TIM RUSSELL DOMINATES FOR THIRD EDWARDS MEMORIAL WIN AT NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY
Race fans were treated to some great action as week number 29 of the NASCAR
Whelen All-American Racing Series unfolded Saturday night at New Smyrna
Speedway and featured the annual running of the Marion Edwards, Jr. Memorial
as part of the 2015 Bright House Challenge Series for the Super Late Models.
The race is held each year to honor the memory of Hialeah’s Marion Edwards,
Jr. who lost his life at New Smyrna Speedway on July 5, 1969 at the young age
of 19. Originally the race was contested at Edwards’ home track of Hialeah
Speedway but that facility was shuttered in 2005. In 2009, the Hart family
offered the Edwards family the opportunity to continue the race at New Smyrna
and this was the seventh running of the event here and the 39th running since
1969. In the past the race has seen a number of different formats including
200-lap races, 100-lap races, twin-50s and twin-100s. This year’s race would
go for 100 circuits around the high-banked New Smyrna half-mile.
Nineteen top-flight race teams were on hand and the field featured a mix of
crafty veterans and young lions looking to get their name etched on the
memorial trophy. There was a big surprise in qualifying when young Michael
Atwell of Naples topped the field with a quick lap of 17.640 seconds nipping
veteran Plant City chauffeur Jeff Scofield’s lap of 17.664. Brad May was
right behind in third with a lap of 17.666 seconds in his unsponsored Bobby
Sears Racing Special out of Oviedo. Derek Thorn of Bakersfield, CA set fourth
quick time driving the Kurt Jett Concrete Special out of Middleburg.
Longwood’s Tim Russell rounded out the fastest five in time trials.
Atwell’s pill draw inverted the first eight cars from qualifying placing
George Gorham, Jr. of Lakeland on the pole flanked by local Lake Mary hot shoe
Bobby Good. Russell lined up fourth on the grid and made a banzai charge to
the lead on the opening lap and began to quickly draw away from the field.
Atwell was proving his qualifying effort was no fluke as he quickly worked his
way up to third getting by Gorham for the position on lap 11.
The top three of Russell, Good and Atwell were all looking strong as the race
stayed under the green flag until lap 31 when New Smyrna Speedway Super Late
Model point leader Anthony Sergi spun coming down the front stretch. Sergi’s
car pounded the inside wall with both the right front and rear corners and
came to a halt without any of the other competitors getting involved. Sergi
was unhurt but his night ended prematurely.
On the restart Atwell got a bit loose and quickly dropped back to fifth in the
running order as Kaz Grala and Scofield zoomed into the third and fourth
positions. Grala, from Westborough, MA, who drives for Ben Kennedy racing on
the NASCAR K&N East Series, was wheeling a car owned by Chet Morrison of
Houma, LA with his regular NASCAR K&N Series crew chief Mike Fritts calling
the shots.
Atwell continued to fade back in the field with an obvious problem that came
to a head when something broke on the car and he spun into the turn three wall
on lap 45. Atwell, who came into the race just five points out of the Bright
House Series points lead, saw his night end on the back of the Tim’s
Automotive wrecker.
On the restart, Grala moved into second behind Russell while Tyler Scofield
whacked the wall coming off turn two. No caution was thrown though and the
younger Scofield headed down pit road and out of the event. The field took
the half way signal from starter Ralph Miller with Russell heading the parade
over Grala, Good, Jeff Scofield, May, Gorham, T. J. Duke, Dylan Martin, Daniel
Keene, Jr. and Thorn as the top-ten at 50 laps.
Lap 61 saw the next yellow flag as Concord, NC driver Joey Padgett slowed to a
stop at the bottom of turn three. Padgett’s car was pushed to pit road where
his crew assessed the problem and got his machine re-fired and back on the
track. Russell continued to get awesome restarts and again pulled quickly
away from the field as Scofield turned up the wick and blasted his way from
fourth to second.
