LAKE CITY, FL (5/13) - Modifieds thundered into action at North Florida Speedway with a dozen cars taking the initial green flag. Polesitter Kyle Owen was beaten to the first turn of the first lap by Mark Padgett which proved to be a crucial pass.
Owen and Carlton Allen battled briefly for second before both tangled in the second turn. Padgett stretched his lead while his competitors stretched their bodywork with plenty of wheel-to-wheel battles. Ronnie Chance broke through for second and appeared to have something for the leader until a spin knocked him out of contention.
A late restart bunched up the pack and Pete Timbie pressured Padgett but was unable to make the pass and broke on the last lap. Padgett crossed the line as the winner with Owen, Chance, Kenny Blair, and Timbie rounding out the top five.
Hobby Stocks also returned with a good field of cars. Sammy Hatcher's #B1 was the early leader but had plenty of company at the top. Heath Walker, Tim Nolan, and David Dowling Sr. all had a go at the leader at different times.
The last lap told the tale as Hatcher slipped coming out of the second turn and could only watch as Dowling seized the opportunity and led the lap that paid to take his second win in 2006. Hatcher maintained second while Walker pulled off some last-lap heroics of his own by passing Nolan for third. Polesitter Paul Webb finished fifth behind Nolan.
If it hadn't been for Dean Sands, the Street Stock finale would have been a closely contested affair for the lead. Sands, however, was hitting all his marks and after ten laps had a 3/4-lap lead over second place.
The question as to whether Sands could lap the field was put to pasture when a late race caution gave the field one more look at Sands' #44. The real race, however, was for second between Dewey Hall, Nick Reid, and Scott Spears.
As Sands resumed the whuppin', Hall, Reid, and Spears scrapped amongst themselves and gave the fans a show. Sands cruised to his first win of 2006 with Hall, Reid, Spears, and David Lashley trailing.
Shawn Creech sat on the pole for the Pure Stock main and was looking to repeat as the winner. Creech sped to the lead but was immediately joined by Michael Havard. The pair went at it for six laps before Havard got the better of Creech on the back stretch.
Rick Reed was the next to challenge Creech and made a successful pass on the last lap as Havard disappeared into the night. The finishing order at the line was Havard, Reed, Creech, Kevin Austin, and Jeff Guyton.
Havard, who had a win taken away from him last week when he and his #8 machine failed to show up for the mandatory post-race inspection, had no such problems finding the tech area this week and got to keep tonight's victory.