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| Joe Kump Celebrated Second Win at Volusia Speedway Park 7/7/02 | Barberville, FL - Whoever said that Summer raceweeks were over Saturday night were definitely not at Volusia Speedway Park Sunday night for the traditional last night of raceweek in Florida. The racing was even better since weather had put a stop to racing 3 times the past month, everyone was ready for action on the dirt Sunday night!
DeLand Truck Center Late Models - A hard earned win for #17 Joe Kump, Hollywood, FL as he celebrated his second visit to victory lane in 2002. The restarts in the Late Models were for a lack of a better term "hair raising" experiences! Every restart saw the best dirt racing Late Models nose to tail fighting for position with Kump leading them all the way! On lap 2 #07 David Clegg got loose but saved it in turn 4. The caution was thrown for #20 John Trammel as he spun on the back stretch. On lap 2 #17 Joe Kump took the lead from polesitter #6 Scott Singler.
Lap 3 #22 Brent Carlton got around #6 Scott Singler and took second place, taking #88 Paul George and #07 David Clegg with him leaving Singler in 5th place. The field of cars were spread out until lap 9 when Trammel lost control again, this time on the front stretch in front of the leaders. Kump shot through a very small space between last place car #24 Scott Smith and Trammel to keep a "safe" lead. On lap 20 with only 10 to go #23 Lawton Minchew was fighting for position with Singler and spun in turn 2 sending him to the pits for the remainder of the race.
DeLand Truck Center Late Models (1)17 Joe Kump (2)22 Brent Carlton (3)88 Paul George (4)07 David Clegg (5)11 Roho Sims (6)6 Scott Singler (7)99 Brent Chilson (8)24 Scott Smith (9)15 Cindy Grubb (10)23 Lawton Minchew
OB's Restaurant and Lounge Hobby Stocks-A-Main - It was #19 Joe Belkey's lucky night, not only did he make it to victory lane for the second time in the Hobby Stocks it was his 18th Wedding Anniversary too! It was wheel hoppin' and paint swappin' action and it all started on lap 4, the red flag was thrown for #51 Steve Oldaker when his car erupted in flames. The safety crew stopped Oldaker just feet from the flagstand to extinguish the flames and make sure Oldaker was safe. Tires were the next issue, several cars suffered tire problems throughout the race. The safety crew were sent out after #96 Steve Hise had a tire go down and spun in turn one and on the restart #26 Tim Hogan also had a tire go down and he got loose making slight contact with the pit wall entrance.
As the caution was thrown on lap 8, #15 Alan Peacock had just got around #64 Trevor Gamble but did not complete a lap and had to start the fight all over again on lap 9 and the caution was thrown again. Gamble was all over Belkey but Peacock finally got second as Gamble fell prey to the "tire demon" and ended up in the pits. The worst crash of the night was on lap 17, #01 Jimmy Heffner lost a tire and as the tire broke loose it took the fuel cell with it. #33 Grady Christian had nowhere to go and literally "flew" over the tire of Heffner, hit the fuel cell and came to rest under the flagstand. Christian climbed from the car, yelled and waved to the crowd as they applauded his great performance! The red flag was thrown for the second time to clear the debris for the final three laps of the race. When the race was restarted #19 Joe Belkey led the entire field to the checker flag.
OB's Restaurant and Lounge Hobby Stocks-A-Main (1)19 Joe Belkey (2)15 Alan Peacock (3)18 Richard Price (4)88 Dennis North (5)61 Ronald Soltis Jr. (6)50t Pat Taulbee (7)3 Kenny Waters (8)57 Heinz Haas (9)19 Kory Bush (10)01 Jimmy Heffner
OB's Restaurant and Lounge Hobby Stocks-B-Main (1)91 Kirk Bush (2)5 Shannon McConnell (3)14 Ed Yeno (4)50 Jay May (5)80 Paul Cutcher (6)38 Doug Fisher (7)9 Paul Gladin (8)30 Philip Connor (9)15 Cindy Grubb (10)17 Tim Chastian
Action Performance Street Stocks - Fast and furious is the only way to explain the Street Stock Feature race as #007 Todd Ponce took the lead on lap 16 and went on to win yet another feature at Volusia Speedway Park! #2 Scott Lagasse Jr. looked to have the car to beat as he led the first 15 laps. Ponce was not easing up on Lagasse and got around him on lap 16. #1m Shane Williams was right there to put the pressure on Lagasse for second place, it was a high pressure race for Lagasse from lap one. On Lap 16, just as Ponce took the lead a caution was thrown as 4 cars piled up in turn 2. #5 Kevin Zahnen, #22 Jared Cooper, #66 Frank Sharp and #14 Hugh Hayes were all involved. For the last 4 laps the only change in position was for 5th as #22 Joe Baker was able to get around #4 James Peters to finish 5th and 6th respectively.
