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HAIR, GOESS AND STOVER
REPEAT WINNERS IN WEDNESDAY SPEEDWORLD ACTION
No rain on Wednesday for
day two of the 2007 INEX/600 Series Winternationals
at Orlando Speedworld... just bright sunny skies and a stiff breeze to go
along with plenty of red-hot racing action.
The Legend Car Chargers were first up on the program and the results were
the same as day one with Gastonia, NC's Matthew Stover dominating both the
heat and feature races.
R.S. Senter managed to lead lap one and two minor cautions allowed him to
close in on the leader, but Stover was clearly the class of the field in
taking his second straight win which may earn him a move up into the Semi
Pro
class for the remainder of the Winternationals.
Senter was a strong second ahead of Alex Kempf, Dalton Bergman, Jamie
Smith,
George Cushman and Dean Moslow.
Legends Semi Pro action continued hot and heavy and featured a fantastic
race for first place between John Stancill and eventual winner Zach Stroupe.
The two swapped the lead back and forth several times in the closing laps
and
weren't afraid to use a little bit of bumper to loosen up the one which was
in
front at the time.
Unlike the previous night where the race was cut to 16 laps due to
numerous
cautions, just three yellows were needed on this day, all for relatively
minor
incidents.
Stancill led the opening 11 laps before Stroupe zoomed by only to see
Stancill return the favor just five laps later. From there it was some
great
back and forth action until Stroupe was able to secure the top spot one
final
time with two laps to go. Stroupe claimed the win, his third in the last
week
including Sunday/Monday night Pro Challenge wins at New Smyrna Speedway.
Stancill held on for second and took over the Winternationals Semi Pro
points lead. With grandpa Richard Childress in attendance, Ty Dillon had an
impressive run for third ahead of J.R. Allen and the winner from the
previous
day Chelsea Schillig. Travis Baer came back from a crash the night before
to
claim sixth with Jimmy Norman, Tony Sansom, Gene Kirila and Shaughn
McCormick
rounding out the top ten.
The remaining finishers were Corey Smith, Chad Hackenbracht, Parker
Hammons,
Kara Clarke, Tanner Berryhill, Darrell Vance, Ryan Moore, Greg Frye, Zach
Zimmerly, Luke Fleming and Josh Williams who won the first heat and sat on
the
pole for the feature only to see his engine go sour almost immediately after
the drop of the green. Stancill and Allen were the other heat race winners.
Nick Pistone had the pole again for the Legend Car Pro Division main event
and actually got to start there after having to switch to a back-up car the
day before which put him scratch on the field.
Pistone led the first two laps but could not hold off Craig Goess, Jr. who
would drive off with his second consecutive victory. The only caution of
the
race came on the opening lap when Brandon Thomson spun his mount in turn
one.
Once Goess took the point, Pistone stayed within range but had to settle for
the runner-up spot.
2006 Speedworld Legends Car Champion Kory Abbott raced to a solid third
place finish with Cole Miktuk and Thomas Hartensveld earning the fourth and
fifth positions. Completing the top ten were Paddy Rodenbeck, Scott Knox,
Kyle Beattie, Cameron Patrick and Jesse Bunnell. Rounding out the finishers
were Rette Causey, Kyle LaPier, Roger Austin, Jr., Paul Schrein, Jr., Chris
Lemonds, Thomas Van Wingerden and Thomson.
Heats for the Pro class went to Pistone, Knox and Goess.
Veteran Clay Hair had a front row starting spot again on Wednesday and
made
the most of it again, leading every lap for the second day in a row to
capture
the Legends Car Masters Division feature.
The race ran green to checker and only Tim Brockhouse was able to keep
Hair
in view. Brockhouse's second place finish would be disallowed after tech
inspection found an illegal brake rotor on his car.
That moved an elated Mike Verhaagh to second place, his best finish ever
at
his home track. Despite a smoking car, Cotton Spry made a late charge to
third
place with 2006 Florida State Masters Division Champion Andy Logan and
fellow
West Plam Beach resident Jimmy Rodriguez rounding out the top five and a
good
showing by the shoes from the Sunshine State.
Scotty Edwards took the sixth spot with the remainder of the top ten Brian
Weimer, George Whitney, Gary Bursey and Larry Friddle.
Completing the finishers were Frank Johnston, Bruce Little, Rick Whitmore,
Bob Wilson, Ray Paprota, Tom Clarke, Ronnie Poland, Sr., Mike Beebe and
Herman
Greinig.
Masters Division heats were taken by Verhaagh, Hair and Brockhouse.
The fans were treated to a great race in the Thunder Roadsters as
eventually
winner Thomas Van Wingerden and Jesse Bunnell swapped the lead a total of
six
times over the course of 25 laps. Van Wingerden just held on for the win
ahead of Bunnell, Steve Carter and Tom Clarke.
The Bandeleros finally got to do some feature racing and there were four
winners in four races.
In the Young Guns, it was Ryan Glenski taking the honors in the first race
over Ronnie Bassett, Jr., Chad Finchum, Bryce Walker, Donovan Ponder and
Meghan Dillner.
In the make-up race from Tuesday, the roles were reversed with Bassett
taking the win over Glenski, Finchum, Walker, Ponder and Dillner.
The first feature for the Bandelero Bandits as a wild one that found Bodie
Bellinger on top at races end ahead of Cody Blackburn, Critter Saile, Blake
Jones, Layne Clifton, Zoey Guignardi, Dillon Bassett, Evan Bell, Nicholas
Stroupe and Jesse Kirila.
Dillon Bassett switched to his back-up car after having problems in the
first race, then promptly ran off with the Tuesday make-up event over
Blackburn, Bell, Saile, Bellinger, Stroupe, Clifton, Guignardi, Kirila and
Jones.
Action continues Thursday afternoon at 1:30 PM.
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