Ronnie Larson and Wayne Morris Big Orlando Winners
By Dave Westerman
Great weather, great field of cars and great racing combined to make for a superb night of Racing Friday night at Orlando Speedworld with the visiting Florida Mini Stock Challenge and Southern Sportsman Series running a pair of 50 lap features.
Eighteen FMSC four-bangers took time with Hernando's Robbie Yoakam the quickest at 15.06 seconds, just a tenth of a second quicker than Ronnie Larson. Yoakam would have to start the race in 11th though, because he had won the previous FMSC event at Desoto Speedway. The starting field for the half-century run was reduced by one in qualifying when Mary Green's car broke on her second timed lap.
Robbie Storer, who won the FMSC race here in July, had the pole for the finale and wasted little time in asserting himself into the lead. Larson, who started sixth, quickly worked his way to the front and took the lead on lap 11 and began to pull away from the field.
The race ran all the way to lap 23 before the first caution came out for FMSC point leader Chris Thornton who spun in turn two while battling two other drivers for fifth. Following the restart, Yoakam made a pass on Rick Sirmans to put himself in third as he took up the chase of Larson and Storer.
Yoakam tracked down Storer and took over second on lap 36 but Larson was nearly a full straight-away ahead. Larson would lose his big lead on lap 41 when Raymond Folwell got loose coming off turn two. Folwell nearly saved his car but it spun around and hit the back stretch wall backwards to bring out the second yellow flag. Folwell attempted to stay in the race, but pulled into the pits before the green reappeared.
Everyone was ready for a big charge by Yoakam but it never materialized. Yoakam got one final chance to close on Larson when Chuck Frazier and Jeff Barnes tangled in turn one on lap 44, but Larson had just too much on this night as the Clearwater driver sped to the win, his second FMSC triumph of the year to go along with one at USA International Speedway in Lakeland in late April.
Yoakam held off Storer for third but the real story of the second half of the race was Thornton who picked his way back through the field to snare fourth spot at the checker and hold on to his points lead. Sirmans came home fifth with Speedworld regular Jared Allison sixth driving dad Pedie's car. Marty Neikens, Cody Blair, Jeff Barnes and Mark Moniz rounded out the top ten.
Completing the finishing field were Chuck Frazier, Scotty Sharpe, Michael Seay, Dennis Valdez, Folwell, James Ellis and Doug Schwier.
The Southern Sportsman Series showed up 25 cars strong but that was reduced to 24 as Ronnie Heard, Jr.'s car blew up in warm-ups putting a huge crimp in Heard's run at the points title.
Qualifying was extremely close with Parkland's Derrick Heath the fastest at 15.31 seconds, just a tick of the watch better than Craig Cuzzone and Mark Peterson.
This 50 lap event would prove to be highly entertaining. Peterson had the pole but it was outside pole sitter Cuzzone who got the jump at the start and led up to the first caution on lap seven when Heath, whose car never seemed to get going like he wanted it to, tangled with Tommy Conquest in turn three.
As the field took the green flag, Richard Elkins, Jr. powered under Cuzzone and took off like the Space Shuttle, building up a solid advantage. Action would be slowed a second time on lap 19 when Arthur Conquest spun out of sixth spot in turn two.
Cuzzone continued to have problems getting up to speed on the restarts and became a victim once again as Wayne Morris shot into second but Elkins clearly had the fastest car as he was blistering the track and pulling away. Caution flew again on lap 24 when Ricky Hoffman clobbered the wall on the back stretch. He kept going, but the track crews were sent out to remove some debris from the track.
Elkins again powered away on the restart, but the old tale of "they always run the fastest just before they blow up" seemed to be in order just two laps after the restart. As Elkins exited turn four, there was a loud "clunk" and he pulled quickly out of the way as his night was ended just after the half-way mark.
Morris had the lead as the field completed lap 27 with the race behind him really beginning to heat up. One final caution on lap 28 for Phil Luzzio's spin would set up some great racing for second spot as SSS point leader Aaron Williamson was trying to fend off the challenges of Cuzzone and Steve Gainey, the July winner at Speedworld.
