Chad Pierce Shakes Off Crash To Win Super Lates at Orlando
By Dave Westerman
Orlando's Chad Pierce shook off the effects of a big crash the week before to dominate the Super Late Model feature on Friday the 13th at Orlando Speedworld.
Point leader Dusty Cornelius may have run away with the heat race, but Pierce's crew did a bit of "tweaking" and he would prove uncatchable in the all-green 25 lap feature event for the SLM class.
Pierce led every lap to claim the win, then raced upstairs to the announcer's booth to take the mic and personally thank his parents and crew for putting his racer back together while he was working his "day job" as a stunt driver at Disney MGM Studios.
Cornelius took second, about a straight away behind Pierce while South Florida's Joe Piazza (who is becoming a regular here) took third in front of Gary Bierlein, Chuck Burkhalter and Mark Miller. Ronnie Roach and Ricky Wood were unable to compete after having earlier mechanical problems.
As tame as the Super Late feature was, the Modified main event apparently had a black cat cross its path just before the green flag flew. Before a lap was completed, four cars were already out including the entire front row of Butch Herdegen and Randy Froelich. Herdegen had just scored his first career win in the first heat race. Also eliminated in a second crash were the cars of Terri Bryant and Wayne Schram.
Norm Woodring led the first two laps but both he and Gary Fountain, Sr. hit the back stretch wall on lap three with Woodring having to go pit side. Fountain, who took his first career win here in the second heat race, was able to continue, but his car was a handful.
Mark Emberson took over in his Don's Paint & Body machine and led the remaining distance for his third win of the year with point leader Alan Bruns in second and Jerry Symons coming from deep on the starting grid to finish third. Hoot Flynn and Shain held were fourth and fifth with Fountain and Matt Wheeler the only other two cars to finish out of the 12 car starting field.
The Super Stock feature was absolutely crazy with the cars racing three wide at the drop of the green flag. Bomber Bill Loomis became a first lap victim as he hit the turn three wall, ending his night prematurely.
The next 10 laps saw plenty of wild green flag action being led by rookie driver Matt Jarrett who was poised to claim his first ever win. However, the big lead he'd built up was erased on lap 11 by a three car tangle that claimed second heat winner Ron McCreary, whose new machine was rocket-fast right out of the box.
On the restart, Gary Cameron and Lee Wagner got together while battling for third spot sending Cameron to the pits and a very unhappy Wagner to the rear of the field.
Johnny Brown was now on a tear and passed Jarrett for the lead closely followed by James Frisbie. Frisbie had won the first heat race but broke a transmission going to the pits. Frisbie was then loaned the car of Bobby Riley, which he proceeded to blast through the field in.
On the final lap, point leader Jason Foster had the rear axle break on his car exiting turn two. His car spun in a shower of sparks and then hit the wall, but Foster emerged unhurt.
Brown claimed the win, his third of the year trailed by Frisbie, Jarrett (still his best run of the year), Roger Benton and Bruce Gayton. Completing the top ten were Jason Pick, Dennis Snyder, Wagner, Scott Keena and Foster as just 9 out of the 16 car starting field were around at the checker.
Sporting a new body and paint scheme on his Todd Bros. Landscaping Chevy, Timmy Todd, Jr. led all the way to claim the Sportsman feature which saw only five cars take the initial start after point leader Richard Hight and Mike Santana suffered problems in warm-ups.
Todd raced unchallenged to take his third win of the year over Donnie Williams, heat race winner Andy Nicholls, Billy Belflower and Glen Castro.
Melbourne's Dick Laszlo made the most of it being a double points night as he raced to the win in the Mini Stock feature. Laszlo came into the evening just ten points behind Michael Seay but left with an 11 point lead after Seay finished fourth behind Laszlo, Kelly Jarrett and heat winner Pedie Allison. Randy Blakeslee, the other driver involved in the close race for the Mini stock title, took fifth ahead of Bob Miller, John Cook and Rex "Boneman" Hollinger.
The Action Gator Tire Strictly Stocks were out in force with 24 cars taking the green for the feature going for as special $100 bonus put up by Eden Site Development of Longwood. Several other "fan" sponsors stepped up to the plate with extra cash and prizes including Everything Under the Sun Carpet Cleaning, GW Catastrophic, Leavitt Moving & Storage, and Florida Confetti LLC.
After the dust settled, Richard Barrenchea looked to have his second win of the year, but his car was disqualified in tech for having unequal tire pressures (all cars competing in Strictly Stock must run with equal pressure in all four tires). Robert Remus, the current point leader, crossed the line second but was awarded the win and the cash while apparent third place finisher David Leeper II was also set down in tech because his right front tire was of a bigger size than the other three.
Bob Snyder would end up with the runner-up honors ahead of Justin Gourley, Gomez Alvarez, and Gary Thomas. Rounding out the top ten were first heat race winner Rob Reynolds, Sebastian Pulido, Art Hendren, Tom Stewart and Miguel Barrenchea. Dave Czerwinski won the second heat race.
The Curtis brothers were back on top of the Junior Stock classes with Zachary taking the measure of the 8-11 year olds over heat winner Luke Gaier, Wes Railing, Jeff Cuddy and Jessica Railing.
Zachary's older brother, Justin Curtis, won both the heat and feature in the 12-15 year old division taking the feature win over Jessie Cuddy, Logan Bordeau and Austin Carr.
Saturday nights racing program was cut short just before the midway point of the RE/MAX Legends Car feature after word was received from sister track New Smyrna Speedway that Lake County Sheriff Chris Daniels had succumbed to injuries suffered during the annual "Battle of the Badges" race.
Kory Abbott was leading at the time and was awarded the win over Mitch Verhaagh, Chelsea Schillig, Mike Verhaagh and Shaughn McCormick. Completing the top ten were Josh Williams, Eric Eichelberger, Jimmy Rodriguez, Jimmy Norman and Darrell Vance. Heat wins were taken by Abbott and Schillig. Young Dalton Bergman led his first ever lap of competition in the opening heat, but got loose on the second lap and hit the turn one wall. Dalton wasn't hurt, but the car couldn't be repaired in time for the feature.
Several events were finished before the show was ended early in honor of Sheriff Daniels.
Mark Hooven continued his winning ways in the Bandelero Bandits taking the measure of a nice field. Heat winner Critter Saile came home second trailed by Donovan Ponder, Nicholas Baluch, Shawn Hooven, Zach Harris, T.J. Kirk, Coty Bibeau and new driver Justin Bechtold.
2006 Bandelero Young Guns champion Gerald White, Jr. was an "unexpected" entry in a "pieced-together" racer after his primary car was sold. It made little difference early on as White scored yet another run-away win in the heat. However, leading easily in the feature, White spun out in turn four as the checker was about to wave as Christina Baluch sped past and took the win, her fourth of the year. Gerald Campbell was second ahead of Woody Richardson and White.
Daytona Antique Auto Racing Association winners included Jay Yahnke (Sprints), Bill Wendt (Midgets) and Jeromy Smith (Stock Cars) while Austin Carr was the top Junior Stocker.
The Hurricane feature was canceled after Gary Thomas won the heat race.
