by Jane Smith SAMSULA, Fla. (Feb. 12, 2003) - Fans braved the cold night air and filled the stands on night 5 of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. Most of the mud had dried up with a very spots here and there but it was hot and heavy racing action that filled the night air.
STARRS made their last appearance for the 37th Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. Dennis Guff lead the caution free race from green to checkers followed by Phil Barkins, Steve Parker, Joe Evans and Keneth Tuttle.
Mini Stocks also had their last night of racing, Sportsman begin on Night 6. Shane Canipe sat on the pole for their last feature event for 2003 in the World Series but it was Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulipus who took the point on the green. Dick Laszlo brought out the yellow on lap 2 when he spun on the backstretch backing his mini truck into the tire barrier. Laszlo was fine, pitted to have his truck checked out, and returned to the race.
On the restart coming around turn 4, Dick McPhail and Dink Sullivan find themselves in the turns 3 and 4 wall. Both drivers were fine but their cars were done for the night. Rick Sirmans jumped the restart and was put back in the fourth spot for his "too quick" jump.
Vulipus holds the point on the restart as Scott Reeves pushed Robbie Yoakam down the frontstretch trying to get the second spot. Yoakam held tight and kept control of his car and remained in second. Lap 4, Paul Brown brought out the yellow for a spin in turn 4.
On the restart, it was Vulipus, Yoakam, Sirmans, Reeves and Canipe but on lap 10, something breaks on Canipe's machine with sparks flying from underneath. Canipe pitted for repairs and rejoined the field in the rear after a very good run.
Vulipus and Yoakam give the crowd what they want "side-by-side" action as they battle for the number one spot. Yoakam proves to be just alittle more powerful than Vulipus and is able to take the point. Sirmans joins in the charge and takes over second putting Vulipus to third. Yoakam holds strong and takes his third win with Scott Reeves the only other winner on the first night of racing.
In Victory Lane Yoakam said "thanks to my crew and everyone who helped me. We had a great time here at the World Series and we will be back next year."
Steve Johanack had the pole for the 50 lap FL/IMCA feature. Johanack quickly took the point on the green followed by Wayne Parker, Jerry Symons, Jason Boyd and Mark Glye. Lap 4 saw the yellow for George P. who spun on the bottom of turns 1 and 2. On the restart, Symons put the metal to the pedal and took the point
Jason Boyd, running in the third position, found himself with D.J. Hoelzle right on his tail. Hoelzle, who comes from DeSoto Speedway, wanted that third place position and was not giving up.
Lap 25, Chad Pierce retires his machine to the pits done for the night as does David Winslow on lap 36. After running in the top five and having a very good run, Steve Johanack finds himself down for the night as his machine overheats on the frontstretch after a spin. Johanack was running in the fifth place position.
On lap 47, Dink Sullivan, Shane Held and Shawn Stroble find themselves in a nest against the turn 4 wall. Stroble drives away. On the restart Hoelzle powers pass Boyd and takes over the second place position putting Boyd in third.
One lap late, lap 48, Jerry Artuso brought out the yellow as he spun high in turns 3 and 4. It was now a cat fight for the finish as Symons has his hands full of Hoelze.
Coming to the checkers on the backstretch, Boyd spins losing his third place position. Symons takes the win for number 3 followed by D.J. Hoelzle, Brad May, Wayne Parker and Mark Vandevender.
D.J. Hoelzle told the crowd on the frontstretch, "this was my first time at New Smyrna Speedway and the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. My team and I worked very hard on the car and it was running good, just got good enough to take Jerry. We will be back next year."] The mods still have 4 more days of racing action but Hoelzle had to leave Wednesday morning.
Louie Mechalides, who races in the Busch North Series, sat on the pole for the 30 lap Super Late Model event. Mechalides has had a good car but rotten luck so far. When the green waved, Mechalides jumped to the lead followed by Don Chisholm, James Powell III, Randy Gentry and Mike Good.
Lap 3, the yellow comes out for Eddie Hanby, Jr. who has visited the turns 1 and 2 wall and Mike Good who has stalled at the bottom of turn 4. On the restart, Powell powers his machine to the point but not for long as the yellow comes out for Bruce Gowland who has spun coming off turn 4.
On the restart, Powell leads Mechalides, Chisholm, Gentry, Wayne Anderson and B.J. McLeod. Lap 7, Anderson powers his machine into fourth with McLeod following in the fun taking fifth putting Gentry to sixth. Lap 17, the yellow is flown for debris on the track.
Powell maintains his lead over Mechalides, Chisholm, Anderson and McLeod. On lap 19, Chisholm gets into the rear of Mechalides and spins with Jeff Emery spinning as he tries to avoid Chisholm. Chisholm is hit hard in the front and is towed to the pits, done for the night and his good run. The race is red flagged.
On the restart, Powell has the point with Anderson right on his tail followed by B.J. McLeod, Don Thompson, Jr., and Scott Hantz. Chris Fontaine spins bringing out the yellow on lap 21.
