Early race favorite #61 Jimmy Cope retired his car behind pit road early with apparent engine problems. Meanwhile Anderson was heating it up on the track finally getting an inside move on Darryl and taking the lead on lap 20. The whole time veteran Late Model driver Pete Orr in the #30 had cagily moved up through the field and slid into 3rd behind Shelnut and the three cars moved away from the field. The rest of the field was tight and the battles were all over the race track #11 David Rogers was making steady advances from his 10th starting position also moving up was the #41 Jeff
Williams who had help on his car all weekend from Hooters Pro-Cup Star Mario
Gosslen, the #99 current points leader Glenn Whitney was also making strides
towards the front.
Photos Page 1 On lap 59, while coming up on lapped traffic, Anderson had a slight slip and after taking 2nd from Shelnut, Orr made a move on the inside and pulled up even with him but with his brakes glowing going into each turn the crafty veteran Anderson held off the charge and kept the lead position. #93 Rob Partelo who was running consistent laps had to pull into the pits with an overheating motor. He was able to get back into the race but was never much of a factor after that. Meanwhile #44 Williams had moved into 3rd and was all over the rear bumper of the #77 finally sliding inside of him and taking the spot and bringing David Rogers by Shelnut. The race for second was on as Anderson was driving away with almost a full straight lead. #0 Dave Pletcher who was hanging tough staying in the top 10 throughout the race pulled his car behind pit wall just after the half way mark with what seemed like suspension problems ending his bid for the win. #99 points leader
Glenn Whitney's night ended early with an unknown problem as he to pulled his
machine behind the wall after a having a good run going. Running hard with the leaders had its toll on #77 Shelnut as he pulled into the pits with a flat then after changing the tire and starting a charge back up through the
field, crashed hard on the backstretch wall ending what had been a great run
for him and his crew. The crash in the backstretch also took out top runner
#41 Jeff Williams after pulling on pit road with an apparent flat it was
obvious the damage was much worse with a broken control arm also ending his
race. During the caution the #16 of Eddie King caught fire on the rear
stretch from an electrical fire but was quickly extinguished. Photos page 2
Meanwhile, while starting near the rear of the field due to problems
in qualifying, # 5
David L."Buggy" Pletcher quietly made his way towards
the front. The battle
in the front continued but it was "Trickie" Dickie Anderson
holding off the
hard charging Orr taking the win, #11 David Rogers brought his
car home 3rd,
#34 Bronson winner Ricky Carlton was 4th, and the "BugMan"
David L. Pletcher
rounded out the top 5.
* Note: "Iron Man" Dwayne Dempsey finished 8th in the
first of 3 races he
would run this night.
When the 35 cars pulled onto the track for the S.A.R.A. Late Model
Sportsman feature you could feel something in the hot, humid August
night
air. These cars who are used to running on the 3/8th and 1/4 mile
bullrings
across the state were now on the high banks of the 3/4 mile USA
Speedway.
The green dropped and the speeds were up as #45 Sonny Hughes took
the early lead
with the #5 of Joe Boyd falling in behind him in 2nd the rest
of the field
was tight and battling hard behind the leader when on lap 7 #81
Mike Cioffi
crashed into the backstretch
wall igniting an inferno from a burst fuel cell,
the #74 of Richie Henry exploded into a fireball as 5 or 6 other
cars
involved were also damaged in the flames.
The crowd was on their feet as the flames licked towards the top
of the light poles in the infield. Also involved were the #75
of Richie Anderson, #56x Kevin Durden, #29 Tracey Raven and the
#6 of Bill Chapman. All the drivers were pulled clear of the flaming
carnage as the track crew was right on top of the fiery situation.
Drivers
Anderson and Henry were taken to the hospital, Anderson with possible
2nd and
3rd degree burns on his face and hands, Henry with neck and back
pains.
What was one of the deadliest looking crashes I have ever seen
in racing was under
control and out from great work by the safety team at USA Speedway.
After an
hour long red flag delay for the clean up which anywhere else
would have
possibly closed any other race track racing resumed with Hughes
again pulling
out and holding the lead while behind him #8x Shane Sawyer was
all over the
Boyd machine finally getting an inside move and getting by with
Boyd losing
positions as #7 "Iron Man"Dwayne Dempsey also got by.
Dempsey then got by
Sawyer coming out of 4 and took the lead.
Meanwhile #8 Mike McCrary entered the fray getting by Hughes and
pulling into 3rd spot. After leading several laps Shane
again used some power and got by Dempsey in the same spot that
he had lost the lead. McCrary then pulled up on the rear bumper
of Dempsey and the race was on for 2nd with Mike eventually
getting by and setting his sites on the leader but was unable
to get by as Sawyer took the checkers followed by McCary, Dempsey
ran 3rd, #69 Bobby Shelton 4th and #45 Sonny Hughes 5th.
*Note: Dempsey climbed from his car did the winners circle interviews
and
headed to the pits to climb into the Modified for the next feature
without
missing a beat.
The engines fired and 25 cars pulled out for the final feature
of the
night the S.A.R.A. Open Wheel Modifieds roared out onto the high
banks. #52
Robert ham who blistered the track in qualifying with 122.64 mph
run moved up
through the field and slid into 2nd behind leader Larry Martin
in the #07.
#89 Lee Collins who was 2nd in qualifying was also moving up until
he got
caught up in a crash that took out #2 Jeff Girard appearing to
break
something in the rear suspension in Collins machine.
Ham worked the Martin machine masterfully finally getting by and
never looking back at times pulling out over a whole straightaway
lead. Martin was briefly challenged for
the 2nd spot by both # 66 Jerry Symons and the #6 of Dwayne Dempsey
but held
them both off as Dempsey and Symons swapping 3rd spot several
times. Racing
action was great all over the track but when the smoke cleared
it was Robert
Hamm taking the win convincingly. Martin roared across in the
2nd spot,
Dempsey came home 3rd,Symons floowed in 4th and #22 points leader
Perry Brown
5th.
*Note: Again the Iron Man Dempsey climbed out of his car and did
the
interviews after the race. I talked to him and the man seemed
ready to go
another 100 laps in anything!!! This guy has the stamina to race.
No wonder
he leads the points in Sportsman and is 2nd in the Modifieds......Look
for a
feature article on Dempsey coming up in the near future on KARNAC.
Thanks go out to Billy Martino Jr. and his crew at USA Speedway
for a
great 2 days. The racing was awesome the track as it always is.
Coming up
next at USA Speedway are the Hooters ProCup cars Sept 4th for
the Jackroo
Sauces 250 and the SARA Late Model Sportsman coming back for another
feature
race.........From Lakeland.......Rick Anges
EDITORS NOTE: Shane Sawyer was disqualified giving the SARA late model winners trophy to Mike McCreary |
