Samsula, Flo (May 31, 2003) Fans at New Smyrna Speedway saw some very good racing Saturday night as they sat on a near perfect evening in the grandstands. The only bad part was not enough modifieds showed up to race and their race was cancelled until next weekend. Alot of our kids just got out of school and summer vacations have begun and racing does take a backseat to those good ole vacation days for families.
Jim Snyder sat on the pole for the Sportsman feature event but it was Chris Pedulat who jumped to the lead on the green followed by Dale Clouser, Jim Snyder, Bill Spade, and Kory Kaiser. It was not long before the yellow was out as Tony Wilson (normally an Orlando SpeedWorld racer) got too close to the backstretch wall and cement dust was flying. Wilson limped his Sportsman to the pits with his night ended, not what he had wanted .
On the restart Pedulat holds the point with Clouser, Snyder, Spade and Downer in the top five. By lap 4, Clouser has taken over the lead from Pedulat and has set his sails for a win. By lap 7, Downer is on the move taking over fourth with Snyder going to fifth.
Lap 8, Brian Dula brought out the yellow as he spun in turns 3 and 4. Clouser holds the point on the restart with Pedulat, Spade, Downer, and Snyder in the top five. Lap 9 sees Spade tap Pedulat in the rear causing Pedulat to get very squirelly. Pedulat has to let off the gas to regain control of the tail spiinning car thus sliding back to fourth place but a great save.
Clouser continue his lead and takes the checkered for the first time in 2003 with Bill Spade, Dusty Downer, Chris Pedulat, and Jim Snyder in the top five. At tech, Downer was dq'd changing the top five to Dale Clouser, Bill Spade, Chris Pedulat, Jim Snyder, and Cory Kaiser.
Dale Clouser took the heat win.
Mini Cups visited New Smyrna Speedway with David Pollen, Jr. on the pole for their feature event. But it was Terry Tillen who pulled to the lead on the green and led for the first few laps until Doug Smith, who started in the rear of the field by choice, made his way up thru the field and to the point. Smith had a point to prove by that decision and he made his point by lap 4.
There were no cautions in this 20 lap feature with Smith, Tillen, Wendy Kash, Bobby Payton and David Pollen, Jr. the top five. At one point Kash tried to pass Tillen for the second spot but just could not make the move and maintained her third place spot.
Smith crossed the checkered followed by Tillen, Kash, Payton, and Pollen, Jr. Doug Smith and Terry Tillen took the heat wins for the Mini Cups.
David Rogers set on the pole for the Super Late Model feature and won from green to checkers in this caution free 25 lap event. David Frohlich, the previous winner of this class, was not present to take his place in the rear of the field for the start as he was at Columbia Motorsports Park for the Florida Pro race. Frohlich won his first Super Late Model feature two weeks ago at New Smyrna Speedway.
On the green, it was Rogers, B.J. McLeod, Wayne Parker, Steve Troop and Guy Thomas in the top five. Parker was able to move pass McLeod, who was in his back-up car since his main ride was damaged the night before at Orlando SpeedWorld when he hit the frontstretch wall and tasted the concrete of the "ole" bullring. Rogers took the checkered followed by Wayne Parker, B.J. McLeod, Steve Troop, and Guy Thomas.
Tim "Missileman" McPhail had the pole for the Mini Stock feature and led for the first 3/4 of a lap until Scott Reeves turned up the heat and took over the lead. Following Reeves was McPhail, Vulipus, Castello and Kruse..
On lap 5, McPhail dusted the backstretch wall knocking his stearring out but continued to race by manhandling the ill handling car. Vulipus passed McPhail for second with Castello following Vulipus and taking third as McPhail settled into fourth.
Castello passed Vulipus right before the checkered and took over second but ran out of laps before he could track down Reeves. Reeves took the win with David Castello, Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulipus, Tim "Missileman" McPhail, and Rex Christensen in the top five.
Scott Reeves took the heat win.
Late Models saw Tim Clark on the pole for their feature event but it was not a pretty site as four cars were out before the first half lap was in. Coming off the frontstretch going into turn 1, Tim Russell hit the turn 1 wall hard. Entangled at the bottom of turn 1 was Larry Osteen, David Palatka and Russ Moore. All four drivers were fine but their cars were not and they all retired to the pits before the first half lap of the race.
On the restart, Don Hess had the point with Jerry Symons, Brian Bellaw, David Green, and Tim Clark in the top five. Symons, who was driving with a cast on his arm, was able to move pass Hess and take over the point with Bellaw taking over second and Hess in third. David Green then passed Hess taking over third with Hess settling into fourth.
