Auburndale results 97-06-28

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ************************************************************* 6-28-1997 New Faces Visit Victory Lane at Auburndale Speedway By Gene Crane Auburndale, FL Afternoon showers could not deny some new names and faces the chance to join some of the regular winners Saturday night at the Auburndale Speedway. Mike Harrison making his third start ever in a stock car held off a four car charge to the line to win the V8 Pure Stock event and Paul Gibbs started from the pole and led every lap enroute to the Street Stock feature win. Post race inspection played a factor in deciding the winner in the Late Model Sportsman division as Howard O’Steen was declared the winner when Von Pope’s Monte Carlo could not meet specifications. The night began with the Kids Club making their monthly visit to the banked quarter mile. The Junior division, once again, provided some close racing as 12 year old Freddie Lucas scored the win over 13 year old Richie Acres and 10 year old Larry McCormack. Burt Morse, who turned 13 on Friday, took the senior division win over R. J. Williams and Brandon Hershey. The Kids Club provides the opportunity for youngsters 10 to 16 to apply their school work and learn about racing through seminars and racing. The next visit for the Kids Club will be Saturday night July 26th. Apparent Late Model Sportsman winner Von Pope found that his Monte Carlo could not satisfy tech inspectors and was denied the win in the 30 lap feature. It was the second week in a row that the first car to the checkers could not pass the inspectors in post race inspection. Howard O’Steen, who one week earlier found himself in Pope’s situation, was declared the winner. Lee Davis took the lead at the green and O’Steen was in the right spot at the right time early in the feature when Late Model Rookie Tony Poff had the motor begin to falter as he exited turn four. The field, with the exception of O’Steen who had gone to the outside, was single file in the bottom groove led by Poff, running second. The field stacked up behind Poff and O’Steen motored by to take over second. O’Steen later got by Davis and Pope was able to run down and pass the leaders. Official top five at the end of 30 laps were O’Steen, Davis, Harold Cannon, Richard Todd and Billy Jones. Jim McPeak was able to withstand several challenges for the top spot to claim the win in Figure Eight action. McPeak and his Camaro led five Mustangs to the stripe. John Heise, who ran second much of the race and challenged McPeak for the lead nearly every lap, was forced to retire when his car began smoking heavily from the right rear wheel. Mark Nagy moved up to the second position and challenged for the lead several times before nearly crashing. Denny Myers Jr. was able to capitalize on Nagy’s misfortune and got by to finish second. Nagy was third followed by Denny Myers Sr. and J.R. Myers. Paul Gibbs started from the pole and went on to win in the 30 lap Street Stock feature. Steve Ware and David Roberts gave chase from second and third but could not catch Gibbs in the number two. Westley Bass finished fourth dispite being involved in a wild crash at the exit of turn two. The lapped car of Jeff Neixner spun after making contact with Michael King. The spin was directly in front of a large group of cars trying to get up front. Bass spun to avoid as did Travis Roland. Phillip Sorrell and Jesse Hall were also a part of the tangle which saw all cars drive away from the scene. Sorrell damaged the radiator in his number 67 and was out for the night. Bass and Hall rejoined the field for the restart. A quick visit to the pits got Roland back on the track