IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 19, 2008 SNOWDEN & SON IN PRO CHALLENGE - ABBOTT WINS AGAIN IN LEGENDS AT ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD By Dave Westerman It was a family affair at Orlando Speedworld Saturday evening in the Pro Challenge twin 25's while Kory Abbott was back on his game taking his third Legends Car feature win. The Legend Car Charger class (for drivers with less racing experience) continues to grow in numbers and a new face found victory lane this week as Ocala's Tyler Smith drove to the Charger feature win holding off heat race winner Dallas Ingram who was in a borrowed car after blowing the engine in his own mount last week. Tim McCormick hopped in his son Shaughn's back-up car and ran with the Chargers coming home with a nice third place finish ahead of Mike Gleason, Daniel Conlin, Sr., Roger Englund, Ted Ruffo and Tim Harris. Smith was eligible to start scratch in the regular Legend Car 25 lap feature, but elected not to do so as it was just his second week in the car. Heat wins for the Legends went to Gerald White, Jr. and Kory Abbott but it was front row starter Shaughn McCormick who grabbed the early lead. McCormick held on for three laps as the competition was intense. Tony Sansom took over and led for one lap, then it was David Tart's turn, but he led for only a portion of a lap before Abbott blasted by, never to be headed. It looked like the race might run all the way under green for the second straight week until Rick Wetmore looped his car in turn two on lap 17. Four laps later Alex Kempf and Tart tangled coming off turn four. McCormick had nowhere to go and collided with Kemph's car while Mark Bibeau was also involved. Kempf and McCormick were done for the night while Tart and Bibeau made repairs and continued. No one had anything for Abbott as he streaked to his third win of the year. Abbott had competed at a track in SW Florida Friday night and got home at 3:45 in the morning then had to put in a full day as a stunt driver at Walt Disney World before heading to Speedworld. He was visibly tired after the race and quickly packed up and headed home since he also had to work his "day job" at Disney on Sunday. Young Gerald White, Jr. had his best ever Legend Car performance coming home second in the feature after winning his heat. Sansom, who also competed Friday night in Punta Gorda, came back from some mechanical issues in practice to nab third spot ahead of Dave Gleason and Dalton Bergman. Rounding out the top ten were Bibeau, Tart, Leonard Hearndon, Mason Ketterman and Wetmore. The Pro Challenge cars and trucks were on hand for their second event of 2008 and did battle in a pair of 25 lap feature races. Jarrett Snowden was on his way to his first ever win in the opening feature until a tire started going down forcing him out of the event. Snowden's father, J.L., inherited the lead and drove to his third straight feature win at Speedworld over Paul White, Ryan Rust, Rowdy Gordon, and Gene Dibble. The rest of the top ten were Bruce Gibson, Ron Stanley, Sam White, Jarrett Snowden and Daniel Miller. The younger Snowden had the pole for the nightcap and again sped out to a comfortable margin as his dad began to work his way up from ninth on the grid. Father was able to catch son but not able to pass him as Jarrett Snowden took his first career win at Speedworld. J.L. Snowden (who also won the heat race earlier in the night) was second trailed by Rust, Dibble, Paul White, Gordon, Gibson, Stanley, Sam White and Miller. The Hearndon Construction Bandoleros saw a great finale to the Bandit feature for 8-11 year old drivers as Shawn Hooven took advantage of a late caution flag to make a pass on heat winner Critter Saile with just two laps remaining. Hooven took his second straight win in the class ahead of Saile, Jake Perkins, Daniel Conlin, Jr., Coty Bibeau, Justin Bechtold and Cameron White. In the 12-15 year old Young Gun class, Donovan Ponder out-ran the field for the third time this year taking the checker ahead of Mark Hooven, Zach Harris, Carl Haag and Caleb Hearndon. Ponder also won the heat race. Mark Walls dominated the ABC Towing Hurricane action winning both the heat and feature races in his Ford Probe. Brian Cosier was second in a Camaro trailed by Devon Cuddy, Tim Walters, Jr. and Joey Cason. Rounding out the finishers were Ricky Sullivan, Shane Sutorus, Daniel Roach, Brenda Taylor and George "Deputy Dawg" Berry. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD APRIL 19, 2008 BANDOLERO BANDIT 1. #12 Critter Saile 2. #4 Jake Perkins 3. #20 Daniel Conlin 4. #65 Coty Beebo 5. #96 Justin Bechtold 6. #38 Cameron White 7. #27 Shawn Hooven DQ'D BANDOLERO YOUNG GUN 1. #8 Donovan Ponder 2. #17 Mark Hooven 3. #54 Zach Harris 4. #48 Carl Haag 5. #53 Kaleb Hearndon CHARGER 1. #4 Tyler Smith 2. #33 Dallas Ingram 3. #34 Tim McCormick 4. #X Mike Gleason 5. #11 Daniel Conlin, Sr. 6. #51 Roger Englund 7. #50 Ted Ruffo 8. #77 Tim Harris PRO CHALLENGE RACE #1 1. #40 JL Snowden 2. #25 Paul White 3. #18 Ryan Rust 4. #24 Rowdy Gordon 5. #7j Gene Dibble 6. #33 Bruce Gibson 7. #05 Ron Stanly 8. #1 Sam White 9. #4 Jarrett Snowden 10. #00 Danny Millers PRO CHALLENGE RACE #2 1. #4 Jarrett Snowden 2. #40 JL Snowden 3. #18 Ryan Rust 4. #7j Gene Dibble 5. #25 Paul White 6. #24 Rowdy Gordon 7. #33 Bruce Gibson 8. #05 Ron Stanly 9. #1 Sam White 10. #00 Danny Millers DNS LEGENDS 1. #5 Cory Abbott 2. #38 Gerald White, Jr. 3. #56 Tony Samson 4. #07 Dave Gleason 5. #37 Dalton Bergman 6. #65 Mark Beebo 7. #3 David Tart 8. #53 Leonard Hearndon 9. #22 Mason Ketterman 10. #06 Rick Wetmore 11. #99 Alex Kempf 12. #34 Shaughn McCormick 13. #31 Rusty Chancey 14. #2 Jimmy Norman DNS HURRICANES 1. #6 Mark Walls 2. #27 Brian Cosier 3. #4 Devon Cuddy 4. #29 Tim Walter, Jr. 5. #21 Joey Cason 6. #19 Ricky Sullivan 7. #315 Shane Sutorus 8. #07 Daniel Roach 9. #24 Brenda Taylor 10. #24D George Berry 11. #76 Gary Thomas DNS Have an opinion on this story? 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