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COPE WIRE TO WIRE IN BRIGHT HOUSE SLM - BECKNER EDGES THOMAS IN SPORTSMAN -
BOYD WINS ONE FOR MR. HARRIS AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY
Week number 12 of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series at New Smyrna
Speedway saw an excellent crowd, awesome late May weather, and some of the
best and most interesting racing of the season.
The big event of the night was the second event for the Bright House Super
Late Model Series and it was Longwood's Tim Russell, back after several months
of inactivity in a beautiful new car, setting quick time at 17.467 seconds
over the 17.505 lap of Orlando's Brad May. T. J. Duke of Southwest Ranches
was third quick followed by first-time New Smyrna competitor Brett Holmes of
Munford, AL and current New Smyrna Super Late Model point leader Anthony Sergi
of Oviedo.
Russell pulled the seven pill for the inversion making it an all Weeki Wachee
hometown front row of Daniel Keene, Jr. and Travis Cope. Cope wasted little
time taking advantage of his starting spot as he quickly put some healthy
distance on the field at the drop of the green for the 100-lap contest.
Lap five proved to be the end of the night for fast qualifier Russell as he
was collected as part of a multi-car tangle that also involved Anthony Cataldi
and Michael Atwell. Russell was done for the night with right front
suspension damage while Cataldi pitted several times to remove loose body work
and to tape up other loose pieces, but he was able to continue. Atwell pitted
briefly then continued as well.
Cope set sail once again on the restart but lap 10 saw Keene get loose and
spin coming off turn four. Keene kept going with just minor damage but T. J.
Duke was not as fortunate as his car ended up a mangled mess by the inside
wall. David Rogers did an incredible job to keep his car from being harmed
severely but he had to make a long pit stop for repairs and restarted in the
rear along with Keene.
The race went green again on lap 13 and ran the rest of the way with no more
yellow flags. Brad May worked his way into second and was closing on the
leader at the mid-race point but he soon began to fall back with a car that
was wicked loose in the center of the turns.
Sergi began to reel May in and passed him for second on lap 69. Meanwhile,
Rogers had turned the wick up on his TM Ranch Special and was now the fastest
car on the track. The only thing hindering Rogers was that he was so far
behind the leaders, he simply ran out of time before the checker fell although
he was on May's bumper for third at the end of the race.
Cope scored an easy flag to flag win, his first here since winning the annual
Governor's Cup race last November. Sergi crossed the line in second but was
disqualified in tech for a carburetor issue. That elevated May to second and
Rogers up to a third place finish. Keene rebounded to get fourth with Holmes
having a nice steady run to fifth. Tyler Scofield took sixth with Chris
Fontaine, Atwell, Cataldi, Noah Cornman, Duke and Russell rounding out the
finishers.
Only five drivers in the race had competed in the season-opening Bright House
race at DeSoto Speedway in February. Sergi was in that race but received no
points for his DQ. By virtue of his seventh place effort, Fontaine is now the
Bright House Series point leader over Atwell, Tyler Scofield and Cataldi.
Scofield's father Jeff came into the event as the point leader but opted not
to run the race and instead crew chief and spot for his son.
The Modified race saw a very emotional driver's meeting, parade lap, then
later victory lane as the late Joe Harris was honored in many ways Saturday
night. Harris, a long time fixture in Central Florida racing who built many
of the Modifieds in the field on this night, was laid to rest earlier in the
day. At the track, Harris was honored with a moment of silence during the
driver's meeting and some kind words by his good friend Alan Bruns who had his
Harris-built machine in the parade lap during the National Anthem along with
his teammate Matthew Green's car. David Rogers also had his Super Late Model
in the parade lap as Harris had been a part of his race team for many years.
One of the cars to show up to run Saturday night was the now Sanford Auto
Dealer's Exchange-sponsored #1W car built by Harris that had been campaigned
by the late Billy Gunn and won many features at both New Smyrna and Orlando
SpeedWorld. The SADE crew decided to put Jason Boyd in the car and it proved
to be a very good move.
