By Jane Smith
The heat index was 105 Friday at SpeedWorld but that did not stop the 4,000 plus fans that came to see stockcar racing. The drivers were given free tickets to handout to fans for SpeedWorld and obviously they did their job with a packed house, standing room only. With 124 cars in the pits, some drivers were pitting in the back forty for the night’s action.
Trademark Metals Recycling, who has an office in Cocoa, made the Super Late Model race even mroe exciting but upping the purse and adding an extra ten laps to the feature. TMR is the sponsor for David Pollen, Jr. out of Tampa and they had plenty of company fans in the stands cheering for their driver. Plus Ricky Carmichael also had his fans in the stands for the night and his boss, Mark Martin, at the track although Ricky was taken out before the race even had one lap down.
Jared Allison of Cocoa, Blake Lehr of Titusville and Gary Bierlein of Cocoa all had their Super Lates out for the special race. Allison had the best finish of the three with a third. Lehr, who drove without power steering and basically manhandling the car, finished sixth. Bierlein returned after time off due to lack of sponsorship and finished 11th.
Bobby Joe Woodley of Palm Bay found another Palm Bay resident in the Open Wheel Modified feature Friday night. John Hodge, who sold his Sportsman to Whitney Poole of South Brevard County, was behind the wheel of Dick Laszlo’s, of Melbourne, Modified. Hodge is seriously thinking of buying the Modified and returning to racing. Woodley finished fifth with Hodge right behind him in sixth.
Brett Woodley of Palm Bay, Justin Reynolds of Merritt Island and Whitney Poole of South Brevard ran their Sportsman Friday night. Woodley, who is second in points, finished second in the feature with Reynolds right on his bumper for third. Poole, who recently blew her motor, returned with a new motor and finsihed seventh.
Bobby Simcox of Palm Bay has waited all year for his first win in the Super Stock division and before the full stands, he got that Friday night. Simcox was overjoyed and said “it was worth waiting for this.” Right behind Simcox was Palm Bay’s Lee Wagner in second. It has been months since Roger Wright of Merritt Island got in his Super Stock, in fact, it had cobb webs in it, but Friday night he ran a very good race and finished fifth. Scotty Edwards of Mims finished 14th with James Frisbie of Palm Bay being disqualified for not tearing down after the race. The top five Super Stocks were torn down but Frisbie refused and saw a DQ for the night.
Pedie Allison of Cocoa was looking forward to the Mini Stock 50 Friday night but the heat got to him and Jared ran the car for the 50 lapper. Pedie watched as Jared drove his Mini Stock to the win for $500.00 R.J. Arnone of Cocoa, who took the points lead from Pedie Friday night, finished third with Bob Kelchner of Cocoa right behind him in fourth. Justin Curtis of Palm Bay was sixth in his first attempt in months in his Mini Stock. Justin ran the Junior Stock divison last year. Richie Laszlo of Melbourne had problems with his car and was unable to start the race, only watch it from the stands.
Both Tom Stewart and Gary Thomas of Merritt Island had their Strictly Stocks out practicing for the 30 lap Hurricane race on Saturday night. Stewart finished ninth Friday night with Thomas 17th. On Saturday both Stewart and Thomas were ready for the 30 lap Hurricane feature along with Alex Fortune of Merritt Island. Fortune, who is 14 years old, managed to qualify 7th for the 30 lap feature. But it was not Fortune’s night as his car engine blew up with two laps to go while he was running in the top five finishing 16th in the 25 car field. Thomas had a much better night than Friday and finished fifth with Stewart tenth.
Dalton Bergman of Cocoa did not race the Friday night RE/MAX Legend race but did come out on Saturday. Dalton drew the pole for the second heat race and finished 15th in the feature race. Friday night also saw Zoey Guignardi of Rockledge in her Bandolero Bandit at SpeedWorld. Zoey finished sixth Friday night and fifth Saturday night. Both Zoey and Dalton will be back at SpeedWorld this Saturday for more Bandolero and Legend action.
NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY
Rich Clouser of Palm Bay won his third Late Model race in a row Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway. Rich was fine tuning his Late Model for this Saturday night when the Goodyear Challenge Late Model 100 will run at New Smyrna. Rich currently runs second in points for the Goodyear Challenge.
Jared Allison liked winning the Mini Stock 50 so much Friday night that Saturday night he went to New Smyrna and won again. Right behind Allison was Ted Vulpius of Mims in second followed by Titusville’s Jamie Dixson in third. Jared was very happy with his double wins.
Bobby Joe Woodley hauled his Modified to New Smyrna for the Florida Modified 50 but did not have a good night with his 12th place finish. Although Woodley was disappointed it will not stop him from going back to New Smyrna again.
Still floating on Cloud 9, Bobby Simcox went to New Smyrna to try his luck. Although Bobby did not get his two wins in a row, he did finish second in the Super Stock feature. David Gould of Melbourne, who was unable to start the feature at Orlando SpeedWorld Friday night, tried his luck also Satuday night at New Smyrna. Gould finished 11th in his first race there in two years. Finishing 14th was Titusville’s Tobi Smith who still has not yet got all the bugs worked out of his car. Tobi saw his car destroyed earlier in the year at Orlando and has been battling his new car ever since then.
-Jane Smith publishes a weekly motorsports column on Real Racin USA.
