Double Features and Teardowns at New Smyrna Speedway
by Jane Smith
Samsula, Fla (October 18, 2003) A perfect night for racing greeted the fans at New Smyrna Speedway. The cool, crisp night air was heated up by the hot racing action on the track.
The Antique cars were fun to watch. Ray Snodgrass of Melbourne won with his No. 22 57 Red Chevy and looked like he was having a ball. No cautions in their feature and it was the #22, #10, #61, #8 and #134. In the Open Wheel Antique division it was the #9, #71 and #73 taking the checkered. There were more but each had a few problems.
Ron Whaley had the pole for the first Super Stock feature (double points) and quickly jumped to the lead over Charlie Collins, Josh Wronkowski, Mike Amato, and Jeff Colburn. Collins and Whaley go side by side for the point with Collins winning the lead. Josh Wronkowski puts some steam on and passes Whaley for second with Whaley sliding back to fourth. Mike Amato sat third with Randy Jones in fifth. Collins takes the checkered followed by Josh Wronkowski, Mike Amato, Ron Whaley and Randy Jones.
Ron Dubeau had the pole for the Mini Stock feature and took the lead on the green followed by Ted Vulpius, Jamie Dixon, Rex Christensen, and Tim McPhail. Vulpius passes Dubeau and takes the lead.
The caution comes out for Rex Christensen as he and McPhail slightly touch coming off turn 2 with Christensen spinning. Both drivers are sent to the rear of the field for the restart. Vulpius holds the point on the restart followed by Dubeau, Dixon, McPhail and Christensen. Vulipus takes the checkered followed by Ron Dubeau, Rex Christensen, Jamie Dixon, and Pug Puglsi.
As always, the Mini Cups put on a great show. Don Saxon had the pole for their feature event but it was Mike Holt who took the lead on the green followed by George Auriemma, Dan Suggs, and Doug Smith. The caution comes out for Mark Peterson and Rick Auriemma who have spun in turn 4.
On the restart, David Taylor jumps to the lead followed by Holt, Oraveta, Auriemma, and Wendy Kash. Suggs moves into second with Kash in third followed by Oraveta, and Auriemma. Taylor and Suggs do some great side-by-side action for the lead with Suggs winning the battle. Suggs takes the checkered followed by David Taylor, Wendy Kash, Matt Oravata, and Rick Avriemma.
Billy Spade had the pole for the Sportsman feature and took the lead on the green followed by Dusty Downery, Ron Lufcy, Dale Clouser and Jim Snyder. Clouser moves up to second with Downer sliding to third.
John Nusbaum brought out the yellow as he spun coming down the frontstretch. Spade holds the point on the restart but has Clouser right behind him. Clouser and Spade do some side-by-side action and Clouser takes the lead followed by Spade, Downer, Lufcy, and Snyder. Jim Snyder brought out the yellow for the second caution when he loses his tire and it races him to the pit entrance. This was the white flag lap, a bad time for a tire to take off. Clouser holds the point on the restart and takes the checkered followed by Billy Spade, John Nusbaum, Brian Dula, and Bill Love.
Farris Crews had the pole for the Strictly Stock feature but it was Jason Charette who took the point with Crews, Jeremy Hovencamp, Curtis Smith, and Jose Rivera in the top five. Mike Dahm brought out the yellow when he spun at the bottom of turn 4.
Charette holds the point on the restart but it is a short green as Mike Dahm spins in the top of turn 3 and 4 and Scott Cecil gets stuck in the mud at the bottom of turns 3 and 4. Charette holds the restart but it is another short green as Curtis Smith spins at the top of turns 3 and 4 and slides down into the mud at the bottom of turns 3 and 4. Charette takes the checkered followed by Jeremy Hovencamp, Farris Crews, Theresa Trombley, and Ralph Jones.
Rex Christensen had the pole for the Mini Stock second feature and jumped to the lead on the green followed by Ron Dubeau, Ted Vulpius, Tim McPhail and Mike Sible. McPhail takes the point putting Christensen third with Vulpius in second followed by Dubeau and Pugsli. McPhail slows suddenly and goes around the backstretch only to have the car come back to life.
Vulpius is now leading the race followed by Christensen, Dubeau, Pugsli and McPhail in fifth. Dubeau passes Christensen and takes over second as McPhail passes Pugsli for fourth. Vulpius takes the checkered followed by Ron Dubeau, Rex Christensen, Tim "Missileman" McPhail and Pug Pugsli.
Billy Spade had the pole for the second Sportsman feature and quickly took the point followed by Dusty Downer, Ed Kennedy, Ron Lufcy and Dale Clouser. Lufcy passes Kennedy taking over third with Kennedy sliding backwards to seventh. Clouser moves into fourth followed by Mike Trocki in fifth.
Clouser is now on a mission and moves into third setting his eyes on Spade in first. Clouser passes Downer and takes over second with Downer sliding to third. Downer has problems and has to retire to the pits with Mike Trocki taking over third followed by Ron Lufcy and John Nusbaum.
Spade and Closuer put on a great show and coming off turn 4, Clouser gets the inside move and passes Spade taking the lead. Clouser takes the checkered followed by Billy Spade, Mike Trocki, Ron Lufcy, and John Nusbaum.
Ted Head had the pole for the Super Stock second feature and quickly jumped to the lead over Josh Wronkowski, Charlie Collins, Ron Whaley and Randy Jones. Whaley passes Collins for third with Collins sliding to fourth followed by Jones in fifth.
