Unfortunately McCormick would have to take his machine to the pits.
Norman was doing a great job holding the point and looked like he might finally break through with his first feature victory but it wasn't to be. Schillig bided her time then finally found room to move underneath Norman for the lead with five laps to go. Norman gave Schillig barely enough room for her to make the pass but the young lady from Apopka was not going to back off and she sped to her first win of the regular season although Norman was right on her bumper at the finish.
Twelfth starter Andy Logan picked his way through the field to claim third spot ahead of Tony Sansom and Mike Verhaagh. Completing the top ten were James Rodriguez, Rick Wetmore, David Tart, Gerald White, Jr., and Doug Hall who came back from a hard heat race crash to score a top ten finish. Rounding out the finishing field were Bryan Beland, Eric Eichelberger, Leonard Hearndon, Dalton Bergman, Gary Verdier, Shaughn McCormick, Gerald Campbell and Alex Kempf. Campbell had earned the right to start the main event after taking the Chargers win over Dave Gleason, however his car suffered mechanical failure early in the feature.
The "Bassett Boys" made another trip to Speedworld from their home near Charlotte, NC and dominated the Hearndon Construction Bandolero action once again.
Dillon Bassett had already won at the Summer Shootout in Charlotte on Tuesday and at Thursday Thunder at Atlanta Motor Speedway before heading to Central Florida for the weekend. The little guy again took no prisoners as he won the heat and then led all the way to win the feature race over fellow NC driver Stephen Bergh, Jr. and Critter Saile. Shawn Hooven was fourth ahead of Zach Harris, Zoey Guignardi, Justin Bechtold, Tyler Rahman, Daniel Conlin and Coty Bibeau.
Then it was Dillon's older brother Ronnie "The Rock" Bassett's turn to pick up a win as he led all the way to pick up the Young Gun feature victory after also winning the heat race. Again it was another NC visitor, Brandon Lynn, coming home second right on Bassett's bumper. Kaleb Hearndon took the show spot ahead of Donovan Ponder, Gerald Campbell and Mark Hooven.
Heat winners Mad Max Howe and Billy Gise battled the entire feature race distance before Gise picked up his second win of the year here in the Florida Open Wheel Lites.
Howe led the first eight laps before Gise got by him and started to pull away. Joe Brayton spun and stalled to bring out the race's only caution flag on lap 12. Once the green came back out, Howe stayed right with Gise but could never re-pass him for the lead. Rick Lundeen was a strong third over Sonny O'Sullivan and Roger Wolfe with Zack Raymond, Jeff Wolfe, Dave Kellogg, Jeff Ripley, Joe Brayton, Rick Brayton and Jason Kellogg rounding out the finishers.
It was a family affair in the Classic Car feature as Ricky Wood took his second win of the year trailed by his son Derrick Wood. Ricky Wood out-ran heat winner Jim Rahman into turn one and led all the way while Derrick took the second spot late in the going but was never able to track down his dad in the all green flag run. Ron Gustafson came home third ahead of David Nunes and Rahman with Andrew Gustafson, Brad Norburg, Rod Burton and Danny Dixon the remaining finishers.
Ryan Rust grabbed the lead from Rowdy Gordon on lap six and left the field behind him in winning the Pro Challenge feature race. Heat winner J.L. Snowden was a distant second ahead of Gordon, Bruce Gibson, Jarrett Snowden and Gene Dibble.
After winning the heat, Devin McLeod led all the way to win the Florida Mini Cup Racing Association feature. Brady Marshall was the runner-up over Corey White, Don Mays and Chris Rodriguez.
A nice field of ABC Towing Hurricanes put on quite a show in their feature run. Brenda Taylor led the first three laps before tangling with Rob Reynolds in turn four. Reynolds, who won the Strictly Stock feature Friday night, hit the turn four wall hard and put a hurt on his fast Mazda.
Tom Stewart took over at that point put could not hold off the Toyota of Brian Townson who took over and sped to his first win of the year. Stewart came home with his best-ever finish in second trailed by Brian Cosier, Gary Thomas and Mark Walls. Completing the finishers were Jimmy Scripter, Larry Walls, Chris Mogle, Kyle Dombeck, Miguel Barrenchea, Marissa Kirby, T.J. Mosher, Taylor and Reynolds. Heat wins were taken by Reynolds and Townson.
Joe Arnold took his initial win in the Outlaw Strictly Stocks taking the lead from Bobby Jones on lap two and staying out front the rest of the way. Jones took the checker second in front of Anthony Robinson, Bobby Trombley, Scott Mickens and Rick Poffenberger.
The Modified TQ exhibition race was won by Doug Smith over Rick Blair and Jen Crossman.
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