On lap 11, the yellow was thrown for debris on the track. Symons held the point on the restart and took the checkers for his first win in the Late Model division in 2003 with no less than a cast on his hand. Following Symons to the checkered was Brian Bellaw, who has one pretty little girl cheering for her dad all the way, David Green, Don Hess, and Mark Smith.
Larry Osteen took the heat win for the Late Model divisions.
Jason Foster, who had a great run the night before at Orlando SpeedWorld, had the pole for the Super Stock feature race but it was Jeff Colburn who jumped to the lead on the green followed by Ron Whaley, Jason Foster, Pat Buckley, and Mike Amato.
By lap 2, Ron Whaley had worked his way to the front and taken over the lead and was locked on seeing the checkered flag. Following Whaley was Colburn, Foster, Amato and now Butch Pierce, last night's winner at SpeedWorld.
With no cautions, this was a race to see if anyone could catch Whaley which Colburn was not able to do. Pierce moved pass Foster taking over fourth, then pass Amato for third but could not get pass Colburn.
Whaley took the checkered followed by Jeff Colburn, Butch Pierce, Charlie Collins, and Mike Amato. Ron Whaley and Jeff Colburn took the heat wins.
Strictly Stocks saw Robert Ward lead from green to checkered with Roger Benton, Travis Scott, Jeremy Hovencamp and Curtis Smith running the top five positions for the whole race. In tech, Ward was disqualified thus giving Roger Benton the win. The new top five were Roger Benton, Travis Scott, Jeremy Hovencamp, Curtis Smith and Tim Edmundson.
Robert Ward took the heat win for the Strictly Stocks.
Next week, June 7, New Smyrna Speedway will have all FASCAR divisions racing heats and features. Rainchecks from May 31 are good for "two for one". Bring a friend on the 7th and get one in free. Bring someone new and introduce them to the World of StockCar Racing Florida style. They will definitely enjoy it.
OFFICIAL FINAL RESULTS
MINI CUPS
1. #17 Doug Smith 2. #8 Terry Tillen 3. #05 Wendy Kash 4. #14 Bobby Payton 5. #88 David Pollen, Jr. 6. #44 Don Saxon 7. #29 Dan Suggs 8. #15 David Taylor 9. #21 Rick Aurimma 10. #36 Mike Halt 11. #12 Mark Ross 12. #83 David Pollen, Sr. 13. #55 Sonny Saxon 14. #48 Heater Suggs 15. #00 Rick Crisafulli
SUPER LATES
1. #11 David Rogers 2. #3 Wayne Parker 3. #78 B.J. McLeod 4. #35 Steve Troop 5. #2 Guy Thomas 6. #57 Jim "Hoot" Flynn 7. #8 Richard Kuckh 8. #4 Ricahrd Bates
LATE MODEL
1. #66 Jerry Symons 2. #77 Brian Bellaw 3. #47 David Green 4. #64 Don Hess 5. #48 Mark Smith 6. #8 Tim Clark 7. #36 Tim Russell 8. #22 Larry Osteen 9. #11 David Paltka 10. #39 Russ Moore
SPORTSMAN
1. #30 Dale Clouser 2. #15x Bill Spade 3. #28 Chris Pedulat 4. #55 Jim Snyder 5. #48 Cory Kaiser 6. #18 Brian Dula 7. #51 Ed Kennedy 8. #6 Bruce McGonigal 9. #07 Ron Lufcy 10. #71 Tony Wilson
#09E Dusty Downer DQ'd
MINI STOCKS
1. #21 Scott Reeves 2. #1 David Castello 3. #71 Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulipus 4. #7 Tim "Missileman" McPhail 5. #v3 Rex Christensen 6. #6 Troy Kruse 7. #38 Ben Hutto
SUPER STOCK
1. #2 Ron Whaley 2. #3 Jeff Colburn 3. #57x Butch Pierce 4. #23 Charlie Collins 5. #2x Mike Amato 6. #34 Pat Buckley 7. #49 Jason Foster 8. #20 Justin Reynolds 9. #8 Bob Trombley 10. #11 Nick Vogler 11. #59 John Kunsbeck 12. #10 Brady Beneshek 13. #91 Todd Driscoll 14. #21 Josh Wronkowski
STRICTLY STOCKS
1. #14 Roger Benton 2. #91 Travis Scott 3. #39 Jeremy Scott 4. #92 Curtis Smith 5. #66 Tim Edmundson 6. #99 Gorodn Houck 7. #10 Roger Ladieu 8. #13 Ralph Jones 9. #88 Nick Boley
