IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 11, 2004 FSCR Ben Booth Stays Perfect in Classic Car Action at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Defending Dan Webster for U.S. Senate Classic Auto Racing Series champion Ben Booth of Deland made it two wins in two starts for the 2004 racing season, using the outside lane to do all his passing Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld. Bill Posey started the evening off by taking the newly instituted trophy dash which earned him the pole for the feature. Jim Rahman then crossed the stripe just ahead of Booth to win the heat race putting himself and Booth into the third row for the 25 lap headliner. Heat race action saw a nasty crash as rookie driver Corey Freed hit the front stretch wall hard. Freed was a bit groggy but was able to walk away under his own power while the McGill #44 was badly damaged and through for the night. After the drivers were introduced to the fans track side, the main event got under way with Posey jumping to the early lead while Rahman made a quick charge from fifth to second on the opening lap. Sixth-starting Booth had to wait for the field to settle down a bit before he would start his charge to the front. As Posey and Rahman reeled in lapped traffic, Booth had already made his way to third spot. The veteran driver got past Rahman for second on lap 11, then two laps later drove around Posey to take the lead. The only caution flag of the race came out for a Bud Spencer spin on lap 16. That allowed the field one last shot at Booth, but he was easily up to the task and motored away to the victory while Posey shook off some recent bad luck and held off Rahman for second. Daryl Grief claimed the fourth spot just in front of Joey Strehle. Norm Agostinho came home sixth and took the Rookie of the Race award while Tim Ousley slipped out of the top five late in the race and settled for seventh. Randy Grief, George Hall, Jr. and Spencer rounded out the top ten. Booth was also the race's Hard Charger. The Classics have a week off before their first dirt track race of the year on Saturday, April 24th, at East Bay Raceway Park near Tampa. OFFICIAL FINISH - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 4/10/04: 1) Ben Booth, Deland #12 2) Bill Posey, Rockledge #00 3) Jim Rahman, Clermont #5 4) Daryl Grief, Deland #1 5) Joey Strehle, Deland #X11 6) Norm Agostinho (R), Ocala #0 7) Tim Ousley (R), Windermere #88 8) Randy Grief, Orlando #87 9) George Hall, Jr., St. Petersburg #32 10) Bud Spencer, Palm Harbor #7 11) Steven Cole Smith, Groveland #2 12) George Hall III, St. Petersburg #9 DNS Corey Freed (R), Orlando #44 Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!