IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 15, 2005 FSCR Abbott goes back to Number "5" and gets Fifth Win in RE/MAX Legends at SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Sporting new number "5's" on his car from racermom.com, young Kory Abbott sped to his fifth RE/MAX Legends Car feature win Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld. Combined with his PBG Tour win the week before, the Apopka driver is now batting six for eight at the track in 2005. After running a red duct-taped "X" on his new car for several weeks, Abbott was happy to be behind the wheel of his familiar number 5 again, but he wouldn't sweep his events this week as Brandon Thomson led Abbott to the stripe in heat three. Heat one, made up entirely of Masters Division drivers over the age of 40, went to James Rodriguez of West Palm Beach who actually remembered to take his car through tech inspection this time. Heat two was a runaway for Darin Coker but saw a scary incident involving first-year drivers Chelsea Schillig and Evan Russell who tangled coming off turn four. Schillig's car spun around and hit the wall just past the flag stand right in front of a group of Schillig's friends from Milwee Middle School who had come to watch her race. Both drivers were A-OK with Chelsea hopping out of her battered machine with the usual big smile on her face. Ricky Wood then offered his son Derek's back-up car to Chelsea to drive in the feature, a gesture which drew Ricky a nice round of applause from the fans as the cars were getting lined up. Russell, with help from several of his competitors, was able to get his car repaired and start the main event. Rodriguez was trying to get one for the "old guys" as he grabbed the early lead with all the "kids" nipping at his rear bumper. Things got slowed down on lap six when Ray Rivers and Jimmy Norman got tangled up in turn two. The red flag came out as track EMT's checked out Norman. Other than a sore elbow, the young driver was just fine. Rodriguez was still looking good out front following the restart, but Abbott was not going to be denied as he finally was able to get under Rodriguez out of turn four and take the lead on lap nine. Abbott raced out front as things heated up behind him. Matt Bowers, who started 12th, worked his way up to second with Jeremy Colangelo right on his bumper. Thomson and Coker also moved into the top five as Rodriguez slipped to sixth. On the final lap, Bowers and Colangelo got together and spun in turn two. Amid the confusion, although no actual caution flag was thrown, some drivers raced to the checker while others slowed down thinking a caution was coming out. To be fair to all competitors, track and INEX officials opted to end the race as the field completed lap 24 minus the two cars involved in the incident. The finish saw Abbott the winner with Brandon Thomson second and Darin Coker third. Rodriguez claimed fourth with fellow Masters drivers (and brothers) Mike and Mitch Verhaagh fifth and sixth. Rounding out the top ten were Wesley McLeod, Jarrad Cawley, and Bobby Byars. The remaining finishers were Brian Silas, Derek Wood, Kyle Dombeck, Evan Russell, Mark Beebo, Bob Wilson, Chelsea Schillig, Matt Bowers, Jeremy Colangelo, Jimmy Norman and Ray Rivers. Gerald White, Jr. again laid claim to the Bandelero Bandit class as he led all the way for yet another win. Blake Eden made a late charge but had to settle for second ahead of Donovan Ponder, Christina Baluch, Zach Harris and Tyler Rahman. Jeff Black appeared to have his first win in the Bandelero Young Guns but both he and third finisher Ryan Rust were disqualified for improper clutches. Second place Dalton Bergman was also set down for unsportsmanlike driving. Gerald Campbell, who dropped out of the race early in his new car, has been declared the winner in his first-ever race! William Hindman took the Hurricane win in his Honda Prelude over the Dodge Shadow of Rudy Bronson, Jr. Bobby Crites' Toyota was third ahead of Rudy Bronson, Sr. and Homer Quesenberry. Travis Carter came back from an early incident to take the TQ Late Model exhibition race over David Rader, Daryl Graves, James Hughes, and Brennan Palmiter. F.A.S.T Karts again put on some solid racing, especially in the Junior Champ class where D.J. Witherby, Sam Ketterman and Mason Ketterman swapped the lead back and forth - sometimes twice a lap - before Witherby managed to prevail. Other Kart winners were Rusty Chancey (Pro Stock), Levi Stephens (Restricted Junior), Travis Potts (Senior Champ), Jim Ross (Yamaha), Jack Lyerly (Star Champ), and Bubba Potts (Junior Sports Champ). Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!