Tweet
McDUFFIE CONTINUES HIS MASTERY OF PRO TRUCKS AT AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY
Predicted thunderstorms were all around Auburndale Speedway Saturday evening but, for once, they stayed off in the distance and the full racing program was run in front of a nice, and very vocal, crowd that braved the "gloom and doom" forecast of the local TV weather prognosticators.
With storms and lightning to the north, south and west of the track everything went into "Hurry-up mode" and the entire program was completed by 8:45 pm just after the fans had been treated to a gorgeous sunset.
The big event of the night was the "Summer Slam" 50 for the Pro Trucks presented by WAUC-AM 1310 Radio of Wauchula. For the second race in a row young West Palm Beach driver Derek Pugh set quick time by tripping the clocks at 14.352 seconds, just a tick of the watch faster than Pro Truck point leader Cody McDuffie of Bartow who turned a lap at 14.379. Big Donnie Burkhalter, Becca Monopoli and Danny Anderson rounded out the fast five of the 14 Pro Trucks entered.
Pugh was better on the inversion draw that the last time as he pulled a four that placed Monopoli on the pole flanked by Burkhalter with McDuffie and Pugh making up row two. Monopoli blasted out to the lead while McDuffie quickly worked his way to second by the end of the first lap. At that point Monopoli and McDuffie began checking out on the field while fast qualifier Pugh found himself all the way back in sixth but he slipped by Leroy Moore and into the top five on lap 11.
One lap later McDuffie made his move and grabbed the lead from Monopoli, sailing off into a different zip code. Lap 22 saw the first caution flag fly when Carter Brown's machine slowed to a stop in turn two. McDuffie maintained his advantage on the restart but it was Danny Anderson charging by Burkhalter and into third spot. Burkhalter returned the favor on lap 27 but both he and Anderson were shocked to see a resurgent Pugh dive by both of them going down the back stretch on lap 28.
A lap 30 caution for debris on the front stretch slowed the action a second time. For this restart, McDuffie chose the outside line and quickly zipped to the front ahead of Monopoli and Pugh. Colt Cecil took a long slide off the front stretch and into the infield during the 32nd lap but no caution was thrown and he was able to get back on track just in front of the leaders.
Cecil got into the back of Brey Holmes' truck during the 35th lap sending him for a spin and bringing out yellow number three of the race. On the restart Adam Briggs went spinning in turn two, again courtesy of Cecil who was driving aggressively trying to atone for his spin.
McDuffie again chose the outside for the restart and made quick work of things again while Burkhalter faded quickly to sixth spot with something obviously wrong with his racer. Meanwhile, Anderson got up a head of steam and took third spot from Pugh. Burkhalter suddenly slowed and dropped off the pace and into the infield on lap 41 with a busted transmission.
From that point it was all McDuffie as he cruised to his fourth win in five Pro Truck races this year driving the David Hartin-wrenched Southern Air Compressor Special. Monopoli made her return to the track a good one with a solid second place but admitted she had nothing for the "rocketship" out front. Anderson scored his second consecutive top-three finish but was much happier this time as his truck was in much better condition, cosmetic-wise. Pugh held on for fourth while Moore had his best run of the year in a steady effort for fifth. Todd Haag claimed sixth while Cecil's wild night culminated in a seventh place finish just ahead of Briggs and Mark Kemick who was the last truck running in ninth. Burkhalter was credited with tenth.
It was an emotional victory lane after the Modified Mini Stock feature that saw plenty of crazy things happen from beginning to end. Even before the race could begin, defending track champion Chris Spring was out as his transmission went sour during the pace laps. Once the race started, heat winner Clint Holmes blasted out to a huge lead and appeared headed to a big win.
However, Holmes' car began to make some seriously bad noises and he started to slow down allowing point leader Fred Harrison to assume the point on lap 21. Holmes' engine blew up in a big cloud of smoke during lap 24 as the rest of the cars still running made it to the combined white/caution flag. With a track clean-up needed, the race was checkered at lap 24 with Harrison getting his second win of the year over Tim Scalise and Rachelle Rudolph. Holmes was credited with fourth ahead of Dave Barnett, Richard Brown, Donnie Ezell and Spring.
