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For those of you who weren't able to make it last night but wanted to know how it went...
The 5th Annual Florida State Pro-Truck 100 lapper was the much-anticipated main event on the evening’s race card, but with a full program encompassing the Modified, Sportsman, Superstock and Strictly Stock divisions, a Veteran’s motorcycle parade and a rib-eating contest on the start/finish line, there was plenty of entertainment on show at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday night.
With the whole evening leading up to the big truck race, the other classes lived up to the occasion and didn’t disappoint, with many of the battles to watch being found back in the midfield as the drivers fought for late-season championship points. After an extended warm-up for the Modifieds, thanks to a pit-lane breakdown for one car, the evening’s racing finally got the green flag and saw the #4B of Alan Bruns racing to the front for an early lead, only to be quickly caught and passed by the #22 of Jason Boyd. With open track in front of him, Boyd never looked back and would cross the finish line almost half a straightaway ahead of Bruns in a race that ran under the green flag for its entire 25 laps.
The Superstocks came out next and provided one of the races of the night, and a second consecutive race to run the whole 25 laps without the need for yellow flags and the pace truck. From the green light it was the #86 of Richard Goodrich that got the outside line working to push forward into a narrow lead, but with the #15 of Cody Blair and the #211 of Jarrett Korpi moving menacingly up through the pack. Goodrich used the wide line to his advantage to keep ahead of the field, but on the 7th lap the extra pace of Korpi saw him slide under the #86 to take the lead and race off on his own. Goodrich now had both Blair and the #56 of Bobby Holley breathing down his neck, with Holley taking advantage of the battle ahead of him to slip under both cars and into second place coming out of turn 2. With the flagman indicating 5 laps to go the #211was comfortably out in front, but the fight was still raging for 2nd place between Blair, Holley and points leader Scott Smith in the #01. Their battle went all the way to the last turn but desperate dives from Holley and Smith on the last corner were blocked by Blair who crossed the finish line for a deserved 2nd place, but well behind Korpi.
With one more race before the interval and the highly-anticipated rib eating contest, the Sportsman cars made their way onto the track for their feature, and quickly provided the first caution of the night with #44 Michael Seay’s attempt to get a flying start from the rear of the field seeing him spin out before reaching the start line. No such problems on the second attempt at getting the race underway, with Seay quickly moving up from the back into 6th place in a the rebuilt #44 that had left the track just a week earlier on the back of a wrecker after suffering major damage to the front end. Up at the front it was the #27 of Phil Luizzo that was making the early running, with pre-race favorite and points leader #23 Mike Pletka in hot pursuit. With the race settling down, a caution for two spinning cars restacked the field for a 10 lap dash to the checkered flag, but again Luizzo was able to get the advantage with a crafty restart from turn 4 catching the field by surprise, and Seay using the opportunity to blast past the #66 of Andy Nichols down the front stretch and into 4th. With Pletka rapidly gaining on him, Luizzo was able to hold off the challenge to claim a great win in a car that had undergone serious repair work throughout the afternoon, with Seay holding off Nichols for an excellent 4th place.
With the interval festivities complete the Pro-Trucks rolled out onto the grid for their 100 lap feature. After a hard afternoon of testing, tweaking and qualifying the line-up was set and a twist was announced – the race would run with a full-field inversion. Putting the fastest cars at the back made this a memorable race, with fast qualifier #22 Scott Bishop and #99 Kevin Henry biding their time from the green flag and cleverly allowing the traffic to slowly calm down and get into line before starting to make their way through the field towards the front. The #15 of Cody Blair, making his second start of the night, provided the early excitement as he worked his way through the pack, only to see smoke start to billow from his truck on the back straight. A trip to pit-lane to modify his bodywork gave temporary relief, but his night ended for good on the 13th lap with the first retirement of the race.
The restart saw Henry quickly moving through the traffic, taking the outright lead before an incident in turn 2 brought out the caution flags again, with Thomas Warnick’s #7 getting squeezed between two passing cars and getting out of shape. Two trips to pit lane for Warnick followed, the first seeing him miss his pit crew and having to make a second lap to re-enter pit lane, but on his second trip the smoke coming from his engine compartment indicated more than a single mechanical issue, with the flames coming from under the hood now obvious to the fans in the stands. With the driver evacuated and the fire crews working quickly to extinguish the blaze the race was red flagged to allow a proper clean-up of the pit lane before starting once again.
