IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 25, 2005 FSCR Daughtary and Sims Upend Perennial Putnam Powers SATSUMA, FL (4/23) - It was a case of Paradise Lost and Paradise Found for Modified drivers Kenny Blair and Donnie Hall last Saturday night at Putnam County Speedway Park as they did battle with each other and over a dozen competitors in the Modified Feature. Hall snatched the lead from polesitter Garland Spangler on the opening lap, and then lost the spot to Blair on the following lap. Hall stormed back to the lead a couple of turns later while a host of challengers applied further pressure to the front duo. Blair and Hall continued their position swap for the remainder of the event. Meanwhile, battles in the middle of the pack took their toll in terms of field attrition. Hall held off Blair at the line for a hard earned win - his first in recent track history. Third through fifth proved to be a wild scramble as an incident on the main straight shuffled their finishing order. Steve Persinger prevailed for third over Pete Timbie and Phil Guadagno. Rich Pratt looked to be a walkaway winner in Limited Late Models as challengers Brandon Cameron and Tony Lewis Sr. steadily lost ground while battling each other for the runner-up slot. Pratt's fortune went bankrupt when something in the rear of his car broke and rendered the rest of his night null and void. Eric Platt was looking to repeat his win from the previous week. He passed Cameron, caught up to Lewis, and the leaders engaged in a game of give and take which kept the fans on the edges of their seats until both cars tangled on the eighth circuit. From that time the race became Cameron's to win or lose and Brandon wisely chose the former as he raced steady through the closing laps to take the victory over Platt, Tate Singler, Lewis, and Bug Rose. Full Moon Fever struck the Hobby Stocks with a vengeance. Five attempts were necessary to start the race and complete the first lap. Mike Tripp took the lead and usually this is where the story shifts to the battle for the second spot. Shawn Daughtary apparently never read the previous stories concerning Tripp's dominance and overhauled Tripp on lap two. Joe Watson picked his way through heavy traffic and through numerous cautions to join the leaders near the midway stage. Daughtary remained strong the rest of the way and was able to clinch the win when Tripp and Watson locked themselves in their own dogfight. Daughtary captured his first win at Putnam in only his second attempt in the Hobby Stocks over solid opposition. Tripp overcame Watson on the final lap in their fight for runner-up honors. Randy Moody was fourth and Chris Waldron was fifth. Kenny Hall jetted from sixth to the lead on the opening lap of the Street Stock main. As is the case with Tripp in the Hobby Stocks, this is usually where the Street Stock race recap effectively ends. Toby Sims decided - like Daughtary - to rewrite the script by catching and easily passing Hall on lap three. Sims was completely dominant this evening and was never seriously challenged on his way to the checkers. Mitch Wise also ran a good race and managed to momentarily challenge Hall before fading in the final lap. Hall came in second over Wise, Dave Dowling Jr., and Richard Tipton. Sims, an occasional visitor to Putnam, mentioned that he would run a limited schedule in 2005 but looked forward to returning in the near future. Art Souther led every lap in the almost caution-free Box Stock Mini feature. He took his first win of the 2005 season ahead of Randy Strehle, Bruce Denman, Lenny Hixson, and Bud Chancey. The Limited Late Models will be the highlight attraction at Putnam County Speedway Park this Saturday Night. They will run two ten-lap semi-features followed by a 30-lap feature event. Regular heats and features will be raced in the Hobby Stock, Modified, Street Stock, and Box Stock Mini divisions. The first green flag of racing drops at 7 PM. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!