George Gorham Jr. wins Advance Auto Parts Pro Truck 50 at Orlando SpeedWorld
by Dave Westerman
The latest round of the 2007 championship chase for the FASCAR Advance Auto Parts Pro Truck Series came to Orlando Speedworld Friday evening and the event would prove to be a wild one.
Twenty trucks made the trip to the high-banked 3/8th's mile oval but Jarrad Cawley saw his day end early with troubles during practice placing 19 trucks on the grid for qualifying.
Speedworld is one of George Gorham, Jr.'s favorite race tracks and he wasted little time in showing the rest of the field that he had the truck to beat, setting quick time at 15.278 seconds while point leader Austin Howell was second quick at 15.430 and Travis Hanson third fastest at 15.464.
The top seven in time trials were inverted for the start of the scheduled 50 lap shoot-out which placed T.J. Chambers and Chad Pierce in row one for the start. Chambers led the opening lap before third starter Barry Bartlett took over. Caution was out for the first of what would be many times as Scott Reeves and Mark Evans locked horns in turn one.
Bartlett continued to set the pace as Hanson moved to second on lap five while Gorham came up to third by lap seven. Hanson passed Bartlett for the lead on lap nine with Gorham following through into second. Gorham was right on the tailgate of Hanson's Chevy Silverado when the second caution flew for Jen Crossman who had spun on the back stretch.
On the restart some craziness took place coming off turn two as Jessica Green, Kevin Henry, and Evans got tangled up. After the green flag finally came back out, Gorham lit the afterburner and passed Hanson for the lead, drawing quickly to a several truck length advantage only to see the yellow out again on lap 17 for Bartlett who spun and was hit by Green. Once the race restarted, Green's night became even worse as she got turned around by Jason Vail coming off turn two. Henry and Mike Marcellino had no place to go and plowed into Green's truck. Jessica was a bit shaken but emerged from her damaged machine in OK shape. All four of the trucks involved went pit side although Vail returned after some attention from his pit crew.
Only one more lap could be completed before an oil leak set Michael Pilla's Dodge on fire. Track crews chased Pilla's machine to turn four where the fire was put out. Pilla then tried to return but the fire re-ignited putting track Fire Chief Dominic Marchese back to work on the front stretch. At that time Pilla was told to park his truck for the remainder of the show.
With the race over an hour old and not even close to the half-way mark and fans wondering if they were seeing a re-run of last weeks Crash-A-Rama, Series officials decided to cut the number of laps to 35 and hope someone would actually make it that far.
However, there would be only one more caution - for Crossman's spin on lap 24- and Gorham would check out on the field for a big win that also gave him the Series points lead. Hanson did a great job coming home second while veteran Scott Reeves rebounded from his early problems to claim third spot. T.J. Chambers ran steady the entire race and came home fourth with Chad Pierce in the Florida Lift Systems Toyota Tundra grabbing fifth.
Young Logan Bordeau had a good run and checkered fifth while Austin Howell's sixth place finish was good but not good enough to keep Gorham from taking over the points lead. Ray Black, Jr., Clinton Clark, and Vail rounded out the top ten.
The FASCAR Quick Kids were also on hand with their race trucks and Stephen Nasse pulled off the same feat as Gorham did, setting quick time and winning the 25 lap feature.
Maxx Bennett led the opening 12 laps but Nasse finally made the pass for the lead and never looked back as just two minor cautions slowed the event.
Bennett would hold on for second ahead of Tyler Laing, Randy Anderson, Jason Pyros, Donnie Gray, Jr. and Matt Cohen. The Sportsman feature was an all green flag affair as Timmy Todd, Jr. led all the way to claim the win. Todd, who is trying to sell his potent racer so he can move up to Late Models, claimed his fourth win of the year well in front of Derrick Wood and Andy Nicholls. Henry Shepherd and Brett Woodley were fourth and fifth while Dale Clouser, Ted Head, Justin Reynolds, Whitney Poole, Ron Whaley and Richard Height rounded out the finishers. Todd also won the heat race.
Jason Pick made it two in a row in the Super Stock feature as he made a bold early move and led every lap to the checker. Two of the crowd favorites were eliminated in a wreck on lap 12 as first heat winner Ron McCreary and Roger Benton tangled with James Frisbie having no place to go and getting involved as well. Both McCreary and Frisbie were forced to the pits helping to tighten up and already close points battle in the class.
Pick made no mistakes taking an easy win while Benton shook off the effects of the crash to claim second. Second heat winner Lee Wagner drove to third place ahead of Vince Keeler and Ray Mullis. Completing the top ten were Jeff Parrish, Spank Carr, Alane Grogan, Nathan Haystead and McCreary.
Mark Emberson finally put a terrible year of bad luck behind him as he led from green to checker to take the Modified victory. Gary Fountain, Sr. and Bobby Joe Woodley tangled while battling for second late in the race allowing points leader Shain Held to nab the second spot. Mickey Wright scored her best-ever finish in third ahead of Woodley, Chris Smyth and Fountain.
