IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

March 22, 2008 Tim Russell tops Bright House Challenge 50 at New Smyrna Speedway by Mark Keeler [03.22.08] The Bright House Challenge Series started off the 2008 Season under cloudy skies at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday night. Veteran Wayne Anderson [#84] set quick time in qualifying for the 50 lap Feature with a fast lap time of 17.48. Defending Series Champion Tim Russell [#36] turned in the second fastest lap with a quick time of 17.55. Anderson drew a 3 pill for the inversion, putting Live Oak’s Fain Skinner [#1] on the pole with Russell starting alongside. As the cars rolled out of turn number four to take the green, Russell motored his way on the outside of Skinner to lead the field down into turn number one. The front four raced single file off of turn two, while Brian Finney [#80] and Kurt Jett [#9x] battled side-by-side for the fifth spot. Finney had the advantage on the inside as they raced down the backstretch and took over fifth entering turn three. Russell came around to lead lap one with Skinner, Patrick Conrad [#2], Anderson and Finney rounding out the top five. Kurt Jett was in sixth but Corey Freed [#12] was quickly mounting a charge for that position and took it as the field came out of turn four to complete lap number two. With Russell showing the way, it became a three car battle for the second spot. Skinner had the spot but Patrick Conrad, the 2007 Bright House Challenge Series runner-up, was all over the back of the Skinner Paint & Body #1, with Anderson right behind him. The three went bumper-to-bumper with Conrad jumping out of line numerous times down the backstretch but unable to pull up alongside Skinner as they raced single file through the corners. With a hand-full of laps complete, Skinner’s car drifted high in turns three and four and Conrad was able to pull up alongside as they raced off of turn four. Skinner out-braked Conrad into turn one and they remained single-file off of turn two and down the backstretch. With about 10 laps complete, Russell had opened up a half-straightaway advantage over the field. The top five after 10 laps was Russell, Skinner, Conrad, Anderson and Finney, but Corey Freed was pressuring Finney for the fifth spot as the field completed the first dozen laps. Conrad continued his pursuit of the second spot, repeatedly staying to the low-side off of the turns but to this point, unable to get position entering the turns. As the pair raced into turn one on lap 16, Conrad stayed down to the inside, unwilling to back off, Skinner gave him room to the inside as they raced side-by-side through the corner. Conrad had the advantage down the backstretch with Anderson following him through in turns three and four, and Skinner was shuffled back to the third spot. Finney briefly looked to take advantage as he peaked to the inside of Skinner for the third spot, but pulled back in line before they hit turn one. With the half-way point on the horizon, Russell had checked out, opening up a full straightaway lead. The action was still hot behind him as Anderson began flirting with high-line as he worked on Conrad for the second spot. Anderson looked high in turns one and two on lap 19 and then dove to the bottom of the track to take over second from Conrad in turns three and four. Russell’s car was on a rail for the first half of the race and the quarter-mile lead he opened up was just too much for Anderson to catch up. The top two were turning very similar lap times in the closing half, but with no cautions, they remained separated by a little over a full straight away. With just over ten laps remaining, David Rogers [#11] retired from the event as his motor seemed to let go coming down the front stretch. The veteran