|
| 140 Cars for Putnam County Double Points/Money Night | Tropical storm Gabriel tried to kill it the first week. Saturday evening showers tried to wash it out the second week. Wet and angered Putnam County Speedway finally wrapped up its first double points- double purse weekend this past Saturday night. Over 140 cars showed up for feature races two weeks in the making, and you could tell the drivers were hungry and a little rusty.
The Street Stock feature led off the night with Shane Williams on the pole. Shane dominated the 20 lap feature till lap 17 when Kenny Hall came up to challange his inside. Coming out of turn 4 however, Hall got into the inside of Williams and both caramed away from each other opening the door for eventual winner Toby Sims to sneak through. The contact caused Hall to get a flat and fall to the back of the field while Williams came in second. Tiny Green over came an early incident to finish third, followed by the young gun Billy Costello, and Kevin Terry.
Hobby Stocks continued their long season of barn burning racing as the schedualed 30 lap race saw caution after caution reduce the distance to 18 laps. Points leader Ronnie Soltis made a move to the inside of outside pole sitter David Miller coming off of turn 2 on lap 5 to take the lead which he would not relinguish for the remainder of the event. Miller put on a strong run to keep up with Soltis but a late charge by Jimmy Heffner slid Miller back to 3rd. Bobby Gigon avoided a few incidents to finish fourth followed by Brad Pilinko.
The Limited Late Models put on their best race all year with 22 cars starting the feature race. The fans were treated to some great door to door action through out the event but saw pernial favorite J.O. Nobles faulter on lap 2 and fall to the tail with a flat. That opened the door for Marion Sizemore to take the race but he made contact with first time visitor and poll sitter Scott Singler in turn 2 causing him to develop a tire rub and hurt his handeling. The long track time for points leader Bill Kopka paid off later, after 3 straight cautions Bill found himself in 2nd behind Sizemore on lap 12. Coming out of turn 2 Sizemore pushed up a bit opening the door for Kopka on the inside and Kopka never looked back. Team mate Steve Lade capped a strong run with a 2nd. Sizemore finished third followed by Bobby Padgett, and Raymond Larsen
In Mini Stocks, Jake Hartley and Colt Taylor battled nose to tail for 19 laps, but victory slipped through both their hands. Coming to the white flag Hartley dashed to the inside of Taylor. They touched sending Hartley spinning to the bottom of turn 1 and Taylor straight to the wall in the top of turn 1. After the field was reset Stanton Mills was in the lead for a 1 lap shootout with Chris Vogel. Mills held off Vogel for the win with Donnie Ashford making a strong run for 3rd followed by Don Strosahl, Jr. and Don Strosahl, Sr.
The Mods made their mark as the class of the night with 24 cars and 35 laps completed. Unfortunately, it could be called the same race different night. David Crews started on the pole and ran strong out front for the first five laps of the race. Well, that was until team mate and uncontended points lead Marion Sizemore made his way up from his 3rd starting position. Sizemore beat Crews off of turn 4 and never looked back as always. Outside poll sitter Robby Hager struggled early falling back to 5th but made a late race charge to come home 2nd. David Crews hung on for 3rd followed by James Jeffers and Gary Flynn.
Pure Stocks posted a 5 on 5-X show. L.J. Klemons and Hardy Jarvis fought hard all race for the first position. Klemons led the first 6 laps but Jarvis beat him to the line on lap 7 just before a caution flag fell. When they lined single file for the restart Jarvis got a great jump and opened up a 4 car length lead that Klemons couldn't overcome. Points leader Mike Tripp suffered an early race spin setting him back. With the double points Klemons made a big stir in the points race. Greg Fife came in 3rd followed by Ken Durham and Chip Owens.
Putnam County will take a weekend off this week, racing will resume on the 13th of October. For more information call 386-649-5210. Have a safe week and we will see you at the races.
Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board!
or send a letter to the editor!
|
