Chance, Taylor, Bennett, and Rain Win at North Florida Speedway
by Jon Harney
LAKE CITY, FL (5/5) - The North Florida Speedway officials had a race of their own last Saturday night as they tried to complete an evening of racing before an incoming storm arrived. All heats were completed and three features were in the books before the skies opened and washed out the rest of the race card.
Ronnie Chance jumped from the pole to the lead in the B-Modified feature. Jake Wood quickly asserted himself in second position, but could do no better as Chance was hitting all his marks. A few cautions in the middle of the race gave the rest of the field several opportunities to catch the leader, but Chance never faltered on the restarts and took the win going away. Wood held on for second and was trailed by Joe Watson in third, Richard Tipton in fourth, and Nick Kirkus in fifth.
Jesse Sullivan outdueled polesitter Billy Smith for the opening Pure Stock lead. Shane Taylor quickly marched from the sixth starting spot to grab the lead on lap three. Sullivan duked it out with Rick Reed for second until they made contact and wrecked on lap six. Billy Smith inherited second and made the race for the lead interesting until his car faded down the stretch. From that point it was just a matter of running out the laps for Taylor, who picked up win number six of the season. Smith held on to second, Shawn Taylor was third just barely ahead of Gerald Lewis and Reed.
Mini Stocks saw Steve Bennett outclass the field for the victory. Justin Carney and Jonathan Rutledge put on a good fight for second with Carney taking runner-up honors at the line over Rutledge. Marvin Hassell and Denny Conway finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Scotty Nolan led the first two laps of the Hobby Stock feature before the rain took over. Also rained out were features for the 21-car Late Model field and the Street Stocks. The features that were rained out will be rescheduled for a future date. The details will be posted on the www.northfloridaspeedway.com website and will also be available by calling the track at 386-754-8800. North Florida Speedway will make all efforts to find a date for the Late Models that does not conflict with any major events going on for that division at neighboring tracks.
Next week brings another visit from the Sprint Cars and the A-Modifieds to the speedway. Pure Stocks, Hobby Stocks, and Street Stocks will also provide racing excitement.
Finishing order for 5-5-07
BMODS 1st- Ronnie Chance #7S 2nd- Jake Wood #16 3rd- Joe Watson #73 4th- Richard Tipton #99 5th- Nick Kirkus #28 6th- Kenny Blair #4 7th- Chris Wood #84 8th- Frank Premorel #7 9th- Pete Timbie #410 10th- Garland Spangler#1G
PURE STOCK 1st- Shane Taylor #82 2nd- Billy Smith #00 3rd- Shawn Taylor #82T 4th- Gerald Lewis #65 5th- Nick Reed #66 6th- Chris Rowe #23 7th- James Schreiber #24 8th- John Andrews #27 9th- Tom Robert #99 10th- David Hess #15
MINI STOCK 1st- Steve Bennett #36 2nd- Justin Carney #3 3rd- Jonathon Rutledge#01 4th- Marvin Hassell #1 5th- Denny Conway #00 6th- Justin Guessford #8 7th- Michael Bagley #57
As for the Hobby Stock, Street Stock and Late Models please keep eye on the website for when you will be rescheduled.