IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 22, 2005 FSCR Abbott does it again in RE/MAX Legends at SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman With a great field of cars in the pits, many from several hundred miles away, Orlando Speedworld was not about to give in to Mother Nature Saturday night. Despite a two hour rain delay, the fans were treated to perhaps the best overall racing show the track has had all year. Once the track was dried, the "best laid plans" went awry in a hurry. Track officials decided to run the Hurricane class heat race first to further dry off the track. Unfortunately, on the very first lap, Harold Erb tangled with another car and ran head on into the water safety barrel at the pit entrance sending a cascade of water down the track at the entrance to turn three - much more water than the heavens had provided earlier. Erb was not hurt and, undaunted, the track crew went back to work again although this time they only had a portion of the track to dry off. Finally, racing got under way as Kevin Hawkinberry won the Hurricane heat and the show was on! Twenty-four RE/MAX Legends Cars were on hand with Kory Abbott taking the first heat, Darin Coker heat two, and first-year driver Evan Russell earning his first career RE/MAX Legends car win in heat three driving his Florida Green Racing machine. Luck of the draw put Abbott's Kendirk Performance special on the pole and he shot to an early lead before things got ugly in a hurry. Going into turn three on the opening lap, Paddy Rodenbeck tapped Bobby Byars into a spin. Cars began to check up behind them and the carnage began. When all was said and done, Doug Hall found himself on his roof in the middle of the track after tangling with Brian Silas, Wesley McLeod, and North Carolina visitor Clay Hair. Ray Rivers tried to go high to miss them but clobbered the wall destroying the right front corner of his car. The cars of Hall, Hair, and Rivers were done for the night while Silas went to a back-up car since no laps had been officially completed. Byars car was not damaged and he continued while McLeod made several pit stops before retiring his car. The second attempt at starting the race went much better as Abbott set sail with Matt Bowers and Coker not far behind. Coker quickly moved his machine into second before the first caution of the race on lap four as the right front fender flew off Jarrad Cawley's car as it came past the flag stand. Abbott continued to set the pace but Coker was shadowing his every move. Caution flew again on lap 14 for a Jimmy Norman spin. Following the restart, as the cars were completing lap 15, Rodenbeck and Byars got involved again as they came down the front stretch with both machines nearly tipping over. Mike Verhaagh came along and slid head-on into Byars' car with Silas again getting involved and James Rodriguez doing a wild slide into the infield. The cars of Byars, Mike Verhaagh, and Silas (his second car of the evening) were finished while Rodenbeck was disqualified for rough driving. Abbott continued to set the pace but Coker was right on his bumper and appeared to have the better handling car. Just as Coker was making a good run for the lead, the caution came out again on lap 18 for a spin by Cawley in turn four. Following the restart, Coker could stay close but Abbott would race to his sixth RE/MAX Legends Car win of the year. Coker would have to wait yet another week to claim his first career feature win as he settled for a well-earned second place finish. Matt Bowers kept the leaders in sight but spent the final laps holding off James Rodriguez who came back from his infield excursion missing the wreck on lap 15 to grab fourth and earn the top honors among the Masters division drivers. Jeremy Colangelo had a steady run for fifth with Brandon Thomson, Mitch Verhaagh, Evan Russell, Jimmy Norman and Derrick Wood completing the top ten. The Florida Outlaw Modifieds made their first appearance of the season and simply had the fans in awe of the competition as they literally raced side by side the entire 25 lap distance. The Outlaw Mods decided to scrap their heat races due to time constraints, so that put Mike Endee of North Port on the pole in his sharp Turquoise-colored machine. Normally, if a driver