IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

April 11, 2009 Beckner tops Modifieds at Orlando SpeedWorld by Dave Westerman Orlando Speedworld celebrated the Easter holiday in style Friday night with a big Easter Egg hunt for the kids and plenty of great racing for everyone. The Central Florida Wingless Sprints made their first appearance of the year with heat race wins going to Dakotah Stephens and Mark Gimmler. The two heat winners lined up in row three for the 35 lap feature with Dennis Misuraca and Steve Heisler on the front row. Misuraca grabbed the early lead but Troy Decaire was on the move and snared the top spot by lap three with young Stephens right behind him. Lap seven saw the first caution for a slowing Lil' Jimmy Alvis whose night came to an early end just addiong to his earlier heat race frustrations. Decaire continued to hold the point with Stephens shadowing his every move. Yellow flag number two flew on lap 13 for a spinning Frank Hurst. On the restart a wild turn one tangle found Traci Decaire's car up on top of Billy Riddle's mount. Gimmler was also involved but he was able to re-fire immediately. Riddle was done for the evening while Decaire's crew replaced a couple of flat tires and she returned to the action. The Troy Decaire/Dakotah Stephens battle was renewed on the restart but Stephens could just not find the necessary room to get alongside the veteran driver. Two more cautions slowed the action on laps 19 and 25, both for Steve Heisler who spun twice on the front stretch. Decaire was up to the challenge as he posted the victory with Stephens right on his nerf bar. Jimmy Alvis ran a steady race to grab third with Misuraca getting fourth and Gimmler doing a great job getting back up to fifth. Steven Bradley was sixth followed by Heisler, Mike Koss, Traci Decaire, Skippy Bradford, Frankie Hurst, Frank Hurst, Riddle, Mike Jenkins, Lil' Jimmy Alvis and Amanda Ferguson. Before the racing action began, Modified driver Earl Beckner was bragging his car would be the fastest one on the track after putting four brand new Hoosier tires on Donnie Lewis' "Moonshine Runner." Beckner's prediction came true as he posted his second Modified win of the year in a caution flag-plagued 25 lap run. Although Beckner lined up 12th on the grid, it took him just four laps to grab the lead. Beckner was already up to second but Art Kunzeman was looking very good and had built up a substantial early lead before his car shut off on him. That gave Beckner a lead he would hold on to the rest of the way despite seven caution flags, all for relatively minor incidents. Mark Emberson had a good run for second while Chad Pierce was third. Pierce was a last-minute replacement for driver David Debelius who fell ill after hot laps. Mav MacDonald, who had a host of red-shirt-wearing fans in the stands, took fourth with Matt Wheeler fifth. Rounding out the finishers were Alan Bruns, Ted Head, Rick Johns, Ricky Moxley, Matt Jarrett, Daniel Laszlo, Randy Froelich, Kunzeman and Shain Held. Timmy Todd, Jr. led from green to checker to top the Sportsman class for the first time this year. The worst incident of the event happened on the initial starts as Alex Dicandio and Clayton Williams tangled in turn two elimiating Dicandio from the action. Todd had things pretty much his own way taking the win over Andy Nicholls who stormed back to second after a late race tapping incident with Paul Colgan. Ron Dicandio was third and Colgan fourth in a new car out of the Quality Automotive shops in Orlando. Fifth went to Canadian aircraft manufacturer Edward Furtak who "borrowed" Chad Pirece's ride for the night. Completing the finishers were David Myer, Williams, Sean Bass and Alex Dicandio. Denny Johns, easily the most improved driver in the class this year, led the opening five laps of the Super Stock feature until he was involved in a tangle with James Frisbie that sent both to the rear of the field for the restart. Billy Cuddy took over from that point and survived another pair of yellow flag periods to post his second win of the year. John Bennett had another great run taking second over Vince Keeler with fourth and fifth going to David Gould and Cody Keeler. Joe Bandur was sixth trailed by Johns, Woody Strickland, Justin Reynolds, Jim Erb, Frisbie and Shannon Kelly. Alex Kempf grabbed his third straight Legends Car victory taking the point on lap four and leading Tony Sansom to the checker. Gary Verdier was third ahead of Critter Saile, Ted Ruffo, Roger Englund, Danny Conlin, Rick Wetmore, Zach Harris and Russ Harris. Make in four Strictly Stock wins in a row for Jim Erb although Tim Walters, Jr. looked to have the race in the bag until his car quit on him. Erb took the victory over Neal Kirby, Jessie Cuddy, Bruce Gayton and William Hindman. Rounding out the finishers were Allen McClelland, Joey Woliver, Harold Erb, Shane Smith, Danny Binda, Luis Guillen, Jr., Walters and Devon Cuddy. Donovan Ponder topped Critter Saile in the Bandolero Young Guns while Tanner Cornwell took his second straight Bandit feature win over Michael Held. OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD APRIL 10, 2009 Modified 1 51 Earl Beckner 2 30 Mark Emberson 3 38 Chad Pierce 4 86 Mav Macdonald 5 96 Matthew Wheeler 6 4B Alan Bruns 7 92 Ted Head 8 4 Rick Johns 9 38X Ricky Moxley 10 72 Matthew Jarrett 11 07 Daniel Laszlo 12 8 Randy Froehlich 13 9 Art Kunzeman 14 55 Shain Held Sportsman 1 25 Timmy Todd, Jr. 2 66 Andy Nicholls 3 20S Ron Dicandio 4 31 Paul Colgan 5 57 Edward Furtak 6 60 David Myer 7 65 Clayton Williams 8 08 Sean Bass 9 22 Alex Dicandio Super Stock 1 64 Billy Cuddy 2 721 John Bennett 3 7 Vincent Keeler 4 16 David Gould 5 2 Cody Keeler 6 316 Joe Bandur 7 55 Denny Johns 8 57 Woody Strickland 9 77 Justin Reynolds 10 99 Jim Erb 11 3 James Frisbie 12 7X Shannon Kelly Legends - Features 1 99 Alex Kempf 2 61 Tony Sansom 3 44 Gary Verdier 4 12 Critter Saille 5 51X Ted Ruffo 6 51 Roger Englund 7 05 Daniel Conlin 8 06 Rick Wetmore 9 54 Zach Harris 10 54R Russ Harris Strictly Stock 1 82 Jim Erb 2 8 Neil Kirby 3 05 Jessie Cuddy 4 93 Bruce Gayton 5 89X William Hindman 6 1 Allen Mcclelland 7 88 Joey Woliver 8 57 Harold Erb 9 86 Shane Smith 10 27 Dan Binda 11 8X Luis Guillen, Jr. 12 29 Tim Walters Jr 13 99 Devon Cuddy Bandolero Bandits 1 54 Tanner Cornwell 2 55 Michael Held Bandolero Young Guns 1 8 Donovan Ponder 2 48 Critter Saille Have an opinion on this story? 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