All Morris had to do was keep his car pointed in the right direction and watch the great race going on behind him. The final laps saw the trio of Williamson, Gainey and Cuzzone trade spots back and forth. Gainey made a bold move with two laps to go and came across the stripe second, well behind Morris with Williamson third and Cuzzone fourth.
For Big Wayne Morris, it was the Mulberry driver's first Southern Sportsman Series win of the year while Gainey and Williamson drew just as many cheers from the crowd following their late race battle.
Buddy Brown raised a few eyebrows driving a very steady race after starting 13th to come home in fifth with the top ten being filled by a resurgent Arthur Conquest, Mike Soukup, Rick McMehan, Tommy Conquest and Jason Vail. Rounding out the finishing field were Johnny Mitchell, Phil Luzzio, T.C. McElyea, Vince Keeler, Roger Welch, Ricky Hoffman, Elkins, Dustin Breeden, Peterson, Heath, David Williamson, Chris Peludat, Paul Hudson and James Frisbie.
Before coming home sixth in the FMSC race, Jared Allison took the measure of the Super Late Model field driving his new car to a flag to flag win in the 25 lap race.
Allison had the pole for the feature and led the entire distance although Ronnie Roach stayed close throughout. The only caution flew on lap two for officials to check the track after Mark Miller's car went up in smoke.
Following Allison and Roach to the checker were Dusty Cornelius, Chad Pierce and Joe Piazza with Gary Bierlein, Steve Avinger, Matt Stichmann, Scott McKinley and Miller rounding out the finishers.
The win was particularly satisfying for Allison since his mom Carol had just gotten home from a stay in the hospital and it was his dad Pedie's birthday.
Alan Bruns led all but the opening lap in a caution-plagued Modified featureto score his seventh win of the season. Mark Emberson was having handling problems but managed to miss everyone else's misfortunes to come home second as five caution flags waved in the 20 lap race.
Bobby Blake made his first start here in several years and drove home third ahead of Skip Honaker and Shain Held. Completing the finishing field were Gary Fountain, Sr., Randy Froelich, Brian Vickers (who was running third but spun coming out of turn four on the last lap), Michael Williams, Dave Debelius and Butch Herdegen.
The Super Stocks put on their usual great show as pole sitter Robert Ward jumped out to an early lead but was unable to hold off Johnny Brown who got by on lap seven and led the rest of the way for his second straight win. That might sound like it was easy, but if the race had gone 21 laps instead of 20, Brown would probably have finished second.
Near mid race, Bomber Bill Loomis and James Frisbie tangled while fighting for fourth spot. Frisbie would soon drop from the running but the veteran Loomis, after going to the rear of the field, started putting on a driving clinic.
Loomis moved into second with two laps to go and chased down Brown coming up just a half car length short at the checker. Jason Foster took the third spot ahead of Jason Vail and Vince Keeler. Jason Pick fought back to sixth with Roger Benton, Bruce Gayton, Tobi Smith and Dennis Snyder completing the top ten.
The Action Gator Tire Strictly Stock feature saw five different leaders before 14th started Todd McCreary powered to the front and placed his Ford Probe into victory lane for the second week in a row. Robert Remus held off everybody else for second trailed by Steven Streight, Neal Kirby and Bob Snyder. Gary Thomas, Gomez Alvarez, Adam Soukup, Miguel Barrenchea, and Scott Edwards rounded out the top ten in the 26 car starting field.
Easily the craziest race of the night was the Junior Stock feature for the 8-11 year old drivers. Zachary Curtis was cruising with a full lap lead over the whole field when he came up to lap the cars of Jessica Railing and Elizabeth Trocki in turn one.
Apparently Zachary was paying more attention to the girls than the race track as he lost control of his Honda and drove head-on into the turn one wall. Curtis was a bit shaken but OK although his once dominant Prelude was badly damaged. During the clean-up, Wes Railing, Jr, took his car to the pits with a transmission problem, then sister Jessica's car wouldn't re-fire. That left the only car still running as Elizabeth Trocki's and she was awarded the win in her very first race!!
