LAKE CITY, FL (9/16) - The Florida Sprint Car Association made their biweekly visit to North Florida Speedway. Rich Alexander took the initial lead in the 25-lap main event but was quickly run down by Matt Kurtz and overtaken on the third lap. While Kurtz raced into the distance, Alexander had his hands full with Dakotah Stephens. The pair battled for a dozen laps until Stephens proved to be the stronger. Stephens' fortune ran out on lap twenty when his #79 developed engine problems. Otto Scrape became the new runner-up but was no match for Kurtz who went on to win his fourth feature at NFS. The top five read Kurtz, Scrape, Alexander, Willie Jude, and Gene Machuga.
Sometimes it's just your night. Dewey Hall had such a time in Street Stocks. After winning the heat race earlier in the evening, Hall started from the pole and took off to an uncontested lead while Dean Sands and Keith Philman engaged in a battle for second. Hall enjoyed eight laps of virtual paradise until a caution flag bunched up the field and erased Hall's wide lead. When racing resumed Hall had all he could handle from Philman and then from Sands. Sands had an opportunity through turns three and four when Hall slipped a bit up the banking and the two finished in a virtual dead heat. After a few highly anticipated moments it was ruled that Hall was the winner of his third race of 2006. Sands, who was beaten by mere inches, finished second ahead of Keith Philman. Nick Reid was fourth and Scott Spears was fifth.
Sammy Hatcher stole the lead from polesitter Scotty Nolan at the opening green flag and ran as if he was on the lam. Nolan tried his best to regain the point but Hatcher was determined to return to a victory lane that had eluded him the past several weeks. Heath Walker and Tim Nolan were also within striking range but were too busy battling for third to challenge the leaders. Hatcher kept clicking off laps and thwarting Nolan's best attempts and after fifteen laps of hard work Hatcher had earned his third win in Hobby Stocks, snapping Nolan's two-race streak. Hatcher and Scotty Nolan were followed by Walker, Tim Nolan, and Wayno Risner.
Pure Stocks, still reeling from last week's pier-six brawl, ran a fairly incident-free race. Fortunately, that did not mean their race was dull, as a six-car charge for the lead early on entertained the masses. Michael Havard and Rick Reed were the strongest of the half-dozen. While Chris Rowe led, Havard moved from sixth to second in a handful of laps. Reed settled in for third. On lap eight Reed made his move around both Havard and Rowe and successfully took the point. Havard bested Rowe three laps later, but Reed was much too strong at this point and went on to take a dominant win. Havard finished second and maintained his points lead in the division. Rowe finished a solid third ahead of Robby Disbrow and Jesse Sullivan.
Andrew Griffin led the Mini Sprints from green to checkers. He was especially strong on restarts as he opened wide gaps between his #88 and anyone who was unfortunate enough to be running in second at the time. This was Griffin's first win ever in the Mini Sprints. Russ Heider established himself as the best of the rest with a second place finish over Paul Gottschalk. Jesse Teed and Greg Skyta finished off the fast five.
Round Six of the Hobby Stock Summer Spectacular race will see the winner of the scheduled 20-lap Hobby feature take home $1000.00. Modifieds, Street Stocks, Mini Sprints, and Pure Stocks will also race. Gates open at 4 PM and racing starts at 7 PM.
