Travis Cope tops Goodyear Challenge Late Model 100 at Citrus County Speedway
Inverness, Fla. (May 20, 2006) On a hot, humid day, the Goodyear Challenge Series made their first appearance ever at the Citrus County Speedway in Inverness. For most of the 17 drivers there, this was their first experience at Citrus since mostly the Sunbelt Super Late Model Series runs there.
Qualifying was at 4:45 and it was hot but that did not stop Jonny Kay from Deerfield Beach setting fast time with a 14.240. Completing the top five were Daniel Keene of Land O'Lakes, A.J. Curreli of Daytona Beach, Dustin Deschamps of Brooksville and Jeremy Goddard of Naples.
Goddard had problems most of the day and in getting ready for qualifying, forgot to add fuel which caused him to be light at the scales. Goddard was dq'd and sent to the rear for the start putting Travis Cope of Bronson in the fifth place position. Kay draws the number five pill for the inversion putting Cope on the pole. Goddard was upset but only upset with himself for forgetting to add fuel since it would have been his first pole.
After a short driver introduction, it was time to go racing. But during the warm-up laps, A.J. Curreli had a broken trailing arm and had to go into the pits for repairs. Twenty two laps later, A.J. return and if he had not had problems, would have definitely given a run to everyone for the win.
On the green Cope jumped to the point followed by Dustin Deschamps, Jonny Kay, Daniel Keene and Rich Clouser. Daniel Webster seemed to have problems from the beginning and had to withdraw from the race on lap 7 leaving 15 cars in the field. The No. 53 car of Charles Kopach had to redraw before qualifying with a broken rear-end.
Troy Hall, who was running sixth, got stuck on the outside sliding backwards a number of spots. Bringing out the first caution of the race was Amanda Gogel who spun coming off turn 4. The field was realigned and by lap 22 it was back to green with Cope on the point followed by Deschamps, Kay, Keene, and Clouser. At about this time, Curreli has his car fixed and returns to the field in the rear.
Lap 27 saw the yellow come out for Chuck Abell who spun off four. The field went back green on lap 31 as Deschamps tried to get his nose under Cope but Cope shuts the door on the restart. Top ten are Cope, Deschamps, Kay, Keene, Clouser, Joe Winchell, Sam Watts, Chuck Burkhalter, Troy Hall and Justin Larson.
Kay looks every which way to pass Deschamps but each time Deschamps closes the door. But in the meantime coming up from the rear of the field is A.J. Curreli who is about the only driver who passes a number of cars even though he is laps down. Curreli seems to have no problems making it up towards the front of the pack as he goes around the track.
After running sixth, Joe Winchell comes off the backstretch when a "pop" is heard and he slows in turns 3 and 4 with electrical problems. Winchell, who also had mechanical problems in the previous race, is done for the night after a very good run. With Winchell out of the picture, Sam Watts takes over sixth.
With no more cautions, it is a race to see who can catch Travis Cope. Deschamps tries a few more times to get his nose in there, but Cope has nothing to do with it. Cope takes his second win of the 2006 season followed by Dustin Deschamps, Jonny Kay, Daniel Keene and Rich Clouser.
The Goodyear Challenge Late Model Series will run next at USA International in Lakeland on June 3 along with the USAR Hooter's Pro Cup race. Top ten are:
1. #26 Travis Cope, Bronson 2. #51 Dustin Deschamps, Brooksville 3. #48 Jonny Kay, Deerfield Beach 4. #16 Daniel Keene Jr., Land O' Lakes 5. #9 Rich Clouser, Palm Bay 6. #73 Sam Watts, Winter Springs 7. #1x Chuck Burkhalter, Clermont 8. #30 Troy Hall, Coral Springs 9. #88 Justin Larson, Safety Harbor 10. #40 Jeremy Goddard, Naples
