LAKE CITY, FL (6/10) - Hobby Stock cars had their moment in the limelight at North Florida Speedway when the drivers lined their cars up on the front straight for full-field driver introductions. This gave the fans a good look at the men behind the machines they pilot every Saturday night as well as a chance to learn a bit about each driver. When the pleasantries were finished, the 15+ car field strapped in and put on a show.
David Dowling took the lead from the pole position and led a four-car breakaway with Heath Walker, Tim Nolan, and Timmy Rach in tow. The quartet split into two pairs with Walker and Dowling contesting the top spot. Walker literally ran into problems with a handful of laps remaining as the backstretch became dusty and he clobbered the rear of a backmarker who had slowed on the track. Walker was able to carry on but his car lost some speed towards the end. Timmy Roach was able to clear Walker for second and Nolan sped past Walker for third with one lap remaining. Dowling opened up a large lead while the other cars were skirmishing and easily sailed home to his fourth win of the year. Following Dowling was Roach, Nolan, Walker, and Dave's brother Jimmy Dowling.
Dean Sands again proved to be too much for his rivals in Street Stock. Adam Bedenbaugh did his best to contest and at times was able to run with Sands, which was impressive considering this was his first race at NFS in 2006. Sands, however, remained strong and outdistanced Bedenbaugh at the end to take his fourth victory this season. Dewey Hall had a good run from the back of the field to pick up a third place finish. Cliff Crawford was fourth and Nick Reid was fifth.
The Pure Stocks alone were worth the price of admission tonight. The race was a combination of WWE wrestling, horror show, and morality play condensed into 12 laps of racing action. The 15 car field was paced by J.D. Coffey who took the early lead. Coffey inadvertantly became the star of the horror show as a competitor spun him on the back stretch and Coffey spun, then barrel-rolled down the back stretch. The chills were not yet over for Coffey as a car from the back struck Coffey's upside-down #3 which immediately set the car ablaze. The next fifteen seconds were extremely intense as the car continued to burn and no driver movement was visible. Then Coffey suddenly became visible as he climbed out of his car and ran to safety, completely uninjured. This brought a great sigh of relief from fans and officials alike. In all, eight cars were involved in that backstretch incident and several were knocked out for the evening.
The WWE portion was next as bully-style driving brought about several acts of retaliation that created both heroes and villains in the eyes of the spectators. The bashing and crashing continued until the heroes prevailed, much to the delight of the fans. By this time track officials had seen enough and ordered the entire field to the infield pits to sit things out for a few minutes while another race was ordered onto the racing surface.
The Limited Sportman cars ran their feature while the Pure Stocks sat in Time Out. Polesitter Dewey Hall was quickly overtaken by Jeff Terrell. Terrell soon had company from Brian Scott and the race was on. Both ran nose-to-tail for most of the event before Terrell stretched things out at the end to take his first win of the year. The finishing order was Terrell, Scott, Nick Reid, David Ponton, and Hall.
After the Limited Sportsman field finished their race, the Pure Stocks were allowed out of the pits and given one more chance to allow a race to break out in the middle of their fight. This time the Pures put on a more conventional show as the surviving cars made the most of things. Rick Reed finally had his breakthrough night tonight with a consistent effort and a successful defense of his position from the challenge of Lee Brinkley to take win number one. Reed and Brinkley were trailed by David Hart, Brian Barton, and Jason Kight.
Mark Padgett won an abbreviated Modified race with Phil Guadagno finishing second.
Winged Sprint cars return to North Florida Speedway this Saturday night and will be accompanied by the Mini Sprints, Pure Stocks, Hobby Stocks, and Street Stocks. Pits open at 4 PM, grandstands open at 5 PM, and racing opens at 7 PM.
