PATRICK THOMAS TAKES SPORTSMAN 50 - JARRETT KORPI GETS 10TH E-MOD WIN AT NEW
SMYRNA SPEEDWAY
Cool temperatures and clear skies greeted race teams and fans Saturday evening
at New Smyrna Speedway for NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series action
with Orlando’s Patrick Thomas the big winner on the night as he pretty much
dominated a great field of Sportsman cars in their special 50-lap event.
Thomas set quick time as 18 of the 20 cars that signed in took time. Thomas’
lap of 19.427 seconds topped the 19.736 effort of Mike Trocki and Todd Allen’s
lap of 19.871 seconds as the trio were the only ones to break into the 19
second bracket. Allen’s car did not pass post-qualifying tech inspection as
the tires were found to be too soft. Allen, last week’s feature winner, chose
to load up his car rather than start from the back of the field in the
feature.
Thomas drew a four for the inversion placing Aaron Williamson on the pole with
Trocki outside of row one. With Allen not competing, Thomas moved up to the
third starting spot. Williamson led lap one but Thomas was already hooked up
and he took over the front position on the second lap never to be headed
again.
Fourth starter Derrick Wood worked his way into second place and was running
strong before his car shut off and he coasted to a stop to bring out the first
caution flag on lap 18. As the field took the green, Thomas easily pulled
away as Williamson settled into the second spot. Under long green flag
periods Williamson looked to have a faster car than the leader but his run to
catch Thomas was negated by a lap 27 spin by Justin Starr.
Williamson fell back a bit on the restart as once again Thomas pulled away
from the field. The final yellow flag came out on lap 35 as point leader
Donny Williams stalled in turn three, victim of a broken distributor.
Thomas easily led the remaining distance as Williamson finished several car
lengths back in second. Austin Carr had a solid run for third trailed by
Trocki and David Williamson. Scott Garrity claimed sixth spot followed by
Justin Starr in seventh, the last two cars on the lead lap. Rookie George
Alexander had a nice run for eighth followed by Ron Gustafson in ninth and D.
J. Farr in tenth. Completing the finishers were Richard Fiore, Jr., Williams,
Mike Soukup, Phil Luizzo, Wood, Junior Beckner and John Buzinec. Allen,
Daniel Conlin, Jr. and Tom Sargen did not start.
The Pro Late Model feature turned out to be a heartbreaker for Michael Lira,
the young local driver just named to compete in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity
program in 2015.
Michael Williams set the early pace but Lira had has car working perfectly and
he made the pass for the lead on the fifth lap and began to simply drive away.
Will Carroll moved around Williams for second on lap ten but was well behind
leader Lira. Lira looked to be coasting to his second win of the year until
two laps from the finish. Mike Cohen, a veteran racer making a comeback at
age 57, spun his car in turn one to bring out the only yellow flag of the
event, setting up a green-white-checker finish.
Both Carroll and Rich Clouser made a huge charge on the restart and Lira went
a bit too high in turn one, got into the “loose stuff” and clipped the wall
pushing the right rear bodywork in on the tire. Lira could only hold on for
dear life as Carroll streaked away with plenty of wild “shuffling” going on
behind him.
Point leader Carroll, who hails from Warrambool, Victoria, Australia, scored
his third win of the season with Clouser close behind in second. Ricky
Anderson, who started ninth on the grid, made a late charge to third ahead of
Zach Jarrell and Williams. Sixth went to Kevyn Terry ahead of Colby Clements
and Lira who held on to take a very disappointing seventh. Noah Cornman,
Tommy Mackey, Cohen and Randy Anderson rounded out the finishers.
Jarrett Korpi won both the heat and feature races in the E-Modifieds scoring
his tenth feature victory of the year, the most of any racer at the track and
the second year in a row he has scored double-digit feature wins.
Diamond Jim Higginbotham led the opening pair of laps but Korpi was not to be
denied as he took the lead on lap three never to be headed as the race ran
green to checker without a caution flag. Matthew Green made a late charge but
had to settle for second ahead of Higginbotham, Roger Benton, Jon Compagnone,
John Hodge, Mike Dahm and George Dahm.
Butch Herdegen led the first four circuits of the Super Stock feature but
could not hold off a flying Garrett Hill who took over on lap five and
dominated the remaining laps. Hill’s run to the finish was slowed just once
on lap 12 when Preston Hunt and Justin Spears got together heading into turn
one causing the left rear tire to deflate on Spears’ car putting him in the
turn one wall.
From that point Hill drove off to an easy victory, his third of the year.
Point leader Shannon Kelly was a distant second with Herdegen taking third in
front of Ernie Tuminello and David Gould. Sixth through tenth were Mike
Amato, Hunt, Jeff Colburn, Gino Tuminello and J. T. Tippins while Dale
Sorensen, Mike Dahm, Spears and Becca Samsoe completed the finishers. Joe
Gerard and Russell Perdue did not start. Hill and Gould took the heat race
wins.
It was another dominant performance for Palm Bay’s Zachary Curtis and his
Saturn as Curtis won his seventh Strictly Stock feature of the year.
Johnathan Murphy led the first four laps in his Buick Regal but Curtis made
quick work of him and was a zip code or two ahead of Murphy at the finish as
this race also ran the distance under green flag conditions. Shane Sutorus
was third in a Saturn station wagon while Warren Howie took fourth in a Chevy
Caprice and fifth spot went to Jimmy “Spaceman” Barron’s Chevy Monte Carlo.
Rounding out the finishers were Kevin Ledford, Tom Balmer, Charles King, Jamie
Sullivan and Nathan Purdy. Aaron Overman did not start after a heat race
crash. Curtis also won the heat race.
Next week the E-Modifieds go for 50 laps on Breast Cancer Awareness Night at
New Smyrna Speedway.