After all the excitement the race restarted with the #99 still out in front but with the other NSS regulars working their way into the leading pack. Another caution came soon after with #20 Anthony Sergi turning the #96x of Austin Howell in turn 1 to send both trucks to the rear of the restart. The pace truck was back out on track again soon after with three trucks getting too close in turn 2 and causing the cars behind to take avoiding action. The green flag saw Henry, #22 Scott Bishop and the #96 of Ben Kennedy breaking away from the field to lead up at the front as the race settled down for a long caution-free run.
At 2/3rds distance the race was down to 9 remaining trucks, with the three runaway leaders slowly being reeled in by Sergi. With just 5 to go the race came to life again as #96 Kennedy finally realized it was time to make a move on #22 Bishop, pushing alongside him but with the fast qualifier fighting back to keep the advantage. The white flag indicated one lap to go and lapped cars around the track all adding to the excitement, with the #27 of Michael Soukup seeing his engine giving up on the back straight, meaning the decisive moments of the race all took place in a hazy cloud of smoke! With Henry having successfully navigated the last lap to take the win it was down to Kennedy and Bishop to provide the excitement, with Kennedy making one last desperate lunge down the back straight to claim 2nd place by inches on the line, bringing the appreciative crowd to their feet.
Just the Strictly Stocks left to finish off the evening, and with the cars lined up in the pit road the crowd quickly realized that the cars had turned right and were heading the wrong way around the track – the race was going to be run clockwise, both for some extra fun and to make sure than none of the drivers in this class had overstepped the rules and set-up their cars too strongly for the left-handed turns. The first few laps showed just how much this rule was throwing the drivers, with cars throughout the field struggling to adapt and heading out way too close to the corner walls for comfort! It was no surprise that points leader William Hindman in the #89xwas the quickest to adapt to the change, and he was soon out in front, with the #59 of Chris Brannon and the #60 of Ernie Tumeinello in hot pursuit. A caution midway bunched the cars back up and saw the leaders joined up front by the #95 of Chuck Hill, who provided the crowd with plenty of excitement as he pushed and nudged his way through his competitors only to lose control in turn 2, suddenly get unexpected grip, and take a trip across the grass at the bottom of turn 1, narrowly missing the pit lane exit wall on his way back onto the front straight! Hindman would take the checkered flag, his arm aloft from the window of his car to salute the crowd as he passed the line, with Tumeinello escaping two very close calls with the corner walls to take 2nd place.
The 5th Annual Florida State Pro-Truck 100 lapper was the much-anticipated main event on the evening’s race card, but with a full program encompassing the Modified, Sportsman, Superstock and Strictly Stock divisions, a Veteran’s motorcycle parade and a rib-eating contest on the start/finish line, there was plenty of entertainment on show at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday night.
With the whole evening leading up to the big truck race, the other classes lived up to the occasion and didn’t disappoint, with many of the battles to watch being found back in the midfield as the drivers fought for late-season championship points. After an extended warm-up for the Modifieds, thanks to a pit-lane breakdown for one car, the evening’s racing finally got the green flag and saw the #4B of Alan Bruns racing to the front for an early lead, only to be quickly caught and passed by the #22 of Jason Boyd. With open track in front of him, Boyd never looked back and would cross the finish line almost half a straightaway ahead of Bruns in a race that ran under the green flag for its entire 25 laps.
The Superstocks came out next and provided one of the races of the night, and a second consecutive race to run the whole 25 laps without the need for yellow flags and the pace truck. From the green light it was the #86 of Richard Goodrich that got the outside line working to push forward into a narrow lead, but with the #15 of Cody Blair and the #211 of Jarrett Korpi moving menacingly up through the pack. Goodrich used the wide line to his advantage to keep ahead of the field, but on the 7th lap the extra pace of Korpi saw him slide under the #86 to take the lead and race off on his own. Goodrich now had both Blair and the #56 of Bobby Holley breathing down his neck, with Holley taking advantage of the battle ahead of him to slip under both cars and into second place coming out of turn 2. With the flagman indicating 5 laps to go the #211was comfortably out in front, but the fight was still raging for 2nd place between Blair, Holley and points leader Scott Smith in the #01. Their battle went all the way to the last turn but desperate dives from Holley and Smith on the last corner were blocked by Blair who crossed the finish line for a deserved 2nd place, but well behind Korpi.
