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Week number seven of the Whelen All American Series at New Smyrna Speedway saw the return of the Super Late Models for the first time since opening day. This time they would do battle in round 1 of the Bright House Networks Challenge Series. Some of Florida's best racers would compete on the high banks for 100 grueling laps! Also in action were the popular and exciting American Auto Sportsman and the Wild and Wacky Rodizio Grill Bombers!
The American Auto Sportsman Division would open the nights racing program with a 25 lap contest. A stout field of 17 cars would take the green flag (2 others had issues in practice and didn't make the call). Ron Gustafson started on the pole and battled side by side with his teammate Derrick Wood for the lead on lap 1. Coming out of turn 4 the 9 of Kody Jett got into the back of Wood and Wood spun in front of the entire field. Most everyone was able to avoid the spinning Wood, but Sandy Lee got turned in the wall trying to avoid the incident, ending his night early. Jett was sent to the rear and Wood was given his spot back and would take the early lead. On lap 4 the 24 of Bruce Bennett spun in turn 4 and collected Kody Jett's machine. This happened right in front of 3 time winner Patrick Thomas and somehow he was able to avoid getting any damage. Quickly after the restart the yellow flag was thrown when Richard Goodrich spun out in turn 1. After this things calmed down a little and derrick wood held the lead over Earl Beckner and Daniel Conlin. Patrick Thomas had battled his way up through the field to 4th but as the laps wound down it looked like he might run out of time to take victory number 4 on the season. Things got really interesting on lap 18 when Thomas' team car driven by Danny Frye was turned hard into the back stretch wall destroying the entire right side of the automobile. Thank fully Frye was ok, unlike his racecar. As the race got back to green Becker and Wood Battled nose to tail for the lead making contact several times. With less than 5 laps to go Becker Drove into the back of Wood coming off turn 4. Wood drifted his car all the way to the start finish line without lifting but Patrick Thomas took this opportunity to dive to the inside and male it 3 wide for the lead! Wood and Beckner again made contact entering turn 1 and Thomas took off with the lead. Somehow, some way Thomas found a way to come from 16th to win in just 25 laps. It was not an easy drive as he was nearly crashed on a few occasions, but sometimes you not only have to be good you have to be lucky! This was Patrick's 4th checkered flag in 4 tries this season!
That was the story on the track, but during tech another competitor "claimed" Patrick's engine. The car had cleared tech and the crew removed the engine and loaded on on the buyers truck, but then people began to complain about the flywheel on the 111 car and Patrick voluntarily took apart the clutch assembly and it turned out the clutch disc had aluminum in it and officials declared Patrick Thomas would be DQed for the night. This happened long after tech was over and Thomas took blame for not knowing the part was on the car in the first place. Thomas was not the only car DQed, 2nd place Earl Becker was also DQed for an illegal Carb. So long after the initial checkered flag Derrick Wood wad declared the winner and took home an extra 300 bucks from American Auto for winning his first race of the season!
American Auto Sportsman top 5:
1. #1 Derrick Wood
2. #11 Daniel Conlin Jr
3. #00 Ron Gustafson
4. #86 Richard Goodrich
5. #63 George Alexander
After a meet and greet / autograph session on the front stretch that included a live alligator, it was time for 100 laps of Super Late Model racing! Brad May set fast time earlier in the day in qualifying, but would start 3rd due to the invert. This put Jeff Choquette on the pole in the Jett Concrete number 9 machine for race number 1 of the Bright House Networks Challenge Series presented by Grillandpatio.com. Jeff would waste little time jumping out to a big lead on the rest of the field. He established himself as the dominant car of the race. Jeff Scofield looked good early on moving up from the 5th position to 2nd, but he was never able to mount a challenge from the top spot. Things were clean and green for over 80 laps until Jesse Dutilly popped a right front tire and made contact with the turn 2 wall. This brought out the caution and erased Choquette's entire straightaway lead. On the restart Choquette got away and started to open his lead back up but things got heated from second on back. Anthony Sergi got aggressive battling Scofield for second. The two made some contact and Scoefield was never the same the rest of the evening. Once Sergi moved up to 2nd he had to hold off challenges from both Brad May and David Rogers. Both driver took a shot at Sergi but neither driver was able to out duel the youngster. Often Times Sergi was sideways coming off the corner and somehow he didnt wreck his car. Although Sergi never was able to contend for the lead he made the battle for 2nd one worth watching. In the end no one had anything for Jeff Choquette as he led all 100 laps to claim the victory in dominating fashion. Jeff and team came down all the way from a race in Pensacola the night before and it ended up paying off big time!