The caution comes out when Josh Wronkowski loses his engine and limps around the track to the pit road entrance. Not the way Josh wanted to end his good run. Head holds the point on the restart followed by Collins, Whaley, Jones and Jeff Colburn.
The caution comes out again for Ron Catterson who brushes the frontstretch wall coming off 4 crossing the track and hitting the inside pit wall hard. Catterson was fine but his car was done for the night.
On the restart, Head and Collins are doing some real good side-by-side action for the lead with Whaley in third, Colburn in fourth and Jones in fifth. Collins wins the battle and takes over the point. Head comes back with a little push to Collins but Collins is not to be bullied and holds strong. Suddenly, Collins now has his hands full of Jeff Colburn who is looking for that win. Colburn is able to pass Collins and take the point and the checkered with Charlie Collins in second followed by Ted Head, Ron Whaley and Mike Amato.
The second feature for the Strictly Stocks saw Ralph Jones on the pole but it was Farris Crews who took the lead on the green followed by Jose Rivera, Jason Charette, Curtis Smith and Theresa Trombley. Charette passes Crews for the lead but Crews comes back and repasses Charette. The caution is thrown when Crews spins at the top of turn 3 and Curtis Smith clips Crews who is sitting on the track. Smith is towed into the pits and Crews goes to the rear of the field.
Rivera holds the point on the restart followed by Theresa Trombley, Ralph Jones, Randy Kogh, and Mike Dohm. Charette makes his move and moves into third then second and goes side by side with Rivera. Rivera and Charette are going hard and heavy as they come down the frontstretch side-by-side with Charette going thru the mud and back on the track. Another lap and Charette takes over the lead.
Charette takes the checkered followed by Jose Rivera, Farris Crews, Theresa Trombley and Ralph Jones. Crews is penalized one spot for jumped the last restart and moves to fourth putting Trombley third. In tech, Charette is dq'd for both races.
Robert Kissam #911 won the demo derby with #43 Teddy Bowman in second.
Also the #30 Dale Clouser protested the #15x Billy Spade in Sportsman and #09 Dusty Downer protested #30 Dale Closuer. Both Clouser and Spade were found legal.
#7 Tim "Missileman" McPhail protested #71 Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulpius and #71 Ted "Mr Mini Stock" Vulpius protested #7 Tim "Missileman" McPhail and both were found legal.
OFFICIAL RESULTS NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY OCTOBER 18TH
MINI CUPS
1. #29 Dan Suggs 2. #15 David Taylor 3. #05 Wendy Kash 4. #2 Matt Oravets 5. #21 Rick Auriemma 6. #12 Nando Pinto 7. #36 Mike Holt 8. #42 George Auriemma 9. #48 Heather Suggs 10. #7 Mrk Peterson 11. #17 Doug Smith 12. #44 Don Saxon
SPORTSMAN (Rainout Feature - Double Points)
1. #30 Dale Clouser 2. #15x Billy Spade 3. #70 John Nusbaum 4. #18 Brian Dula 5. #2 Bill Love 6. #09 Dusty Downer 7. #07 Ron Lufcy 8. #55 Jim Snyder
SECOND FEATURE 1. #30 Dale Clouser 2. #15x Billy Spade 3. #46 Mike Trocki 4. #07 Ron Lufcy 5. #70 John Nusbaum 6. #18 Brian Dula 7. #51 Ed Kennedy 8. #75 Scott Stone 9. #2 Bill Love 10. #09e Dusty Downer 11. #07w Jim Snyder
SUPER STOCK (Rainout Feature - Double Points)
1. #23 Charlie Collins 2. #21 Josh Wronkowski 3. #2x Mike Amato 4. #2 Ron Whaley 5. #38 Randy Jones 6. #21y Jim Dyson 7. #3 Jeff Colburn 8. #29 James Adams
SECOND FEATURE
1. #64 Jeff Colburn 2. #23 Charlie Collins 3. #92 Ted Head 4. #2 Ron Whaley 5. #2x Mike Amato 6. #07 Kevin Auger 7. #38 Randy Jones 8. #92 Todd Driscoll 9. #17 Sean Bass 10. #21y Jim Dyson 11. #10 Bob Bailey 12. #6 Ron Catterson 13. #21R Josh Wronkowski 14. #29 James Adams
MINI STOCK (Rainout Feature - Double Points)
1. #71 Ted Vulpius 2. #4 Ron Dubeau 3. #v3 Rex Christensen 4. #6 Jamie Dixon 5. #11 Pug Puglsi 6. #7 Tim McPhail 7. #7x Rex Hollinger
SECOND FEATURE
1. #71 Ted Vulpius 2. #4 Ron Dubeau 3. #v3 Rex Christensen 4. #7 Tim McPhail 5. #11 Pug Puglsi 6. #00 Mike Sible 7. #7x Rex Hollinger
STRICTLY STOCK (Rainout Feature)
1. #39 Jeremy Hovencamp 2. #8x Ferris Crews 3. #8 Theresa Trombley 4. #21x Mike Dahm 5. #29 Scott Cecil 6. #13 Ralph Jones 7. #73 Scott Sherrill 8. #73R Jose Rivera 9. #92 Curtis Smith 10. #21 Jason Charette DQ'D
SECOND FEATURE
1. #73r Jose Rivera 2. #8 Theresa Trombley 3. #8x Ferris Crews 4. #13 Ralph Jones 5. #667 Randy Kogh 6. #21x Mike Dahm 7. #29 Scott Cecil 8. #92 Curtis Smith 9. #73b Scott Sherrill 10. #21 Jason Charette DQ'D
