LAKE CITY, FL (6/24) - North Florida Speedway gave its fans and drivers a new look with a brand new racing surface this week. Officials worked throughout the week to replace the dust-prone white gumbo surface with a more conventional and manageable red clay topping. The track held up well tonight despite enduring an unseasonably dry week.
Kyle Owen paced the Modified feature and gained the lead from his pole starting position. His fortunes quickly went bust when he had to visit the pits early in the event. This allowed Ronnie Chance an opportunity to lead and Chance made the most of his inheritance. Chance was flawless throughout the many caution-induced restarts and ran off with his first career feature win. Mark Padgett could only manage second a few lengths behind the winner. Kyle Owen fought his way back to third ahead of Kenny Blair and Chip "Hollywood" Owen.
Scotty Nolan led the Hobby Stock feature from wire to wire to capture win #1 on the year. Nolan never ran far from his competitors, but was just strong enough to keep out of striking range. Eventual runner-up Heath Walker couldn't concentrate very much on the leader as he was in a gritty battle with Tim Nolan fighting for "best of the rest" honors and successfully holding Tim off at the stripe. The final order was Scotty Nolan, Walker, Tim Nolan, Jimmy Dowling, and Timmy Roach. Walker's finish was good enough to capture the points lead as Dave Dowling's ride suffered terminal mechanical failure during his heat race.
Keith Philman outgunned polesitter Michael Pitts for the early Street Stock lead. Dean Sands took the measure of Pitts, then took down Philman for the lead on lap two. From that point the Streets strung out without serious positional challenges. Philman kept pace with Sands until the 12th lap when he spun his car in the third turn while making a bid for the lead. Sands maintained a comfortable lead on the restart and stayed between the walls long enough to capture his fifth win in 2006. Kelly Philman finished second with Crawford, Keith Philman, and Dewey Hall coming home third through fifth.
Pure Stocks continued their brawling, mauling ways. Shep Spradley led the first half of the event but had to yield to Dean Jarvis at midway. Jarvis, who started eighth, was much too strong for the field tonight and took the victory going away. In spite of the runaway, the fans were not bored due to a mixture of hard racing and on-track hijinks. Spradley held off a determined Michael Havard in the closing laps to earn second. Following third-place havard was David Hart and Rick Reed.
Joey Brinson won an abbreviated Mini Stock feature over Scott Burgess and Clayton Harden.
Winged Sprint Cars return this Saturday night to do battle. Joining them will be the Limited Sportsman, Street Stock, Hobby Stock, and Pure Stock divisions. For more information, log on to www.northfloridaspeedway.com.
