World Series at New Smyrna Race Recap - Night 8 - 2/20/15

RYAN PREECE TAKES RICHIE EVANS MEMORIAL DURING NIGHT 8 OF WORLD SERIES AT NEW
SMYRNA SPEEDWAY

It was still very chilly for night number eight of the 49th annual World
Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway but the racing was
super hot as the Tour-Type Modifieds were the stars of the evening in the
annual Richie Evans Memorial 100 presented by JRi Racing Shocks.
Ryan Preece of Calverton, NY, a three-time winner in five starts during this
year’s World Series, set quick time with a lap of 17.100 seconds. Second
fastest was the 17.151 lap of Chuck Hossfeld just ahead of the 17.313 lap set
by J. R. Bertuccio. Preece drew the eight pill inverting the first four rows
for the start putting Cole Powell on the pole with Eric Goodale occupying the
outside of row one.
Powell, of Mt. Brydges, ON, took the early advantage as some great
side-by-side action took place behind him. Fast qualifier Preece, Hossfeld
and Justin Bonsignore all dropped well back in the field in an obvious effort
to conserve tires. Spencer Davis and Eric Goodale blew by second-running
Patrick Emerling on lap ten then Davis caught and passed Powell for the lead
on lap 14.
At this point the field settled in for some fast green flag racing. Davis
built up a huge advantage as Powell re-passed Goodale for second. At the half
way mark, Davis had nearly a half lap lead over Powell, Goodale, Emerling,
Bertuccio, Hossfeld, Jimmy Zacharias, Bonsignore, Preece and Tommy Catalano.
Goodale went back by Powell on lap 54 to take second as Davis continued to
stretch his lead while Hossfeld and Preece began to pick up the pace in order
to stay on the lead lap. Just as leader Davis was about to lap Bonsignore,
Bonsignore spun out in turn two to bring out the first caution on lap 66 as
several observers felt Bonsignore spun on purpose to keep from being lapped.
All of the leaders pitted with the exception of Davis who stayed out front but
now found himself on older rubber than everybody else. Matt Montineri’s car
stalled during the caution and he was pushed to pit road.
Davis kept the lead on the restart but he was a sitting duck as everyone else
had new tires. Hossfeld and Preece dusted off Goodale and took second and
third on lap 70 then both blew by Davis on lap 72. It took Preece just one
more circuit before he took the point from Hossfeld just as Dylan Kopec
stalled in turn one to bring out the yellow flag. Davis then finally pitted
for new tires.
Preece maintained the advantage on the restart while Goodale went by
Bonsignore with just 12 laps left to take third spot. Preece raced
unchallenged to the checker and took the win as he would be presented his
winner’s “check” in victory lane by Wayne Gregory of JRi Shocks. Hossfeld
came home second followed by Goodale, Bertuccio and Bonsignore. Completing
the top ten were Powell, Emerling, Zacharias, Tommy Catalano and Davis.
Preece’s win allowed him to come back to claim the 2015 World Series Tour
Modified championship.
The Super Late Models tuned up for Saturday’s Bruce Gowland Memorial 100 with
a 35-lap event. For the second consecutive night, David Garbo, Jr. of
Stonington, CT set fast time at 17.394 seconds with Zane Smith second quick at
17.516 ahead of Drew Brannon’s 17.554 lap as the top eight in time trials
would be inverted for the start of the race placing Paul Shafer, Jr. and Steve
Wallace on the front row.
Wallace zipped to a comfortable early lead as Shafer and Harrison Burton held
second and third. Burton passed Shafer on lap eight and started to reel in
Wallace and the race was on between these two new arch-rivals who had already
had one big altercation earlier in the week. Their battle was interrupted on
lap 23 as point leader Ty Majeski apparently had a tire go down going into
turn three and he spun backwards at full speed into the wall. The red flag
was displayed to check on Majeski who was pronounced A-OK.
Wallace and Burton renewed their duel on the restart and raced each other
reasonably clean before Burton surged to the top spot on lap 27. From that
point Burton drove away to become the first two-time Super Late Model winner
of the week. Wallace held off Smith for third trailed by Christopher Bell and
Garbo. Sixth through tenth were Shafer, Garrett Jones, Drew Brannon, Denver
Foran and Joey Mucciacciaro.
Fast time for the PPG Architectural Coatings Pro Late Models went to Franklin,
TX driver Derek Scott, Jr. at 18.024 seconds while Matt Wallace was second
quick at 18.047 and Tim Sargent’s 18.050 lap was third quick. The top six
were inverted for the beginning of the 35-lap race with Austin Nason on the
pole flanked by Spencer Davis.
Davis took the lead at the drop of the green only to see caution fly on the
second lap for a big front stretch crash involving Tyler Thomas, Ryan Miles,
Tim Sargent and Fredrick Moore. All four were done for the night but
fortunately unhurt.
Davis again took the point on the restart just ahead of Nason while seventh
starter and Pro Late Model point leader Dalton Armstrong moved into third.
Nason began to reel in Davis on lap 15 and put on constant pressure but could
never make a pass. With two laps to go the car of Jordan McCallum stalled in
turn two to bring out the yellow flag and set up a two lap dash to the
checker.
Nason took the lead on the restart but Davis drove into the back of him and
spun Nason out in turn two with several other cars spinning to avoid the
incident. Nason was returned to the lead while Davis restarted from the back
of the pack. Armstrong moved up to second for the restart. Nason got a great
jump at the green while Derek Scott, Jr. passed Armstrong for third.
Nason held on for the victory over Scott, Armstrong, Sheldon Creed and Larry
Gelinas. Completing the top ten were Steve Laking, Sarah McKay, Davis, Grant
Griesbach and Todd Stone.
Doug Moff of Ft. Myers, FL set quick time for the Florida/IMCA-Type Modifieds
with a lap of 18.472 seconds topping the 18.524 second lap of Alan Bruns. The
top three in qualifying were inverted for the start of the 20-lap contest
placing Tim Moore on the pole with Bruns outside. Bruns grabbed the early
lead only to see Moff go spinning off the bumper of Kevyn Terry in turn two
during lap two. Terry was penalized to the rear for the restart while Moff
pitted briefly and also had to restart from the back.
Moore grabbed the lead as the field went back under green. Travis Eddy moved
into third bringing Robert Deal with him around Ricky Moxley. Deal slapped
the front stretch wall on lap eight and began to fall back. Moore and Bruns
continued to set the pace as Moff made his way by Eddy for third on lap 15
just before Bruns spun between turns one and two hitting the wall with the
right front of his car. With Bruns out, Moff moved up to second ahead of
Eddy, Moxley and Terry.
Moff grabbed the lead on the restart and led the rest of the way to claim the
win over Moore and Moxley. Terry was fourth trailed by Eddy, Bruns, Deal and
Ricky Anderson.
For full race results go to www.newsmyrnaspeedway.org or www.speed51.com.

Photos (Courtesy Speed51):

  1. Richie Evans Memorial winner Ryan Preece…
  2. Ty Majeski’s hard crash in the Super Late Model race…
  3. Super Late Model winner Harrison Burton…
  4. Pro Late Model winner Austin Nason…
  5. Florida Modified winner Doug Moff…

Ryan Preece Memorial (Speed 51 Photo).jpg

Ty Majeski.jpeg

There was a bunch of good racing tonight! I got a kick out of Spencer Davis running 3 out of the 4 features, and nearly winning 2 of them.