Bright House Challenge Super Late Models Top 5:
1. #9x Jeff Choquette
2. #20 Anthony Sergi
3. #11 David Rogers
4. #9 Brad May
5. #00 Anthony Cataldi
To close out the evening's events the Rodizio Grill Bombers took to the track for their 20 lap feature. Joe Hamilton was slated to start on the pole but race officials deemed that he jumped the initial start and was put in the back. This moved Michael Scannell to the pole for the 2nd attempt to get things started. However, before they could even get to turn 1 Zach Curtis made his way to the front. An early spin by Mac MacDonald bunched the field up once again. On the restart Zach Curtis jumped out to the lead again and looked strong as the race finally was able to get going. As the race passed the half way point Megan Matheny started closing in. Matheny and Curtis battled for the lead with just a few laps remaining. For a while it looked like Curtis was going to hold off Matheny and win back to back races but Matheny never gave up and eventually worked her way past Curtis' Saturn. Matheny was take the checkered flag on the race track, but had the win taken away in the room of doom after her tire pressures were deemed too low. This officially gave the win to Zachary Curtis, who is now two for two on the season. On the June 18th the Bombers will be racing for $700 dollars to win in what promises to be the biggest Bomber race in quite a while. Stay tuned for more details!
Rodizio Grill Bomber Top 5:
1. #1 Zack Curtis
2. #180 Richard Tyner
3. #03 Aaron Overman
4. #07 Michael Scannell
5. #21x Mac MacDonald
Next week the Modifieds return to action for just the 3rd time this year and will race for 50 laps! Also in action will be the up and coming Pro Late Model class, the Mod Minis and the Rodizio Grill Bombers. Its summer time in Florida and things are really starting to heat up on the track and you won't want to miss out!
The American Auto Sportsman Division would open the nights racing program with a 25 lap contest. A stout field of 17 cars would take the green flag (2 others had issues in practice and didn't make the call). Ron Gustafson started on the pole and battled side by side with his teammate Derrick Wood for the lead on lap 1. Coming out of turn 4 the 9 of Kody Jett got into the back of Wood and Wood spun in front of the entire field. Most everyone was able to avoid the spinning Wood, but Sandy Lee got turned in the wall trying to avoid the incident, ending his night early. Jett was sent to the rear and Wood was given his spot back and would take the early lead. On lap 4 the 24 of Bruce Bennett spun in turn 4 and collected Kody Jett's machine. This happened right in front of 3 time winner Patrick Thomas and somehow he was able to avoid getting any damage. Quickly after the restart the yellow flag was thrown when Richard Goodrich spun out in turn 1. After this things calmed down a little and derrick wood held the lead over Earl Beckner and Daniel Conlin. Patrick Thomas had battled his way up through the field to 4th but as the laps wound down it looked like he might run out of time to take victory number 4 on the season. Things got really interesting on lap 18 when Thomas' team car driven by Danny Frye was turned hard into the back stretch wall destroying the entire right side of the automobile. Thank fully Frye was ok, unlike his racecar. As the race got back to green Becker and Wood Battled nose to tail for the lead making contact several times. With less than 5 laps to go Becker Drove into the back of Wood coming off turn 4. Wood drifted his car all the way to the start finish line without lifting but Patrick Thomas took this opportunity to dive to the inside and male it 3 wide for the lead! Wood and Beckner again made contact entering turn 1 and Thomas took off with the lead. Somehow, some way Thomas found a way to come from 16th to win in just 25 laps. It was not an easy drive as he was nearly crashed on a few occasions, but sometimes you not only have to be good you have to be lucky! This was Patrick's 4th checkered flag in 4 tries this season!