On the restart, Powell maintains the lead. Coming to the checkered, there is a massive pile-up in turns 3 and 4 as Hanley, David Browning, Randy Gentry, and Jack Landis all find themselves in a nest.
Powell takes the win followed by Wayne Anderson, B.J. McLeod, Don Thompson, Jr. and Scott Hantz.
As the top three are interviewed on the frontstretch, McLeod states, "we changed engines on Monday and it proved to be a good thing. The car is running great and we are very pleased with the third place win. We will keep working and hopefully get better and better."
The NASCAR Tour Type/SK Mods had a hard time getting their race going and ending. Caution after caution seemed endless. Mike Fitch had the pole for their 25 lap feature but before a lap was down, the caution came out for Thomas Bentz who spun in turn 2. On the restart, Ed Flemke, Jr. takes the point followed by J.R. Bertuccio, Tim Arre, Ted Christopher, and Mike Fitch.
It was a short green lap run as the yellow flew on lap 2 for Dave Roys, Jr. who made contact with the frontstretch wall. Roys was fine but his car was done for the night. On the second restart, J.R. Helberg brought out the yellow as he contacted the frontstretch wall.
J.R. Bertuccio takes the point on the next restart as Ed. Flemke, Jr. is forced off the track bringing out the yellow. On the restart, it is Bertuccio, Christopher, Arre, Fitch, and George Kent, Jr.
Lap 9, Flemke, Jr. spun in turns 1 and 2 and Donny Lia broke after making contact with the wall. The guys are getting restless after all the restarts and it is beginning to show.
Bertuccio holds the point on the restart with Christopher all over him. Rob Summers moved to 4th with Kent moving into 5th. With two laps to go, the caution comes out on lap 23 for George Boch who has hit the turn 2 wall.
On the restart, 3/4's of the field spin in turns 1 and 2 requring a complete restart. Bertuccio holds the lead as the field restarts again but Frank Wainwright spins on the frontstretch bringing out the now dreaded yellow flag.
Restart again and Christopher puts the medal to the pedal and pushes Jim Willis down the frontstretch sideways. Willis gets out of his car and makes sure that Christopher knows how displeased he was at this uncalled for action.
Restart again and the points leader for the S/K mods in the series finds himself the cause of the yellow as Bo Gunning is against the turn 3 wall. Just when you think there can be no more restarts, the green comes out again as Christopher is all over the rear of Bertuccio. Bertuccio holds strong and does not take the intimidation from Christopher but just as the white is to be flown, the yellow is flown instead for Ed. Flemke, Jr. as he spins and contacts the wall.
The fans are ready to throw rotten tomatoes at Christopher as he is black flagged for rough driving and sent to the rear.
Just as Bertuccio can see the checkers, Tim Arre makes a move and passed Bertuccio for the win on the last lap with Bertuccio second, Geroge Boch third, George Kent, Jr. fourth and Kevin Goodale fifth.
In Victory Lane, Arre said "fair is fair. I gave him a slot and got under him to take the win."
After sitting in the freezing cold for numerous yellow flags, the fans were quite pleased that there was only one caution in the Late Model 20 lap feature. Kirk Hooker sat on the pole but it was Joey Miller who put his Great Chips machine to the point and took the lead followed by Hooker, Mike Murphy, Larry Osteen, and Jason Boyd.
Boyd began is march to the front taking over first fourth, then third, and then second. Paul Sheperd Jr. brought out the only yellow flag on lap 15 as he spun on the backstretch.
Miller found himself with Boyd right on his bumper as the green flew for the restart but Miller held strong and took the win only by inches at the start/finish line.
A very upset Boyd thought he had the win and got out of his car only to hear that Miller had won but a few inches. Boyd walked away from his car refusing to talk to the announcer with a very happy Joey Miller in Victory Lane.
Miller said "thanks to my dad and all the guys who help me. It feels good being here."
But in tech, Miller was disqualified for weight and the win was given to Boyd.
Night 6 will see Super Late Models, Late Models, a 50 lap NASCAR Tour Type/.SK Mods event, FL/IMCA Mods, and Sportsman. Racing action will begin at 7:30 p.m.
