Bertuccio Gets First Win at World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing
by Jane Smith Samsula, Fla - Night 7 of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing was no warmer than the previous nights but that did not keep the fans from coming out and enjoying a night of hot, racing action.
Jr. Hanley set fast time for the 50 lap Super Late Model feature with a 17.797 followed by B.J. McLeod 17.864, Mike Fritts 17.907, Freddie Query 17.952 and Aric Almirola 17.963. Hanley drew a number 4 pill which inverted the top four with Freddie Query on the pole.
Mike Fritts, driving the #92 car owned by Dick Anderson, took the point on the green and lead the race from green to checkered. Terry Schoppenhorst, in his back-up car, brought out the red flag on lap 3 when he went hard into the turn 1 wall. Schoppenhorst was fine but the car was definitely done for the night.
Steve Keller brought out the yellow on lap 8 when he spun in the bottom of turn 4. Fritts held the point on the restart followed by Freddie Query, Jr. Hanley, B.J. McLeod, and James Powell III. Lap 9 saw Bruce Gowland and Bob Eastwood get together at the bottom of turn 4. Gowland was able to continue racing but Eastwood was done for the night.
On lap 18, Bruce Gowland hits the turn 4 wall coming off 4, gets very squirelly but is able to control the car and keeps on ticking. Just a few short laps later, the red flag comes out again for Mike Good Good was fine but the red was brought out for oil all over the track.
On the restart, Wayne Anderson moves into the sixth place position with Louis Mechalides following on his coattails for seventh. Hanley is all over Query trying for that second place position but Query is having none of it. Anderson tries going outside and inside to pass Powell for fifth but Powell holds strong and retains his fifth place running order.
Lap 37, Steve Keller brought out the yellow for his spun at the bottom of turn 2. Keller corrects the car and rejoins the field at the rear. On the restart, Fritts is still holding strong as Hanley passes Query for second, McLeod moves into third, and Query settles into the fourth place position.
Eddie VanMeter brought out the yellow as he took a 180 ride in turns 3 and 4 on lap 39. On the restart, Fritts finds his hands full of Jr. Hanley on his tail but Fritts proved what a great racer he is and holds his position. Hanley finally powers himself around Fritts only to have to go back to the second position as the yellow was thrown and the lap was not completed when Steve Keller spun on the frontstretch dusting the pit wall.
Eight laps left as Hanley does everything in his power to pass Fritts Anderson and Powell get together on the backstretch touching wheel-to- wheel and on the next lap, Anderson's tire goes down sending him into the turn 2 wall. Anderson is fine but the car has to be towed into the pits and his run for another win is ended for night 7.
Fritts takes the checkered followed by Jr. Hanley, B.J. McLeod, Freddie Query and James Powell III>
In Victory Lane Fritts said, "Jr. ran me clean and I appreciate that. I would like to thank Country Joe and Dick Anderson for this awesome ride." Anderson added, "I know I have the right driver in the car."
In tech, Fritts was light on weight and was dq'd after leading every lap of the 50 lap event. The win was then given to Jr. Hanley with B.J. McLeod in second followed by Freddie Query, James Powell III, and Louis Mechalides.
Sportsman ran a 15 lap caution free feature with Ron Lufcy on the pole but it was Brett Bultemiere who quickly jumped to the point on the green followed by Earl Beckner, Paul Colgan, Ron Lufcy, and Bill Love. Coming up fast from his rear starting position was Dale Clouser who moved to the fifth place position by lap 11 and fourth by lap 13. Beckner was able to take the point from Bultemiere on the last lap and won the race followed by Brett Bultemiere, Paul Colgan, Dale Clouser, and Ron Lufcy. Joining in the Sportsman field was one of the 911 Cop cars of Bob Hart which was a crowd pleaser and a few of the FASTRUCKS trying their trucks out for their Friday and Saturday shows at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. Just a little icing on the cake for the fans.
J.R. Bertuccio sat on the pole for the NASCAR Tour Type/Sk Mod 30 lap feature and lead from green to checkered. A restart was in order as Daniel Meservey, George Boch, and Dave Roys, Jr. all find themselves in the turns 1 and 2 wall. Not a good way to start out the evening and racing. Mike Fitch brought out the second yellow as he spun on the bottom of turns 1 and 2 rejoining the field in the rear.
