LAKE CITY, FL (7/22) - Extra prize money in both the Hobby Stock and Modified divisions brought out plenty of gunslingers for a shootout against the locals at North Florida Speedway. Car counts were in the twenties for both classes with at least a dozen cars in each class capable of taking the win.
Modifieds put on a 40-lap main event that saw Jeff Matthews take the lead from polesitter Trevor Merrell. Merrell remained close, but couldn't capitalize during the brief green flag runs and the numerous restarts that plagued the race in the early stages. Things settled down after the tenth lap in terms of cautions though many battles for position raged in the pack. A mandatory yellow flag was thrown on the 20th lap to allow the crews to refuel their cars.
Matthews and Merrell resumed their war with David Boerner close behind for third. Boerner caught a break when the lead duo tangled on lap 25. Matthews was finished for the evening while Merrell restarted the race in the rear of the field. As the laps clicked off Kyle Owen, who for much of the race ran in the back, became a factor as he moved into second on lap 31 and blew past Boerner two laps later.
Roger Crouse was also on the move and sped past Boerner to claim second. Owen maintained a four length lead over Crouse in the closing laps to take the big win and the $1300 top prize. Owen showed great patience this evening and it paid off throughout such a chaotic race. Merrell recovered from his mid-race mishap to finish third with Boerner finishing fourth and Jerry Campbell finishing fifth.
Hobby Stocks raced for $1000 to win in the third installment of the Brown Motorsports Summer Spectacular. Polesitter Scotty Nolan jumped to the front with brother Tim Nolan in tow. This was a good, competitive collection of Hobby Stocks and despite an early wreck that involved nearly half of the field, most of the race enjoyed long stretches of uninterrupted racing.
While the Nolans kept the battle for the lead a family affair, a gritty dogfight for third provided alternate entertainment for the many fans. Timmy Roach, Sammy Hatcher, and Josh Bedenbaugh provided plenty of fireworks. Bedenbaugh established himself as the best of that pack, then got on the move and picked off both Nolans with a handful of laps left and was first to the checkers.
Bedenbaugh's glory was short-lived, however, as his car came up light at the scales. Tim Nolan was second across the line, but first in tech to pass successfully, and earned the win. Scotty Nolan finished close behind his brother and was credited with second. Roach, Wayno Risner, and defending winner John Ward rounded out the top five.
Limited Sportsman cars returned and put on a wreckfest in the first few laps. Eventually the drivers decided that racing was more fun than crashing and, much to the relief of the spectators, put on a pretty fair race from the midpoint to the checkers. Tillman Baxley overtook Dewey Hall on lap seven, then spent the rest of the race fending off Hall's challenges en route to victory. Brian Scott finished third a few lengths behind the leaders and was trailed by James Prather and Chris Harris.
Dean Sands led from stem to stern in Street Stocks. While Sands sped off to his eighth win in 2006, the focus was on the quartet of cars racing for second. Dewey Hall, Cliff Crawford, Marvin Hassell, and Scott Spears duked it out for second and for spots in the overall points pecking order. Hall proved to be the best of the rest as he finished second well behind Sands and maintained his second place points standing. Hassell held on to third ahead of Crawford and Spears.
Michael Havard overtook Shawn Creech on the opening lap for the Pure Stock feature lead and, as he did last week, began walking away from the field. Last week, traffic posed a problem for Havard as he was delayed long enough to allow second place to catch up and pass him for the win.
This week Havard had better fortune with overtaking the slower cars in quick order and as a result he won with considerable ease. Rick Reed had much less ease as he dueled Frank Premorel for second at halfway and held off Dave Burttam for the runner-up spot. Chris Rowe was fourth and Gerald Lewis was fifth.
The Daytona Antique Auto Racing Association and the Mini Stocks will be the guest divisions this Saturday night at North Florida Speedway. They will be joined by the Pure Stocks, Street Stocks, and Hobby Stocks.
