IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 19, 2004 FSCR No Rain, Plenty of Action at Orlando SpeedWorld by Jane Smith Bithlo, Fla (June 18, 2004) There may have been dark clouds and some loud thunder but Orlando SpeedWorld got in their whole race program without one drop of rain. Wayne Heckle had the pole for the Open Wheel Modified feature but before one lap was down, Heckle spun on the backstretch bringing out the yellow and calling for a total restart. On the second start it was Mark Emberson who jumped to the lead followed by Heckle, Ricky Wood, Alan Bruns, and Terri Bryant. Bryant spins on the frontstretch but gets going fast enough not to bring out the yellow. Emberson continues to lead the way with Heckle, Wood, Bruns and Justin Reynolds in fifth. Heckle looks high, low to pass Emberson but Emberson holds. But the caution comes out as Heckle and Emberson get together in turns 3 and 4 with Justin Reynolds spinning to avoid them. Heckle and Emberson continue but Reynolds has to be towed in to the pits. On the restart, it is Ricky Wood, Alan Bruns, Ronnie Roach, Terri Bryant and Wayne Heckle in the top five. Heckle passes Bryant who slides back to sixth as Emberson comes into the fifth place position. Wood finds a hard charging Alan Bruns on his rear bumper but holds. Wood takes the checkered followed by Alan Bruns, Ronnie Roach, Wayne Heckle and Mark Emberson. Mark Emberson won the heat race. Cory Freed had the pole for the Super Stock feature and quickly took the lead on the green followed by Ted Head, Ron Whaley, Bill Loomis and Bob Beiler. The yellow comes out as John Castro spun on the backstretch. Freed holds the point for the restart but the caution comes out for the fifth place car Bob Beiler as something in his front suspension breaks causing him to retire from the race. Not the night he wanted for sure. Freed holds the point but finds a very hard charging Ted Head right on his heels on the restart. Head and Freed go side-by-side with Head taking the lead. Loomis takes over third with Whaley in fourth and Roger Benton in fifth. Loomis makes it to the second spot but Whaley comes back and retakes second with Loomis going to third and Benton moves to fourth and Freed settles in fifth. Head takes the checkered followed by Ron Whaley, Bill Loomis, Roger Benton and Corey Freed. John Castro and Ted Head took the heat wins. Jeff Wright had the pole for the Sportsman feature race and quickly took the point followed by Richard Hight, Bobby Joe Woodley, Earl Beckner and Bruce Gayton. Gayton passes Woodley taking over fourth with Woodley in fifth. The caution comes out when Gayton spins in turn 4 with Eddie Thornton spinning to avoid Gayton. Wright holds the point on the restart followed by Hight, Beckner, Woodley and Ted Head. Wright and Beckner get together coming down the frontstretch. Beckner's car suddenly is pouring smoke and he pulls off the track. Beckner is fine, except for a few burns from his radiator overheating, but is done for the night. Wright rejoins the field in the rear. Richard Hight takes over the point with Woodley, Head, Thornton and Gayton in the top five. Head passes Woodley for second with Woodley settling into third. Hight takes the checkered followed by Ted Head, Bobby Joe Woodley, Eddie Thornton, and Bruce Gayton. Earl Beckner won the heat race. David Pollen Jr. had the pole for the Super Late Model feature but jumped the start just alittle fast causing a total restart. On the second start, the green came out as Ricky Wood took the point followed by Pollen, Ronnie Roach, Jared Allison and Patrick Conrad. Allison passes Roach and takes over third with Roach in fourth. Pollen takes the lead but Wood is not crazy about that and looks to cut up on Pollen knocking Pollen hard into the wall and also himself, the race is red flagged. Both drivers were fine but their cars were fairly damaged and they were done for the night. Jared Allison takes over the lead on the restart followed by Ronnie Roach, Patrick Conrad, Eric Deffendall, and Bobby Fleckinger. Rick Lyons brings out the caution as he spins in turn 4. Allison holds the point on the restart. Conrad pushes on Roach causing Roach to get loose and slide back to fourth as Conrad moves into second and Deffendall into third. Allison takes the checkered followed by Patrick Conrad, Eric Deffendall, Ronnie Roach and Bobby Fleckinger. Jared Allison and Ronnie Roach took the heat wins. R.J. Arnone had the pole for the Mini Stock feature but it was Robbie Storer who took the point on the green and lead from green to checkered. Following Storer on the green was Arnone, Sean Bass, Michael Seay and Kevin Macy. Bass passes Arnone for second with Macy passing Seay for fourth. Dick Owens takes a little ride in the grass but gets going fast enough not to bring out the yellow. Dean Bertrum also tries the same little trick and spins but is fast enough to get going again not to bring out the yellow also. But the caution does come out when Macy, Rick Gamache and Arnone all get together in turns 1 and 2. Arnone has to retire along with Rick Gamache for the night. Storer holds the point on the restart and takes the checkered followed by Sean Bass, Chad Ashley, Michael Seay and Burt Morse. R.J. Arnone and Robbie Storer took the heat wins. Only two Strictly Stocks ran the feature with Richie Laszlo taking his eleventh win over Gordon Houck. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - JUNE 18 SUPER LATE MODEL 1. #18 Jared Allison 2. #2 Patrick Conrad 3. #26 Eric Deffendall 4. #14 Ronnie Roach 5. #34 Bobby Fleckinger 6. #4 Rick Bates 7. #5 Rick Lyons 8. #119 Josh Schmidt 9. #65 Bobby Lyons 10. #88 David Pollen, Jr. 11. #33 Ricky Wood 12. #6 Rodney Eary 13. #78 B.J. McLeod DNS OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED 1. #81 Ricky Wood 2. #4b Alan Bruns 3. #51 Ronnie Roach 4. #9 Wayne Heckle 5. #30 Mark Emberson 6. #08 Terri Bryant 7. #7 Justin Reynolds SPORTSMAN 1. #23 Richard Hight 2. #17 Ted Head 3. #98 Bobby Joe Woodley 4. #41 Eddie Thornton 5. #93 Bruce Gayton 6. #50w Jeff Wright 7. #56 Bill Hall 8. #3 Earl Beckner SUPER STOCK 1..#92 Ted Head 2. #2 Ron Whaley 3. #22 Bill Loomis 4. #14 Roger Benton 5. #12 Corey Freed 6. #90 Brett Woodley 7. #34 John Smith 8. #5 John Castro 9. #28 Ron Edwards 10. #721 John Bennett 11. #49 Jason Foster 12. #71 Mike Hendrix 13. #25 Robert Ward 14. #118 Donald Springer 15. #45 Mike Soukup 16. #3 James Frisbie 17. #44 Bob Beiler 18. #65 Dave Wright DNS 19. #05 Bob Starr DNS MINI STOCK 1. #9 Robbie Storer 2. #28 Sean Bass 3. #87 Chad Ashley 4. #10 Michael Seay 5. #38 Burt Morse 6. #007 Steven Simpson 7. #07 Dick Laszlo 8. #72 Matt Roller 9. #4 Dick Owens 10. #2 Dean Butrum 11. #77 Randy Blakeslee 12. #30 R.J. Arnone 13. #19 Kevin Macy 14. #18 Amanda Torchuk 15. #61 Rick Gamache 16. #24 John Cook STRICTLY STOCK 1. #07 Richie Laszlo 2. #99 Gordon Houck Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!