Bruns tops Modifieds, Todd takes Sportsman at SpeedWorld
by Dave Westerman
Race fans who came to see a Super Late Model feature Friday night at Orlando Speedworld were instead treated to what looked like a left over event from the recent Crash-A-Rama show.
Things got off to a rough start in the Super Late Model heat when leaders Ronnie Roach and Dusty Cornelius tangled sending Cornelius to the pits to replace a considerable amount of sheet metal. Roach went on to win the heat and had the pole for the 25 lap feature.
Roach grabbed the early advantage with Cornelius again settling in behind him. Things were going pretty well until lap 10 when Gary Bierlein and Chris Staggs tangled in turn three to bring out the caution. Two laps after the green was displayed, it was a repeat of the heat race as Cornelius again got into Roach, but this time Roach's car backed hard into the turn one wall. Rick Bates and John Spadeveccia, Jr. were also involved with Roach and Spadavecchia both done for the night. Cornelius was sent to the rear of the restart line-up while Bates restarted as the new leader.
Bates was looking good on the restart as Mark Emberson (driving Chris Staggs' back-up car) and Matthew Stichman settled into second and third.
On lap 15, Bierline spun going into turn three after clipping the car of Russ Shaw to bring out the yellow. When leader Bates checked up for the yellow, Emberson got into him and Bates went spinning down the front stretch. Neither was penalized as the caution had been displayed for Bierline.
Two laps after the restart, Bates got loose coming off turn four and Emberson drove right over the left side of Bates' car and spun wildly into the infield. A.J. Fulgenzi then spun out on the front straightaway which brought out the caution. Bates continued as the leader, but Emberson took his car to the pits for quick repairs and returned, tagging the rear of the field.
Now it was Stichman's turn to put the pressure on Bates and the two got together out of turn two on lap 18 with Bates spinning again. Stichman was deemed the culprit, but did not think so and angrily drove to the pits while Bates once again was returned to the lead position.
Bates would be his own worst enemy now as he jumped early on the next two restart attempts and was sent to the rear of the field. Cornelius now became the leader and led the rest of the way to score his third win of the year. There were two interseting sidelights. Cornelius had just turned 22 years of age the day before (June 22nd) and was driving car #22, plus a re-check of the scoring sheets showed that Cornelius won the race without ever passing a car under green flag conditions!
Chris Staggs would come back to take second ahead Bierlein, Emberson and Bates. Shaw, Fulgenzi, Stichman, Roach and Spadeveccia rounded out the top ten.
Bobby Riley grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and led all the weay to win his second Super Stock feature of the year. Jason Foster got a late chance to make a run at Riley when Bobby Simcox and Robert Ward tangled with one lap to go, but Riley held him off to the checker. Foster came home second with Jason Pick having a good run once again for third followed by Lee Wagner and Vince Keeler. Completing the top ten were first heat winner Johnny Brown, Bill Loomis, Ray Mullis Travis Rowland and Ward. Riley also won the second heat.
Tim "Missileman" McPhail tangled with Bob Kelchner in the first try to get the Mini Stock feature going, but despite the damage to his car, McPhail drove to his third straight win. R.J. Arnone settled for second ahead of Michael Seay, Randy Blakeslee and heat winner Rex "Boneman" Hollinger. Heather Suggs, John Cook, Scott Jarrett, Emily Cottrell Kelchner and Dick Laszlo completed the finishers.
Alan Bruns grabbed the lead with a wild move going down the back stretch on the opening lap of the Modified feature and he went on to lead every circuit as the race ran green to checker. Matt Wheeler was second trailed by Dave Debelius, heat winner Mark Emberson, Randy Froelich, Terri Bryant, and Gary Fountain, Sr.
Timmy Todd, Jr. ran off and hid in the Sportsman feature, but the battle behind him was worth the price of admission. This race also ran green to checker with John Hodge holding off the rest of the field in a great fight for second. Richard Hight was third ahead of Bryan Silas, Travis Towell, Andy Nicholls and Jack Lenzen.
William Hindman defeated a large field of Strictly Stocks for his second consecutive win. Todd Preston made a late charge to grab second with Robert Remus third ahead of Adam Soukup and Steven Streight. Completing the top ten finishers were Allan McClelland, Neil Kirby, Matthew Sprenkel, George Brown and Dave Leeper. Preston and Jim Erb won the heat races.
Wes Railing, Jr. topped the 8-11 year old Junior Stock field in his Honda taking the measure of Trey Edenfield, heat winner Luke Gaier, Jessica Railing, Jeff Cuddy, Zachary Curtis and Luke Burke while Justin Curtis won his second Junior Stock 12-15 year old feature of the year over Jessie Cuddy and Alex Fortune.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - JUNE 23
SUPER LATE MODEL
1. #22 Dusty Cornelius 2. #56 Chris Staggs 3. #11 Gary Bierlein 4. #56x Mark Emberson 5. #4 Rick Bates 6. #68 Russ Shaw 7. #33 A.J. Fulgenzi 8. #52 Matthew Stichman 9. #14 Ronnie Roach 10. #8x John Spadavecchia Jr.
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #4B Alan Bruns 2. #97 Matt Wheeler 3. #38 Dave Debelius 4. #30 Mark Emberson 5. #8 Randy Froehlich 6. #08 Terri Bryant 7. #33 Gary Fountain 8. #55 Shain Held
SPORTSMAN
1. #25 Timmy Todd Jr. 2. #00 John Hodge 3. #23 Richard Hight 4. #57 Bryan Silas 5. #4 Travis Towell 6. #66 Andy Nicholls 7. #211 Jack Lenzen
SUPER STOCK
1. #52 Bobby Riley 2. #49 Jason Foster 3. #44 Jason Pick 4. #74 Lee Wagner 5. #7 Vince Keeler 6. #86 Johnny Brown 7. #26 Bill Loomis 8. #316 Ray Mullis 9. #11 Jeremy Shelton 10. #25 Robert Ward 11. #07 Daniel Laszlo 12. #3 James Frisbie 13. #114 Michael Poole 14. #92 Bobby Simcox 15. #12 Bobby Byars
MINI STOCK
1. #1 Tim "Missileman" McPhail 2. #30 R.J. Arnone 3. #10 Michael Seay 4. #77 Randy Blakeslee 5. #85 Rex "Boneman" Hollinger 6. #06 Heather Suggs 7. #24 John Cook 8. #17 Scott Jarrett 9. #19 Emily Cottrell 10. #09 Bob Kelchner 11. #07 Dick Laszlo
JR. STOCK (8-11)
1. #51 Wes Railing 2. #31 Trey Edenfield 3. #78 Luke Gaier 4. #17 Jessica Railing 5. #64 Jeff Cuddy 6. #63 Zachary Curtis 7. #68 Luke Burke
JR. STOCK (12-15)
1. #42 Justin Curtis 2. #64 Jessie Cuddy 3. #01 Alex Fortune 4. #1 Kaisee Crites DNS
STRICTLY STOCK
1. #2 William Hindman 2. #3 Todd Preston 3. #16 Robert Remus 4. #14 Adam Soukup 5. #80 Steven Streight 6. #22 Alan McClelland 7. #8 Luis Guillen 8. #63 Matthew Sprenkel 9. #41 George Brown 10. #2D Dave Leeper 11. #82 Jim Erb 12. #16x Bob Snyder 13. #6 Joey Willis 14. #20x Richard Barrenchea 15. #33 Michael Smith DNS 16. #27 Joey White DNS
