IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 11, 2009 Dylan Ames tops Pro Division of Legends on Day 2 at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Day number two of the 2008 Orlando Speedworld Winternationals saw fans treated to very warm and windy conditions along with plenty of red-hot racing Wesdnesday afternoon and there were eight new faces in victory lane as no one was able to repeat their Tuesday victories. The Legends Car Charger feature got things started off and things did not go well early for Tuesday’s feature winner Blake Jones as a tangle with Andy Yoder sent his “Mountain Dew can” spinning at the end of lap one sending both to the rear for the restart. Zach Harris led the first four laps until Dave Simile and Josh Morris tangled on the back stretch. On the restart, Harris’ engine went sour and he dropped off the pace putting Chris Young in the lead. Meanwhile, Jones had already moved back to fifth. By lap seven Jones had taken third spot and was soon challenging leader Young but the two came together in front of the flag stand and spun completing lap eleven. With Young and Jones (for a second time) sent to the back for the restart, Evan Finley now found himself in the lead. The Hudson, OH driver survived one more yellow flag period on lap 16 to claim a close win over Matt Wallace and Dylan Barbosa. Andy Yoder came back for a solid fourth place finish with Young recovering for fifth and Jones sixth. Dean Kretschmas, Roger Englund and Dave Simile completed the top ten. Harris and Barbosa won the heats. The Legends Car Semi-Pro feature race started out with some great three-wide racing among Tyler Kivett, Alex Kempf and Cameron Michael. Tuesday winner Kivett Led the first eleven laps but Kempf continued to put on the pressure and grabbed the lead on lap twelve. One lap later a huge crash on the back stretch involving Zach Alspach and George Cushman put the field under red but fortunately both drivers were OK. Kempf held off all charges the remaining distance as the local Speedworld regular from Vero Beach, FL grabbed the win with Cameron Michael getting by Kivett on the white flag lap for second. Kenzie Ruston also made a white flag pass to take fourth spot with Brandon Huff fifth. Completing the top ten were Michael Lester, Zach Weaver, Cullen Camasta, Todd Eury and Justin Michael. Kempf and Kivett were the heat race winners. Things got off to a bad start in the Legends Cars Masters division as Tuesday winner Hoyt Demis and Doug Dugger collided while fighting for the lead in the first heat with Demis taking a very hard shot into the turn one wall. Demis was not hurt and moved to his back-up car for the feature. The “old guys” then put on a racing clinic in their feature as the 20 lapper ran green to checker. Texan Bob Merino led the opening lap but John Sossoman snatched the front spot on lap two and never looked back as the driver from New London, NC led the rest of the way ahead of a torrid duel for second that was eventually won in the late laps by Merino over Tim Brockhouse, Clay Hair and Chris Weddle. Sixth spot went to Ira Laughy with Scotty Edwards, Cy Harvey, Rick Wetmore and Larry Friddle rounding out the top ten. Heat race wins went to Merino and Laughey. Harrison Rhodes led the first two laps of the Legends Cars Young Lions feature only to give way to Dale Dodge Jr. just before a lap four multi-car mess involving Austin Leitner, Travis Braden, Trevor Alspach and Cody Humphreys. Braden and Humphreys went pit side. Dodge continued to hold forth until Scott Hensley spun in front of a pack of cars sending Leitner for another wild ride which, this time, forced him out of the race. Dodge was gamely holding on to the lead late in the going but could not hold off a hard-charging Justin Grimes who took over as the white flag was unfurled. Grimes sped to an apparent victory but was subsequently disqualified during tech giving the win to Dodge. Rhodes ended up second trailed by Evan Swilling, Chad Finchum and Alspach. Rounding out the top ten were Cody Blackburn, Chase Elliott, Hensley, Jake Morris and Tyler Lester. Dodge and Rhodes won the heats. The supposedly “more