Southern Pro-Am Truck Series Race Recap - Citrus County Speedway - 8/13/16

[ancrdave]

DARVALICS RIDES DQ TO SOUTHERN PRO-AM TRUCK WIN AT CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY

The Southern Pro-Am Truck Series made their first visit of the year to the all-new Citrus County Speedway Saturday night and Steve Darvalics of Venice came home with the win although he never actually led one lap of competition.
17 Trucks signed in to do battle with Dean Butrum setting quick time during group qualifying at 14.841 seconds. However his time was disallowed as his truck was disqualified in tech due to a weight infraction. That gave second quick driver Cole Partelo of Largo quick time honors as his lap of 14.852 seconds earned the young driver the $100 fast time award from Renegade Racing Fuels. Lakeland's Becca Monopoli was second quick at 14.871 seconds with Darvalics, Paulie Grynewicz III and Jason Lester rounding out the fast five.
Partelo drew a six for the inversion placing Billy Carlbert, Jr. on the pole for the start and he wasted little time slipping out to a decent-sized advantage. Action was slowed quickly when Raymond Dormer III slapped the wall and was tagged by the truck of Randy Leonard. As the track was being cleared the skies opened up sending everyone for cover. After a rain delay of over an hour, William Ray and his track crew went to work and got the facility race-ready in quick order. Leonard's night was over as the damage to his machine was too much to fix and he was actually almost back home in Lake Placid when the race resumed while Dormer's crew made repairs and he was able to restart.
Carlbert continued to hold fast as the race got back under way as he was holding Monopoli, Darvalics, Lester and Grynewicz at bay. Using a lapped truck to his advantage, Grynewicz made a banzai charge to second only to get into turn four a bit to hot. Grynewicz spun and collected several other competitors including point leaders Partelo and Taylor Hosford who both were eliminated from competition.
Following the restart, Monopoli and Darvalics were able to get by Carlbert while Butrum, who had to start 16th after his qualifying miscue, was charging like a madman through the field eventually securing third just before the checker flew for Monopoli who thought she had scored her third Southern Pro-Am Truck Series win of the year. However, during post-race inspection, the carburetor on Monopoli's engine was deemed to be illegal thus awarding the win to Darvalics, his first in SPATS competition.
Butrum, who clearly had the fastest truck in the field, ended up with a hard-fought runner-up finish while Billy Carlbert, Jr. settled for third in front of Lester and Cody Carlbert.
Grynewicz rebounded to take sixth spot with Derek Pugh, Cody Martell, Bobby Snodgrass and Mike Newton rounding out the top ten.
Despite their bad nights, Partelo and Hosford continue to sit one-two in points with Partelo holding a six point advantage.
The next race for the Southern Pro-Am Truck Series will be on Sunday afternoon September 11th at Orlando SpeedWorld.

OFFICIAL RESULTS - SOUTHERN PRO-AM TRUCK SERIES - CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY - 8/13/16:

1) Steve Darvalics, Venice #51
2) Dean Butrum, Venice #32
3) Billy Carlbert, Jr., Palmetto #11
4) Jason Lester, Palmetto #7
5) Cody Carlbert, Zephyrhills #5
6) Paulie Grynewicz III, Hudson #42
7) Derek Pugh, Crystal River #3
8) Cody Martell, Arcadia #99
9) Bobby Snodgrass, Sarasota #Q
10) Mike Newton, Largo #2
11) Raymond Dormer III, Chuluota #M7
12) Cole Partelo, Largo #9
13) Taylor Hosford, Madison #13
14) Tyler Davis, Lakeland #4
15) Randy Leonard, Lake Placid #77
DQ - Becca Monopoli, Lakeland #59X
DNS - Chase Lovelady, Lakeland #44

[Lefturn]

Truck Race

Thank you so much Dave. We were there but you fill in the blanks.

[Bobby Diehl]

As always....

As always great story!!! That's the best car count for SPATS. If they would of known a pre-race line up we would made to trip. Our loss. Amazing that the count went up when the purse was to be paid by the track. They should take note on both areas. Just my two cents worth. See everyone at the next Florida Pro race. They should have even more trucks because of the support they get.

[CODY99]

That's a good recap of the race Dave , you left out 1 part of the race where Dean Bertrum of the # 32 dive bombed into turn 1 with 6 laps to go and spun out the #99 and John sapricone who was the SPATS race director said to put the #32 to the back but the track owner over rode the race directors call and put the #99 to the back ,which he realized after the race he was wrong to do so and apologized for the call he made but it really didn't matter the race was over , so if he would have left the race director alone the #32 wouldn't have finished 2nd.and SPATS teched the 59 legal and the track tech man over rode the SPATS tech man and DQ' the 59.again a bad call made by the track when it was a SPATS series race!

