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| Hot Action at Orlando SpeedWorld | Bithlo, Fl - Maybe it was the heat but the action at
Orlando SpeedWorld for May 3rd was nothing but hot
on and off the track. With the 50 lap Super Stock
special, rainned out from last Friday night, the only
divisions with heats and features was the Bandoleros,
Mod Lites and Pro Challenge cars.
In the Bandoleros, the #6 of Patrick Conrad won the
heat and lead wire to wire in the feature for both
wins of the night. In the feature, the #5 Kory Abbott
stayed right in there with Conrad but a late spin
in the race set him back to the rear. #21 Eric
Needs took over the second place position. Following
Conrad and Needs for the checkers was #63 Dalton Zehr,
#2 Matt Martin and #5 Kory Abbott.
The winner of heat 1 for the Mod Lites was the #8x
and winner of heat 2 was the #21. In the feature, the
#8x had the field way behind him most of the race
until he broke turning the lead over to the #21.
Following the #21 across the start/finish line was
the #68, #22, #2 and #06. Sorry but I did not get
the names of the drivers.
Pro Challenge cars saw the #24 win the heat race with
the #10 Tim Hart leading the way for the feature event.
Following Hart across the start/finish line was the
#56, #24, #31 and #28.
Bill Loomis #17 sat on the pole for the Sportsman feature
but it was the #23 of Robert Hight that jumped to the
lead on the green. The#31 of Paul Colgan was running
fifth when he had mechanical problems and had to pit
for the night. Hight lead the entire race until the
most important lap, the last lap, when the #9 of
Kelly Jarrett made the pass and took the checkers.
Following Jarrett was the #23 Robert Hight, #17 Bill
Loomis, #77 Danny Shearer, and #22 Homer Gordon.
The #17 of Sid Sipes sat on the pole for the Super Late
Model feature. But it was not long before the #02 of
Jared Allison took the lead. The #45 of Mack Hamby
was running fourth when he discovered NO BRAKES. After
tapping the #20 of Ron Dicandio in the rear, and not
meaning to do that, Hamby pulled the brakeless #45
onto pit road. As Allison distanced himself and the
2nd thru 5th place cars, the real battle was going on
for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place positions. #20
Dicandio and #14 Ronnie Roach go side by side and the
#7 Matt Griffin and #33 Ricky Wood touch. The #14 of
Roach spins on the frontstretch going to the rear of
the field after the caution. The #7 of Griffin and
#20 of Dicandio touch sending them both to the rear
of the field on the restart. Crossing the checkers
was #02 Jared Allison, #27 Sid Sipes, #33 Rick Wood,
#14 Ronnie Roach, #21 Scott Stevens, #20 Ron Dicandio,
#7 Matt Griffin, #44 Greg Brooks, and #45 Mack Hamby.
Allison was torn down after the race after a $200.00
tear down fee was put up and found totally LEGAL.
His car is just set up right and hooked up and hard
to beat but it is totally LEGAL.
Shain Held #55 sat on the pole for the Open Wheel
Modified feature and lead wire to wire to take the
checkers. Following Held was the #2x Jason Boyd,
#75 Bobby Blake, #30 and #1.
The 50 lap Super Stock event saw a few more cars
added to the lineup from last week's rainout. Thirty
four Super Stocks took the green with the #00 of
John Hodge on the pole with the #12 of Cory Freed,
current Point Leader for the Super Stock division,
on the outside pole. Rich Clouser #8 sat fast time
with a 16.00 second but drew the #4 pill giving him
a fourth place start.
On the drop of the green, Hodge took the lead with
the #11x of Rick Johns, #2 Ron Whaley, #12 Cory
Freed and #8 Rich Clouser in the top five spots.
The #55 of Dwayne Yoamans brought out the caution as
he hit the frontstretch wall. The field was
realigned with Hodge leading until the #11x of Johns
took over the lead. The caution came out again for
the #3 of Charles Fry and #0x Clint McKean who spun
in turn one but continued on and the #77 of Warren
Schurr and #23 Sid Carter who spun in the bottom
of turns 1 and 2. Johns, leading the race, is spun
by a lap car going into turn 4 but is given back
his lead on the restart. The caution came out again
for the #92 of Bobby Simcox as his wheel went one
way and his car another.
At this point, the #6 Barbara Pierce has worked her
way into the top ten filling the ninth place position.
The caution came out again for the #38 who hit the
turn 4 wall. Now the action has gotten very hot and
heavy as the #8 of Clouser looked high, low to pass
Johns, who is blocking every lap. The #3 hits
the wall with the #12 of Freed also into the wall
taking them both out of the race.
Seventeen cars are left on the field. As the laps
get closer and closer to the 50 mark, Johns slows
on a restart giving the lead to Clouser. Johns slides
back in the field and it is Clouser taking the
checkers. Following #8 Clouser was #2 Ron Whaley,
#11 DeWayne Freed, #1 Carl Peters, #6 Barbara Pierce,
and #53 Charles Kovak.
The top three were torn down, engines out. The #8
of Clouser, which was his uncle John's DeSoto Pure
Stock, declined to remove the engine because his
uncle was racing for points the next night at DeSoto
Speedway and there was no way they could get the car
ready for him. The #2 of Whaley was found legal in
the engine department but dq'd for chassis. The
#11 was found legal and given the win.
Tim "Missileman" McPhail lead wire to wire for the
Mini Stock feature. The #18 of Kenny Hankins tried
to pass McPhail but due to mechanical problems, had
to redraw to pit road. The #30 Bobby Orr, starting in
the rear of the field, did a good job of working his
way up front and taking the second place psotion.
On the last lap, right before the start/finish line,
one of the top five cars spun. Due to the craziness
of the night, I am not sure what the final finishing
order was but it was #07 McPhail, #30 Orr, #98 Jeff
Davis, #28 Sean Bass and #07 Dick Lazslo going for
the checkers on the last lap.
Charlie Pitts #5 won the Strictly Stock feature.
Next week at Orlando SpeedWorld - Florida Mini Stock
Challenge 50 lapper.
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