As Russell continued to put distance between himself and everybody else, Grala
reeled in Scofield and the pair began to dice closely for the runner-up spot.
Going into turn one on lap 68 the pair made contact. Grala’s car turned
sideways and drilled the inside wall a ton. The car nearly flipped over
casting body parts all over turn one as the hood flew up into the catch fence
which did its job protecting the fans in the turn one grandstands. Grala’s
car was pretty much destroyed but he was uninjured in the incident. Track
officials penalized Scofield to the rear of the restart line-up for his
involvement although he said later he felt it was “just a racing incident
between two guys wanting the same piece of real estate.”
Russell continued to head the field at will on the restart as his machine was
simply “hooked up” with no one even able to mount a token challenge. The
final caution came out on lap 71 as Drew Brannon spun the Sytsma “Silver
Bullet” in turn two but kept from hitting anything or being hit by anyone
else. The final 29 circuits ran without incident as Russell easily had the
field covered winning by almost a full straightaway.
The run of the night came from journeyman driver Gorham who made several pit
stops under caution allowing his crew to make adjustments to get the car
faster. Gorham zipped by Good late in the going and brought his low buck
effort home in second place. “We don’t have a big shop or crew, we basically
race out of a garage next to the house,” said Gorham as he laid praise on his
crew and family for their effort. Good wound up third after a steady run.
“At least we didn’t finish second this time,” said Good in victory lane
alluding to his recent string of runner-up finishes in big Super Late Model
races here including last years Florida Governor’s Cup race. Scofield raced
his way back up to fourth at the checker just in front of May. Rounding out
the top ten were Duke, Thorn, Martin, Bright House Series point leader Chris
Fontaine and Brannon.
Russell took his third win in the Edwards Memorial and became just the fifth
driver to score three or more victories in the event since its inception in
October 1969. South Florida racing veteran Larry Rogero has the most wins
with six followed by Dick Anderson with five victories. Russell’s third visit
to the winner’s circle ties him with Gary Balough, Joe Winchell and Darryl
Shelnut who also won the race three times.
The Sportsman cars were back in action for 25 laps with the bounty placed on
track point leader and NASCAR Division III national champion Patrick Thomas by
American Auto, Tires & Service of New Smyrna Beach standing at $700 if anyone
could beat Thomas as long as his car was still running at the end of the race.
Thomas and his crew discovered a major problem with his car following the big
wreck from the week before and, even though the car won both races that night,
opted to borrow the Harris Oil/Harris Mini Storage machine (formerly driven by
Donny Williams) for this particular race. Another great field of 18 entries
were on hand and Thomas started from 16th on the grid making it a big mountain
for him to climb to get his 12th win of the year.
Luck of the draw placed Sean Bass on the pole for the feature with Derrick
Wood to his outside. Bass jumped out to an early lead but was unable to hold
off a hard-charging Todd Allen who had his Discount Propane machine flying
from his fourth starting spot. Allen took over on lap three and that was all
she wrote as he led all the way as the race ran all the way under green.
Thomas had moved his borrowed ride up to fifth by lap seven but pulled off
four laps later. “The car began getting a bit sluggish and my spotter told me
the guys behind me said there were sparks coming from under the car,” said
Thomas as the issue turned out to be a problem with the clutch. “This isn’t
my car and I wasn’t going to tear something up so I just pulled out,” Thomas
continued.
“What! no bounty!,” said an upset Allen in victory lane not knowing the reason
for Thomas’ DNF. “We’ll just have to snap up that cash next time out,” he
said after winning in just the second time out with his new racer.
Bass held on for second ahead of Wood who finished third for the third
consecutive race driving one of seven cars entered on the evening by the Jim
Daley/Sandy Lee/Sheppard Racing Enterprises team. Tim Sozio debuted a new car
with a strong fourth place effort while Junior Beckner came back from a crash
in practice to take fifth. Beckner’s crew fixed the entire front end of the
car after he had a tire come off the rim in hot laps causing him to hit the
turn four wall. Daniel Conlin, Jr. actually crossed the stripe in fifth but
had been black-flagged and not scored for several laps because his car was
spraying fuel.
