(Bradenton, FL; 10/7/2000) The Pro Late Models took to the high banks of DeSoto Speedway last Saturday night in 125 laps of high speed action that featured wild spins, broken cars and 12 caution flags.

When the checkered flag flew, Darryl Shelnut of Ft. Lauderdale claimed the victory over the 9 cars left in the 18-car field.
"The car seems to work better now," Shelnut said. "Obviously, when you win, you say it's better. I enjoyed it, it's always enjoyable from the front. This car is awesome."

Shelnut started the evening by setting fast time with a 14.36 second (94 mph) lap time. Then with the luck of the draw, he pulled a fourth place start behind pole sitter Shane Russ of Myakka, David Reutimann of Zephyrhills, and Lee Collins of Immokalee. By lap 7, Shelnut had used the outside lane to take the lead and never looked back.

"Traffic got tough occasionally," Shelnut said. "And then I had B.J. (McLeod) coming up fast. I was better but I didn't want to slip up and make an easy mistake for anyone. It was a good race. We just set our own pace and didn't use more than we had to."

B.J. McLeod of Wauchula had been running third behind Mike Franklin until lap 88, when he took advantage of lap traffic to take over second place. He rode Shelnut's bumper looking for the pass, but the second place qualifier never got the chance.

"It was tough," McLeod said. "We held on for the first part, then I just knew I was going to have to let everybody come back to me because the car was fast. But we ended up with a good set of tires and a good race car and we had a good time."

Mcleod placed second, Franklin took third, David Reutimann finished fourth and Raymond Lovelady finished fifth in the 70-minute race.


More than 25 trucks took the green flag, and Steve Anderson of Bradenton took the checkered flag in the DeSoto Speedway Pro Trucks 25-lap feature event.

"Up front was about the only place I was going to win tonight," Anderson said. "I wasn't as fast as the guys behind me, but I made it work. It was a great race."

Doug Miller placed second, and James Glover of Pinellas Park took third place.

Arlin Pope of Bradenton took the checkered flag in the Q Auto & Injury Attorney's Stock Mini's feature event. "I was looking back all the time," Pope said. "I knew if these guys ever stretched out single file, they'd run me down. I like watching them fight back behind me, I get the whole track that way."

The battle behind Pope ended with Jesse Dutilly of Bradenton in second place, and Clay Joseph of Bradenton taking third.

Clint Roberts of Duette won the Express Personnel Service Street Stock 20-lap feature event. "We just got started again this year," Roberts said. "This is our fourth race out and we've been working the bugs out, getting better and better. We're doing pretty good so far."

Chet Roberts of Duette placed second, and Casey Hall of Sarasota took third place.

Randy Sands of Islamorada won his second Outlaw Modified feature event. "We've been working really hard at it," said Sands, the Outlaw Modified champion for the past two years. "We think this might be our last year in this class and we want to win this one. My wife and my dad sets the car up and I have fun driving it. This track is awesome; it's the place to be. We'd be all the time if we could get something going."

Rick Penton of the Hollywood Police Department set the pace for the 911 Racing event. "We race all over the state and collect money for charity for the kids," said Penton who collected his fifth win of the year. "This was a good race; the car is handling real well. We just had to be patient. We haven't raced in a month and a half, and everyone was kind of jittery."

Butch Yancey and Bob Hart of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department placed second and third in the fun-filled race.

-Ken Willis-



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