LAKE CITY, FL (5/20) - North Florida Speedway delivered six divisions of hot racing action to fans last Saturday evening with the winged Sprint Cars as the headline event. Seventeen cars took the green flag and Allen Kaluzniak wasted no time jetting to the lead. Several of the faster cars had problems in their heat races and had to bop their way from back in the pack to get into contention. Bruce Durden and Wes Scrape were two such drivers in this predicament and they provided plenty of excitement as they picked their way through the field. Matt Kurtz worked his way into second but could not catch Kaluzniak at the checkers. Kaluzniak's relatively easy run was counterbalanced by nail biting action by the rest of the field. At the line the top five read Kaluzniak, Kurtz, Durden, Dakotah Stephens, and Otto Scrape.
A dozen Hobby Stocks started the feature and the fans saw a wire to wire first place run by Heath Walker. Walker, however, was largely unseen during the race as fans couldn't keep their eyes off of the dogfight for second. Scott Booth, Wayno Risner, Sammy Hatcher, and Dave Dowling Sr. gave everyone a show as paint, bodywork, and tempers were sacrificed for the honor of running second. Walker stayed ahead of the car wars waging behind him and walked off with his first win of 2006. Hatcher was able to outlast his rivals for second. Dowling saw his two-race winning streak snapped and settled for third ahead of Booth and Risner.
The Florida Mini Sprint Association made their first visit to NFS this year and got their first taste of the new racing surface. Gavin Thomas converted his pole starting position to the lead. Russ Heider and Paul Gottschalk kept pace with Thomas as lapped traffic became a factor. Gottschalk disposed of Heider, then closed in on the leader and made a very gutsy move on lap 16 when he dove underneath Thomas and a backmarker and successfully executed a slide pass to take the lead and run off with the win. Thomas recovered for second with Heider, Jesse Teed, and Matthew Wilson finishing third through fifth. Gottschalk was enamored with the new surface and said he couldn't wait to return. Hopefully his competition feels the same way as they ran an excellent race with only one caution flag in their 20-lap event.
Mike Havard bested polesitter Rick Reed at the start of the Pure Stock feature and withstood a bit of a challenge late in the race from Frank Premorel to win his second consecutive race. Reed had problems early which sent him to the rear of the field; however, he was able to recover to notch a top five finish. The top five was Havard, Premorel, Shawn Creech, Reed, and Chance Meyer.
Nick Reid grabbed the lead from Cliff Crawford on the second lap of the Street Stock finale, but was immediately joined by Dean Sands and had no time to enjoy the view. Sands stalked Reid for ten laps and tried to make a pass on the inside, but Reid wasn't giving that real estate up. Sands went uptown on the high groove on the twelfth lap which proved to be a more attainable and profitable parcel. Sands let his momentum carry him around Reid and take the lead en route to his second win in a row. Following Sands and Reid was Dewey Hall, Marvin Hassell, and Crawford.
Limited Sportsman cars ran an abbreviated feature with Brian Scott taking the win over Patty Duren, David Ponton, Dewey Hall, and Travis Saunders.
Open Wheel Modifieds are the premier division this Saturday night at NFS. Practice begins at 6 PM and racing starts at 7 PM.
