IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

July 20, 2008 Derrick Horton is new figure 8 champ By Linda Jericka It was the last race of the night but deserves the highlighted race of the evening “ go figure” , that’s right the figure 8 race. The figure 8 race at Charlotte County Motosports Park is becoming one of the popular classes at CCMP because of the run what ya brung and hope ya brung enough rule and what driver is having the most fun attitude. This class is made up of Little 4cyl cars, big v8 cars, big trucks, little trucks and even sportsman, and it is not always the fastest or toughest looking cars that win, but it has been the big orange 93 car driven by Jeff Firestine that has come in first the last three times out. Jeff Firestine out of Venice has had some heat from two 4 cyl drivers, Wally Smith and Derrick Horton and this week was no different except with Smith being out of town that left it up to the 27 of Derrick Horton out of N. Ft Myers to turn up the heat. Codey Benoit was in the 90 4cyl for his first time out in the figure 8 and was leading for the first 10 of this 20 lap race with his no fear when I get to the X attitude, cause I don’t think he ever lifted once, till the little car just had enough and stopped in turn two which turned the lead over to Horton who had to fight hard charging Firestine off for that number one spot for the next 8 laps. After 8 laps of Firestine running inside and outside and sometimes underneath the 27,Firestine finally took over the lead with three laps to go and then the little car that could, DID and never gave up and when it came down to the checkers out and all eyes on the finish line it was Derrick Horton who had the fans on there feet and scored the winner and new champ of the figure 8 race. Fab 4 saw the young Billy Benoit win for the third time with Josh Flesher second and Brian Amans third which sent Benoit movin on up to the Pro 4 and no time like the present they say so Benoit moved up that night and was able to run the pro 4 race who saw the 1 car of Corey Scott in the winners circle again which has some of the drivers thinking twice about the no weight rule in the class. Michael Rodriquez would take over the second spot from “ I’ll run in how many classes I can in one night” Derrick Horton with one lap to go who had to settle for third. Road Warriors saw a new car in the winners circle, the 38 car of Gary McFall, and Codey Benoit came in second driving his dad’s, the late Dan Benoits Popular number 20 car but would later be Dqed in tech giving that second spot to the 93 of Jeff Firestine and Chris Onkin third. Outlaw Modifieds had 14 cars show up to race 35 laps with Robert Campbell winning, Doug Hooper Second and Robert Bean third who would also pick up the win in the 4 lap dash for cash. The champ carts returned and even though it was a light field of carts the fans were on the edge of there seats when three carts got tangled up in turn two and sent two carts flipping down the back stretch. After checking that both the 69 of Donnie Scopano and 61 of Jordan Letoumeau were both ok it is hard to believe that those carts can flip and bounce like that. Two new drivers to the champ carts were Michael and Kelli Burns of the CCMP Friday night go karts who came out in there brand new champ carts, but the win would go to Alan McKinney, Phil Harp would finish second and Rance Williams third. The Florida Suncoast Outlaw Street Stock returned for the usual fifty laps of excitement with the 09 of Donnie Ollie Jr. back on track and leading all but the first five laps for a big family shot in the winners circle and finally having some good luck was the 18 of Shane Leonard who was trying to run the 09 down and had to settle for second and third was a fan favorite Darrin Ellis in the 71. You can always count on exciting racing from the great group of drivers that race at CCMP and everyone is marking there calendar now for Aug 16th when the United Dirt Late Models come to Asphalt or check the web site for scheduling and updates at charlottecountyracing.com Finishes for Charlotte County motorsports park 7-19-2008 Fab 4 1) 20 - Billy Benoit 2) 99 - Josh Flesher 3) 1 - Brian Amans 4) 22 - Jeremy Perkins 5) 32 - Ronald Hand 6) 21 - Jason Perkins 7) 05 - David Doty 8) 13 - Beverly Hand 9) x7 - Mike Weinrich 10) 85 - Danielle Amelotte Champ Carts 1) 37 - Alan McKinney 2) 77 - Phil Harp 3) 08 - Rance Williams 4) 57 - Tim Simms 5) 99 - JD Cash 6) 16 - Paul Letourneau 7) 96 - Ronald Letourneau 8) 34 - Michael Burns 9) 76 - 10) 53 - Kelli Burns 11) 17 - Patrick Watkinson 12) 69 - Donny Scopano 13) 61 - Jordan Letourneau Outlaw Modified 1) 10-Robert Campbell 2) 15Doug Hooper 3) 28Robbie Bean 4) 91 Roy Campbell 5) 2 Zack Rudd 6) 21 Ric Mills 7) 69 Ric Voisey 8) 04 Tom Myer 9) 56 Craig Shear 10) 8 Matt Delaney 11) 52 Antonio Gonzalez 12) 71 Colin Cabre 13) 23 Cliff Steinmann 14) 9 John Parrish = DNS Road Warriors 1) 38 - Gary McFall 2) 93 - Jeff Firestine 3) 61 - Chris Onken 4) 24 - Jeff Pacheco 5) 97 - Chris Scott 6) 8 - Bob Waltz Jr. 7) 88 - Dean Butrum 8) 95 - Ernie Sparks 9) 16 - James Buckmaster 10) 77 - James Dellea 11) 39 - Jerry Tetting 12) 29 - Don Jericka 13) - 20 - Codey Benoit - DQ Pro 4 1) 1 - Cory Scott 2) 15 - Michael Rodriguez 3) 27 - Derrick Horton 4) 85 - David Amelotte 5) 90 - Jacob Ingram 6) 57 - Logan Leonard 7) 55 - Mark Davis 8) 30 - Brandon Reichert 9) 20 - Billy Benoit 10) 97 - Chuck Flesher Outlaw Street Stock 1) 09 - Donnie Ollie Jr. - Lehigh 2) 18 - Shane Leonard - Cape Coral 3) 71 - Darrin Ellis - Myakka City 4) 26 - Bobby Mobley - Winter Haven 5) 12 - Rocky Reinold - Tampa 6) 30a - Richie Shepherd - St. Pete 7) 6x - David Davis - Bradenton 8) 05 - Ricky Partridge - Tampa 9) 1 - Roger Blevins 10) 11 - Ken Smith - Largo 11) 28 - Michael Lapland - Tampa Figure 8 Race 1) 27 - Derrick Horton - N. Fort Myers 2) 93 - Jeff Firestine - Venice 3) 15x - Clint Snyder 4) 11 - Ken Smith - Largo 5) 95 - Ernie Sparks - Venice 6) 19 - Greg Anderson - Englewood 7) 20 - Tom Carlough 8) 14 - Randy Kile 9) 90 - Codey Benoit - Lehigh 10) 88 - Dean Butrum 11) 68 - Geoff Gulvin 12) 39 - Jerry Tetting - Port Charlotte 13) 26- Bobby Mobley Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!