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| Excitement Builds in the Late Model Division at Lake City Speedway | by Shirley Lynch
With two weeks left before the lst Annual Florida State
Late Model Sportsman Challenge Series race at Lake City
Speedway, drivers are starting to get in some extra
track time in the hopes that each will walk away with
the $10,000 winning purse. Many new faces showed up
for a good late model field last night and if the racing
action was any indication of what we can expect on the
21st of September, eerybody better hold onto their
seats. Gene Ross set fast qualifying lap with a 16.98
seconds, followed by Jeff Henry's 17.38, Dusty Cone's
17.41, Charles Sealy clocked a 17.54 and local LM
driver, Jay Johnson was 5th fastest with a 17.66.
As the Late Models ran some hot laps prior to their
feature start, Gene Ross ran out of luck when he was
clipped by another car and was unable to start the
feature after setting fast qualifying time. The #15
of Jeff Henry got hte jump on the start but the #35 of
Charles Sealy made a pass on lap 2 to take the lead.
As the #17 Dusty Cone, the #44P Eric Platt and #5
Johnny Collins ran nose to tail, the crowd got into
the action as they screamed to their favorite driver.
By lap 6, Eric Platt had closed the distance from 6th
starting position to 3rd and was knocking on Cone's
back door with the #5 Johnny Collins stuck like glue
to Plat and the #55 Wayne Stevens settled into 5th.
By lap 17, Platt had worked his way around the #17
Cone and was running 2nd when he had to retire to the
pits with mechanical problems, relinquishing his hard
fought 2nd position to Cone. Lots of rubbing and
bumping had the crowd on their feet as we all wondered
whether the drivers thought they were running the big
race last night. Finishing order for the Late Model
Feature was #35 Charles Sealy leading all but one lap
of the feature, followed by #17 Dusty Cone for 2nd, the
#5 Johnny Collins traveling over from his home track to
take 3rd place money, #55 Wayne Stevens crossing 4th
and #15 Jeff Henry finishing 5th. Stay tuned to the
Late Moidels as more drivers are expected next weekend
to get htat one last opportunity for track time before
the "BIG ONE" on September 20th and 21st.
The Street Stock division ran two heat races with the
#82 Shane Taylor leading green to checkers followed by
#44 Dean Sands and #84 Skip Haskett in the lst heat.
The 2nd heat race provided plenty of excitement as #27
Jason Garver was started on the tail after winning
the last two week's features. The #38 Randy Merwin
started on the pole and led the race to take the
checkers with #41 Randy Smith finishing 2nd and #33B
Adam Bedenbaugh coming across 3rd. The #27 Garver
finished a respectable 4th.
As the green flag dropped on the Street Stock feature,
the #38 Randy Merwin got the jump on the #82 Sahe Taylor
and took the lead with Taylor tucked in behind. Before
Taylor could put a move on Merwin, the #41 Randy Smith
made a pass on Taylor to drop into the 2nd place
position. While the front runners were duking it out,
Garver had his Nova on the outside groove and looked
like he was on a rail as he motored his way from 8th
to 3rd by lap 3. As Shane Taylor was involved in a
caution on lap 4, the #44 Dean Sands moved into 4th
position with the #33 Adam Bedenbaugh running in 5th.
Lap 7 saw the #82 Shane Taylor and the #27 Jason Garver
pitting with Garver returning to the race without losing
a lap and Taylor retiring for the night with mechanical
problems. Randy Merwin was out front and cruising as
the #33 Adam Bedenbaugh slipped in behind him and the
#41 Randy Smith and the #44 Dean Sands tucked in for
the ride. Randy Smith seemed to be experiencing some
mechanical troubles himself as his car faded to 6th by
lap 13 and the #29 Marvin Hassell took over the 4th place
position behind Sands. With 6 laps to go in this
action packed Street Stock feature, the #27 Garver made
his final move as he once again put his car on the
outside and picked them off one by one, but didn't have
enough laps or motor to overtake the #38 Randy Merwin
who wasn't going to be denied the win. Finishing order
was #38 Randy Merwin, #27 Jason Garver taking 2nd
the #44 Dean Sands finishing 3rd, the #33B Adam
Bedenbaugh crossing 4th and the #41 Randy Smith holding
on to 5th.
