Partelo Takes UPM Inaugural Event at Citrus County Speedway
by Dave Westerman INVERNESS, Fla. (Feb. 16, 2003) - The United Promoters Modified (UPM) Tour held its inaugural race Saturday night at Citrus County Speedway and it was an even bigger success than expected.
Thirty-two open-wheel Modifieds made the trek to the Citrus quarter-mile and all but Raymond Vann, who blew an engine in practice, headed out for time trials with eight drivers getting into the 13 second bracket headed by veteran St. Petersburg leadfoot Dwayne Dempsey with a lap of 13.752 seconds.
Twenty cars were locked in from time trials with the top seven re-drawing for starting positions. Sixth quick Rob Partelo of Tampa drew the pole while Starke's J.F. McClellan drew the outside pole after timing second fastest. Dempsey drew the four pill.
The 12-lap "B" Main saw five more cars added to the starting lineup headed by Dover's Jeff Conyers who led most of the way to lead Chris Faddling, Red Vann, Butch Yoakam, and Bobby Dixon into the starting field for the 50-lap headliner.
All of the drivers who failed to qualify ran a non-qualifiers 12-lap "shootout" which saw Rick Hall take the win over John Kahl, Robert Gulvin, Jr., Sean LeMaster, and Johnny Newsome.
The 50-lap UPM opener for the 2003 season got off to a flying start with polesitter Rob Partelo jumping to the front as outside polesitter McClellan couldn't find the handle and quickly faded back in the field. Sophomore Modified sensation Mike Wilson tucked into second with Jeremy Gerstner right behind him. Dempsey got extemely wide coming out of turn four on lap three and dropped back several positions as the star-studded field jockeyed for racing room.
The first caution flag flew on lap five as Jeff Conyers' machine stalled at the bottom of turn two. On the restart, Partelo maintained his lead but with Wilson and Jeremy Gerstner hot on his heels. Dempsey and John Gerstner were the cars on the move as the race stayed under green until lap 24 when Philip Kessler spun in turn four.
Just after the field got the halfway signal from Starter Larry Bowden, Buddy Kessler got into the frontstretch wall and rode it all the way into turn one where his car shot off into the open field.
The red flag was thrown to allow emergency crews to reach Kessler's car, but he climbed out unhurt, although done for the evening.
At the halfway point only four cars, Conyers, Buddy Kessler, Patrick Williams and Tommy Schnader (who dropped out before taking the green) had dropped out of the event and the remaining 21 cars on the track were all on the lead lap.
As the race restarted, Partelo began to put a little bit of distance between himself and second place Wilson, who still had his mirror full of Jeremey Gerstner. That would change on lap 40 as Gerstner got into turn three a bit too deep and spun. All of the drivers behind him managed to avoid a major altercation and Gerstner restarted from the tail of the field.
With ten laps to go things would now start to get a bit wild. On the restart, Mike Bennett spun in turn two to put the caution out once again. On the next try it was Darren Jackson looping in turn two with a little help from behind.
Partelo was using the cautions to his advantage as he could pull Wilson by several car lengths each time the green flew. Partelo looked to be on his way to an easy victory, but once again had to slow for a caution as Butch Yoakam spun in turn one and collected the cars of Philip Kessler, Bobby Dixon, and Alan McCafferty. All four saw their race come to an end.
On the ensuing restart, John Foerg spun in turn two to keep the yellow out while fifth-running Kevin Durden lost power to his car and coasted into the infield.
The green flag was back out with four laps to go and Partelo was not to be denied as he raced to a wire to wire win in his Suncoast Plastering Special for one of the biggest wins of his career.
Wilson didn't flinch as the veteran Dempsey moved up behind him in the closing laps and he scored a well-deserved runner-up finish while Demspey came back with a stellar drive to take third.
Montverde's Brian Campbell drove a steady, clean race and checkered third while John Gerstner also had a good run for fifth.
J.F. McClellan, Mike Johnson, Jamie Burrows, David Baxley and Larry Martin rounded out the top ten in a field that was a "who's who" of Central Florida short track Modified racing.
The next scheduled event for the United Promoter's Modified Tour is slated for Cordele Motor Speedway in Cordele, GA on March 15th.
RESULTS UPM Modified Tour - Race #1 - Citrus County Speedway 2/15/03:
TIME TRIALS (Best Lap Shown):
1) Dwayne Dempsey, St. Petersburg #6 13.752 2) J.F. McClellan, Starke #01 13.792 3) Jeremy Gerstner, Tampa #70 13.822 4) John Gerstner, Tampa #77 13.867 5) Mike Wilson, Dade City #79 13.913 6) Rob Partelo, Tampa #93 13.965 7) Brian Campbell, Montverde #5 13.967 8) Kevin Durden, Gainesville #69 13.970 9) Larry Martin, Gainesville #07 14.048 10) Mike Johnson, Tallahassee #19 14.051 11) David Baxley, Anthony #64 14.056 12) Patrick Williams, Archer #57 14.065 13) Alan McCafferty, Clermont #32 14.112 14) Mike Bennett, High Springs #14 14.156 15) Jamie Burrows, Valrico #11B 14.173 16) Buddy Kessler, Brooksville #28X 14.187 17) John Foerg, Clermont #31X 14.189 18) Darren Jackson, Lakeland #7D 14.191 19) Tommy Schnader, Largo #96 14.229 20) Philip Kessler, Brooksville #28 14.230 21) Chris Faddling, St. Leo #29 14.290 22) Jeff Conyers, Dover #47 14.296 23) Sean LeMaster, Naples #18 14.405 24) Red Vann, Tampa #32V 14.408 25) Johnny Newsome, Tampa #31 14.414 26) Butch Yoakam, New Port Richey #74 14.508 27) Greg Slone, Lake City #98 14.509 28) Rick Hall, Tampa #15 14.511 29) Bobby Dixon, Riverview #205 14.540 30) Robert Gulvin, Jr., Dade City #33 15.025 31) John Kahl, Orange Springs #23 15.412 32) Raymond Vann, Lutz #99 No time
B-MAIN (12 Laps) Top five to Main:
1) Jeff Conyers 2) Chris Faddling 3) Red Vann 4) Butch Yoakam 5) Bobby Dixon 6) Rick Hall 7) Johnny Newsome 8) Sean LeMaster 9) John Kahl 10) Robert Gulvin, Jr. 11) Greg Slone
NON-QUALIFIER SHOOT-OUT (12 Laps):
1) Rick Hall 2) John Kahl 3) Robert Gulvin, Jr. 4) Sean LeMaster 5) Johnny Newsome 6) Greg Slone (DNS)
MAIN EVENT (50 Laps):
1) Rob Partelo 2) Mike Wilson 3) Dwayne Dempsey 4) Brian Campbell 5) John Gerstner 6) J.F. McClellan 7) Mike Johnson 8) Jamie Burrows 9) David Baxley 10) Larry Martin 11) Darren Jackson 12) Chris Faddling 13) Red Vann 14) Jeremy Gerstner 15) John Foerg 16) Mike Bennett 17) Kevin Durden 18) Butch Yoakam 19) Bobby Dixon 20) Philip Kessler 21) Alan McCafferty 22) Buddy Kessler 23) Patrick williams 24) Jeff Conyers 25) Tommy Schnader