A very tired Harrison was joined by a bevy of his fans in Kelly's Used Cars Victory Circle. Harrison and his wife have been dealing with the hospitalization of their young son who has been diagnosed with a form of meningitis. "I've pretty much been at the hospital all week," said Harrison. "We went to the shop and loaded up this afternoon without having touched the car since the last race. We weren't the fastest tonight but we were the luckiest and it feels good to get this win for my wife and little boy," he continued. Harrison said he'd be heading right back to the hospital after loading the car. "I really appreciate all the prayers and well-wishes from everyone," he said.
David Purvis took over Chris Narramore, Jr.'s Q Mini Stock, won the heat race and then scored a big win in the feature. This was a good one as Purvis led the first six laps only to give way to Bruce Cozad who led for a pair of circuits before being passed by Chris Narramore, Sr.
Narramore was leading handily despite a smoking car but track officials were watching the cars slipping and sliding behind him and decided to stop the event to check out Narramore's machine which was found to have an oil leak. Narramore was sent pit side after leading from laps 10 through 18.
Purvis re-took the lead on the restart and led the rest of the way to take the win over Cozad who drove the second half of the race with a broken shock. Donald Gatlin finally kept his car together for a full 25 laps and claimed the third spot ahead of David McCaig, Narramore and Fred Martin.
Douglas Herrin, Jr. held off a torrid charge by Maria Martins to capture his sixth Mini Cup win of the season. Martins was right in his slipstream but was unable to make the pass. Easton Bush took his first ever podium finish in third ahead of Clay Samuels and Russell Bush. Easton Bush actually got the biggest round of applause of the night when it was announced he recently completed boot camp and is now a member of the Army National Guard. Herrin also won the heat race.
OFFICIAL FINISH - PRO TRUCKS - AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY - 6/23/18 (50 Laps):
1) Cody McDuffie #25
2) Becca Monopoli #59X
3) Danny Anderson #50
4) Derek Pugh #3
5) Leroy Moore #21
6) Todd Haag #54
7) Colt Cecil #19
8) Adam Briggs #14
9) Mark Kemic #39
10) Donnie Burkhalter #24 DNF-41 Laps
11) Brey Holmes #57 DNF-35 Laps
12) Kristen Clements #5K DNF-32 Laps
13) Carter Brown #11jr DNF-22 Laps
14) Colt Hensley #77 DNF-17 Laps
Predicted thunderstorms were all around Auburndale Speedway Saturday evening but, for once, they stayed off in the distance and the full racing program was run in front of a nice, and very vocal, crowd that braved the "gloom and doom" forecast of the local TV weather prognosticators.
With storms and lightning to the north, south and west of the track everything went into "Hurry-up mode" and the entire program was completed by 8:45 pm just after the fans had been treated to a gorgeous sunset.
The big event of the night was the "Summer Slam" 50 for the Pro Trucks presented by WAUC-AM 1310 Radio of Wauchula. For the second race in a row young West Palm Beach driver Derek Pugh set quick time by tripping the clocks at 14.352 seconds, just a tick of the watch faster than Pro Truck point leader Cody McDuffie of Bartow who turned a lap at 14.379. Big Donnie Burkhalter, Becca Monopoli and Danny Anderson rounded out the fast five of the 14 Pro Trucks entered.
Pugh was better on the inversion draw that the last time as he pulled a four that placed Monopoli on the pole flanked by Burkhalter with McDuffie and Pugh making up row two. Monopoli blasted out to the lead while McDuffie quickly worked his way to second by the end of the first lap. At that point Monopoli and McDuffie began checking out on the field while fast qualifier Pugh found himself all the way back in sixth but he slipped by Leroy Moore and into the top five on lap 11.
One lap later McDuffie made his move and grabbed the lead from Monopoli, sailing off into a different zip code. Lap 22 saw the first caution flag fly when Carter Brown's machine slowed to a stop in turn two. McDuffie maintained his advantage on the restart but it was Danny Anderson charging by Burkhalter and into third spot. Burkhalter returned the favor on lap 27 but both he and Anderson were shocked to see a resurgent Pugh dive by both of them going down the back stretch on lap 28.
A lap 30 caution for debris on the front stretch slowed the action a second time. For this restart, McDuffie chose the outside line and quickly zipped to the front ahead of Monopoli and Pugh. Colt Cecil took a long slide off the front stretch and into the infield during the 32nd lap but no caution was thrown and he was able to get back on track just in front of the leaders.
