Inverness, Fl. 7/15/06) Great weather greeted race fans and drivers for Saturday night’s racing action. One hundred twenty one race teams signed up for the 6 division race card featuring the FMRA T/Q midgets, Late Models, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks and Figure 8’s. The only thing hotter than the thermometer was the action on the race track that saw crashes, blown motors and paint swapping, fender bending racing as the second half of the season turns up the boost.
Twenty top Late Model drivers took the green flag for their 35 lap main with Danny Johnson coming off the outside pole and set the pace from flag to flag despite several caution flags. The most serious caution was in a knock down drag out fight for fourth place when point leader Herb Neumann Jr. and Mike Bell were side by side for several laps before they got together on the high side of turn two taking both of them out and collecting Gary Grubbs in the incident that ended the night for all three cars.
Meanwhile up front pole sitter Donnie Parkinson made every effort to stay on Johnson’s rear bumper but had to settle for second. Scott Grossenbacher borrowed Keith Zavrel’s ride and made every effort to improve his position at the checkered flag but had to settle for third over 8th starter Raymond Lovelady and 7th starter Daniel Webster. Heat wins went to Raymond Lovelady and Danny Johnson.
Rookie Johnathon Camp launched his race car from 7th to the point after a side by side battle with Clint Foley and had his way with the 18 car Mini Stock field in their 20 lap feature for his first feature win of the season. Michael Lawhorn managed to work his way from 13th through traffic and a lot spot swapping by the big dogs to nail down a second place finish after finishing third last week. Clint Foley salvaged a third place finish off the outside pole in a three car, side by side run for the spot at the checkered flag with Johnny Siner and George Neumann who finished in that order. Heat wins went to Foley and Neumann.
Doc James Batson continued his winning ways, motoring from his 14th starting spot to his fifth trip to Victory Lane for the season. Alvin Williamson came off the pole to lead most of the race over the 24 car starting field out of 30 registered drivers for the night. Tim Alexander seems to change race cars every week and he maintained a 3rd place finish which is where he started. John Makula pulled off a late run at 4th at the finish line charging from his 16th starting position in a hard fought battle with Curtis Flanagan. Heat wins went to Alvin Williamson, Danny Hage and Herb Hoefler while Donnie Roberts took the win in the 10 lap B Main to qualify for his 19th starting spot in the feature.
Rick Shahid made his first trip to the Winner’s Circle with a wire to wire win in the 28 car Thunder Stock main event. There was quite a show going on behind him with most of the heavy hitters having to come from the rear of the field. Glen Colyer moved from 21st to fourth in the final lap of their 20 lapper and in a three wide run for the checkers he snatched a second place finish from Del Beckner and Louie Coie. After post race inspection Shahid and Beckner were D.Q.’d giving Colyer his second win in a row and moving Louie Coie to second for the official finish. Mike Dubbs was followed by Carmine Castoria and Gary Johnson to round out the top five. Dubbs inherited the first heat win by virtue of Shahid’s D.Q. Daniel Bouchard and Randy Spicer also won their heat races.
Stephen Anderson looked like the man to beat in Figure 8 action launching his racer off the pole position with Charlie Meyer in hot pursuit with the balance of the 14 car field battling for position. Curtis Youmans worked his way through the front four to snatch the lead away from Anderson after a two lap side by side battle and then he never looked back until the checkers flew for his third season win. Anderson was able to hold off Clifford Rousseau, Charlie Meyer and Robbie Hage for the top five slots. They will be back in two weeks to try it on again.
The visiting FMRA T/Q Midgets put on quite a show with 11 racers taking the green flag. Joey McKinney wasted no time moving from 4th to the point and setting the pace for the first few laps. Ted Durfee caught him in a run for the point with Ernie Teed, Jr. Freddie Stutz got caught up in wreck that rolled his car on turn one. He walked away from the mishap but that ended his night.
One more caution came out taking out Brandon Cagle and Kenny Busch. Ernie Teed, Jr took over the point at the midpoint of the race and despite a couple of more cautions for spins he was able to hold off Ted Durfee for the win. Joey McKinney held on for third over Greg Dennis. Fifth place went to 75 year old Hall of Famer and winner of 100’s of races in his long career Jack Duffy. The T/Q’s will be back on September 16th.
Next Saturday night will feature the Mini Outlaw Open Wheel Modifieds plus the regular Modifieds, Limited Sportsmen, Hobby Stocks, Thunder Stocks and the 4 Cylinder Bombers.