Boyd, whose dad, the late Dennis Boyd, built many an engine that was placed in
a Joe Harris chassis, drew the pole for the 25 lap feature and that was all
she wrote. Boyd was absolutely the class of the field. Even a lap nine
caution for Matt Wheeler's spin off turn two didn't faze Boyd as he was on a
mission to win the race for his long-time friend Harris.
Boyd sped off after the restart and was more than a half straight ahead of
second place Bruns at the checker as Harris-built cars finished one-two. Tank
Tucker passed Jerry Symons on lap 12 for third but that's as close as he could
get to the two cars in front of him as the veteran driver had his win streak
snapped at two. Symons took fourth in front of Bobby Blake with Scott Millar
sixth. Wheeler came back to get seventh ahead of Matt Jarrett, Mike Dahm,
Green and Joe Jacalone who fell out early with a cooling issue.
The Sportsman feature proved to be an absolute crowd-pleaser as pole sitter
Ron Gustafson jumped out to an early lead just to see the only caution of the
race come out on lap three as Mike Dahm had some trouble off turn two and
headed for the pit area.
Gustafson continued to set the pace through lap nine before Junior Beckner
took over. Four laps later Patrick Thomas got by Gustafson for second and
began to slowly reel in Beckner for the lead. The pair then raced
side-by-side over the final few laps with Thomas actually leading at the white
flag. But Beckner had the preferred "high line" and got a late surge off turn
four to nip Thomas by less than a fender at the stripe. The finish was almost
a carbon copy of one earlier in the season where Thomas just edged out Beckner
for a victory.
Gustafson had his best run of the year taking third ahead of teammates Sandy
Lee and Derrick Wood as the Jim Daley/Sheppard Racing Enterprises team had
their best overall outing of the year with their 3-4-5 finish, Sixth went to
Timmy Todd, Jr. ahead of Donny Williams and impressive rookie R. J. Glaser.
Rounding out the finishers were Brandon Christian, Mike Pletka, George
Alexander, Michael Held, Mike Dahm and George Dahm.
The Bombers ran a pair of features, the first being a make-up event for the
rained out race from the week before.
The first race was a pretty clean affair slowed only by a front stretch
incident involving Aaron Overman and Neil Kirby that put Kirby on the trailer
for the night. The race came down to a great battle between Billy Barrington
and Greg Bruce with Barrington taking what appeared to be his fourth win in a
row. However, the cars of Barrington, Bruce and third place Wes Railing, Jr.
were all disqualified after the race for running tire pressures that were too
low.
That elevated fourth place finisher Zachary Curtis and his six-cylinder
Hyundai to the win with Johnathan Murphy second in his Buick ahead of Charlie
King's Chevy Monte Carlo. Overman came back to take fourth in front of Joseph
Rock with James Skinner, Keith Wylie, Richard Roark, Travis Soukup, Shane
Sutorus, Dustin Higdon and Kirby completing the finishing field.
All tires were aired up properly for the second race and it again became a big
battle for the front spot between Bruce and Barrington after Rock had led the
opening seven laps. Barrington spun into the turn one wall with two laps to
go after a tire apparently went down setting up a green-white-checker finish.
Bruce was up to the task as he put his Saturn in Hampton Inn victory lane for
the first time this year. Point leader Sutorus claimed second place in front
of King and Skinner with Crash Tyner fifth. Rounding out the finishers were
Rock, Overman, Curtis, Higdon, Roark, Soukup, Railing and Barrington. Murphy
and Kirby did not start the second race as the field of 15 cars was the
biggest for the Bomber (formerly Strictly Stock) class in over two years.
Photos courtesy JimJonesPhoto.com:
1) Bright House SLM winner Travis Cope...
2) Modified winner Jason Boyd...
3) Sportsman winner Junior Beckner...
4) Zachary Curtis drove his #12 Hyundai to the first Bomber win after the top three finishers were DQ'd for low tire pressure...
