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| Garver And Keller Capture Lake City Specials | By Jon Harney
Lake City, FL - Two of the local support classes at Lake City Speedway took center stage as both the Pure Stock and Street Stock divisions ran features for extra laps and extra pay.
Seventeen Street Stocks began their 30-lap race with Duane Teckenbrock commanding the initial lead. Points leader Shane Taylor made an inside pass for the top spot three laps later and looked to be on his way to the checkers. Jason Garver had other plans, though, and took advantage of a Taylor mistake on lap 11 to slip by on the inside. While the rest of the pack took turns wrecking each other, Taylor gave it everything he had to get around Garver, but Garver would not be denied victory on this night. Behind Garver and Taylor was Dean Sands, Adam Bedenbaugh, and Brad Fiene.
Joey Rolling was the fast qualifier and the early leader in the Pure Stock 40-lapper, but his luck ran out past the halfway mark as mechanical problems sent him to the pits. Wesley Keller inherited the lead only to lose it to Will Jerkins shortly afterwards. Wrecks are the norm rather than the exception in this division and the Pure Stocks did nothing to prove otherwise tonight as the same 20% of the drivers caused 80% of the cautions. The order across the finish line was Jerkins, Jason Price, Keller, Rolling, and Michael Sheffield. While Keller finished third on the track, he finished first in the post-race technical inspection as his was the first car found legal. The official finish after tech was Keller, Rolling, Sheffield, Charles Smith, and Jeff Guyton.
The Florida Sprint Car Association returned to Lake City with an abbreviated field of cars. Gene Lasker charged from the last starting spot to take the lead on lap 5 and held off a late-charging Lee Scrape to claim the win. Lasker's win was all the more impressive as his left front tire was flat and the wheel was bent from an earlier tangle. Lasker and Lee Scrape were trailed by Otto Scrape, Scott Boyles, and George Pedrick.
Derek Crawford's attempt at winning five straight Modified features ended early as he was caught up in an incident on the initial race start. Kyle Owen rose to the occasion and took advantage to lead from the green flag to the checkers. Mitch McCoy finished second in his second start in Modifieds at Lake City. Bill Johnson was third, John Jeffers was fourth, and Keny Porter was fifth.
Eddie Gainey crushed them again in Late Models. Everett Phillips managed to lead a few early laps but once Gainey hit his stride the race for first was essentially over. The action behind Gainey was very good, however, as several cars fought back and forth in the top five. Keith Philman bested Phillips at the line for second while Kelly Philman held off Allen Cribbs for fourth.
Jeff Stalnaker Sr. swapped cars with his son Jeff Stalnaker Jr. last week and neither performed very well. Both returned to their original mounts and fared much better in Mini Stocks. The first 14 laps saw Jr. leading the way but Sr. made a pass on the outside work to capture the lap that paid. Josh Hars was third as he kept Bill Stalnaker and Ryan Van Sickle at bay in the closing laps.
Racing in the combined Florida Open Wheel Lights (aka Dwarf Cars) and the Legends cars saw Dan Nyhan take the win over Ron Towles, Jeremy Mills, and Bob Quick.
This Saturday night's main event is the return of the GA/FL Late Model Sportsman Challenge Series. This will be the fourth installment of the eight race series. All regular Lake City Speedway classes will race heats and features. Racing begins at 7:30 PM.
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