IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

August 9, 2009 PONCE AND PEACOCK SPILT SPORTSMAN WINS SATURDAY AT VOLUSIA SPEEDWAY PARK Great weather greeted fans and competitors Saturday evening at Volusia Speedway Park with the Sportsman and Street Stock classes also running their make-up features from the rainout the previous week. Twenty-one of the 25 cars who were scheduled to run the previous week were back at the track for the make-up Taylor Racing Products Sportsman feature. Drew Smith grabbed the early advandage and held strong until Ronnie Ponce began to get hooked up and powered by on lap eight. The only caution of the race flew on lap ten as Marc Kinley's car stalled in turn two. At the same time, Garrett Stewart went pit side as well. From that point Ponce simply blew the field away winning by a full straight. For Ponce, it was his second win of the year and he was trailed to the checker by Stanton Mills who was subbing for regular driver Danny Vogel, Jr. Steve Shead crossed the line in third with Smith holding on for fourth and Paul Shead fifth. Shane Williams, Corey Holley, Shaun Daugharty, Alan Peacock and Timothy Miller rounded out the top ten. Completing the finishers were Levi Cribbs, Matt McGillivray, Dan Lane, Sr., Steve Branton, Aaron Barsness, Matt Johnson, Heinz Haas, Martin Johnson, Blaise Hetznecker, Stewart and Kinley. The first feature had definitely taken its toll as only 17 cars could answer the bell for the second race. It looked as if Ponce would make it back-to-back victories as he and pole-sitter Shane Williams locked up in a heated battle at the drop of the green only to see Williams stall going into turn one on the second lap. Ponce jumped out front as the green was again displayed, but he was unable to get a big advantage due to caution flags. Levi Cribbs spun in turn four to bring out the yellow on lap four. One lap later, Cribbs tangled with Aaron Barsness in turn three. Cribbs was out while Barsness made repairs and continued. Caution for debris slowed the action on laps six and eight. Ponce continued to set the pace but Alan Peacock's car was becoming a rocket as he flew by Ponce with two laps to go and Peacock scored his second win of the year in his Brighthouse Networks sponsored car. Ponce settled for the runner-up spot while "Super Sub" Stanton Mills was third. Shane Williams blasted from the rear of the pack after his early troubles to claim fourth while Paul Shead duplicated his first race effort with another fifth after starting 17th. The rest of the top ten were Garrett Stewart (up from 16th at the start), Blaise Hetznecker, Shaun Daugharty, Timothy Miller and Dan Lane, Sr. Steve Shead, Matt McGillivray, Matt Johnson, Barsness, Heinz Haas, Steve Branton and Cribbs completed the finishing field. The make-up Daytona Sportswear Street Stock feature race saw 17 of the 21 scheduled cars take the green flag. Phillip Brown took the initial lead as the field sliced and diced for spots behind him. Three caution periods slowed the action including one for a blown engine/fire on Bruce Birkitt's Ford. Brown had plenty of challenges over the 20 lap distance but he held strong for his first win of the year. Steve Mooers came home second followed by Steve Oldaker, Grady Christian and Bubba Christian. Tim Hughes, D.J. Nobles, Justin Simmons, Mark Maresca and James Smith were sixth through tenth with Mick Kulak, Ricky Adams, David Kinsey, Birkitt, Michael Tovet, George Richards and Charlie MacNichol rounding out the finishers. Mills, Peacock and Ponce won the heats. Fifteen cars made up the regular Street Stock feature and things got back to normal in the class in a hurry as Grady Christian made up for a sub-par (for him) performance in the make-up race by making a bold move on the low side off turn four at the drop of the green to take the lead. Christian had no time to rest as four caution periods kept the field right on his bumper but he held on to the top spot from start to finish. Steve Oldaker, who is beginning to turn a so-far dismal season around, scored his best finish of the year with a strong second place ahead of Steve Mooers, Tim Hughes and the make-up winner Brown. The rest of the top ten consisted of James Smith, Mark Maresca, Justin Simmons, Ricky Adams and George Richards while the remaining finishers were Charlie MacNichol, Bubba Christian, Mick Kulak, Mike Eubanks and D.J. Nobles. Heat race wins went to Grady Christian and Brown. Heat wins for the 22 Budweiser Modifieds on hand went to Cody Blair, Michael Phillips and Rob Underwood but no one could catch Jason Davis come feature time. Davis started from the outside pole and blasted out front building up a big lead before caution flew for the first time on lap ten as Wayne Allen, Jr.stalled on the