for the restart, however a flat right rear tire sidelined the former Kids Club driver one lap later. The only Ford product in the Street Stock field, Ron Lofquist, completed the top five. Modified Mini Stock feature action saw Lee Davis put his Pinto in Victory Lane at the end of the 30 lap event. Point leader Randy Storer finished up in the second spot with Jay Kaminski’s mini pickup in third. James Wood and Don Ezell rounded out the top five. Mike Harrison is one for three in lifetime wins as he swept the V8 Pure Stock feature. Harrison drove his first race three weeks ago and held off a strong outside challenge from Kim Scheffler-Hays with Donnie Harp and Bob Gorsuch pressuring from behind. James Wright III finished fifth a half dozen car lengths behind. Devon McCaulley led Jan Mason and Bob Bennett to the stripe in the 4 Cylinder Pure Stock feature. Angela Burton won the Powder Puff event over Billie May and Becky Lynn. Racing activities this coming weekend begin at the USA International Speedway on Friday night July Fourth with the Miller Lite 200 for the USAR Hooters Cup cars followed by a 100 lap USAR Sportsman event. A special fireworks presentation will also highlight the evening at USA International Speedway between the two events. The North-South Dwarf Car Shoot-out headlines the racing schedule for Saturday July 5th at Auburndale Speedway with a $1000 winners check on the line. Late Model Sportsman, Street Stock, Modified Mini Stock, V8 Pure Stock and 4 Cylinder Pure Stock complete the lineup for Saturday’s events. 4 CYLINDER PURE STOCK RACE RESULTS FOR 6/28/97 FEATURE Car Pos Number Driver Name Hometown 1 98 Devon McCaulley Mulberry, FL 2 24 Jan Mason Winter Haven, FL 3 50 Bob Bennett 4 00 Tim Ward Eagle Lake, FL 5 23 John Bews Lake Wales, FL 6 3 Terry Jones Zephyrhills, FL 7 84 Daryl Habbershaw Winter Haven, FL 8 16 Scott Taylor Auburndale, FL 9 58 Wayne Weaver Winter Haven, FL 10 54 Greg Case Winter Haven, FL 8 CYLINDER PURE STOCK RACE RESULTS FOR 6/28/97 FEATURE Car Pos Number Driver Name Hometown 1 88 Mike Harrison 2 10 Kim Scheffler-Hays Auburndale, FL 3 31 Donnie Harp Winter Haven, FL 4 69 Bob Gorsuch 5 56 James Wright III Auburndale, FL 6 08 Daniel Clough Lakeland, FL 7 60 Greg Bacon 8 9 Tommy Dopson Haines City, FL 9 46 Randy King Auburndale, FL 10 91 Rick Bacon Winter Haven, FL FIGURE 8 RACE RESULTS FOR 6/28/97 FEATURE Car Pos Number Driver Name Hometown 1 14 Jim McPeak 2 A5 Denny Myers Jr. 3 A11 Mark Nagy 4 A1 Denny Myers Sr. 5 A3 J.R. Myers 6 A2 Rob Wilson 7 99 Scott Box 8 13 Pat Hughes 9 A37 Mark Thomas 10 A8 John Heise LATE MODEL SPORTSMAN RACE RESULTS FOR 6/28/97 30 LAP FEATURE Car Pos Number Driver Name Hometown 1 86 Howard O'Steen Lakeland, FL 2 77 Lee Davis Lakeland, FL 3 3 Harold Cannon 4 6 Richard Todd Auburndale, FL 5 18 Billy Jones Winter Haven, FL 6 02 Don Carroll Polk City, FL 7 97 Ray Cuzzone Lakeland, FL 8 65 Ollie Harbin Bartow, FL 9 1 Tony Poff Haines City, FL MINI STOCK RACE RESULTS FOR 6/28/97 30 LAP FEATURE Car Pos Number Driver Name Hometown 1 77 Lee Davis Lakeland, FL 2 90 Randy Storer Zephyrhills, FL 3 7 Jay Kaminski Lakeland, FL 4 69 James Wood Winter Haven, FL 5 19 Don Ezell 6 46 Donnie Lockard Winter Haven, FL 7 96 Joey Catarelli 8 51 Greg Edwards 9 57 Jason Rendell Lakeland, FL 10 1 David Farina STREET STOCKS RACE RESULTS FOR 6/28/97 30 LAP FEATURE Car Pos Number Driver Name Hometown 1 2 Marvin Gibbs Plant City, FL 2 95 Steve Ware Polk City, FL 3 1 David Roberts 4 63 Westley Bass Lake Wales, FL 5 49 Ronald Lofquist Auburndale, FL 6 89 Michael King Davenport, FL 7 12 David Williamson Mulberry, FL 8 17 Mitch Hawk Winter Haven, FL 9 3 Chuck Steele Auburndale, FL 10 5 Jason Bennett Winter Haven, FL