[dave41]

59 truck

if track tech found something wrong, why didn't spats tech . spats tech not doing their job or don't know what they are doing.

[CODY99]

SPATS tech did tech it and by spats rules and everyone else's including Ricky Brooks it was legal,but they ignored that just like they ignored spats race director.

[dave41]

rules

if it is a spats race and it was legal by spats rules no one can call it wrong

[OldSchool+]

For the benefit of the other competitors, what was the issue the track had with the #59?

[CODY99]

You are rite Dave , but the track owner and tech man said dq and they said its there track there doing pay out so what they say goes. And the issue was that the 2 barrel carb had epoxy in it just like most 2barrels do.

[OldSchool+]

The point of "their payout, their rules" on the surface is reasonable enough. In fact, that kind of makes it a "Citrus race" instead of a "SPATS race" does it not?

I have seen carb inside dimensions measured in tech.

I will assume that the "track rules" (whatever they are) were available to the racers beforehand?

If not, I dunno, hard to inform guys about the rules for the first time via a DQ and expect them to come back.

Clearly, it is not easy running a racetrack. Hopefully everyone will be on the same page--including all pages--next time.

[Renegade Racing Fuels]

Well, maybe we can get this issue talked out if there was an issue, because all of the trucks will be back at Citrus this coming Saturday night.

[CODY99]

You are rite old school , but we were supposed to going by spats rules and spats tech man and race director but that didn't happen ,& yes it is hard to run a track with all that goes on ,and we will be back and hopefully they can get it all worked out , but this coming weekend there will be a few trucks there but most of us will be at auburndale racing a points race with the fl pro trucks series , it was supposed to be at citrus but again citrus wants to use other rules not Florida pro truck rules so it's changed to auburndale , that's where most of the trucks will be.

[Renegade Racing Fuels]

Actually, it sounds like a lot of the trucks will be at Citrus this Saturday night. A number of truck racers said they were interested in running the Citrus Points series. Sorry you won't be there Cody99.

[CODY99]

I wish we were going there also ,we like the facility and the track , and i m sure they will get things worked out , but when a series comes there to race and it's for that series points they should go by that series rules no matter what series it is,we support both series and there rules and tech.every body have a great weekend of racing.

[racer4461]

Spats

To clear the air on the carburetor alteration issue:
The correct call was made by the Spats Tech Inspector and the Track inspector. Confusion on the call did happen, but ultimately the correct call was made:

SPATS AND DARTS RULES STATE: NO ALTERATION PERIOD!
EPOXY DOES NOT COME ON A NEW CARBURETOR FROM THE MANUFACTURER:

HERE ARE DARTS RULES AND MR BROOKS AND STAFF CALLED THE #22 CAMERON CRUZ ILLEGAL ONLY A FEW RACES AGO FOR THE SAME EPOXY ISSUE! WHY WOULD THERE BE A DOUBLE STANDARD FOR ANY OTHER RACER?

DARTS CARBURETOR RULES:

Carburetor:
1. Carburetor- Holley old style 4412, 500 cfm with a maximum 1.065 spacer/adapter between intake and carburetor. Changing of jets, power valve, drilling holes in butterflies permitted.
2. Choke horn may be removed.
3. Venturi area must not be altered or reshaped in any way. The casting ring may not be removed. Must remain as produced by the manufacturer.
4. Base plate must not be altered in any way. All openings must be permanently plugged.
5. No additional air to be picked up below the openings of the venturi such as altered gaskets, base plate, or holes drilled into the carburetor.
6. Carburetor Booster: Booster type may not be changed. Booster size and shape must not be altered. Height and location of the booster must remain as manufactured.
7. Throttle shaft must remain stock and may not be thinned or cut in any manner. Screws may be flush with shaft. No other work to screws.
8. 602 Crate can run a Holley 650 HP 4150-80541 gauge legal four barrel. No alterations or modifications, with a maximum 1.065 spacer/seal between intake and carburetor


FURTHERMORE HERE IS A STATEMENT BY EMAIL RECEIVED FROM A MAJOR INDUSTRY LEADER IN HOLLEY CARBURETORS:

"does not apply epoxy on its booster installations for the gage legal 0-4412(500cfm) applications. We have done some flow test on these applications and it depends on how much epoxy is used to determine whether any or how much the air flow will be affected. With that said, if the boosters are properly installed there should be no safety issues in not having used epoxy, we mainly find safety issues when non-qualified personnel install the boosters or try and move boosters to affect air flow or testing gages.

We cannot direct you as to whether or not to consider this piece illegal, however, we always focus on the rules determined by each track or series when building our carburetors and DO NOT USE THIS METHOD"