[SIZE=2]WIN STREAKS END SATURDAY NIGHT AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY - MAY TOPS PRO LM AGAIN
It was an unusual Saturday night at New Smyrna Speedway for week 13 of the
NASCAR Whelen All-American Racing Series and it probably went unnoticed by
those in attendance.
The weather was picture perfect and that can be unusual for early June, but
that wasn’t it. Three of the five features ran green to checker which can be
a bit on the unusual side, but that wasn’t it either. For the first time in
recent memory, neither of the wrecker crews operated by Tim’s Automotive and
Inferno Performance moved from their staging positions the entire night as the
evening was one of the safest in the long history of the track.
The Pro Late Models were back in action for 25 laps with a few new faces in
the field this week. The initial drop of the green flag proved costly for
young Noah “Little Gator” Cornman as he jumped the start from his outside
front row starting position and was black-flagged for a stop-and-go penalty
while pole sitter Anthony Cataldi led the early going.
Cornman was about to come down pit road for his penalty when Jeff White spun
in turn three on lap five. White just tapped the wall with the back of his
car but the damage was slight and he continued in the race while Cornman took
advantage of the yellow flag to heed his penalty but was able to remain on the
lead lap for the restart.
Cataldi led one more circuit after the field took the green but was unable to
hold off a very fast Brad May who took over, then ran and hid from the field
in the Bobby Sears Racing Special for his second victory in a row and third on
the season. May indicated in victory lane that his team is desperately
seeking sponsors so they can run more races this year in both the Pro Late
Model and Super Late Model classes.
Cataldi came home with a solid second place finish while Zach Jarrell ran
steady to a third place finish just ahead of point leader Rich Clouser and
trimmed Clouser’s point lead to just one heading in to the next event which
will be this upcoming weekend. Alan Bruns rounded out the top five trailed by
C. J. Castetter (making his first start of the year), Blaize Hetznecker,
Cornman, White, Canadian visitor Gord Vipond, Chris Brannon (also making his
first start of the season) and Aaron “Hot Rod” Radar.
Justin Reynolds was going for his sixth consecutive Super Stock feature win
Saturday night and was also trying to remain undefeated this year in the
class. Reynolds was slated to start fourth in the field of 14 cars but opted
to start in the scratch position after track Marketing Director Scott Cornman
offered him an extra $100 if he started last and came on to win the 25-lapper.
Preston Hunt blasted to the front at the start in his Sun Belt Rentals/SADE
machine and led the first 18 laps desperately trying to hold off second heat
winner Butch Herdegen who finally slipped underneath the 2014 Super Stock
Rookie of the Year on the 19th go-round.
Meanwhile, Reynolds had been charging hard, taking third from Shannon Kelly on
the seventh lap. But, by then, Reynolds was well behind the two leaders but
he took advantage of their several lap side-by-side battle to close in on the
pair. Once Herdegen cleared Hunt he began to pull away as Reynolds slipped
under Hunt for second with just a handful of laps remaining and then began to
reel in Herdegen.
Reynolds looked to have the faster car but ran out of time as Herdegen held on
for the victory over Reynolds and Hunt. Herdegen, who is General Manager for
the huge Cox Automotive Manheim Auto Auction in Ocoee, won in just his second
start of the year and was quick to pay a tribute to his friend, the late Joe
Harris, in Hampton Inn victory lane.
First heat winner Jeff Colburn finished fourth followed by Kelly. Completing
the finishers were J. T. Tippins, Gino Tuminello, Zachary Curtis, Bobby
Holley, Joe Gerard, Mike Dahm, Ronnie Hadden, Dale Howard and George Dahm.
The Mini Stocks ran two features on the night with “Mr. Mini Stock” Ted
Vulpius trying to remain unbeaten on the season.
Brad Blanton led the first four laps of the opening feature (a make-up from a
rain out two weeks ago) before Vulpius stormed by and looked to be well on his
way to yet another win. However, a spark plug wire fell off Vulpius’ car’s
engine and he headed to the pits on lap 14. That handed the lead back to
Blanton and he raced uncontested to his first win of the season while stopping
Vulpius’ win streak at four. Jamie Dixson came home second ahead of David
Russell, Bobby Dooley, Vulpius and Mark Broat.
At the start of the second feature Vulpius was on the outside pole but missed
a shift at the start bottling up the field. As he tried to get up to speed,
Vulpius tapped Blanton into a spin in turn one to abort the initial start.
The second try was much better for Vulpius as he jumped out front and would
lead all the way despite a caution flag on lap 19 when Dooley’s car stalled
momentarily at the turn four end of pit road. Blanton passed Russell for
second on lap 16 but Vulpius was in a different time zone by that time as he
would take the victory over Blanton, Dixson, Russell, Dooley and Broat.
Greg Bruce led the first eight laps of the all-green-flag Bomber feature but
his Saturn was no match for Billy Barrington’s Chevy Cavalier as Barrington
took over on lap nine never to be headed as he sped to his fourth win of the
year. Bruce held on to take the runner-up spot ahead of Shane Sutorus,
Zachary Curtis, James Skinner, Aaron Overman, Richard Roark, Matt Bonner and
Crash Tyner.
Winner photos courtesy JimJonesPhoto.com:
- Pro Late Model winner Brad May…
- Super Stock winner Butch Herdegen…
- First Mini Stock winner Brad Blanton…
- Second Mini Stock winner Ted Vulpius
- Bomber winner Billy Barrington…
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