IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 16, 2005 FSCR Kenny Blair Breaks Through at Putnam by Jon Harney SATSUMA, FL (5/14) - Kenny Blair finally ended a three-year drought at Putnam County Speedway Park with his first win in the Modified division. Despite having many fine finishes during the past weeks that garnered results in the top three, victory had proven elusive for Blair. Bobby Balkcom converted his pole starting spot into the lead but never had a real chance to stretch his advantage as numerous cautions resulted from a steady decimation of the 20-car starting field. Blair caught Balkcom and made his race-winning move on the seventh circuit. Blair maintained his concentration through the numerous race restarts and kept his challengers at bay for the balance of the event. Balkcom finished second with Garry Flynn, Mark Wortman, and Bob McQuaig finishing third through fifth respectively. The Limited Late Model main saw a replay of last week's race develop with Eric Platt and Brandon Cameron battling each other while leaving the rest of the field behind. The duo stayed close but, like last week, Cameron didn't seem fast enough to make a move on his own. Unlike last week, there would be no lapped traffic to affect the outcome and this evening Cameron had to settle for second behind Platt. John Reiter returned to action with a solid third over Tate Singler and Joseph Baker. Shaun Daugharty and Mike Tripp overpowered polesitter Kenny Hall Jr. when the green flag flew to resume their fight for Hobby Stock supremacy. The duel ended when Daughtary lost the handle on his #00 in the fourth turn. While Tripp was enjoying a relatively uncontested lead, Daughtary kept the fans entertained as he quickly sliced through the field and regained second position on lap 12. Again the stage was set for a shootout and neither driver disappointed. What looked to be a change in position when Daughtary had a run coming out of the second turn was eradicated by the yellow flag due to an incident involving another driver. When racing resumed Tripp survived a final challenge to take the win. Daughtary spun again in turn four and knocked himself out of the top five. Joe Watson came across the stripe in second, Scott Booth followed Watson for third, Kevin Mills was fourth, and Randy Moody was fifth. Toby Sims blew past polesitter Martin Johnson early in the Street Stock finale. Kenny Hall also made the pass on Johnson, but could not mount a serious challenge against Sims and eventually fell out of the race with mechanical difficulties near the end. Sims went on to blow out the field as he won by over a quarter of a lap over runner-up Mark Kinley. Tim Dowling finished an equally distant third, Mitch Wise came home fourth, and Jimmy Dowling rounded out the top five. The Florida Sprint Car Association returned to Putnam with seventeen cars entered and fifteen cars making it to their feature. It didn't take Gene Lasker long to storm through the field from the rear to take the point and win handily in a race that was plagued with cautions resulting from single car incidents. Bruce Durden also had a fine run from the rear of the field to finish second. Mike Love finished third over Otto Scrape and Larry Pickett. Art Souther returned to victory lane to take his second win of the year in the Box Stock Mini division. The start of the race provided the biggest thrill for the fans when two cars tangled on the initial start and resulted in Randy Strehle barrel-rolling his #24 down the main stretch. Randy was unharmed and even drove his mangled racer back to his trailer. Bruce Denman brought his Dodge Neon in for second place ahead of A. J. Flores, Jim Henderson, and Pete Timbie. A full show of heats and features are slated for this Saturday night in all five regular racing divisions. A schedule of future racing events, admission prices, opening times, and much more can be found on the track's website - www.putnamcountyspeedway.com. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!