driver did a great job of pulling out of the racing groove and no fluids were lost on the racing surface. So with the green remaining out, the closest battle on the track was for the fifth spot. Corey Freed [#12] continued to put pressure on Brian Finney [#80] with the two playing a little ‘bumper-tag’ in the corners. With the handling going away on the #80, Freed was able to pull off the pass in turns three and four with about 12 laps to go. The move shuffled Finney back to sixth with Jeremy Colangelo [#05] running a close seventh. Russell, the defending Bright House Challenge Series Champion, went winless in 2007 on his way to capturing the title, pulled the Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters #36 out of Longwood into Victory Lane to take down the win in Race number one for the 2008 campaign. Even with a half-track lead at the end of the race, Russell said they’ve still got some work to do, “Started getting a little tight at the end so we still got a little bit of work to get a little better on the longer runs” said Russell, “I have to thank my guys man they’ve been working hard the past two-months to get these cars dialed in.” Wayne Anderson in the Airframe International #84 came across the line in second, with Patrick Conrad in the Mike’s Drywall & Spraying / Gray Development #2 taking down the third spot. Fourth went to Fain Skinner in the Skinner Paint & Body #1 with Corey Freed in the RK Edwards #12 rounding out the top five. Next stop for the Bright House Challenge Series will be back here at New Smyrna Speedway on April 19th, and then over to Orlando Speedworld on May 2nd. For more information on the Bright House Challenge Series, log onto, www.NewSmyrnaSpeedway.org. OFFICIAL RESULTS NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY MARCH 22, 2008 BRIGHT HOUSE CHALLENGE SLM 50 Finish Start Car Driver 1 - 36 Tim Russell 2 - 84 Wayne Anderson 3 - 2 Patrick Conrad 4 - 1 Fain Skinner 5 - 12 Corey Freed 6 - 80 Brian Finney 7 - 05 Jeremy Colangelo 8 - 9 Rich Clouser 9 - 9 Kurt Jett 10 - 14 Travis Towell 11 - 11 David Rogers 12 - 83 Eric Cunningham 13 - 47 David Gibbs Modified - Features Finish Start Car Driver 1 1 9X Kurt Jett 2 2 77 Gary Fountain, Jr 3 3 51 Don Keithley 4 4 3 Jeff Colburn 5 5 15 Bruce Packer Sportsman - Features Finish Start Car Driver 1 1 111 Donald Williams 2 3 16 Patrick Mennenga 3 2 63 Dale Howard 4 4 70 John Nusbaum 5 5 17 Phillip Bessette 6 6 96 Tim Morton 7 7 6 Bruce Mcgonigal Trucks - Features Finish Start Car Driver 1 2 33B Logan Bordeau 2 5 18 Zachary Jarrell 3 1 29 Timothy Gertsch 4 3 9 Martin Wolf Jr 5 6 96 Ben Kennedy 6 4 73 James Campbell 7 8 7 Sonny Buchanan 8 7 23 Wayne Wells 9 9 02 Steve Baie Super Stock - Features Finish Start Car Driver 1 4 11 Todd Allen 2 3 01 Scott Smith 3 2 56 Bobby Holley 4 8 23 Edward Barber 5 1 2X Michael Amato 6 10 15 Michael Wofford 7 12 8 Tobi Smith 8 5 22 Bruce Mcgonigal 9 7 20X Richard Barrenechea 10 14 11X Ernest Stickle 11 15 21D Mike Dahm 12 6 32 Steve Green 13 9 07 Dale Meade 14 11 12 Dan Webb 15 13 14X Billy Belflower Mini Stock - Features Finish Start Car Driver 1 6 71 Ted Vulpius 2 1 6 Mark Broat 3 7 32 Jesse Powers 4 4 24 Andy Giammalvo 5 2 20 Jefferson Pittsley 6 3 10 Benjamin Zell 7 5 21 Ryan Veraghen 8 8 8 James Dixson Strictly Stock - Features Finish Start Car Driver 1 2 912 Sonny Pond 2 1 70 Eric Douglas Wolf, Jr. 3 3 86 Richard Goodrich 4 4 71 William "eddie" Rush 5 6 20 Brent Bruner 6 10 80 Steven Streight 7 7 54 Steve Pierce 8 8 21 Christopher Sclafani 9 12 89 Charlie Gall 10 15 00 John Layne 11 11 88 Robert Pence 12 5 18 Dustin Higdon 13 13 03 Joshua Stilwell 14 14 68 Brian Sayne 15 9 11 Lloyd Pond 16 16 24 Corey Vaissiere 17 17 21M Maureen Dahm Have an opinion on this story? 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