IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 27, 2009 Johanna Long tops Blizzard #3 at Five Flags Johanna Long won her second Blizzard Series feature of the season Friday night, starting on the pole and leading 84 of 100 laps at Five Flags Speedway. The 17-year-old continued to show her talent before an approving crowd. “It was amazing,” she said. “This is one of the best race cars I’ve ever had.” But the win was not without some excitement. She had comfortably led for the first 59 laps when she came upon some lapped traffic. She couldn’t get around them and Casey Smith zipped down low to take the lead from her. But on the next lap, Smith spun when Augie Grill – who was about to be lapped – spun. That returned the lead to Long as she and the other lead-lap cars pitted for fresh tires. Eddie Mercer, who was pitted at the end of pit road, barely beat her out of the pits to take the lead. About 10 laps later, Long chased Mercer down and was right on his bumper. On Lap 76, Mercer spun on the backstretch with Long right behind her, giving the lead back to Long. She then held off points leader Bubba Pollard through two more restarts to secure the victory. David Rogers finished third, Grill took fourth and Steven Davis was fifth. Mercer worked his way back to finish eighth. Nineteen of the 22 cars finished on the lead lap. Grill, the two-time defending Snowball Derby champion, started 18th and couldn’t pick up speed until numerous pit stops later in the race. Pete Kitchen won the 20-lap Bomber feature to open the night’s racing. Daryl Lynchard led the first three laps. But Kitchen took over the lead with a low pass in Turn 2 as Lynchard drifted high and fell back to fourth. Later, Lynchard brought out the only caution of the race on Lap 10 when he was turned by another driver and spun out in Turn 4. On the restart, points leader Mike Kitchen pulled even with Bo Hancock and made the pass for third place. Then he went outside of William Goulet and the two raced side-by-side for several laps, before Mike Kitchen passed him for second on Lap 15. That duel allowed Pete Kitchen to keep a comfortable lead and Mike couldn’t catch him. Later, Mike Kitchen was disqualified in postrace inspection. Super Stock driver Tommy Rolllins had wondered if he still had it. He did. Rollins led all 25 laps for the feature win. Rollins, John Shuffler and Randy Thompson ran a tight 1-2-3 for the first 14 laps until a caution came out for debris on the track. Rollins actually pulled away after the restart. On Lap 18, Shuffler went under Thompson and took second place a lap later. Thompson finished third. Points leader Shannon Jackson started eighth and briefly worked his way to fourth before falling to fifth. Darryl Rudd was fourth. Before the start, the cars lined up in the Missing Man formation for former Super Stock Freddie Tanner, who recently died. Randy Thompson passed Billy Hoover to win the 20-lap Sportsman feature. Steve Buttrick finished third. Super Late Models - Feature Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 1 10JL Johanna Long Pensacola , Fl 160 2 3 26 Bubba Pollard Senoia , Ga 155 3 11 11R David Rogers Orlando , Fl 150 4 18 112 Augie Grill Dolomite , Al 145 5 10 1D Steven Davis Satsuma , Al 140 6 17 21SC Scott Carlson Cantonment , Fl 135 7 15 1MC Stephan Mccurley Silsbee , Tx 130 8 5 1EM Eddie Mercer Cantonment , Fl 125 9 6 67F Jeff Fultz Troutman , Nc 120 10 4 99s Casey Smith Austin , Tx 115 11 19 82W Donnie Wilson Oklahoma City, Ok 110 12 14 48 Cecil Chunn Spring Hill, Tn 105 13 13 1 Tim Martin Amite , La 100 14 20 99D Jr Niedecken Pensacola , Fl 95 15 2 17 Chris Gabehart Kennesaw , Ga 90 16 7 05 Jeremy Colangelo Deland , Fl 85 17 12 10B Danny Bagwell Cordova , Al 80 18 8 6R Hunter Robbins Shorter , Al 75 19 21 18 Brandon Harris Cantonment , Fl 70 20 22 25 Rocky Boyd, Sr. Pensacola , Fl 65 21 16 02 Matt Smith Houston , Tx 60 22 9 2B John Bolen Jasper , Al 55 Super Stocks - Feature Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 3 11 Tommy Rollins Pensacola , Fl 50 2 7 0 John Shuffler Crestview , Fl 47 3 5 42 Randy Thompson Cantonment , Fl 44 4 9 56 Darryl Rudd Chipley , Fl 41 5 8 94 Shannon Jackson Pascagoula , Ms 38 6 4 55MM Mike Moore Pensacola , Fl 35 7 2 44 Greg Young Pensacola , Fl 32 8 1 0A Scotty Anderson Opp , Al 29 9 11 76 Daniel Webber Pensacola , Fl 26 10 6 53 Earl Polk Pensacola , Fl 23 Sportsmen - Feature Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 3 42 Randy Thompson Cantonment , Fl 50 2 1 98 Billy Hoover Pensacola , Fl 47 3 5 33B Steve Buttrick Cantonment , Fl 44 4 2 07 Jim Pokrant Pensacola , Fl 41 5 7 24 Wayne Burkett Pensacola , Fl 38 6 6 12W Bubba Winslow Cantonment , Fl 35 7 9 81 Shanna Ard Milton , Fl 32 8 4 4K William Kitchen Pensacola , Fl 29 9 11 00F Brannon Fowler Molino , Fl 26 10 12 2R Darin Matthews Pascagoula , Ms 23 11 10 12 Thomas Faddis Cantonment , Fl 20 12 8 51 Stevie Mercer Pensacola , Fl 17 Bombers - Feature Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 4 2 Pete Kitchen Molino , Fl 50 2 5 87K William Goulet Navarre , Fl 47 3 1 44H Bo Hancock Milton , Fl 44 4 3 03 Michael Nelson Pensacola , Fl 41 5 17 97B Kenny Bullard Cantonment , Fl 38 6 7 33M Sam Mellema Pensacola , Fl 35 7 12 25H Eddie Hobbs Milton , Fl 32 8 2 68 Daryl Lynchard Navarre , Fl 29 9 11 20B Devron Brooks Stockbridge , Ga 26 10 15 11R Courtney Rodrigues Pensacola , Fl 23 11 14 10 Leonard Craig Jr Cantonment , Fl 20 12 10 77 Rick Thompson Molino , Fl 17 13 16 56 Brandon Lee Pensacola , Fl 14 14 8 28S Dayton Sidner Cantonment , Fl 11 15 9 5G Mike Goraum Cantonment , Fl 8 16 13 98 Tim Norman Navarre , Fl 5 Have an opinion on this story? 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