Pedie Allison's latest Mini Stock win streak was ended by his son Jared Allison. Driving a car purchased during earlier in the week, Jared Allison took the lead from R.J. Arnone on lap four and then held off the "old man" for the win. Pedie Allison took second with Arnone holding on for third ahead of Matthew Perkins, Richie Laszlo, Bob Kelchner, Chase Goodson and Emily Cottrell.
Another huge field of Action Gator Tire Strictly Stocks were on hand with 25 starting their feature race. But it was Rob Reynolds in his Mazda taking yet another win in style over a hard-charging Todd McCreary. First heat winner Neal Kirby drove his Cash For Houses Mazda to third place in front of Steve Anderson and David Leeper II. Rounding out the top ten were Jim Erb, Tom Stewart, Denny Johns, Kenny Lokey and William Hindman. Reynolds also won the second heat.
In Palm Tree Computer Systems/BCS Welding/Orlando Graphix Junior Stock action, Brandon Henault was the 8-11 year old winner as he took the measure of Carl Kwasny, Jr. and Wes Railing, Jr.
The 12-15 year old class saw Dylan Curtis win his fourth straight over Jason Rosarius and Derek Binda.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD JUNE 22, 2007
QUICK KIDS
1. #69 Stephen Nasse 2. #1x Maxx Bennett 3. #39 Tyler Laing 4. #84 Randy Anderson 5. #78 Jason Pyros 6. #19 Donnie Cray, Jr. 7. #46NS Matt Cohen
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS PRO TRUCK 50
1. #10 George Gorham, Jr. 2. #141 Travis Hanson 3. #21 Scott Reeves 4. #57 TJ Chambers 5. #30 Chad Pierce 6. #33b Logan Bordeau 7. #96 Austin Howell 8. #4 Ray Black, Jr. 9. #97 Clinton Clark 10. #407 Jason Vail 11. #87 Donnie Nerone 12. #54 Jennifer Crossman 13. #50 Mark Evans 14. #24m Michael Pilla 15. #40 Jessica Green 16. #99 Kevin Henry 17. #14 Mike Marcellino 18. #71 Barry Bartlett 19. #62 Jessica Murphy 30. #31 Jared Cawley DNS
1 - 6 Dylan Curtis 2 - 18 Jason Rosarius 3 - 27 Derek Binda More Results
Strictly Stock
1 - A1 Rob Reynolds 2 - 77 Todd Mccreary 3 - 8N Neal Kirby 4 - 27 Steve Anderson 5 - 20 Brent Bruner 6 - D2 David Leeper II 7 - x Jim Erb 8 - 66 Tom Stewart 9 - 55 Denny Johns 10 - 03 Kenny Wkery 11 - 89 William Hindman 12 - 40 Shane Sutorus 13 - 18 Dwayne Reynolds 14 - 63 Glenn Rhodes 15 - 4 Jason Higdon 16 - 8X Alex Fortune 17 - 86 Shane Smith 18 - 11 Josh Phelps 19 - 36 G.t. Maloney 20 - 76 Gary Thomas 21 - 80 Steven Streight 22 - 27 Joey White 23 - 72 John Mcmannen 24 - 61 Nick Todd 25 - 145 Chad Knoell 26 - 55X Steve Albritton More Results
Mini Stock
1 - 79 Jared Allison 2 - 92 Pedie Allison 3 - 30 R.j. Arnone 4 - 99 Matthew Perkins 5 - 07XX Richie Laszlo Jr. 6 - 09 Bob Kelchner 7 - 16 Chase Goodson 8 - 19 Emily Cottrell More Results
Super Stock
1. #44 Jason Pick 2. #14 Roger Benton 3. #74 Lee Wagner 4. #32 Vince Keeler 5. #316 Ray Mullis 6. #05 Jeff Parrish 7. #25 Robert Carr 8. #29 Alain Grogan 9. #72 Nathan Haystead 10. #24pk Ron McCreary 11. #3 James Frisbie 12. #52 Bobby Riley 13. #7i Scott Edwards DNS 14. #40 Bob Starr DNS 15. #32X Paul Marguglio DNS
Sportsman
1 - 25 Timmy Todd Jr. 2 - 33 Derrick Wood 3 - 66 Andrew Nicholls 4 - 11 Henry Shepherd 5 - 99 Brett Woodley 6 - 30 Dale Clouser 7 - 92 Ted Head 8 - 20 Justin Reynolds 9 - 00 Whitney Poole 10 - 5W Ron Whaley, Jr. 11 - 23 Richard Hight 12 - 14 Matt Towell DNS
Modified
1 - 30 Mark Emberson 2 - 55 Shain Held 3 - 9 Mickey Wright 4 - 98X Bobby Joe Woodley 5 - 07 Christopher Smith 6 - 33 Gary Fountain Sr