Bertuccio holds the lead with George Kent, Rob Summers, Tim Arre, and Ed Flenke, Jr. in the top five. On lap 5, Flenke moves into the fourth place position with Arre to fifth. Lap 6, Christopher moves his #00 machine into the fifth place position with Arre going back into the field.
No more cautions as Bertuccio leads the way. Flenke moves on Summers for the third postion and makes the move stick putting Summers fourth. Bertuccio takes his first win at the 2003 World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing with George Kent, Ed Flenke, Jr., Rob Summers and Ted Christopher in the top five.
Bertuccio told the crowd, "my car has not been the greatest but tonight it was good, really good. We finally made it to Victory Lane at New Smyrna Speedway." Bertuccio lead the race on Tuesday night until the last half lap when Tim Arre was able to pass and take the win.
Jason Boyd won the Late Model feature from the pole and lead every lap. Before a lap was down, Larry Osteen found himself in the turns 3 and 4 wall with a flat tire and Kent Nuhn took a little spin in turns 1 and 2. The race was red flagged for track clean-up. Osteen was fine but done for the night after starting on the outside pole.
One lap goes down in the book as the yellow is thrown for Don Economy who spun coming off turn 2. On the restart, it is Boyd, Mike Murphy, Joey Miller, Scott Watts, and Jerry Artuso. Lap 6 sees Jonathan Smith do a 180 on the frontstretch as Joey Miller climbs up the backstretch wall and comes back down hard. Miller is okay but the car is done for the night.
Boyd continues to lead the way as Jerry Artuso moves into the fourth place spot putting Watts fifth. Lap 16 Dave Wagner gets really squirelly coming down the frontstretch but does a great save and continues racing. Kirk Hooker pressures Watts and takes over the fifth place spot as Boyd takes the checkered. Following Boyd was Mike Murphy, Jerry Symons, Jerry Artuso and Kirk Hooker.
Jerry Symons lead the FL/IMCA Mod event from flag to flag taking win number 5. On lap 1, Allen Bruns, George Procter and Monty Morgan get together on the frontstretch with Bruns being towed back into the pits. On the restart, it is Symons, Jason Boyd, Brad May, and Jerry Artuso.
Lap 6 it becomes the Boyd/Artuso show as the two go down the front stretch and the backstretch side-by-side. Artuso passes Boyd only to see Boyd come back and repast him. On lap 15, Wayne Parker brings out the yellow when he is up against the turn 2 wall. Parker is fine but the car is done for the night.
Symons continues to lead when on lap 18 Bill Atkin brings out the yellow when he finds himself in the bottom of turns 1 and 2 after a spin. The race restarts with Sammy McMullen bringing out the last caution on lap 18 when he looses a tire.
Two laps left with Symons in the lead and Artuso tries one last time to take the second place spot from Boyd. Artuso makes the move and it sticks and Boyd does not come back again this time. Symons takes the checkered followed by Jerry Artuso, Jason Boyd, Brad May, and Matthew Wheeler.
In tech, Artuso is dq'd giving Jason Boyd the second place spot followed by Brad May, Matthew Wheeler, and Chet Morrison.
Night 8 of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing will see the NASCAR Tour Type/SK Mods in a 100 lap Richie Evans Memorial race plus Super Late Models, Late Models, FL/IMCA Mods, Sportsman, FASTRUCKS and Allison Legacy. Racing begins at 7:30 p.m.
