LAKE CITY, FL (7/1) - Eighteen sprint cars took the green flag for their feature at North Florida Speedway with Willie Jude leading the early session. Many of the faster cars were buried in the pack at the start, notably Dakotah Stephens and Otto Scrape. Both picked and pecked their way towards the front and were aided by numerous cautions which kept the pack close together. Stephens made his way to third on the tenth lap, then nabbed second three laps later.
The 14-year-old Stephens quickly reeled Jude in, then hooked him on lap nineteen to go on to a runaway victory. Brett Cole nabbed second from Jude with three circuits to go to finish second. Jude was third ahead of Scrape and T.W. Parkinson. It was an impressive win for Stephens who charged from the rear of the field and earned the first of what may be many wins for this young man.
Hobby Stocks gave the fans a battle royal for the lead with very few cautions. Five cars were in a tight pack for the front spot as drivers neither gave nor asked any quarter. Jeremy Rich led from green to checkers, but caught all he could stand from competitors like Sammy Hatcher, Scotty Nolan, Heath Walker, and Tim Nolan. In the closing laps Lee Brinkley and Danny Miller joined the lead pack and the fans saw seven cars take the checkers almost nose to tail. Rich earned his first win by a length over Hatcher with Scotty Nolan, Tim Nolan, and Walker rounding out the top five.
Dean Sands beat polesitter Dewey Hall to the first turn to take a momentary lead in Street Stocks. Sands had problems exiting the second turn and Hall had enough momentum to attempt a pass. Both cars made contact which resulted in Sands being spun and sent to the rear of the field while Hall's ride was knocked out of action for most of the remaining laps. The lucky inheritor of the lead was Marvin Hassell who did all he could to hold on to his tenuous spot, but lost the position when on lap eleven he slid high in turn three and opened a door for Sands who was all too happy to walk through. From there it was a case of running out the laps as the cars were spread out. Sands captured win number six on the year and added more padding to a fat points lead. Following the winner was Hassell, Cliff Crawford, Michael Bush, and Hank Lloyd.
Michael Havard started eighth in the Pure Stock feature but didn't stay there long. By the fourth go-round he took the measure of leader Billy Brock and appeared to be en route to another runaway win. Rick Reed had other ideas, however, and caught Havard in the open field in the middle stages to make things interesting. Reed forced Havard to run an error-free event or suffer the consequences of finishing second. Havard chose the former and denied Reed at the checkers by a few lengths. Frank Premorel was third, David Rowe was fourth, and Dean Mathison was fifth.
A decent sized field of Mini Stocks showed up for tonight's event. A wire to wire win by Rick Reidel was interrupted by a swap for positions halfway through the race when Casey Murphy caught Reidel napping on a restart. Reidel quickly woke up and returned the favor to Murphy before that lap completed. Murphy ran the table and picked up the win over Joey Brinson, Blake Spencer, Murphy, and James Conway.
Open Wheel Modifieds and Limited Sportsman cars will return to North Florida Speedway this Saturday night. In addition, round two of the Brown Motorsport Summer Spectacular for the Hobby Stocks will take place with an extra $100 going to the Hobby feature winner. Gates open at 4 PM and racing begins at 7 PM.