The Modified heat race found the F1 of Kyle Owen, the
current points leader starting on the tail after a
bad draw. The #90 driven by Jason Garver lead the race
to take the heat rac win with the F1 coming from the
rear to finish 2nd, the M4 Leon Allgyer finishing 3rd
and #18 Derek Crawford unable to start due to mechanical
problems.
As feature time approached, everyone was wondering if
the #18 Derek Crawford would make the race, as he has
steadily hammered away at Owen's points lead to come
within spitting distance of knocking the F1 off the
top of the list. As the flag waved, the #90 Jason
Garver won the drag race down the front stretch to
take the lead with the F1 Kyle Owen running in 2nd and
the M4 Allgyer riding in 3rd. Garver held on to his
lead, although Owen challenged on teh high side and low
side coming off every corner. Finishing order for the
Modified feature was #90 Jason Garver crossing first,
the F1 Kyle Owen taking a very close 2nd, the M4 Leon
Allgyer finishing 3rd, the #28 Charlie Bear crossing
4th and the #19K Kenny Robertson motoring across in 5th.
The Florida Minisprint Association traveled over to the
Speedway for a night's entertainment and the finishing
order for the lst heat race was #55 Allen Craig taking
the win, #71 John Craddock 2nd and #2 Steve Crabtree
3rd. The 2nd heat race was won by #86 Russ Heider with
#33 Tom Wilson crossing 2nd and #24 Tom Blackburn taking
3rd.
As the Minisprint feature got underway, the #86 Russ
Heider won the race to turn one and never looked back
as he dominated the entire race to take the win in the
15 lap feature. The #24 Tom Blackburn started in the
2nd position but was passed by the #71 John Craddock
on lap 2 and by the #2 Steve Crabtree on lap 3. A
caution on the 2 car brought the #6 Mike Shroeder into
the 3rd position by turn 6 with the #33 Tom Wilson
following close behind. Finishing order for the Florida
Minisprints was #86 Russ Heider taking the checkers, #6
Mike Shroeder moving up from 5th to 2nd, the #71 John
Craddock crossing 3rd, the #55 Allen Craig finishing
4th and #33 Tom Wilson in 5th.
The Pure Stocks rounded out the night's program with
two exciting heat races as the #04 Jack Mosley won
heat #1 with #84 Aaron Smith crossing 2nd and the #18
Andrew Davis finishing 3rd. The #32 of Michael Green
jumped out to take the lead on heat race 2, but was
passed by #17 Gene O'Steen on lap 3 and the #97 Joey
Rolling on lap 4. Finishing order for heat race #2
was #17 Gene O'Steen winning, the #97 Joey Rolling
finishing 2nd after last weeki's disappointing DNF and
#32 Michael Green finishing 3rd.
When the Pure Stock feature got underway, the first
turn was once again the downfall of the field as too
many drivers tried to put their cars in too little
space and caused a restart. The #04 Jack Mosley got
a good jump on the #17 of O'Steen and managed to
hold onto the lead for three laps, when O'Steen made a
great pass to take the lead. Two cautions on lap 4
sent several cars into the pit, including #97 Rolling
who changed a flat tire in record time to return to the
track without loosing a lap. The #0 Nevin Gainey
restarted twice on the rear of the field after fighting
his way up to 6th on each restart but losing his position
each time as the yellow came out before a lap was
completed and the lineup reverted to the last completed
lap. On the restart, O'Steen maintained his lead with
Mosley pulling out all his tricks to try and overtake
O'Steen and get his lead back. Meanwhile, back at the
ranch, the #97 Joey Rolling had quickly moved up from
the tail of the pack to drop into 4th position behind
#84 Aaron Smith and put a move on Smith on lap #6 to
take over 3rd. As the time limit ran out for the Pure
Stock feature the #17 Gene O'Steen held on for the win
with the #84 Aaron Smith finishing 2nd after the #97
Rolling and the #04 Mosley experienced problems, the
#0 Nevin Gainey fighting his way back to finish 3rd,
the #32 Michael Green crossing 4th and #33 Jason Parker
coming from 10th to 5th in the last wo laps of the
race.
Please join us at Lake City Speedway next week for more
exciting racing as the drivers in all divisions get
ready to battle for the big purses on the 20th and 21st
of September.
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