Florida Mini Sprint Association invades Putnam County Speedway
By: Tera Gunter 6-3-06
After a late start due to an afternoon drenching, Putnam County Speedway came through with some fabulous racing in all divisions.
The fast, speeding bullets of the Florida Mini Sprint Association made their first appearance for the 2006 season. Running on 10” tires, with 600cc-750cc engines, a mini sprint is a smaller version of a full sized winged sprint car and is capable of speed in excess of 130 mph.
T.J. Raymond and Gavin Thomas lined up on the front row and Raymond shot to the lead at the green flag drop. While Raymond sailed off ahead of the field, fans were thrilled by the quick changing side by side action winged sprint cars are famous for. Jesse Teed, Gregory Skyta, Eddie Moss, Jr., Russ Heider, and Paul Gottschalk thoroughly entertained the fans in blink of the eye action that lasted the entire race.
A red flag mishap between turns 3-4 resulted in flipped cars and an early end of the race for Leroy Moore and Randy Carrier. Thomas held onto his position behind Raymond while Skyta, who started third, maintained a fast steady pace with Teed posing the biggest danger to Skyta’s position. Teed and Thomas fell victim to car failure leaving Heider and Gottschalk to challenge Skyta. After gaining ground on Skyta, Heider and Gottschalk tried valiantly to catch Raymond before time ran out. Raymond led Heider, Gottschalk, Skyta, and Eddie Moss, Jr. to the checkered flag.
Late models provided one of their best races this year as David Crews took the early lead. Travis Rhoden began moving through the field and set his sights on Crews, passing Crews out of turn 4 on lap 2. Billy Costello, Ryan Van Sickle, and Hank Wilson settled into position behind Crews.
David Jones, driving a super late model for no points and track time only, showed fans what those cars are capable of as he found his way around Rhoden in turn 3 on lap 7. Van Sickle’s night unfortunately ended early on lap 7 after making contact with the unforgiving concrete wall on the front straight. As Jones sailed into the stratosphere, Costello, began closing in on Rhoden. Rhoden held on and collected his first win of the 2006 season as he crossed the finish line behind Jones, followed by Costello, Tony Lewis, and John Trammell.
Open-wheeled modifieds thundered onto the track with fans anticipating a highly contested battle as luck of the draw found the first and second place point leaders, Kyle Owen, and Jason Lowe, deep in the field. Buddy Rohn and Ronnie Soltis led the field under the green flag with Soltis taking the lead on the front straight followed by Jamie Carter, who passed Rohn on the back straight.
All eyes were on Owen and Lowe, as they began picking their way through the field. By the end of lap 1, Owen was knocking on Carter’s back door. Carter held Owen off for 3 laps before Owen passed Carter on the front stretch and reeled in Soltis out of turn 4. Soltis, however, was having none of it and a battle ensued between Owen and Soltis for the lead as Soltis regained his position.
With one eye on Lowe, who pulled into position behind him, Owen placed multiple challenges on Soltis. Soltis held his own against Owen, shaking the point leader off for several laps. Running a steady, consistent pace, Tiny Greene, a former Street Stock driver, showed his prowess in the open wheels as he maintained a place behind Lowe and stayed out of trouble.
After a caution on lap 12 for Owen, the restart saw Owen placed at the rear of the field, a place he did not intend to remain for long. Soltis and Lowe entertained fans with some great side by side racing before Lowe reeled Soltis in and took the lead. As Greene passed Soltis in turn 2 on lap 14, Owen flew through the field to pull in behind Lowe. Falling victim to a drive shaft failure, Lowe exited the track on lap 19. Owen took the checkered in his third win of the season over Greene, Soltis, Kenny Blair, and Steve Persinger.
Street stocks took to the track with Marc Kinley and Tim Dowling running side by side before Dowling took the lead. Johnny Tilton entertained fans as he made his way through the field. Kinley, who was placed at the rear of the field after a spin in turn 4, challenged Tilton and pulled into place behind Dowling. Kevin Mills, who has endured a streak of bad luck this season in his new car, pulled into position behind Kinley. As Tilton managed to stay out of trouble, a spin in turn 2 by a lapped car became Mill’s new heartache.
The incident, leaving both racers with no time to react, resulted in a hard hit on Lisa O’Connor by both Kinley and Mills. Fans were glad to see all drivers emerge unscathed. Kinley, who was able to continue, was placed to the rear of the field as O’Connor and Mills were towed off. As he worked back through from the rear, Kinley next challenged Richard Adams with Adams maintaining his position.
Running out of time due to race incidents, Dowling led Tilton, Adams, Kinley, and David Smith to victory lane. An after race visit to the tech area resulted in the first place win being shared by both Dowling and Tilton at the payout window.
Mini Stocks took to the track with Randy Strehle in the lead, a position he fought hard for due to multiple challenges by Justin Carney. Strehle and Carney thoroughly entertained fans as they battled for most of the race over Art Souther, Chris Heaney, Mark Comitale, and Troy Kidd. Strehle held on and fans held their breath as a lapped car on turn 2 slowed the leaders down and could have easily resulted in the same heartbreak as that endured by the street stocks. Once around the lapped car, Carney dug in his heels and took the lead from Strehle. A flat tire suffered by Carney late in the race handed the lead to Strehle as he hot-footed it to victory lane over Souther, Kidd, and Heaney.
Hobby stocks are always an entertaining division at the speedway and the hobbies did not disappoint although the point leader, Danny Miller, was noticeably absent. Donnie Ashford had the pole, a position that proved to be a harbinger of what was to come, as David Dowling, Jr., Mike Scranton, and David Miller, Jr. entertained the crowd in an early battle for the lead. Dowling and Scranton duked it out with some great side by side racing as Rick Mayer proved his prowess by reeling in the field one by one from a last place starting position to pull in behind Miller. Robert Hicks settled into a steady pace, one that would do him well at the checkered flag finish. Dowling took the lead, leaving Scranton and Miller to battle for position behind the leader.
Lap 7 found Miller behind Dowling as Scranton then fended off challenges from Ashford before he pulled away from Ashford. A heartbreaking racing incident on the front straight found contact between Scranton and Miller and tempers flying as Miller was ultimately disqualified for the night for retaliation. The victory became Ashford’s as he led Scranton, Hicks, Alvin Letchworth, and Luke Sadler in a jubilant victory lane celebration.
Shawn Pawlak took the early lead in the Box Stocks as Justin Dean and Dustin Sanders chased Pawlak. Pawlak suffered car failure and was towed off on lap 2, handing the lead to Dean. Not one to quit, Pawlak returned to the track to do battle. Dean inherited the luck of the Irish for the night as the young racer not only took the checkered flag over Lonnie Magruder, Pawlak, Sanders, and John Stacy, he also won the track’s $180 50/50 raffle!
Racing resumes at the speedway with full racing action by all racing divisions both Friday and Saturday, June 9-10, and a twin 40-lap feature event for the open-wheeled modifieds. Contact the track at 386-649-5210, or visit the website at www.putnamcountyspeedway.com for more information.
