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| Merwin, Keller and Smith Fine Tune for the Big Race | By Shirley Lynch
With only a few weeks remaining before the $3,000 to win Street Stock, Pure Stock and Ministock races on October 26th, drivers from all over Florida and Georgia converged on Lake City Speedway to get a head start on dialing in their cars before taking a crack at the big money.
The first heat race in the Street Stock division was won by last week's feature winner, David Lashley with Randy Merwin crossing 2nd and Kyle Livingood finishing 3rd. Newcomer to Lake City Speedway, Oliver Hughes won the 2nd heat followed by Adam Bedenbaugh and Mitch McCoy.
After two restarts to the Street Stock Feature race, the drivers finally settled in to make that crucial first lap with the #38 of Randy Merwin jumping out front and maintaining his lead against all challengers. The #33B of Adam Bedenbaugh made all the right moves, but was unable to overtake Merwin. #77 Brad Fiene traveled over from the asphalt track to take 3rd followed by the #44 of Dean Sands for 4th and the #M44 of Mitch McCoy finishing 5th.
The lure of big money brought the ministocks out of the woodwork, as the field grew to 15 ministocks, all hoping to get a handle on the track before the 26th. The #59 of Bill Stalnaker took the first heat race win with #27 of Joey Haslauer finishing 2nd and #29 of Drew Smith crossing 3rd. The second heat race was won by #38 Joey Durbin, followed by #31 Barry Knight and #33 Neal Durbin.
Action abounded in the Ministock Feature as the #27 of Joey Haslauer took the lead with the #59 of Bill Stalnaker tucking in behind. The #29 of Drew Smith picked off Stalnaker by lap 4 and the #20 of Joe Lawson settled into 4th. The #29 of Drew Smith got around Haslauer on lap 17 to take the lead, as Haslauer, Smith and Stalnaker lapped the entire field. Finishing order was #29 of Drew Smith taking the checkers, #27 of Joey Haslauer crossing 2nd, #59 of Bill Stalnaker finishing 3rd, the #38 of Joey Durbin with 4th place honors and the #33 of Neal Durbin in 5th.
The #34 of Wesley Keller took the checkers on the first pure stock heat race, followed by #97 of Joey Rolling and the #17 of Gene O'Steen. Heat race 2 was won by #0 of Nevin Gainey with #55 of Heath Walker crossing 2nd and #31 of Trisha Taylor taking 3rd.
The Pure Stock Feature completed the evening's excitement with an action packed 25 laps of rubbing and racing as the #34 of Keller took the lead on the start, with #97 of Joey Rolling and #17 of Gene O'Steen giving Keller as much as he could handle. O'Steen made a pass on Rolling on lap 8 to take over 2nd place, but had to pit on lap 17 for a flat tire. Nevin Gainey and Heath Walker dropped into 3rd and 4th but should have looked back as the #31 of Trisha Taylor picked off cars one by one, to come from 7th place on lap 17 to 4th at the finish. Finishing order for the Pure Stock Feature was #34 Wesley Keller taking the win, the #97 of Joey Rolling finishing 2nd, the #0 of Nevin Gainey crossing 3rd, the #31 of Trisha Taylor still having that loving feeling for her new car, taking 4th and #55 of Heath Walker finishing 5th.
Please be sure to join us at Lake City Speedway for the Triple Crown 300 on October 26th when the Street Stock, Pure Stock and Ministock Divisions will each race for 100 laps and a chance to take home $3,000.
Saturday, November 16th Lake City Speedway will host a 75 lap, $3,000 to win Super Late Model race in addition to Street Stock, Pure Stock and Ministock races to round out the evening.
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