back stretch. Davis again sped to a big lead only to be slowed a second time for a slowing James Smith on lap 15. On the restart, P.J. Wiggins slid by Larry Burkins for second but was already well behind Davis. A final caution for debris on lap 17 gave Wiggins one final shot at Davis, but Davis was too strong as he picked up his second win in his last three outings. The worst wreck of the race happened after the checker fell. Several car racing in mid-pack got together crossing the finish line leaving the cars of Phillips, Wayne Allen, Jr. and Darron Smith with considerable damage. Trailing Davis to the checker were Wiggins, Burkins, Blair and Underwood. Jamie Carter was sixth with Rick Scott, Phillips, Austin Sanders, and Dale Murray the rest of the top ten. Darron Smith was 11th with Larry Mott, Charlie MacNichol, Jimmy Carter, Allen, Jr., Tim Smith, Jacob Buie, James Smith, Barry Sheffield, Rick Davis and Chuck Adkins rounding out the finishers. Josh Sanford was unable to start the feature. The Aerotec Aluminum Four Cylinder Challenger heat race resulted in a wild finish as leaders Dalton Strehle and Gilbert Espy crashed coming off turn four. Also involved were Hank Goodrich who hit the inside wall and Gilbert Williams who clobbered the outside wall. Casey Feaster slipped through the mess to take the heat race win. Only Strehle would answer the call for the feature. Two other drivers, Thomas Parker and Mike Comitale, also suffered terminal heat race problems leaving just eight cars to run the feature. Defending champion Danny Lunn led the early going in the feature, but Strehle was not to be denied as he sped by and went on to his second straight win in the class. Lunn held on to second giving the Kerr Race Team a 1-2 finish. Davey Wolf had a good run for third followed by Daniel Laird, birthday boy R.J. Glaser, Feaster, David Ladrie and Brian Smith. Thunder Stock heat race winner Scott Mooers was sent to the pits early in the feature after it was ruled he hit the car of Robert Pence sending Pence hard into the inside fence between turns three and four during lap three. Once the race went green again, Donnie Nobles put the hammer down and led all the way to claim an easy victory. Matthew Schell, James Edwards, Eddie Tovet and Richard Calmes trailed Nobles to the checker. Rounding out the finishers were Robert Schrunk, Skip Land, Brian Brogan, Glenn Vincent, Mooers and Pence. Michael Rood was unable to make the feature start. This coming Saturday night will be a big one for Late Model fans as the Daytona Dodge Late Models will run their make-up feature from August 1st along with running their regularly scheduled event. Also on tap will be the Budweiser Modifieds, Street Stocks, Aerotec Aluminum Four Cylinder Challengers and the Thunder Stocks. Racing action begins at 7:30 PM but if you are unable to make it or want to enjoy the action from anyplace world-wide, simply log on to the Volusia Speedway Park live webcast at www.tvshowcaster.com. OFFICIAL RESULTS VOLUSIA SPEEDWAY PARK AUGUST 8, 2009 Sportsman - Feature 1 5 Alan Peacock 2 57P Ronnie Ponce 3 99 Stanton Mills 4 21 Shane Williams 5 80 Paul Shead 6 67 Garret Stewart 7 17H Blaise Hetznecker 8 00 Shaun Daugharty 9 42M Timothy Miller 10 05 Dan Lane Sr 11 10 Steve Shead 12 95 Matt Mcgillivray 13 96 Matt Johnson 14 11 Aaron Barsness 15 57 Karl Heinz Haas 16 40 Steve Branton 17 3C Levi Cribbs 18 29 Drew Smith 19 11C Corey Holley 20 17 Marc Kinley 21 83 Martin Johnson Modified - Feature 1 145 Jason Davis 2 410 P J Wiggins 3 54B Larry Burkins 4 81 Cody Blair 5 77 Rob Underwood 6 15X Jamie Carter 7 8 Rick Scott 8 11M Michael Phillips 9 64 Austin Sanders 10 66 Dale Murray 11 41D Darron Smith 12 ZO6 Larry Mott 13 11 Charlie Macnichol 14 75 Jimmy Carter 15 77A Wayne Allen Jr 16 5K Tim Smith 17 74B Jacob Buie 18 40 James Smith 19 41B Barry Sheffield 20 44 Rick Davis 21 74 Chuck Adkins 22 02 Josh Sanford Street Stock 1 36 Grady Christian 2 51 Steve Oldaker 3 95 Steve Mooers 4 54 Tim Hughes 5 13 Phillip Brown 6 11S James Smith 7 77M Mark Maresca 8 94 Justin Sirmons 9 24A Ricky Adams 10 0 George Richards 11 12M Charlie Macnichol 12 04 Charles Christian 13 18E Mike Eubanks 15 20 D.j. Nobles 16 4 B Michael Tovet 17 9 Bruce Birkitt 18 K3 David Kinsey Thunder Stock 1 17 Donnie Nobles 2 57 Matthew Schell 3 13 James Edwards 4 00 Eddie Tovet 5 07 Richard Calmes 6 03 Robert Schrun 7 0 Skip Land 8 63 Brian Brogan 9 28 Glenn Vincent 10 10 Scott Mooers 11 9 Robert Pence 12 D10 Michael Rood UMP 4-Cyl 1 75S Dalton Strehle 2 39.5 Danny Lunn 3 01 Davey Wolf 4 29L Daniel Laird 5 004 Rj Glaser 6 20 Casey Feaster 7 11 David Ladrie 8 B12 Brian Smith 9 75 Gilford Williams 10 37E Gilbert Espy 11 7 E Hank Goodrich 13 48 Mark Comitale Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!