Cecil got into the back of Brey Holmes' truck during the 35th lap sending him for a spin and bringing out yellow number three of the race. On the restart Adam Briggs went spinning in turn two, again courtesy of Cecil who was driving aggressively trying to atone for his spin.
McDuffie again chose the outside for the restart and made quick work of things again while Burkhalter faded quickly to sixth spot with something obviously wrong with his racer. Meanwhile, Anderson got up a head of steam and took third spot from Pugh. Burkhalter suddenly slowed and dropped off the pace and into the infield on lap 41 with a busted transmission.
From that point it was all McDuffie as he cruised to his fourth win in five Pro Truck races this year driving the David Hartin-wrenched Southern Air Compressor Special. Monopoli made her return to the track a good one with a solid second place but admitted she had nothing for the "rocketship" out front. Anderson scored his second consecutive top-three finish but was much happier this time as his truck was in much better condition, cosmetic-wise. Pugh held on for fourth while Moore had his best run of the year in a steady effort for fifth. Todd Haag claimed sixth while Cecil's wild night culminated in a seventh place finish just ahead of Briggs and Mark Kemick who was the last truck running in ninth. Burkhalter was credited with tenth.
It was an emotional victory lane after the Modified Mini Stock feature that saw plenty of crazy things happen from beginning to end. Even before the race could begin, defending track champion Chris Spring was out as his transmission went sour during the pace laps. Once the race started, heat winner Clint Holmes blasted out to a huge lead and appeared headed to a big win.
However, Holmes' car began to make some seriously bad noises and he started to slow down allowing point leader Fred Harrison to assume the point on lap 21. Holmes' engine blew up in a big cloud of smoke during lap 24 as the rest of the cars still running made it to the combined white/caution flag. With a track clean-up needed, the race was checkered at lap 24 with Harrison getting his second win of the year over Tim Scalise and Rachelle Rudolph. Holmes was credited with fourth ahead of Dave Barnett, Richard Brown, Donnie Ezell and Spring.
A very tired Harrison was joined by a bevy of his fans in Kelly's Used Cars Victory Circle. Harrison and his wife have been dealing with the hospitalization of their young son who has been diagnosed with a form of meningitis. "I've pretty much been at the hospital all week," said Harrison. "We went to the shop and loaded up this afternoon without having touched the car since the last race. We weren't the fastest tonight but we were the luckiest and it feels good to get this win for my wife and little boy," he continued. Harrison said he'd be heading right back to the hospital after loading the car. "I really appreciate all the prayers and well-wishes from everyone," he said.
David Purvis took over Chris Narramore, Jr.'s Q Mini Stock, won the heat race and then scored a big win in the feature. This was a good one as Purvis led the first six laps only to give way to Bruce Cozad who led for a pair of circuits before being passed by Chris Narramore, Sr.
Narramore was leading handily despite a smoking car but track officials were watching the cars slipping and sliding behind him and decided to stop the event to check out Narramore's machine which was found to have an oil leak. Narramore was sent pit side after leading from laps 10 through 18.
Purvis re-took the lead on the restart and led the rest of the way to take the win over Cozad who drove the second half of the race with a broken shock. Donald Gatlin finally kept his car together for a full 25 laps and claimed the third spot ahead of David McCaig, Narramore and Fred Martin.
Douglas Herrin, Jr. held off a torrid charge by Maria Martins to capture his sixth Mini Cup win of the season. Martins was right in his slipstream but was unable to make the pass. Easton Bush took his first ever podium finish in third ahead of Clay Samuels and Russell Bush. Easton Bush actually got the biggest round of applause of the night when it was announced he recently completed boot camp and is now a member of the Army National Guard. Herrin also won the heat race.
OFFICIAL FINISH - PRO TRUCKS - AUBURNDALE SPEEDWAY - 6/23/18 (50 Laps):
1) Cody McDuffie #25
2) Becca Monopoli #59X
3) Danny Anderson #50
4) Derek Pugh #3
5) Leroy Moore #21
6) Todd Haag #54
7) Colt Cecil #19
8) Adam Briggs #14
9) Mark Kemic #39
10) Donnie Burkhalter #24 DNF-41 Laps
11) Brey Holmes #57 DNF-35 Laps
12) Kristen Clements #5K DNF-32 Laps
13) Carter Brown #11jr DNF-22 Laps
14) Colt Hensley #77 DNF-17 Laps