RESULTS
NASCAR TOUR TYPE/SK MODS - 25 Laps
1. #14 Tim Arre 2. #2 J.R. Bertuccio 3. #29 George Boch 4. #26 George Kent, Jr. 5. #50 Kevin Goodale 6. #11 Chuck Stoener 7. #46 Tom White 8. #00 Ted Christopher 9. #1 Daniel Meservey 10. #44 Frank Wainwright 11. #36 Rob Summers 12. #79 Ed Flemke, Jr. 13. #62 Jim Willis 14. #9NH Mike Fitch 15. #7NY Tom Baldwin 16. #12 Bo Gunning 17. #86 Thomas Bentz 18. #18 Donny Lia 19. #25 Dave Roys, Jr. 20. #30 J.R. Helberg 21. #06 Steve Whitt 22. #17 Jeff Malave 23. #82 Jamie Wolf 24. #80 Brad May 25. #35 Larry Altholtz
POINTS FOR NASCAR TOUR TYPE/SK MODS
1. #00 Ted Christopher 330 2. #14 Tim Arre 324 3. #29 George Boch 308 4. #1 Dan Meservey 300 5. #79 Ed Flemke, Jr. 299 6. #9NH Mike Fitch 278 7. #62 Jim Willis 278 8. #50 Kevin Goodale 278 9. #36 Rob Summers 274 10. #44 Frank Wainwright 266 11. #12 Bo Gunning 262 12. #2 J.R. Bertuccio 259 13. #26 George Kent, Jr. 255 14. #25 Dave Roys, Jr. 244 15. #30 J.R. Helberg 236 16. #46 Tom White 232 17. #82 Jamie Wolf 210 18. #18 Donny Lia 208 19. #80 Brad May 200 20. #97 Frank Ruocco 184 21. #27 John White 180 22. #06 Steve Whitt 176 23. #86 Thomas Bentz 172 24. #17 Jeff Malave 158 25. #11 Chuck Stoener 150 26. #35 Larry Altholtz 96 27. #7 Tom Baldwin 66
SUPER LATE MODEL - 30 Laps
1. #37 James Powell 2. #84 Wayne Anderson 3. #78 B.J. McLeod 4. #4 Don Thompson 5. #72 Scott Hantz 6. #23 Eddie VanMeter 7. #7 Shelby Howard 8. #90 Bob Fox 9. #1 Chris Moore 10. #21x Todd Jackson 11. #09 Randy Gentry 12. #63 Marty Zehr 13. #71 Jimmy Burns 14. #66 Jr. Hanley 15. #10x Jack Landis 16. #12 Terry Shoppenhorst 17. #6 David Browning 18. #47 Louis Mechalides 19. #18y Frank Nitzke 20. #46 Chris Fontaine 21. #89 Donald Chisholm 22. #26 Jeff Emery 23. #60 Bob Eastwood 24. #74 Ryan Moore 25. #18 Bruce Gowland 26 #141 Jake Keaton 27. #80 Jonathan Smith 28. #43 Eddie Hanby, Jr. 29. #7 Mark Vandevender 30 #12B Steve Weaver, Jr. 31. #27 Mike Good
LATE MODEL - 20 Laps
1. #15 Jason Boyd 2. #26 Mike Murphy 3. #38 Kirk Hooker 4. #22 Larry Osteen 5. #81 Scott Watts 6. #05 Jerry Artuso 7. #88 John Crumrine 8. #9 Rich Clouser 9. #82 Danny Maddox 10. #30x Terry Jones 11. #09 Kent Nuhm 12. #8 Tim Clark 13. #lx Kenny Crites 14. #36x Jimmy Parker 15. #9x Tim Watson 16. #29 Steve Sunde 17. #31 Shaun McWhirter 18. #2 A.J. Curreli 19. #79 Pete Sheperd, Jr. 20. #23 Jerick Johnson 21. #51x John Webber 22. #90 Jonathan Smith #51 Joey Miller DQ'd
FL/IMCA MODS - 50 Laps
1. #66 Jerry Symons 2. #8 D.J. Hoelzle 3. #00 Brad May 4. #3 Wayne Parker 5. #7 Mark Vandevender 6. #57 Mark Glye 7. #96 Matt Wheeler 8. #4B Allen Bruns 9. #45 Shawn Stroble 10. #05 Jerry Artuso 11. #33 Chuck Rein 12. #00x Victor Almos 13. #55 Shane Held 14. #52 George Pr 15. #7x Al Marmande 16. #22m Dan Ballard 17. #17 Dink Sullivan 18. #1 Steve Johnacki 19. #10 David Winslow 20. #51 Chad Pierce #2x Jason Boyd DQ'd
MINI STOCKS - 20 Laps
1. #8 Robbie Yoakam 2. #05 Rick Sirmans 3. #71 Ted Vulipus 4. #21 Scott Reeves 5. #16 Chase Goodson 6. #10 Tim Canipe 7. #09 Shane Canipe 8. #22 Paul Brown 9. #15 Wayne Clark 10. #80 Roger Larson 11. #20 Chris Jones 12. #07 Dick Laszlo 13, #61 Dick McPhail 14. #17 Adam Murray 15. #4 Ron Dubeau
STARRS -
1. #2 Dennis Guff 2. #21 Phil Barkins 3. #19 Steve Parker 4. #550 Joe Evans 5. #16 Kenneth Tuttle 6. #6 James Rogers 7. #41 Barry Roy 8. #L1 Bob Parker 9. #19 Jerry Tuttle 10. #7 Skip Stearns 11. #2-13 Bobby Hanshow
