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| Eddie Thornton Dominates CARS | by Dave Westerman
Orlando's Eddie Thornton continued his recent dominance of the South 40 Motorsports Classic Auto Racing Series by leading all 20 laps of the feature Saturday night at St. Augustine Speedway. While most of the tracks in the state were falling victim to rain, the South 40 Classics were greeted by bright sunshine at St. Augustine.
After having a month off, the drivers were anxious to get on the track and things quickly turned gloomy as three cars were damaged beyond immediate repair in two seperate accidents in warmups. Frank Conrad, E.B. Carr, and Mike Samples all had their cars trailered for the evening before the sun set. Jim Rahman opened up the evening by winning heat one in his Magic Electric #5 by a good margin over Mike Albert. Hard-luck Wayne Ashton had yet another engine come unglued and he was done for the night. Fastwax Rookie of the Year point leader Al Hagan drove his Bryant Heating & Air #6 to the win in heat number two, just holding off Thornton at the checker.
Hagan was on the pole for the feature, but Thornton wasted little time in grabbing the lead going into turn one. From that point it was just a question of who would finish second. Point leader Ed Yates came from fifth on the grid into second by mid-race but didn't have enough horses to catch Thornton's Amsoil #4 coupe. A late-race caution was displayed on lap 18 as Danny Shearer lost power on the frontstretch and came to a stop in turn one. On the restart, Thornton again pulled well ahead and beat Yates to the checker by several car lengths. Bud Spencer had yet another steady run finishing third in his Cold Fire Thermal Cycling #7 sedan despite a pesky transmission leak. Dan Hammerbeck nipped Jim Rahman at the line for fourth spot with David Nunes earning the Action Performance Hard Charger Award for finishing sixth after starting in the 12th spot. Hagan was seventh and again was the top Fastwax rookie of the race. George Hall, Jr., Mike Albert and George Hall III rounded out the top ten. The South 40 Classics have next week off before heading for the Bronson Motor Speedway "Bullring" on July 28th.
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