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| Classic Cars Dominated By Eddie Thornton | Eddie Thornton continued his recent dominance of the South 40 Motorsports Classic Auto Racing Series with a win in the 20-lap feature Saturday night at Charlotte County Speedway near Punta Gorda.
Thornton made a daring three-wide pass in his heat race on the slick quarter-mile to get the win in heat one putting him fifth on the grid for the feature while point leader Ed Yates was involved in a tangle with Danny Shearer and had to go pitside to replace a spindle.
Jim Rahman dominated the second heat and earned the pole for the feature. The initial start was aborted when Thornton tangled with Patrick Sanders but both drivers resumed the race in their assigned starting positions. Rahman jumped out to a commanding lead as Thornton, Sanders, Shearer, and Ted Head battled behind him.
That lead was quickly erased when E.T. McGhee looped his car to bring out what would be the only caution of the race. Thornton quickly moved into second on the restart and began to pressure Rahman finally making a pass out of turn four near the midway point. From there it was all academic as Thornton had his car working extremely well and he took the checker several car lengths in front of Rahman.
In his past seven races, Thornton now has five wins and two seconds driving his Mike List AMSOIL coupe. Ted Head, driving for David Nunes, finished third in his first time driving a South 40 Classic. Danny Shearer had another solid finish holding off race-long pressure from Ed Yates who saw his point lead over Thornton shrink a bit more. Yates did earn the Action Performance Hard Charger of the Race Award. Bud Spencer fought his way to sixth while Patrick Sanders took the FASTWAX Rookie of the Race Award with a seventh place finish. George Hall, Jr., George Hall III, and E.B. Carr rounded out the top ten. The South 40 Classics have two weekends off before returning to Mike Cope's New Bronson Motor Speedway on September 15th. For more information on this affordable Florida traveling series, check out the South 40 Classics website at www.classicautoracing.com.
OFFICIAL FINISH:
1. Eddie Thornton, Orlando #4
2. Jim Rahman, Clermont #5
3. Ted Head, Pine Hills #54
4. Danny Shearer, Melbourne #77
5. Ed Yates, Orlando #74
6. Bud Spencer, Palm Harbor #7
7. Patrick Sanders, Orlando #30
8. George Hall, Jr., St. Petersburg #32
9. George Hall III, St. Petersburg #9
10. E.B. Carr, Okeechobee #90
11. E.T. McGhee, Deland #1
12. Joel Ashton, Ft. Pierce #77X (DNF-overheating)
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