CLOUSER MAKES IT EIGHT DIFFERENT PRO LM WINNERS AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY
Beautiful but warm weather greeted race fans Saturday night at New Smyrna
Speedway and the NASCAR Whelan All-American Racing Series action was hot as
well with the Pro Late Model feature seeing yet another new winner in victory
lane.
Rich Clouser had the pole position for the 25-lap Pro Late Model feature and
bolted to a quick lead as outside pole sitter Anthony Cataldi's car faltered.
That bunched up the field just after the green flew. Ricky Anderson moved up
to second place while Cataldi got his car up to speed and tried to make an
inside move on Anderson between turns one and two. The pair made contact
sending Anderson into a spin with Will Carroll losing control trying to avoid
the mishap, ending up hard in the wall. Ricardo Flores had nowhere to go and
he hit Anderson's stalled machine while Michael Lira also got involved
damaging the front of his car too. After the scene was cleared, only
Carroll's car needed a tow to the pits as the other cars all pitted for
repairs and continued.
Clouser set sail on the restart and was never seriously challenged the rest of
the way despite a caution flag with two laps to go when Chris Brannon's car
stalled on the front stretch. That gave second-running Cody Blair as shot at
Clouser but the Deland driver was not to be denied as he put his Sanford Auto
Dealer's Exchange machine into victory lane for the first time this year
becoming the eighth different winner in eight Pro Late Model outings this
season.
Blair trailed in second just ahead of Cataldi who worked his way back through
the field after being forced to restart in the rear after the early incident.
Anderson drove his damaged mount to fourth place while Zack Jarrell ran steady
to nab fifth spot. Completing the finishers were Flores, Larry Blount,
Brannon, Lira and Carroll.
Earl "Junior" Beckner led all the way to win his third Sportsman race of the
season in a race that saw just one yellow flag at the end of lap one for a
wild front stretch spin by Steve Barnes. Barnes kept his car off the walls
and continued. By the time heat race winner Derrick Wood could make his way
to second place, Beckner was long gone as Wood had to settle for the runner-up
spot over Donny Williams. Greg Talley looked great in his first start of the
season by finishing a close fourth while fifth went to Justin Starr. Barnes
came back to take sixth followed by Mike Pletka, D. J. Farr, John Buzinec and
Daniel Conlin, Jr.
A pair of heats were needed to set the feature field for the Super Stocks with
those wins going to Mike Amato and Garrett Hill. Bobby Holley would lead the
opening two circuits of the 25-lap main event before Shannon Kelly took over.
Kelly's lead would be short-lived as Justin Reynolds breezed by him on lap
seven to lead the remaining distance.
Becca Samsoe was running fourth but spun out in turn two on lap 11 to bring
out the first caution flag of the event with a second yellow being needed for
a spinning Mike Dahm on lap 17, also in turn two. Neither slow-down affected
Reynolds as he dominated the last two-thirds of the race and kept his win
streak perfect for the year as he's won all four times he's been entered in
competition.
Hill finished a distant second ahead of Kelly, Amato and Samsoe who rebounded
nicely from her earlier miscue. Gino Tumminello took sixth with Preston Hunt
coming back from a bad heat race crash to take seventh. Mike Dahm was eighth
after his earlier spin then ended up winning the nightly 50/50 raffle, so
overall it was a good night for the bearded fellow from Enterprise. J. T.
Tippins, Robert Pence, Holley, George Dahm and Justin Spears rounded out the
finishers.
The Mini Stock feature was one of those crazy races that was in doubt all the
way to the end. Jeff White got the action going on the initial start when he
hit the turn one wall while Brad Blanton went for a spin at the same time.
White pitted for repairs and continued. Pat Wells got to the lead early in
this one and that seemed to be the best place to be as things behind him were
somewhat "testy" among several drivers. A second yellow flag was needed for a
spinning Daniel Brown on lap eight but Wells maintained his advantage despite
some good pressure from last week's winner Tyler Simpson.
White spun again to bring out the caution with five laps to go and Simpson
came down pit road for a quick check of his car, giving up his second place
spot. David Russell lined up second for the restart but his machine slowed
suddenly and he slowly made his way to the pits just as Mark Broat spun in
turn four and clobbered the inside wall negating his best run of the year and
again damaging his new car. Simpson just could not get his car back up to
speed and he headed for the pits, done for the night.
Wells held on to take the victory, his second of the year with Blanton coming
back for second, his best finish of the season. Third went to Reid
Christiensen who finally had his engine sounding like all four cylinders were
working in tandem. White took fourth with Michael Seay fifth in a
wild-looking AMC Gremiln-bodied car. Simpson, Broat, Russell and Brown were
credited with sixth through ninth. Russell won the heat race.
Jimmy Barron out-ran Aaron Overman to claim the Strictly Stock win.
This Thursday night, it's the annual Clyde Hart Memorial race for the
Brighthouse Challenge Series Super Late Models plus 50 laps for the Open
Modified division and more. Racing action starts at 7:30 pm.
