IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

November 7, 2004 FSCR Colangelo Tops Big RE/MAX Legends Car Field at SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Another stellar field of RE/MAX Legends Cars were on hand Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld and after six lead changes among four drivers, Longwood's Jeremy Colangelo was in victory circle for the fourth time this year. Three heat races were necessary to set the starting field for the feature. Bobby Byars shook off the effects of his horrifying crash the week before to win heat number one while Brandon Thomson topped heat two with Colangelo taking the third heat. Byars started from the pole and led the opening lap before Thomson took over to lead the second circuit. Patrick Conrad made the move to the lead on the next lap just before the first caution of the race was displayed as Mitch Verhaagh and Stuart Dutton spun on opposite ends of the race track. The fact Dutton was in the race at all was a miracle as the Tallahassee driver popped the wall hard in practice and had to completely rebuild the right front of his race car. Conrad led on the restart but Colangelo was charging and took the lead on lap seven only to see the red flag displayed a lap later as Paddy Rodenbeck spun on the backstretch and was hit head-on by Wild Willie Wilson with Kyle Dombeck sliding into Rodenbeck's stalled car. None of the drivers were hurt but only Dombeck could continue. Colangelo spun his tires on the restart and Conrad was able to re-take the lead but Colangelo quickly reeled him in again and reclaimed the top spot on lap 13. Mike Verhaagh, A.J. Fulgenzi, and Jared Cawley got tangled up in turn one on lap 16 to bring out the caution again. On this restart, Colangelo was able to stay in front of Conrad and he began to slowly pull away. With five laps to go, Conrad slowed with a sour engine and headed to the infield. Colangelo sped to an easy win while young Matt Bowers made a brilliant late race move to get second for his best finish of the year. Wesley McLeod came home third with Thomson fourth and Byars getting a strong fifth and plenty of handshakes from his fellow drivers after coming back so strong after a tough week. Sixth through tenth were Kory Abbott (from 21st at the start), Darin Coker, Kevin Howard, Spike Sabo and Dutton. Completing the field were Mike Verhaagh, Derrick Wood, Todd Campbell, Mitch Verhaagh, Canadian visitor Frank Johnston, Jeff Deggeller, A.J. Fulgenzi, Kyle Dombeck, Tom Clarke, Conrad, Rodenbeck, and Wilson. Jared Cawley was DQ'd for unsportsmanlike conduct. In other action, Lakeland's Doug Smith led all the way to defeat a strong field of Florida Super Mini Cup cars. Smith, who crashed and rolled on his top the last time here, held off a late challenge from Wendy Kash to claim the win. Larry Folino was third ahead of Ed MacKenzie and Rick Auriemma. Rounding out the finishers were Frank Pfister, Bobby Payton, Mike Holt, Rick Blair, Carlos Gonzales, Eric Cunningham, Dan Suggs, Heather Suggs, Mark Ross and Paul Tyson. Mark Landis held off a hard charging Mike Belusar to win the Modified Lite feature. Phil Krauthoff checkered third followed by Zane Davis, Todd Diers, Spanky McFarland, George Landis, Nick Shadid, Harvey Johnson, and Jerry Heflin. Ken Watts, with the only truck bodied machine in the field, led the way in the Pro Challenge feature taking the win over Mike Lago, Howard Brennan, Brandon Thomson, and Tim Hart. Gerald White, Jr. scored year another run-away victory in the Bandelero Bandits taking the win over Blake Eden, Ryan Rust, and Donovan Ponder. Brandon Thomson led the way in the Bandelero Young Guns and actually made it through tech to claim the win after being set down two weeks in a row. Chelsea Schillig and Matt Jarrett were second and third. After turning 16 years of age, Scott Jarrett was forced to move up to the Bandelero Outlaw class and he promptly went out and won the feature. Evan Russell came home second followed by Gerald White, Sr., Dave Jarrett (Scott's grandfather) and Kara Clarke. The "Ageless Wonder," Red "Pop" Honaker, led all the way to win the Hurricane feature holding off Alan McClellan, Bobby Crites, William Hindman, Greg Bruce, Doug Webb and Brian Bleau. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!