Action Performance Street Stocks (1)007 Todd Ponce (2)1m Shane Williams (3)2 Scott Lagasse Jr. (4)57 Wally Schneider (5)22 Joe Baker (6)4p James Peters (7)00 John Ripley (8)26 George Lane (9)27 ? (10)27 Steve Edmunds
Mini Stocks - #17 Doug White led the extended lap Mini Stock race all the way, from green to checker 25 laps!The caution was thrown on lap 3 as #86 Robert Peterson spun in front of the leaders, White and #66 Donnie Ashford actually split and went around Peterson. The second caution was a "double caution" as #27 Joey Haslauer spun in turn 2 and #9b Mike Quick got loose and spun in turn 3 taking #6 Matt Cawood with him. Ashford held on to a strong second place up to lap 6 when he made slight contact with the inside wall in turn 4. Ashford struggled to hold on to second place but lost it on lap 15 when #86 Robert Peterson got around him. Peterson didn't hold on to 2nd long as several cars got around him on lap 19 and he had to settle for a 10th place finish. On lap 18 #888 Jamie McCague suffered engine trouble and the caution was thrown as McCague lost power and came to rest on the backstretch. The caution drew up the field but #17 Doug White held on to the lead for his first victory of 2002.
Mini Stocks (1)17 Doug White (2)7 Mike Ponce (3)29 Drew Smith (4)97 Jackie Rhames (5)k9 Mike Cawood (6)9b Michael Quick (7)27 Joey Haslauer (8)1m ? (9)6 Matt Cawood (10)86 Robert Peterson
Pure Stocks - With 25 4 cylinders taking the green it was intense from lap 1! #43 Joey Froelich never let up and took the checker flag after leading all but 5 laps of the 20 lap Pure Stock feature. The trouble began on lap one as #12 Joe Epton got loose and spun in turn 3, #47 Mark Comitale barely got around Epton only to climb all over #27 of James Strehle. The second caution was thrown as #3 DeWayne Yeomans spun all by himself and made contact with the inside wall in turn one on lap 2. The battle for the top spots continued between #43 Joey Froelich, #17 Marvin Prentice, #9 Rick Picard and #23 Mark Reiter. Froelich pulled away as Prentice and Picard fought for the second spot. Prentice got the jump on Picard and it was Froelich and Prentice out front leading the pack.
On lap 12 #27 James Strehle was dragging his bumper cover after the incident with Comitale on the first lap, as he was about to be blackflagged, Strehle lost control got into #72 David Taulbee, neither driver let up and both ended up in the pits. On lap 14 #75 Shawn Pawlak and #9 Rick Picard were fighting for third and got together on the front stretch sending Picard into traffic. The #1 Justin Dixon, the only truck entry in this division, had nowhere to go taking a hard hit into Picard. Prentice took the lead from Froelich before the caution flew and would restart on the pole but Froelich was able to regain the lead on lap 18 and go on to win the race.
Pure Stocks (1)43 Joey Froelich (2)23 Mark Reiter (3)18 Chris Shead (4)48 Deric Smith (5)9 Rick Picard (6)75 Shawn Pawlak (7)73 Rodney Alexander (8)8 Chris Heaney (9)77 Shannon Cleveland (10)33 Alan Swett
Next night of racing-
BARBERVILLE: THREE NIGHTS OF RACING ACTION! Friday July 12, 2002- Open Practice, All Divisions Pit Gates Open at 5pm Practice at 7pm Pit Gate: $10.00 Grandstands FREE
Saturday - July 13, 2002, Stock Car Racing National Late Models, Hobby Stocks, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks and Pure Stocks - Grandstands open at 5pm Racing starts at 7:30pm
Sunday, July 14, 2002 NATIONAL LATE MODEL 100!! Plus the Mini Winged Sprints! Grandstands open at 4pm Racing starts at 6:00pm
General Admission $10.00 Children 12 and Under FREE plus Senior and Student discounts. Information (386) 985-4402 http://www.volusiaspeedwaypark.com
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