IT'S
TIME TO RACE!!
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Booth Holds Off Freed for Desoto Classic Car Win
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by Dave Westerman
In a battle between the wily old veteran and the hot shot young rookie, experience won out over exuberance Saturday night as the Dan Webster for Florida Senate Classic Auto Racing Series paid a visit to Desoto Super Speedway.
Again mechanical gremlins eliminated one of the top contenders before racing could begin as hard luck Bill Posey had transmission problems during warm ups.
Ben Booth loaned Posey a transmission, but it didn't match up to the equipment in Posey's car and the Florida State Senator was forced to park his machine for the night.
A pair of heat races started off the evening as a bright sun was beginning to set in the west, a much different weather scenario than the Classics had to deal with here last year when a huge thunderstorm rolled in during the heats and eventually forced a three hour rain delay.
Veteran Ben Booth of Deland had little to worry about in his heat race including the weather as he dominated the entire six laps and earned the pole for the evening's 20 lap feature event.
Seventeen year old Classic Car rookie Corey Freed did likewise in heat two, breezing to an easy win giving himself the outside pole for the feature.
Booth grabbed the early lead at the start of the main event, but Freed had the McGill #44 wrenched by his dad Duane Freed dialed in and stayed side by side with Booth for three laps before settling in on Booth's bumper. The two then began to pull away from the rest of the field as Bud Spencer led a tight formation for third with Wayne Ashton, Tim Ousley and Daryl Grief right on his bumper.
Lap after lap, Freed looked high and looked low as his car seemed just a bit faster than Booth's machine. Booth was getting through turns one and two, but his car was loose in three and four with Freed all over him every lap, but just unable to get the edge he needed.
The entire 20 lap distance was run under green and Booth held on to take the win. The race was originally scheduled for 25 laps, but Desoto officials cut it to 20 due to a twelve car count despite the fact that two of their own 35 lap races were not cut back with car counts of just 10 and 13.
Booth said he wouldn't have wanted another five laps. "I don't know if I could have held that young fellow off for five more laps, so I'm happy we just went 20," said Booth.
It was the fifth win of the year for Booth and helped add to his point lead.
Freed's close second place finish also earned him "Rookie of the Race." Bud Spencer held off the challenges of three other drivers to take third place just in front of Wayne Ashton who had to deal with a spirited last lap charge from the ever-improving Tim Ousley who settled for fifth.
Daryl Grief was sixth trailed by Norm Agostinho, Randy Grief, newcomer Chuck Parker, and George Hall III.
OFFICIAL RESULTS - DESOTO SUPER SPEEDWAY - 7/10/04:
1) Ben Booth, Deland #12 2) Corey Freed (R), Orlando #44 3) Bud Spencer, Palm Harbor #7 4) Wayne Ashton, Ft. Pierce #78 5) Tim Ousley (R), Windermere #88 6) Daryl Grief, Deland #1 7) Norm Agostinho (R), Ocala #0 8) Randy Grief (R), Orlando #87 9) Chuck Parker, St. Petersburg #9X 10) George Hall III, St. Petersburg #9 11) George Hall, Jr., St. Petersburg #32 DNS Bill Posey, Rockledge #00
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