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| Garver and Fortner Say "Show Me the Money" | By Shirley Lynch
Lake City Speedway
Rainouts at area tracks forced drivers to scramble for a track to run and Lake City Speedway was the place to be as many new faces showed up for a night of racing excitement. Street Stocks and Pure Stocks ran for increased purses and the competition was fierce for that extra cash.
Street Stocks kicked off the night with two exciting heat races that looked like feature time as they all battled for that cherished spot up front in the feature. The #43 of Tommy Merrill took the first heat, followed by #71 of Arthur Conquest and #82 of Shane Taylor. The second heat race was won by the NINE car driven by Wayno Risner with #27 of Jason Garver and #38 of Randy Merwin crossing 2nd & 3rd.
A first lap caution in the Street Stock Feature sent the #27 of Garver, the #71 of Conquest and the #41 of Randy Smith in the pits, with Smith unable to return to the race. The #43 of Tommy Merrill got the jump on the NINE of Risner on the restart but the #82 of Shane Taylor crossed the line first on lap 5 to take the lead. #38 of Randy Merwin came out in front on lap 9 as Taylor pitted for mechanical problems and returned on the tail. Jason Garver slowly reeled in Merwin, bringing the #22 of Randy Clark, Sr. and the #44 of Dean Sands with him. Garver took the lead on lap 16 with the #22 and #44 right on his tail. Garver held on to take the checkers and the $600 purse with #22 of Randy Clark, Sr. finishing 2nd, #44 of Dean Sands 3rd, #11 of T.C. Broadway placing 4th and #69 of David Tyrrell coming across 5th.
Not to be outdone, the Late Model Sportsman heat made it's own excitement as the #15 of Jeff Henry beat the #86 of Wilson Griffis to the first corner and the #53 of John Rankin move from 7th to 2nd in one lap. Finishing order for the heat was #15 of Jeff Henry, #53 of John Rankin and #86 of Griffis across in that order.
As the #15 of Jeff Henry took the green for the Late Model Sportsman Feature, Griffis put a move on the #53 of John Rankin and came out of turn 2 in 2nd position, with the #45 of Chris Vogel right on his tail. It looked like Jeff Henry would lead to the checkers, but problems on lap 9 sent him to the pit and gave Griffis the lead. Three laps later everyone held their breath as Griffis tangled with a lap car leaving him battered and limping around one more lap before retiring for the night. Finish order for the LM Sportsman Feature was #45 of Chris Vogel taking the win after arriving to run only the feature race, the #53 of John Rankin finishing 2nd, #79 of Lloyd Davis crossing 3rd, #86 of Griffis taking 4th and #15 of Jeff Henry finishing 5th.
The Modified heats had several new faces as drivers traveled over from their home tracks to get their weekly racing fix. The F1 of Kyle Owen won the first heat race with #45 of Morgan Bass and the M4 of Leon Allgyer following close behind. The #18 of Derek Crawford crossed first in the second heat, setting up the battle for not only the feature win, but points lead in that division. #21 of Jerry Morgan finished behind Crawford and #111 of Mark Prewitt crossed 3rd.
As the green flag dropped on the Modified Feature the F1 of Kyle Owen won the drag race to turn one with Crawford dropping in behind and the #45 of Morgan Bass coming through the turn in 3rd position. As the #111 of Mark Prewitt experienced problems and went to the pits the #01 of Kenny Blair and #6 of Jimmy Peele became the guys to watch as they tried to chase down the leaders. Mechanical problems sidelined the #01 of Blair on lap 5 as the second caution of the race came out. Owen got a good restart, but couldn't shake the #18 of Crawford as he got up close and friendly with Owen's bumper on lap 13. As the white flag dropped it looked like Kyle Owen would hold on for the win but Crawford had other plans as he took advantage of a good run off turn two and made an exciting pass to take the lead. Finishing order for the Modified Feature was #18 Derek Crawford snatching the win from the F1 of Owen who finished a close 2nd, the #45 of Morgan Bass having a great run to take 3rd, the #6 of Jimmy Peele crossing 4th and the #M4 of Leon Allgyer taking 5th.
The Ministock heat race had yet another Stalnaker on the track when the #77 driven by Charlie Stalnaker finished first followed by the #59 of Bill Stalnaker and the #30 of Richard Tipton taking 3rd.
As the Ministock Feature got underway, the #77 of Charlie Stalnaker proved what his car had as he won the drag race to turn one with the #30 of Richard Tipton dropping into 2nd ahead of the #59 of Bill Stalnaker. The #59 must have been mad as heck and not taking it anymore as he took the lead on lap 4 and never looked back, crossing first with room to spare to win the Ministock Feature. The #7 of Stanton Mills had a great run to finish 2nd after arriving too late to make the heat races and starting on the tail. The #77 of Charlie Stalnaker finished 3rd and the #30 of Richard Tipton crossed 4th.
Competition was brutal in the Pure Stock Heats with both heat races looking like features, as everyone was determined to win that coveted front row spot for the $500 to win purse for the night. The first heat race was won by #33 Jason Parker with the #1 of Jerry Fortner finishing 2nd and #17 of Gene O'Steen taking 3rd. Heat race two provided the most excitement as the #18 of Andrew Davis, #55 of Joey Webb, and the #48 driven by Coleman Jandle III mixed it up for 6 laps and five cautions. Finishing order was #18 Andrew Davis across the line 1st, #55 of Joey Webb finishing 2nd and #48 of Coleman Jandle III taking 3rd.
As the Pure Stock Feature got underway, you could feel the tension in the air as everyone in the stands knew this race would be the mother of all battles after the action in the heat races. When the field got the green they were four wide down the front stretch and just managed to get it sorted out by turn one to avoid the usual pileup that plagued them several weeks ago. By the time the pures completed the first lap the entire field had shuffled with the #33 of Jason Parker out front, followed by the #1 of Jerry Fortner and the #17 of Gene O'Steen. #28 Trisha Taylor was in 4th with the #6 of Heath Walker riding close behind and the #48 of Coleman Jandle III and the 7X of Wesley Keller charging toward the front. Jandle experienced problems and went to the pits and the 7X of Wesley Keller took over the 4th position on lap 5. Gene O'Steen managed to take the lead from Parker on lap 7, only to bring out a caution two laps later and retire for the night. On the restart, 7X of Keller got the jump and took the lead. The race was red flagged as the #55 of Joey Webb got into the #48 of Coleman Jandle III on turn two and put Jandle on his roof on the backstretch. After getting his wheels on the ground Jandle returned to the race, but was cautioned twice before the restart, as he rode up beside the #55 car and exchanged some meaningful dialogue plus a few hand gestures. As time ran out on the Pure Stock Feature race it looked like the 7X of Wesley Keller had it in the bag but Keller fell short at the finish when he went to the pits with mechanical problems. Finishing order was #1 of Jerry Fortner taking home the $500 purse for the win, #33 of Jason Parker finishing 2nd, #55 of Joey Webb crossing 3rd, #38 of Troy Davis taking 4th and #07 of Shawn Creech taking 5th place honors.
Don't forget to come enjoy the Florida State Championship Late Model Sportsman race on September 20th and 21st with 34 cars competing for $10,000 to win and all other classes running for $1,000 purses. Heats and Qualifying will be Friday night, September 20th and Saturday nights action will have some of the biggest names in Late Model Sportsman racing running 100 laps for the $10,000 prize, a "B" main for those Late Models not qualifying for the feature, and 40 lap features for all other classes for $1,000 to win.
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