Auburndale -FUPS 150

Surprised I have not seen any comments about the Sunday afternoon show. I made my return to asphalt as a fan, after going dirt for quite awhile, and truly enjoyed the Late Model 150. Very exciting start and finish surrounded a pretty action packed race. Dorer’s last lap pass coming out of four to beat Dutilly at the line was as exciting as finish as you can have. Great run for Jessica in the #75.The first lap incident between Macy and Campi was interesting as well. Was it intentional or just an accident? 18 late models started. Anderson filling in for Skofield had a nice run from last to 5th then ended up I believe 6th. Great runs for Gorham as well as he headed to a top five after going to rear of field. Sportsman had a good finish as well, but 17 cautions in a 50 lapper was just a wee bit too much for this fan. #8 Duchsherer drove a heck of race but was finally passed by the #5 (Wright ?) torwards the end. Wish the PA system was a little better as it was difficult hearing the drivers names. All in all, I thought it was a great day at Auburndale and FUPS. Glad I went.

I was most impressed with Jessica Murphy. She drove a great race and to come home 3rd was cool. The last lap pass Dorer made was the move of the race no doubt. It would have been interesting if Campi had stayed in. I left on lap 26 of the Sportsman race, racing was great when they were actually racing.

I also thought it was a great race. That first lap crash seemed totally unneccesary. 3 wide on lap one wasn’t smart, and it put Macy in the wall. I completely missed the next part, but people around me said that Macy took aim at, and plowed into Campi the next lap around wiping out his car also.

Dorer seems to be the master of coming on late in the race. He won at Citrus a few weeks ago with a late race pass, and did it again this time with a last lap, last corner pass. Jesse Dutilly was very humble in the post race interview when he admitted that he just plain overdrive that corner, and Dorer pounced on the opening. Jessica Murphy had a great run, and was possibly the fastest car out there at the end.

Met a nice kid named Tyler Allen, who came all the way from Indiana just for some seat time. It was only his 2nd ever start on asphalt after running dirt late models at home. He will be following the entire CRA North series and some South races when he can. Said they will be back for the A-Dale CRA race in 2013.

The 24 Hours of Sportsman race was a cluster****. A nice field of 21, but WAY too many boneheaded moves made this painful to sit through. The racing itself, during the infrequent times they kept their act together, was actually really good.

One thing happened that I don’t understand at all… Craig Cuzzone spun Brandon Duscherrer out of the lead, and tapped the roof taking responsibility for the spin. This put Brandon back up front, but they also allowed Cuzzone to keep 2nd. I thought this ‘gentlemans agreement’ put the offender to the back, not back into the position he already had… ???

As for the PA system someone else mentioned… it didn’t matter if you could hear or not. The announcer wasn’t SAYING anything. At some points I thought the system had broken down, but it hadn’t. After the initial line-up, he never once mentioned anyone outside the top 3. Sometimes it was 3-4 laps after a spin out to even say who was involved. He sure had time to plug the DVD sales, and the Charity Truckers 200, but he had NO interest in telling us what was on the track in front of us. Just a TERRIBLE job on the PA yesterday.

Overall, very glad I went. Can’t remember the last time I needed sunglasses (which I forgot) at a Stock Car race. T-shirts & shorts in December at the racetrack… Gotta love it…!

I agree about the sportsman race… way to many cautions and it seemed to be the same 1 or 2 cars causing the majority of them… Thats part of the reason me and #8 had contact, he missed turn 1 and i tried to capatalize on it, just underneath him a little but not far enough and did everything I could to avoid him (hard on brakes, turned left, went thru grass) and obviously still hit him. I did take responsibility for my mistake and tapped out but was told the caution was already coming out for a car in the rear spinning so i got my spot back. Overall, it was a good race for the lead between 8,88,11,19,and 5 just alot of issues towards the rear of the field.

Good explanation CCuzzone. That’s something that seems to happen quite often and a good announcer will update the fans.

Perfect explanation… thanks Craig. If the announcer had explained it to the fans, there wouldn’t have been so many totally confused people.

This track has the reputation, deserved or not, of showing favoritism towards certain drivers. When a situation like this happens, it APPEARS to be accurate. In this case, no favoritism was shown, but the fans did not get to hear or understand that. It’s a shame that the TRACK will get the blame, when the announcer, if he’d been doing his job correctly, could have settled it on the spot.

What DID happen is that a bunch of people went home thinking the officials did something shifty, when in fact, it ALL MAKES SENSE.

I believe the annoucer is a radio DJ for the local country station. I was there on Saturday night and he would mention the driver’s in qualifying after they had run their laps. I don’t believe he has a lot of experience calling races and it shows.

Sorry I could’nt return on Sunday afternoon. Hated to miss Dorer’s run to the front. He also had a last lap pass on Chase Elliott at Anderson, Indiana in the Red Bud 300. He is a true wheelman.