RESULTS
NASCAR TOUR TYPE/SK MODS
1. #2 J. R. Bertuccio 2. #26 George Kent 3. #79 Ed Flenke, Jr. 4. #36 Rob Summers 5. #00 Ted Christopher 6. #7 Tom Baldwin 7. #1 Daniel Meservey 8. #9NH Mike Fitch 9. #50 Kevin Goodale 10. #17 Bo Gunning 11. #30 J.R. Helberg 12. #44 Frank Wainwright 13. #10x Mike Andrews Jr. 14. #14 Tim Arre 15. #46 Tom White 16. #06 Steve Shitt 17. #86 Thomas Bentz 18. #18 Donny Lia 19. #16 Mike Evainitske 20. #80 Brad May 21. #29 George Boch 22. #35 Larry Altholtz 23. #25 Dave Roys, Jr. 24. #11 Cjicl Stpemer
POINTS FOR NASCAR TOUR TYPE/SK MODS
1. #00 Ted Christopher 516 2. #79 Ed Flenke, Jr. 484 3. #14 Tim Arre 478 4. #35 Rob Summers 450 5. #2 J.R. Bertuccio 449 6. #29 George Boch 444 7. #9NH Mike Fitch 436 8. #26 George Kent 434 9. #1 Daniel Meservey 434 10. #50 Kevin Goodale 430 11. #12 Bo Gunning 414 12. #44 Frank Wainwright 398 13. #46 Tom White 368 14. #30 J.R. Helberg 364 15. #25 Dave Roys, Jr. 358 16. #62 Jim Willis 340 17. #18 Donny Lia 324 18. #80 Brad May 302 19. #06 Steve Whitt 298 20. #86 Thomas Bentz 282 21. #11 Chuck Stoener 264 22. #7 Tom Baldwin 230 23. #35 Larry Altholtz 218 24. #82 Jamie Wolf 210 25. #97 Frank Rucocco 184 26. #27 John White 180 27. #17 Steve Nalench 158 28. #19 Eric Beers 118 29. #16 Mike Evainitske 108 30. #19x Adam Horwith 100 31. #10x Mike Andrews, Jr. 70
SUPER LATE MODELS
1. #66 Jr. Hanley 2. #78 B.J. McLeod 3. #8 Freddie Query 4. #37 James Powell III 5. #47 Louie Mechalides 6. #72 Scott Hantz 7. #14 Aric Almirola 8. #51 Jacob Warren 9. #4 Don Thompson 10. #26 Jeff Emery 11. #10x Jack Landis 12. #19 Steven Howard 13. #74 Roger Moore 14. #46 Chris Fontaine 15. #90 Bob Fox 16. #63 Marty Zehr 17. #18 Bruce Gowland 18. #23x Steve Keller 19. #84 Wayne Anderson 20. #23 Eddie Van Meter 21. #80 Jonathan Smith 22. #27 Mike Good 23. #89 Donald Chilsom 24. #09 Randy Gentry 25. #02x Keny Kirionue 26. #43 Eddie Hanby 27. #50 Bob Eastwood 28. #71x Russ Shaw 29. #12 Terry Schoppenhorst
#92 Mike Fritts DQ'd
LATE MODELS
1. #15 Jason Boyd 2. #26 Mike Murphy 3. #66 Jerry Symons 4. #05 Jerry Artuso 5. #38 Kirk Hooker 6. #81 Scott Watts 7. #79 Pete Shepard 8. #9 Rich Clouser 9. #8 Tim Clark 10. #31 Shaun McWhirter 11. #82 Danny Maddox 12. #22x David Snodgrass 13. #lx Kenny Crites 14. #43 Randy Dye 15. #88 Dave Wagner 16. #09 Kent Nuhn 17. #30x Jerry Jones 18. #34 Bobby Fleckenger 19. #29 Steve Sunde 20. #36x Jamie Parker 21. #17 Don Economy 22. #9x Tav Gary 23. #23 Jerick Johnson 24. #51 Joey Miller 25. #90 Jonathan Smith 26. #2 A.J. Curreli 27. #22 Larry Osteen
FL/IMCA MODS
1. #66 Jerry Symons 2. #2x Jason Boyd 3. #00 Brad May 4. #96 Matthew Wheeler 5. #86 Chet Morrison 6. #57 Mark Slye 7. #51 Chad Pierce 8. #45 Shawn Stroble 9. #1 Steve Johnack 10. #38 Ricky Maxley 11. #46 Monty Morgan 12. #52 George Procter 13. #33 Chuck Rein 14. #51x Sammy McMullen 15. #10 David Windslow 16. #15 Bill Atkin 17. #3 Wayne Parker 18. #17 Dink Sullivan 19. #4B Allen Bruns
#`05 Jerry Artuso DQ'd
SPORTSMAN
1. #3 Earl Beckner 2. #2 Brett Bultemiere 3. #31 Paul Colgan 4. #30 Dale Clouser 5. #07 Ron Lufcy 6. #51 John Webber 7. #2x Bill Love 8. #007 Terry Wright 9. #551 Doug Callebs 10. #28y David Myer 11. #2H Bob Hart 12. #98 Bob Cumbow 13. #55 Jim Snyder 14. #55x Patrick Thomas 15. #32 Jimmy Elliott Jr.
