IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 24, 2005 FSCR Scotty Adema snares USA Sprints "Barn Burner" at Auburndale Speedway Scotty Adema snares USA Sprints "Barn Burner" at Auburndale Speedway! This was the most exciting race in USA Sprints History as witnessed by fans, officials and even the racers themselves. Scotty Adema snared Victory away from a slowing Shane Kreidler in the late stages of the race to take home his 6th feature Win of 2005. Kreidler who is the 2003 USA Sprints Champion drove a great race from the pole position. "The car was really hooked up" explained Kreidler. Shane was flanked by Tim George in the # 1 Venice Wrecker Shaw on the front row. In row two Greg "The Jet" Leonard brought the Pooles Auto Body Avenger from position 3. Next to Leonard was newcomer and TBARA standout Dave Slawiak. Slawiak was driving the Dave Link Cool-Aid Air Special gambler. As a competitor in USA Sprints myself I am having a hard time explaining exactly what happened in this race. I have asked many drivers and even some fans as well as USA Officials and the answer was always different so I will sum the race up with this analogy. There were cars everywhere almost the entire race. There were cars sometimes 7 wide. There were battles galore. I had so many battles I had forgotten who I was racing (lol), funny but true. The top 6 or 7 cars were under a blanket most of the race. There was passing on the top and the bottom. Cars that were being lapped were racing side by side as were the cars attempting to overtake those cars, which created a major quagmire. I saw Greg Leonard blast through a hole barely wide enough but somehow made it. Cars were 2 and 3 abreast and ran side by side for most of the race. I saw cars drive across the rumble strips because the track was blocked. Please keep in mind this race never went yellow. The flagman who by the way did an outstanding job didn’t know who won the race. Heck even the drivers weren’t sure who won themselves. There is one fact that came from our first visit to Auburndale Speedway and that is, that all the drivers are winners in a race like this. I have personally spoken to most of the drivers and we all agreed that this race was a total blast and even though only one driver Won this race, there were no losers on this Saturday Night in Auburndale Florida. In conclusion I tip my hat to all the USA Sprints drivers and crews as well as the Auburndale Speedway staff for an awesome job. In the past 6 races Scotty Adema has proven himself to be a very formidable competitor but this race showed that Adema went out and snared this Victory with all the desire that Champions are made of. Here below is how Scotty Adema saw the race in his own words. Congrats Scotty and all the USA Sprints racers on a superb job well done. ========================================= Adema: "After seeing how hot it was we decided to watch the first practice. Watching the cars go around we soon found the problem was going to be getting the car to turn on this tight little track. We went out for the second practice, and felt the car wouldn't be good enough to win. We made some adjustments and decided to go with that for the heat race. We started second row inside for the heat race and got ready for the green flag." " The green flag dropped and the car that started outside pole got a good jump. I fell into third hunting down second. The #79 car of youngster Dakota Stevens pushed up track just enough for me to get in the bottom grove. It took a few laps to catch the #85 of Greg Leonard to try to apply pressure for a pass. In turn 4 he pushed up and left the door open just little bit and I decided to try to squeeze by. I got under him and he gave just enough space for my car to race him clean. Once by him we got in clear track and I took off and left, still fighting the car that didn't want to turn." "After the heat race I was pretty worried about being able to pass with as close as the field was and the quality of cars in the field. We got pushed off and all I could see was a bunch of cars in front of me. I lined up eighth and got the belts tight and brakes hot, waiting on the green flag to drop. We fired off of turn four and all I saw was cars going everywhere. Cars were smoking the right rears and going three wide into turn one. We passed a few cars and got to the back of "Tiny" Tim George # 1. Tim was fast and very difficult to pass. I would go low, but his yellow sprinter was motoring down the straights. I tried him high going into turn one three times, but he still could come off and beat us to the gas." "We finally caught lapped traffic and he went low and I went high, the high line proved to be the way to go. Once by Tim the traffic was unreal. I couldn't tell if I was in second or third. The 85 car in second raced me hard, but I was just able to squeak by him in turn one. Just as I began to settle for second because I saw Shane Kriedler in the 52 car so far ahead, he started getting closer and closer and finally I caught him rather quickly which allowed me to get by. I later found out he had lost his power steering. He sure was running good and was going to be hard to beat. With about 3 laps to go we got the lead and led it from there to the end of the race. I think we ran a couple extra laps as the checkered was flying." "As I pulled into Victory Lane my heart was going a hundred miles an hour from such an intense race. I couldn't end this story without thanking all my crew guys for their support, but most of all, my dad and car owner Tommy Rice. Tommy is a great car owner supplying excellent equipment for me to drive. I also would like to thank Old Castle Precast and Motor City Transport my sponsors. My dad, whose adjustments made the car capable of going from eighth to first also were very vital to this Victory. Finally I would like to thank RC Roper and Chip Stick for giving us racers a safe, quality, and affordable place to race in the USA Sprints." The Official Results were as follows: 1) Scotty Adema #67- 2) Dave Slawiak # 63- 3) Tim George # 1- 4) Dennis Misuraca # 3d- 5) Greg Leonard # 85- 6) RC Roper # 92- 7) Dakota Stevens # 79- 8) Sean Namor # 10n- 9) Travis Bleimeister # 3b 10) Donnie Maxwell #5- 11) Michael Smith # 9 – 12) Geoffrey Styner # 15jr –13) Shane Kreidler # 52 – 14) Bob Parrow # 24. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!