IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 7, 2009 David Slawiak tops Sprints at New Smyrna Speedway The Checked Flag Sprint Series (CFSS) made their first stop of the 2009 season at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday June 6, 2009. Despite the rainy forecast, 14 cars came to the track to run two heat races and a 30 lap feature race. Ric Voisey had the pole for the start of the first race, but opted to go to the rear when the cars got on the track, giving pole position to David Slawiak in the 79 with Brian Maddox in the 82 car alongside. David made the better start and led the heat from start to finish and took the first heat win. The second heat saw Geoff Styner in the 15JR on the pole with Jason Bradford in the 37 car on the outside. As the green flag dropped it was Amanda Ferguson in the 20 car who came from the third place starting position through to take the lead. Despite some close fought racing from Gary Gimmler in the 29 car, Amanda took the heat win. Geoff Styner in the 15JR had the pole for the start of the feature race with Amanda Ferguson in the 20 car on the outside. Just as in the second heat race, it was the third place car, this time David Slawiak in the 79, that came through at the start of the race to take the lead. Unfortunately, after contact from another car, the 20 of Amanda Ferguson started to get a flat rear tire and as the car lost control coming out of turn four, contact was made with the 67 car of Scott Adema and causing the 52 of Mark Gimmler and the 15JR of Geoff Styner to spin out. With all four cars sitting at the exit of turn four, the caution flag was out and a complete restart was needed. Amanda’s crew was able to change the tire on the car and get her back out, but the 67 of Scott Adema was unable to restart due to mechanical issues. With both front row cars involved in the caution and being sent to the rear, the pole position for the complete restart went to David Slawiak in the 79 car with the outside pole going to Stan Butler in the 5W car. David was again able to take the race lead as the track went green and the race got underway. The 19T driven by Mark Whitney, who had been having issues with the car all day, pulled in on lap 5 followed by the 59 of Danny Statter on lap 6. Keith Butler in the 19 car was catching up to the race leader and was close on his tail. Brian Maddox retired the 82 car on lap 19 and Ric Voisey pulled off in the 69 on lap 24. Just one lap later, with the 19 riding on the tail of the race leader, a brake failure sent Keith Butler in the 19 car rolling and flying into the wall and up into the fence between turns 3 and 4. The car landed back on the track, the right way up and up high, bringing out the red flag. Except for some bumps and bruises, Keith walked away from the crash unhurt to the cheers of support from the crowd in the grandstand. When the track was cleaned up, the remaining cars got back to green flag racing and ran the last 6 laps without any more cautions, David Slawiak took the feature win, breaking Keith’s run of 5 straight wins and taking the Barfield Clean Sweep Award for winning both his heat race and the feature event. Gary Gimmler in the 29 car finished in second place, followed by his brother Mark Gimmler in the 51 car, Stan Butler in the 5W car and Amanda Ferguson in the 20 car rounded out the top five. Checkered Flag Sprint Series New Smyrna Speedway, June 6, 2009 Heat #1 1) 79 David Slawiak (Brandon, FL) 2) 19 Keith Butler (Riverview, FL) 3) 51 Mark Gimmler (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) 4) 22 Dustin Henderson (St Cloud, FL) 5) 69 Ric Voisey (Wesley Chapel, FL) 6) 82 Brian Maddox(Brandon, FL) 7) 59 Danny Statter (Deltona, FL) Heat #2 1) 20 Amanda Ferguson (Montverde, FL) 2) 29 Gary Gimmler (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) 3) 5W Stan Butler (Bushnell, FL) 4) 67 Scott Adema (Ft. Myers, FL) 5) 15JR Geoff Styner (Cape Coral, FL) 6) 37 Jason Bradford (Port Charlotte, FL) 7) 19T Mark Whitney (Mooresville, NC) Feature 1) 79 David Slawiak; 2) 29 Gary Gimmler; 3) 51 Mark Gimmler; 4) 5W Stan Butler; 5) 20 Amanda Ferguson; 6) 22 Dustin Henderson; 7) 37 Jason Bradford; 8) 15JR Geoff Styner; 9) 19 Keith Butler; 10) 69 Ric Voisey; 11) 82 Brian Maddox; 12) 59 Danny Statter; 13) 19T Mark Whitney; 14) 67 Scott Adema The staff and racers of the CFSS would like to thank everyone for their support and hope to see you at the next race which will be at Charlotte County Motorsports Park on June 13th. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!