That was the story on the track, but during tech another competitor "claimed" Patrick's engine. The car had cleared tech and the crew removed the engine and loaded on on the buyers truck, but then people began to complain about the flywheel on the 111 car and Patrick voluntarily took apart the clutch assembly and it turned out the clutch disc had aluminum in it and officials declared Patrick Thomas would be DQed for the night. This happened long after tech was over and Thomas took blame for not knowing the part was on the car in the first place. Thomas was not the only car DQed, 2nd place Earl Becker was also DQed for an illegal Carb. So long after the initial checkered flag Derrick Wood wad declared the winner and took home an extra 300 bucks from American Auto for winning his first race of the season!
American Auto Sportsman top 5:
1. #1 Derrick Wood
2. #11 Daniel Conlin Jr
3. #00 Ron Gustafson
4. #86 Richard Goodrich
5. #63 George Alexander
After a meet and greet / autograph session on the front stretch that included a live alligator, it was time for 100 laps of Super Late Model racing! Brad May set fast time earlier in the day in qualifying, but would start 3rd due to the invert. This put Jeff Choquette on the pole in the Jett Concrete number 9 machine for race number 1 of the Bright House Networks Challenge Series presented by Grillandpatio.com. Jeff would waste little time jumping out to a big lead on the rest of the field. He established himself as the dominant car of the race. Jeff Scofield looked good early on moving up from the 5th position to 2nd, but he was never able to mount a challenge from the top spot. Things were clean and green for over 80 laps until Jesse Dutilly popped a right front tire and made contact with the turn 2 wall. This brought out the caution and erased Choquette's entire straightaway lead. On the restart Choquette got away and started to open his lead back up but things got heated from second on back. Anthony Sergi got aggressive battling Scofield for second. The two made some contact and Scoefield was never the same the rest of the evening. Once Sergi moved up to 2nd he had to hold off challenges from both Brad May and David Rogers. Both driver took a shot at Sergi but neither driver was able to out duel the youngster. Often Times Sergi was sideways coming off the corner and somehow he didnt wreck his car. Although Sergi never was able to contend for the lead he made the battle for 2nd one worth watching. In the end no one had anything for Jeff Choquette as he led all 100 laps to claim the victory in dominating fashion. Jeff and team came down all the way from a race in Pensacola the night before and it ended up paying off big time!
Bright House Challenge Super Late Models Top 5:
1. #9x Jeff Choquette
2. #20 Anthony Sergi
3. #11 David Rogers
4. #9 Brad May
5. #00 Anthony Cataldi
To close out the evening's events the Rodizio Grill Bombers took to the track for their 20 lap feature. Joe Hamilton was slated to start on the pole but race officials deemed that he jumped the initial start and was put in the back. This moved Michael Scannell to the pole for the 2nd attempt to get things started. However, before they could even get to turn 1 Zach Curtis made his way to the front. An early spin by Mac MacDonald bunched the field up once again. On the restart Zach Curtis jumped out to the lead again and looked strong as the race finally was able to get going. As the race passed the half way point Megan Matheny started closing in. Matheny and Curtis battled for the lead with just a few laps remaining. For a while it looked like Curtis was going to hold off Matheny and win back to back races but Matheny never gave up and eventually worked her way past Curtis' Saturn. Matheny was take the checkered flag on the race track, but had the win taken away in the room of doom after her tire pressures were deemed too low. This officially gave the win to Zachary Curtis, who is now two for two on the season. On the June 18th the Bombers will be racing for $700 dollars to win in what promises to be the biggest Bomber race in quite a while. Stay tuned for more details!
Rodizio Grill Bomber Top 5:
1. #1 Zack Curtis
2. #180 Richard Tyner
3. #03 Aaron Overman
4. #07 Michael Scannell
5. #21x Mac MacDonald
Next week the Modifieds return to action for just the 3rd time this year and will race for 50 laps! Also in action will be the up and coming Pro Late Model class, the Mod Minis and the Rodizio Grill Bombers. Its summer time in Florida and things are really starting to heat up on the track and you won't want to miss out!