With one more race before the interval and the highly-anticipated rib eating contest, the Sportsman cars made their way onto the track for their feature, and quickly provided the first caution of the night with #44 Michael Seay’s attempt to get a flying start from the rear of the field seeing him spin out before reaching the start line. No such problems on the second attempt at getting the race underway, with Seay quickly moving up from the back into 6th place in a the rebuilt #44 that had left the track just a week earlier on the back of a wrecker after suffering major damage to the front end. Up at the front it was the #27 of Phil Luizzo that was making the early running, with pre-race favorite and points leader #23 Mike Pletka in hot pursuit. With the race settling down, a caution for two spinning cars restacked the field for a 10 lap dash to the checkered flag, but again Luizzo was able to get the advantage with a crafty restart from turn 4 catching the field by surprise, and Seay using the opportunity to blast past the #66 of Andy Nichols down the front stretch and into 4th. With Pletka rapidly gaining on him, Luizzo was able to hold off the challenge to claim a great win in a car that had undergone serious repair work throughout the afternoon, with Seay holding off Nichols for an excellent 4th place.
With the interval festivities complete the Pro-Trucks rolled out onto the grid for their 100 lap feature. After a hard afternoon of testing, tweaking and qualifying the line-up was set and a twist was announced – the race would run with a full-field inversion. Putting the fastest cars at the back made this a memorable race, with fast qualifier #22 Scott Bishop and #99 Kevin Henry biding their time from the green flag and cleverly allowing the traffic to slowly calm down and get into line before starting to make their way through the field towards the front. The #15 of Cody Blair, making his second start of the night, provided the early excitement as he worked his way through the pack, only to see smoke start to billow from his truck on the back straight. A trip to pit-lane to modify his bodywork gave temporary relief, but his night ended for good on the 13th lap with the first retirement of the race.
The restart saw Henry quickly moving through the traffic, taking the outright lead before an incident in turn 2 brought out the caution flags again, with Thomas Warnick’s #7 getting squeezed between two passing cars and getting out of shape. Two trips to pit lane for Warnick followed, the first seeing him miss his pit crew and having to make a second lap to re-enter pit lane, but on his second trip the smoke coming from his engine compartment indicated more than a single mechanical issue, with the flames coming from under the hood now obvious to the fans in the stands. With the driver evacuated and the fire crews working quickly to extinguish the blaze the race was red flagged to allow a proper clean-up of the pit lane before starting once again.
After all the excitement the race restarted with the #99 still out in front but with the other NSS regulars working their way into the leading pack. Another caution came soon after with #20 Anthony Sergi turning the #96x of Austin Howell in turn 1 to send both trucks to the rear of the restart. The pace truck was back out on track again soon after with three trucks getting too close in turn 2 and causing the cars behind to take avoiding action. The green flag saw Henry, #22 Scott Bishop and the #96 of Ben Kennedy breaking away from the field to lead up at the front as the race settled down for a long caution-free run.
At 2/3rds distance the race was down to 9 remaining trucks, with the three runaway leaders slowly being reeled in by Sergi. With just 5 to go the race came to life again as #96 Kennedy finally realized it was time to make a move on #22 Bishop, pushing alongside him but with the fast qualifier fighting back to keep the advantage. The white flag indicated one lap to go and lapped cars around the track all adding to the excitement, with the #27 of Michael Soukup seeing his engine giving up on the back straight, meaning the decisive moments of the race all took place in a hazy cloud of smoke! With Henry having successfully navigated the last lap to take the win it was down to Kennedy and Bishop to provide the excitement, with Kennedy making one last desperate lunge down the back straight to claim 2nd place by inches on the line, bringing the appreciative crowd to their feet.
Just the Strictly Stocks left to finish off the evening, and with the cars lined up in the pit road the crowd quickly realized that the cars had turned right and were heading the wrong way around the track – the race was going to be run clockwise, both for some extra fun and to make sure than none of the drivers in this class had overstepped the rules and set-up their cars too strongly for the left-handed turns. The first few laps showed just how much this rule was throwing the drivers, with cars throughout the field struggling to adapt and heading out way too close to the corner walls for comfort! It was no surprise that points leader William Hindman in the #89xwas the quickest to adapt to the change, and he was soon out in front, with the #59 of Chris Brannon and the #60 of Ernie Tumeinello in hot pursuit. A caution midway bunched the cars back up and saw the leaders joined up front by the #95 of Chuck Hill, who provided the crowd with plenty of excitement as he pushed and nudged his way through his competitors only to lose control in turn 2, suddenly get unexpected grip, and take a trip across the grass at the bottom of turn 1, narrowly missing the pit lane exit wall on his way back onto the front straight! Hindman would take the checkered flag, his arm aloft from the window of his car to salute the crowd as he passed the line, with Tumeinello escaping two very close calls with the corner walls to take 2nd place.
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