5) Greg Bruce inflated his tires and won the second Bomber feature...
BOYD WINS ONE FOR MR. HARRIS AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY
Week number 12 of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series at New Smyrna
Speedway saw an excellent crowd, awesome late May weather, and some of the
best and most interesting racing of the season.
The big event of the night was the second event for the Bright House Super
Late Model Series and it was Longwood's Tim Russell, back after several months
of inactivity in a beautiful new car, setting quick time at 17.467 seconds
over the 17.505 lap of Orlando's Brad May. T. J. Duke of Southwest Ranches
was third quick followed by first-time New Smyrna competitor Brett Holmes of
Munford, AL and current New Smyrna Super Late Model point leader Anthony Sergi
of Oviedo.
Russell pulled the seven pill for the inversion making it an all Weeki Wachee
hometown front row of Daniel Keene, Jr. and Travis Cope. Cope wasted little
time taking advantage of his starting spot as he quickly put some healthy
distance on the field at the drop of the green for the 100-lap contest.
Lap five proved to be the end of the night for fast qualifier Russell as he
was collected as part of a multi-car tangle that also involved Anthony Cataldi
and Michael Atwell. Russell was done for the night with right front
suspension damage while Cataldi pitted several times to remove loose body work
and to tape up other loose pieces, but he was able to continue. Atwell pitted
briefly then continued as well.
Cope set sail once again on the restart but lap 10 saw Keene get loose and
spin coming off turn four. Keene kept going with just minor damage but T. J.
Duke was not as fortunate as his car ended up a mangled mess by the inside
wall. David Rogers did an incredible job to keep his car from being harmed
severely but he had to make a long pit stop for repairs and restarted in the
rear along with Keene.
The race went green again on lap 13 and ran the rest of the way with no more
yellow flags. Brad May worked his way into second and was closing on the
leader at the mid-race point but he soon began to fall back with a car that
was wicked loose in the center of the turns.
Sergi began to reel May in and passed him for second on lap 69. Meanwhile,
Rogers had turned the wick up on his TM Ranch Special and was now the fastest
car on the track. The only thing hindering Rogers was that he was so far
behind the leaders, he simply ran out of time before the checker fell although
he was on May's bumper for third at the end of the race.
Cope scored an easy flag to flag win, his first here since winning the annual
Governor's Cup race last November. Sergi crossed the line in second but was
disqualified in tech for a carburetor issue. That elevated May to second and
Rogers up to a third place finish. Keene rebounded to get fourth with Holmes
having a nice steady run to fifth. Tyler Scofield took sixth with Chris
Fontaine, Atwell, Cataldi, Noah Cornman, Duke and Russell rounding out the
finishers.
Only five drivers in the race had competed in the season-opening Bright House
race at DeSoto Speedway in February. Sergi was in that race but received no
points for his DQ. By virtue of his seventh place effort, Fontaine is now the
Bright House Series point leader over Atwell, Tyler Scofield and Cataldi.
Scofield's father Jeff came into the event as the point leader but opted not
to run the race and instead crew chief and spot for his son.
The Modified race saw a very emotional driver's meeting, parade lap, then
later victory lane as the late Joe Harris was honored in many ways Saturday
night. Harris, a long time fixture in Central Florida racing who built many
of the Modifieds in the field on this night, was laid to rest earlier in the
day. At the track, Harris was honored with a moment of silence during the
driver's meeting and some kind words by his good friend Alan Bruns who had his
Harris-built machine in the parade lap during the National Anthem along with
his teammate Matthew Green's car. David Rogers also had his Super Late Model
in the parade lap as Harris had been a part of his race team for many years.
One of the cars to show up to run Saturday night was the now Sanford Auto
Dealer's Exchange-sponsored #1W car built by Harris that had been campaigned
by the late Billy Gunn and won many features at both New Smyrna and Orlando
SpeedWorld. The SADE crew decided to put Jason Boyd in the car and it proved
to be a very good move.
