Perseverance finally paid off for Richard Elkins Jr. After coming ever so close to winning in the Southern Sportsman Series this year, the popular driver from Auburndale, Fl. finally got the monkey off his back and grabbed the win at Bronson Motor Speedway Saturday night.
Qualifying gave a hint of the excitement to come, as the top 6 qualifiers all ran within 2 tenths of a second of the time posted by fast qualifier Arthur Conquest. Conquest posted a time of 14.271 seconds, followed by Elkins at 14.301, and Wayne Morris at 14.303 seconds. After the top qualifiers cleared tech, the draw for starting positions was held, and the field was set.
When the Sportsman racers lined up for the start of the 50 lap feature, the front row was occupied by Wayne Morris and Jon Heidenthal. Row two had Tommy Conquest and Richie Smith, followed by Arthur Conquest, Aaron Williamson, Craig Cuzzone, Steve Gainey, Derrik Heath, and Elkins rounding out the top ten.
Eighteen cars came to the green flag for the start, and when the green flag waved, Morris shot to the lead, followed by Tommy Conquest, and Arthur Conquest. The green flag run was short lived, as lap 2 saw mayhem on the front straight. Several cars got loose exiting turn 4, and the resulting contact caused Arthur Conquest to bounce off the wall, and cars started checking up to avoid the incident. The resulting melee saw Steve Gainey get airborne over the hood of Richie Smith’s racer, and cars spinning all over the front straight. All the drivers were uninjured, but the cars didn’t fare as well. Richie Smith and Chris Peludat were both done for the night. Gainey entered the pits with a lot of damage to his racer. Several others were involved with minor damage, and were able to continue the race.
The field was lined up for the restart with Morris out front, followed by Heidenthal, T.Conquest, A.Conquest, Cuzzone, A.Williamson, Heath, Elkins, Ronnie Heard, and Rikk McMehan in the top ten spots. Cautions breed Cautions, and on the restart the cars of Tommy Conquest and Heidenthal got together, bringing out the caution again. Both cars were lined up at the rear of the field for the restart. The next restart was no better, as the 13 of Williamson got turned around in turn 4, bringing out the yellow flag again.
The line up for the restart had Morris, A. Conquest, Cuzzone, Heath and Elkins in the top 5 positions. It was beginning to look like the race wouldn’t get past lap 2, as Conquest blew a right rear tire entering turn 1 on the restart, and spun to the bottom of the track. Conquest was able to enter the pits for a tire change, and rejoin the field at the rear for the restart. As the field took the green one more time, Gainey rejoined the field, several laps down. Gainey, leading the points entering the race, knew he needed to gain as many points as possible, to maintain his lead over Aaron Williamson.
Morris looked as if he was the car to beat, running strong out front. Cuzzone, running second, looked to be as fast as Morris, but wasn’t able to make up any ground on the leader. On lap 12, Morris slowed on the back straight, and entered the pits with motor problems. Cuzzone, now the leader, had a mirror full of Heath, as the two put on a great show of hard racing and sportsmanship. The cars looked about equal, and the drivers were giving it all they had. Elkins was looking high and low for a place to make a move on Heath, and on lap 17 finally got his chance, and moved into second place.
At the halfway, Cuzzone had several car lengths on Elkins, but Elkins was reeling the leader in. Elkins continued his pursuit of the leader, and on lap 36 caution came out for a spin, and the field was tightend up for the restart. Cuzzone and Elkins held the top spots, followed by Tommy Conquest, Derrik Heath, and Arthur Conquest. Arthur Conquest was steadily moving up, passing Heath on lap 37, and Tommy Conquest on lap 39. On Lap 43 Cuzzone got a little loose entering turn 1, and opened the door for Elkins. Elkins took advantage and drove into the lead. Meanwhile Cuzzone and Conquest were having a fierce battle for the second position. A Caution on lap 48 set the field up for a 2 lap shoot out, and on the restart, the 3 leaders gave it their best shot.
Elkins maintained a strong hold on the lead, and came home the winner, followed by Cuzzone, Conquest, T. Conquest, and Heath.
During post race tech inspection, Tommy Conquest elected not to pull the cylinder head from his engine for inspection and was disqualified. Heath moved into fourth position, and Ronnie Heard into fifth.
Gainey only was able to make a few laps in the race, but it was enough for the Greybeard racing team to claim the series points championship. Congratulations to Bradenton’s Steve Gainey on winning his first Southern Sportsman Series Championship.
Final results. Southern Sportsman Series. Bronson Motor Speedway 11/04/2006
Fast Qualifier : Arthur Conquest Hard Charger : Richard Elkins/David Williamson Most Laps Led : Craig Cuzzone
1. #55 Richard Elkins Jr. Auburndale, Fl. 2. #97 Craig Cuzzone Lakeland, Fl. 3. #78 Arthur Conquest Bronson, Fl. 4. # 2 Derrik Heath Parkland, Fl. 5. #00 Ronnie Heard Seffner, Fl. 6. #13X David Williamson Mulberry, Fl. 7. #12R Rikk McMehan Hudson, FL. 8. # 9 Wes Filyaw Brooksville, Fl. 9. #13 Aaron Williamson Mulberry, Fl. 10. #02 Mike Baker Inglis, Fl. 11. #45 Mike Soukup Deltona, Fl. 12. #56 Wayne Morris Mulberry, Fl. 13. #17N Nevin Gainey Ft. White, Fl. 14. #27X Jon Heidenthal Myakka City, FL. 15. #42 Richie Smith Hernando, Fl. 16. #79X Steve Gainey Bradenton, Fl. 17. #21C Chris Peludat New Smyrna Bch, Fl. DQ. #72 Tommy Conquest Jr. Bronson, Fl.