Beautiful but warm weather greeted race fans Saturday night at New Smyrna
Speedway and the NASCAR Whelan All-American Racing Series action was hot as
well with the Pro Late Model feature seeing yet another new winner in victory
lane.
Rich Clouser had the pole position for the 25-lap Pro Late Model feature and
bolted to a quick lead as outside pole sitter Anthony Cataldi's car faltered.
That bunched up the field just after the green flew. Ricky Anderson moved up
to second place while Cataldi got his car up to speed and tried to make an
inside move on Anderson between turns one and two. The pair made contact
sending Anderson into a spin with Will Carroll losing control trying to avoid
the mishap, ending up hard in the wall. Ricardo Flores had nowhere to go and
he hit Anderson's stalled machine while Michael Lira also got involved
damaging the front of his car too. After the scene was cleared, only
Carroll's car needed a tow to the pits as the other cars all pitted for
repairs and continued.
Clouser set sail on the restart and was never seriously challenged the rest of
the way despite a caution flag with two laps to go when Chris Brannon's car
stalled on the front stretch. That gave second-running Cody Blair as shot at
Clouser but the Deland driver was not to be denied as he put his Sanford Auto
Dealer's Exchange machine into victory lane for the first time this year
becoming the eighth different winner in eight Pro Late Model outings this
season.
Blair trailed in second just ahead of Cataldi who worked his way back through
the field after being forced to restart in the rear after the early incident.
Anderson drove his damaged mount to fourth place while Zack Jarrell ran steady
to nab fifth spot. Completing the finishers were Flores, Larry Blount,
Brannon, Lira and Carroll.
Earl "Junior" Beckner led all the way to win his third Sportsman race of the
season in a race that saw just one yellow flag at the end of lap one for a
wild front stretch spin by Steve Barnes. Barnes kept his car off the walls
and continued. By the time heat race winner Derrick Wood could make his way
to second place, Beckner was long gone as Wood had to settle for the runner-up
spot over Donny Williams. Greg Talley looked great in his first start of the
season by finishing a close fourth while fifth went to Justin Starr. Barnes
came back to take sixth followed by Mike Pletka, D. J. Farr, John Buzinec and
Daniel Conlin, Jr.
A pair of heats were needed to set the feature field for the Super Stocks with
those wins going to Mike Amato and Garrett Hill. Bobby Holley would lead the
opening two circuits of the 25-lap main event before Shannon Kelly took over.
Kelly's lead would be short-lived as Justin Reynolds breezed by him on lap
seven to lead the remaining distance.
Becca Samsoe was running fourth but spun out in turn two on lap 11 to bring
out the first caution flag of the event with a second yellow being needed for
a spinning Mike Dahm on lap 17, also in turn two. Neither slow-down affected
Reynolds as he dominated the last two-thirds of the race and kept his win
streak perfect for the year as he's won all four times he's been entered in
competition.
Hill finished a distant second ahead of Kelly, Amato and Samsoe who rebounded
nicely from her earlier miscue. Gino Tumminello took sixth with Preston Hunt
coming back from a bad heat race crash to take seventh. Mike Dahm was eighth
after his earlier spin then ended up winning the nightly 50/50 raffle, so
overall it was a good night for the bearded fellow from Enterprise. J. T.
Tippins, Robert Pence, Holley, George Dahm and Justin Spears rounded out the
finishers.
The Mini Stock feature was one of those crazy races that was in doubt all the
way to the end. Jeff White got the action going on the initial start when he
hit the turn one wall while Brad Blanton went for a spin at the same time.
White pitted for repairs and continued. Pat Wells got to the lead early in
this one and that seemed to be the best place to be as things behind him were
somewhat "testy" among several drivers. A second yellow flag was needed for a
spinning Daniel Brown on lap eight but Wells maintained his advantage despite
some good pressure from last week's winner Tyler Simpson.
White spun again to bring out the caution with five laps to go and Simpson
came down pit road for a quick check of his car, giving up his second place
spot. David Russell lined up second for the restart but his machine slowed
suddenly and he slowly made his way to the pits just as Mark Broat spun in
turn four and clobbered the inside wall negating his best run of the year and
again damaging his new car. Simpson just could not get his car back up to
speed and he headed for the pits, done for the night.
Wells held on to take the victory, his second of the year with Blanton coming
back for second, his best finish of the season. Third went to Reid
Christiensen who finally had his engine sounding like all four cylinders were
working in tandem. White took fourth with Michael Seay fifth in a
wild-looking AMC Gremiln-bodied car. Simpson, Broat, Russell and Brown were
credited with sixth through ninth. Russell won the heat race.
Jimmy Barron out-ran Aaron Overman to claim the Strictly Stock win.
This Thursday night, it's the annual Clyde Hart Memorial race for the
Brighthouse Challenge Series Super Late Models plus 50 laps for the Open
Modified division and more. Racing action starts at 7:30 pm.