leads all the way in a race, the thing might be considered a ho-hum affair, but the fact that Endee led every lap and won his first career race was overshadowed by what was going on just behind him lap after lap. Endee never had more than a half car-length lead at any time and several drivers made an attempt to pass him on the outside, but Endee held on to claim the win, again his first ever in the Outlaw Modified Series. The race saw only one caution flag on lap 18. Bobby Dayton, who was running with the lead group, got crossed up while trying to get around lapped traffic and drove head-on into the turn one wall. Dayton wasn't hurt, but his car finished the night on a rollback. Following Endee to the checker was Dunedin's Robert Campbell with Arcadia's Raymond "Super Frog" Jones coming from ninth on the starting grid to third with a late charge. Jones, the current point leader, finished just in front of 2004 Outlaw Modified Champion Doug Hopper of New Port Richey while Billy Campell grabbed the fifth spot. Cliff Steinmann of Naples started dead last in the 17 car field and came up to sixth at the finish with Robbie Bean, Phil Brigham, Craig Sherar and Kristy Boyett rounding out the top ten. The Classic Cars also opted for a feature only with extended laps and they put on quite a show as well. Orlandoan John Smith, a long-time racer at Speedworld but a rookie in this Series, led every lap to take his first career Classic Car win. Ocala's Norm Agostinho did a great job in coming home second ahead of Jim Rahman, Ben Booth and Simeon Spagnuolo. Despite a very wet "flat" track, the Bandelero Bandit drivers opted to give their 15 lap race a go and it finished much like most of the others this year with 11 year old phenom Gerald White, Jr. coasting to the win over Blake Eden, Donovan Ponder, Tyler Rahman, Zach Harris and Nicholas Baluch. A short field of Bandelero Young Guns and Outlaws saw Ryan Rust and Kara Clarke declared the winners. After Kevin Hawkinberry won the Hurricane heat, he was nowhere to be found at the start of the feature. Allen McClelland grabbed the lead right at the drop of the green and never looked back as he won by a large margin over Rudy Bronson, Bobby Crites, Doug Webb and David Thompson. The Daytona Antique Auto Racing Association rounded out the evening with a bit of nostalgia for the fans. Sarasota's Robert Campbell topped the Sprint Car portion of the program over Vince Capelli, Jack Sapp, Jay Yahnke, Doc Stanley and Don Bigelow. Dale Miller of Longwood out ran a trio of Midget Cars taking the win over Bill Wendt and Dick Greene. The Stock Car portion was and easy win for Jeromy Smith of DeBary as he topped Bud Johnson, Richie Iverson, Rhoda Blackie, Eddie Grant, John Clark and Keith Grant. RE/MAX LEGENDS CAR FINISH - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - 5/21/05: 1) Kory Abbott, Apopka #5 2) Darin Coker, Palm Beach Gardens #00 3) Matt Bowers, Mt. Dora #84 4) James Rodriguez, West Palm Beach #19 5) Jeremy Colangelo, Sanford #05 6) Brandon Thomson, St. Cloud #54 7) Mitch Verhaagh, Ft. Myers #9 8) Evan Russell, Ft. Pierce #37 9) Jimmy Norman, Lake Mary #2 10) Derrick Wood, Orlando #33 11) Jarrad Cawley, Winter Garden #31 12) Bob Wilson, Beverly Hills #27W 13) Mark Beebo, St. Cloud #7X 14) Tom Clarke, Palm Beach Gardens #66 15) Kyle Dombeck, Palm Bay #20 16) Kara Clarke, Palm Beach Gardens #21 17) Bobby Byars, Palm Bay #12 18) Mike Verhaagh, Ft. Myers #7 19) Brian Silas, Lake Worth #57 20) Wesley McLeod, Altamonte Springs #22 21) Doug Hall, St. Petersburg #55 22) Clay Hair, Mooresville, NC #28 23) Ray Rivers, Melbourne #98 DQ Paddy Rodenbeck, Odessa #29 OUTLAW MODIFIED FINISH: 1) Mike Endee, North Port #29 2) Robert Campbell, Dunedin #10 3) Raymond "Super Frog" Jones, Arcadia #41 4) Doug Hopper, New Port Richey #15 5) Billy Campbell, Holiday #11 6) Cliff Steinmann, Naples #23 7) Robbie Bean, Miami #28 8) Phil Brigham, Ft. Pierce #7 9) Craig Sherar, S. Miami #78 10) Kristy Boyett, Merritt Island #94 11) Scot Finlay, Myakka City #27 12) Patrick Brigham, Ft. Pierce #66 13) Don Peacock, Tavernier #24 14) Rick Voisey, Wesley Chapel #69 15) Matt Delaney, Largo #8 16) Rick Mills, Arcadia #22 17) Bobby Dayton, Homestead #90 DNS Mike Bean, Miami Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!