Boyd, whose dad, the late Dennis Boyd, built many an engine that was placed in
a Joe Harris chassis, drew the pole for the 25 lap feature and that was all
she wrote. Boyd was absolutely the class of the field. Even a lap nine
caution for Matt Wheeler's spin off turn two didn't faze Boyd as he was on a
mission to win the race for his long-time friend Harris.
Boyd sped off after the restart and was more than a half straight ahead of
second place Bruns at the checker as Harris-built cars finished one-two. Tank
Tucker passed Jerry Symons on lap 12 for third but that's as close as he could
get to the two cars in front of him as the veteran driver had his win streak
snapped at two. Symons took fourth in front of Bobby Blake with Scott Millar
sixth. Wheeler came back to get seventh ahead of Matt Jarrett, Mike Dahm,
Green and Joe Jacalone who fell out early with a cooling issue.
The Sportsman feature proved to be an absolute crowd-pleaser as pole sitter
Ron Gustafson jumped out to an early lead just to see the only caution of the
race come out on lap three as Mike Dahm had some trouble off turn two and
headed for the pit area.
Gustafson continued to set the pace through lap nine before Junior Beckner
took over. Four laps later Patrick Thomas got by Gustafson for second and
began to slowly reel in Beckner for the lead. The pair then raced
side-by-side over the final few laps with Thomas actually leading at the white
flag. But Beckner had the preferred "high line" and got a late surge off turn
four to nip Thomas by less than a fender at the stripe. The finish was almost
a carbon copy of one earlier in the season where Thomas just edged out Beckner
for a victory.
Gustafson had his best run of the year taking third ahead of teammates Sandy
Lee and Derrick Wood as the Jim Daley/Sheppard Racing Enterprises team had
their best overall outing of the year with their 3-4-5 finish, Sixth went to
Timmy Todd, Jr. ahead of Donny Williams and impressive rookie R. J. Glaser.
Rounding out the finishers were Brandon Christian, Mike Pletka, George
Alexander, Michael Held, Mike Dahm and George Dahm.
The Bombers ran a pair of features, the first being a make-up event for the
rained out race from the week before.
The first race was a pretty clean affair slowed only by a front stretch
incident involving Aaron Overman and Neil Kirby that put Kirby on the trailer
for the night. The race came down to a great battle between Billy Barrington
and Greg Bruce with Barrington taking what appeared to be his fourth win in a
row. However, the cars of Barrington, Bruce and third place Wes Railing, Jr.
were all disqualified after the race for running tire pressures that were too
low.
That elevated fourth place finisher Zachary Curtis and his six-cylinder
Hyundai to the win with Johnathan Murphy second in his Buick ahead of Charlie
King's Chevy Monte Carlo. Overman came back to take fourth in front of Joseph
Rock with James Skinner, Keith Wylie, Richard Roark, Travis Soukup, Shane
Sutorus, Dustin Higdon and Kirby completing the finishing field.
All tires were aired up properly for the second race and it again became a big
battle for the front spot between Bruce and Barrington after Rock had led the
opening seven laps. Barrington spun into the turn one wall with two laps to
go after a tire apparently went down setting up a green-white-checker finish.
Bruce was up to the task as he put his Saturn in Hampton Inn victory lane for
the first time this year. Point leader Sutorus claimed second place in front
of King and Skinner with Crash Tyner fifth. Rounding out the finishers were
Rock, Overman, Curtis, Higdon, Roark, Soukup, Railing and Barrington. Murphy
and Kirby did not start the second race as the field of 15 cars was the
biggest for the Bomber (formerly Strictly Stock) class in over two years.
Photos courtesy JimJonesPhoto.com:
1) Bright House SLM winner Travis Cope...
2) Modified winner Jason Boyd...
3) Sportsman winner Junior Beckner...
4) Zachary Curtis drove his #12 Hyundai to the first Bomber win after the top three finishers were DQ'd for low tire pressure...
5) Greg Bruce inflated his tires and won the second Bomber feature...
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