The 12-15 year old Junior Stock race featured only two cars but it was a good one as Jake Cameron made a late race pass and took the win over Justin Curtis.
Next Friday night the TBARA Winged Outlaw Sprint Cars return to Orlando Speedworld for the First Annual Bob Luscomb/Billy Yuma Memorial.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD, SEPT. 22
SUPER LATE MODEL
1. #18 Jared Allison 2. #14 Ronnie Roach 3. #22 Dusty Cornelius 4. #57 Chad Pierce 5. #15 Joe Piazza 6. #11 Gary Bierlein 7. #69 Steve Avinger 8. #52 Matthew Stichmann 9. #12 Scott McKinley 10. #32 Charlie Vest 11. #78 Mark Miller
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED
1. #4B Alan Bruns 2. #30 Mark Emberson 3. #75 Bobby Blake 4. #2 Skip Honaker 5. #55 Shain Held 6. #33 Gary Fountain Sr. 7. #8 Randy Froehlich 8. #86 Brian Vickers 9. #14 Michael Williams 10. #38 Dave Debelius 11. #68 Butch Herdegen
SUPER STOCK
1. #86 Johnny Brown 2. #26 Bill Loomis 3. #49 Jason Foster 4. #8x Jason Vail 5. #7 Vince Keeler 6. #44 Jason Pick 7. #28 Roger Benton 8. #17 Bruce Gayton 9. #8 Tobi Smith 10. #11 Dennis Snyder 11. #97 Scott Keena 12. #74 Lee Wagner 13. #25 Robert Ward 14. #3 James Frisbie 15. #76 Allen Tyson 16. #69 Gary Cameron
1. #61 Ronnie Larson 2. #8 Robbie Yoakam 3. #9 Robbie Storer 4. #24 Chris Thornton 5. #05 Rick Sirmans 6. #92 Jared Allison 7. #70 Marty Neikens 8. #81 Cody Blair 9. #5 Jeff Barnes 10. #41 Mark Moniz 11. #21 Chuck Frazier 12. #89 Scotty Sharpe 13. #10m Michael Seay 14. #40 Dennis Valdez 15. #03 Raymond Folwell 16. #98 James Ellis 17. #17 Doug Schwier
SOUTHERN SPORTSMAN 50
1. #56 Wayne Morris 2. #79x Steve Gaineyu 3. #13 Aaron Williamson 4. #97 Craiz Cuzzone 5. #62 Buddy Brown 6. #78 Arthur Conquest 7. #45 Michael Soukup 8. #12R Rick McMehan 9. #72 Tommy Conquest Jr. 10. #8x Jason Vail 11. #17 Johnny Mitchell 12. #27 Phil Luizzo 13. #19 T.C. McElyea 14. #7x Vince Keeler 15. #98 Roger Welch 16. #32 Ricky Hoffman 17. #55 Richard Elkins Jr. 18. #7 Dustin Breeden 19. #73 Mark Peterson 20. #2 Derrik Heath 21. #12 David Williamson 22. #21c Chris Peludat 23. #08 Paul Hudson
STRICTLY STOCK
1. #77 Todd McCreary 2. #16 Robert Remus 3. #80 Steven Streight 4. #8x Neal Kirby 5. #16x Bob Snyder 6. #76 Gary Thomas 7. #12 Gomez Alvarez 8. #14 Adam Soukup 9. #22 Miguel Barrenchea 10. #7x Scott Edwards 11. #41x Amanda Carr 12. #44 David Czerwinski 13. #63 Matt Sprenkle 14. #55 Denny Johns 15. #27 Joey White 16. #20x Richard Barrenchea 17. #17 Paul Wilson 18. #86 Louyis Ballargeon 19. #104 Tuttle 20. #66 Tom Stewart 21. #6 Bob Heina 22. #52 Bill Spence 23. #45 Dave Czerwinski Jr. 24. #69 25. #10 Sebastian Puilido
