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| Robert Ray Still Tops in Enduro | With showers all around the track, impatience began to set in but all cleared and the races began on time. The Street Stock had two heat races and plenty of time to rest before their feature as the 150 Lap 4 Annual Enduro was second on the nights race card.
Street Stock Heat #1 Winner- #73 Rick Swank
Heat #2 Winner - #26 Frank Sharp
The 4th Annual, $10,000 to win Enduro winner was #4 Robert Ray from Floral City, FL. Ray lead the majority of the laps and in the end there was confusion as the cars were close together and with so many lapped it was uncertain who the actual winner was until all the scorecards were tabulated the scorecards verified that Ray was in fact the winner of the big money!
The cars began 3 wide with the first row starting at the starter stand and the last row almost in turn 3. 59 cars took the original green flag. The Drivers came from all over the southeast, 39 from Florida, 12 from Georgia, 5 from South Carolina, 4 from Tennessee and 1 from North Carolina. Holly Hill's #14 Gary Flynn led several laps in the beginning until lap 50 when Ray took the lead and never looked back but he was looking everywhere else because in an Enduro they come from all over. With $10,000 on the line it was anyones race to the end. On lap 8, local Driver, David Clegg took a hard hit and ended up in the pits but was able to return to the track until lap 53 when he put his #07 in the pits for the remainder of the race. By lap 86 the field had been lapped and it was #4 Robert Ray leading the entire field one lap up! Several reds were thrown in an effort to get cars and Drivers off the track and to safety while the race resumed. Another contender in the beginning of the race was DeLand's #80 Paul Shead but he too had trouble when he lost control coming out of lap 2 and ending up on the tires on the back pit entrance. As the race was coming to an end, last year's winner, #10 Matt Scheffler from Auburndale, FL was pushing what looked like second and lost it in turn 4 spinning, coming to a stop facing the oncoming traffic the red was thrown with only 16 laps to go.
When the checker was thrown the top 5 stopped on the front stretch waiting for the verdict as the scorecards were double checked and the cars were put through a serious tech inspection the final finish was 1.) #4 Robert Ray-Floral City, FL 2.) #26 Jimmy Sharpe Jr. - Uvalda, GA 3.) #82 Karl Willard-Cochran, GA 4.) #77 Bart Vance-Waynesville, NC 5.) #007 Tim Clayton-Inman, SC
Street Stock Feature - 12 cars took the green and it was #11 Pat Vareika taking the checker after 25 laps of interesting racing. It took three restarts before a lap was put on the board. On the first attempt #26 Frank Sharp led the pack as #73 Rick Swank spun and #11 Vareika went high to avoid the spin. The second attempt saw the same line-up and as they went into turn 1 #27 Steve Edmunds lost a wheel and tire making the next attempt a single file restart. It was nose to tail and tight to start, Vareika made a great move and passed the leaders for the lead. #23 Wray Shaeffer was able to get around Sharp until the next caution as the #09 of Steve Krauss and #29 Tom Hughes spun and were smoking, they ended up in the pits. Another caution on lap 5 for #07 Landon Lungren and lap 6 as #23 Wray Shaeffer spun, just as the race resumed Shaeffer had trouble and flipped his car on the backstretch. Shaeffer a veteran at local tracks and a car builder himself was able to get out of the car on his own and walk to the ambulance and be checked out. Shaeffer was alright to the cheers of the crowd and his family as they waited by the starter stand for the news. Vareika was on the scene as well since he works for Shaeffer during the week at Shaeffer's shop in Lake Helen. When the race resumed it was Varieka all the way.
Street Stock Finish: 1.) #11 Pat Varieka 2.) #88 Chris Byle 3.) #26 Frank Sharp 4.) #3 Kenny Waters 5.) #4p James Peters 6.) #22 Joe Baker 7.) #Landon Lungren 8.) #23 Wray Shaeffer 9.)#73 Rick Swank 10.) #29 Tom Hughes 11.) #09 Steve Krauss 12.)#27 Steve Edmunds 13.)#5 Jay Miller DNS-#1m David Kinsey #9 Maudie Baker
Next race: Rescheduled Race due to rain: November 17 - National Late Model 100 plus Heats and Features for the Hobby Stock, Pure Stock, Mini Sprints and the Daytona Antique Race Cars. Gates open at 5pm Racing at 7:30 - Adult Admission $10, Senior Citizen discount, Children 12 and under FREE.
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