experienced” Legends Car Pro division drivers produced a ton of carnage in their feature with a pair of multi-car crashes that both took place during lap four. With Nick Pistone leading, the first mess in turn four involved Kyle Beattie, Currie Pierce, Ronnie Bassett, Jr., Daniel Hemric, and Jimmy Heavlow. All but Bassett and Hemric went to the pits. On the restart there was a huge crash going into turn three that badly damaged the cars of Justin Swilling and Brad Hancock. Andrew Smith, Will Prance, and Rette Causey were also involved but made repairs and returned to the track as did Beattie from the first wreck without losing a lap. After the restart Dylan Ames made quick work of Pistone and took the lead only to see Jimmy Norman’s car stall on the front stretch just one lap later. With the race already 40 minutes old, Race Director Brad Hockaday called for a green-white-checker finish making the event just seven laps instead of the scheduled 20. Ames held off all challengers for the win while Kory Abbott got by Pistone to take second. Fourth and fifth went to Daniel Sossoman and Bassett. The remainder of the top ten was Hemric, Dusty Davis, Cameron Patrick, Darren Sherwood and Beattie. Ames and Pistone won the heats. Brady Boswell spoiled Kyle Weatherman’s attempt at back-to-back wins as he made the pass for the lead with just two laps to go and claimed the Bandolero Bandit win. Kyle was second ahead of Tanner Rumburg, Ray Beebe, his brother Clayton Weatherman, Jonnie Varga, Brandon Bassett, Joseph Graf and Macy Causey. Rumburg won the heat. Dillon Bassett came back from mechanical issues that grounded him on Tuesday to take a run-away victory in the Bandolero Young Gun feature. Justin Thomas was second ahead of Luke Demis and Jesse Little. Bassett also won the heat. Brandon Thomson took the Thunder Car heat and feature over Jim Fluharty and David Wilkerson. OFFICIAL RESULTS DAY 2 - ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD WINTER NATIONALS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD - FEB. 11, 2009 SEMI-PRO 1 #99 Alex Kempf 2 #32 Cameron Michael 3 #66 Tyler Kivett 4 #39 Kenzie Ruston 5 #21 Brandon Huff 6 #13 Mike Lester 7 #166 Zach Weaver 8 #20 Cullen Camasta 9 #19 Todd Eury 10 #53 Justin Michael 11 #02 Drew Higginson 12 #31 George Cushman 13 #67 Zach Alspach 14 #9E Michael Edwards 15 #10 R.S. Senter MASTERS 1 #14 Johnny Sossoman 2 #52 Robert Merino 3 #00x Tim Brockhouse 4 #29 Clay Hair 5 #00 Chris Weddle 6 #17 Ira Laughy 7 #8E Scotty Edwards 8 #81 Cy Harvey 9 #06 Rick Wetmore 10 #8 Larry Friddle 11 #65 Gary Bursey 12 #87 Darrell Vance 13 #15 Marty Griffin 14 #9 Carlos Moore 15 #20 Doug Dugger 16 #26 David Wilkerson 17 #1 Hoyt Demis 18 #13 Jackie Ryan 19 #17 Ed Mummert 20 #55 Kevin Foisy YOUNG LIONS 1 #8 Dale Dodge, Jr. 2 #36 Rhodes Harrison 3 #1 Evan Swilling 4 #19 Chad Finchum 5 #76 Trevor Alspach 6 #71 Cody Blackburn 7 #9 Chase Elliott 8 #5 Scott Hensley 9 #99 Jake Morris 10 #01 Tyler Lester 11 #43 Cody Humphreys 12 #05 Austin Leitner 13 #A1 Travis Braden 14 #63 Justin Grimes DQ'd CHARGERS 1 #97 Evan Finley 2 #4 Matt Wallace 3 #777 Dylan Barbosa 4 #17 Andy Yoder 5 #49 Chris Young 6 #80 Blake Jones 7 #21 Dean Kretschmas 8 #51 Roger Englund 9 #33 Dave Simile 10 #81 Tyler Mullins 11 #29 Brian Kolb 12 #95 Josh Morris 13 #54 Zach Harris PRO 1 #77 Dylan Ames 2 #5 Kory Abbott 3 #99 Nick Pistone 4 #41 Daniel Sossoman 5 #04 Ronnie Bassett 6 #21 Daniel Henric 7 #66 Dusty Davis 8 #20 Cameron Patrick 9 #111 Darren Sherwood 10 #96 Kyle Beattie 11 #28 James Edsall 12 #62 Andrew Smith 13 #9 Will Prance 14 #33 Rette Causey 15 #11 Chris Lemonds 16 #2 Jimmy Norman 17 #38 Justin Swilling 18 #16 Currie Pierce 19 #17 Brad Hancock 20 #48 Jimmy Heavlow THUNDER CAR 1 #54 Brandon Thomson 2 #5 Jim Fluharty 3 #26 David Wilkerson BANDOLERO BANDITS 1 #2X Brady Boswell 2 #6 Kyle Weatherman 3 #15 Tanner Rumberg 4 #89 Ray Beebe 5 #18 Clayton Weatherman 6 #2 Jonnie Varga 7 #44 Brandon Bassett 8 #12 Joseph Graf 9 #13 Payton Ryan BANDOLERO YOUNG GUN 1 #44 Dylan Bassett 2 #99 Justin Thomas 3 #03x Luke Demis 4 #03 Jesse Little Have an opinion on this story? 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