Sandy Lee had a good effort in a back-up machine after his regular mount was
destroyed the week before in taking sixth ahead of Mike Watson, Ron Gustafson,
Phillip Bessette and R. J. Glaser. Completing the finishers were Matt
Jarrett, D. J. Farr, Larry Harris, Mike Dahm, Conlin, Thomas and Shain Held.
Austin Howell was unable to start.
The Modified feature had a few twists and turns before the 25 laps were
completed. Jerry “The Hammer” Symons has led the points all year but
uncharacteristically has only two victories to show for his efforts this
season. The New Smyrna veteran drew the pole for the feature and it looked to
be his night again as Symons led easily while the rest of the field was left
to race for second place. That all changed on lap 17 as Symons’ car began to
slow and he came to a halt on the front stretch to bring out the caution flag.
Symons’ car was pushed to pit road but his crew could not effect repairs and
he was done for the night.
On the restart Houston, TX visitor Art Kunzeman lost control and crashed into
the blunt end of the inside pit wall coming off turn two. The race was
red-flagged to clean up the mess but fortunately Kunzeman was OK although his
car was not quite so lucky.
At that point, long-time competitor Wayne Parker found himself out front and
he led the remaining eight laps to score the win. Parker, who was a fixture
for many seasons here in the Modified division with his blue and silver
Jeramiah’s Restaurant cars that featured a “Cadillac” body, recently
un-retired to wheel the Sanford Auto Dealers Exchange car wrenched by Jason
Boyd. It was the third win for the car at New Smyrna this season, one with
Boyd himself behind the wheel and the other with Dillon Wood driving. However
it was Parker’s first visit this year to Hampton Inn victory lane and he
indicated his last feature victory at New Smyrna came in 2002, 13 years ago!
Alan Bruns trailed Parker in second ahead of James “Tank” Tucker, Robert Deal
and Chad Pierce. Matt Wheeler was sixth with Symons scored seventh in front
of Mike Dahm and Shain Held who pulled off on the parade lap.
Fans were treated to some truck racing for the first time in nearly a year as
the new Southern Pro-Am Truck Series made its first visit to the speedway for
a 35-lap contest.
The race belonged to second generation driver Kody Jett of Middleburg as he
steered his Jett Concrete Chevy Silverado to a wire-to-wire victory. While
Jett had things pretty much to himself up front, the big show was put on by a
pair of young lady drivers. Taylor Moxley of Palm City, daughter of veteran
Late Model/Modified racer Ricky Moxley, quickly worked her way by Austin
Howell into second on the third lap in her very first start on a half-mile
track. Meanwhile, Lakeland’s Becca Monopoli, already a veteran of the truck
racing wars around the State of Florida, was on the charge as well and worked
her way around Howell and into third spot on lap six. Richard Griffis was
having a strong run too as he also got around Howell before Howell fell off
the pace and dropped out on lap 18.
Two laps later, Randy Leonard looped his truck in turn two to bring out the
only caution of the event. Three laps after the restart, Monopoli got around
Moxley for second but by then was too far behind Jett who lived up to his name
by “rocketing” away to a big victory. Monopoli and Moxley shared the podium
with Jett while Griffis was fourth in front of young Cole Partelo.
Shane Sutorus started last in the Bomber field again this week but made a
quick charge to the front then drove off to his fifth win of the season in his
Saturn station wagon. Charlie King, Jr. was second ahead of Crash Tyner.
Point leader James Skinner borrowed John Gross’ Toyota Celica for the race
after his Chevy blew an engine the previous week and he took fourth in front
of Aaron Overman, his closest rival in the Bomber point chase. Travis Soukup
was sixth at the checker.
OFFICIAL FINISH - MARION EDWARDS, JR. MEMORIAL - BRIGHT HOUSE CHALLENGE SUPER
LATE MODELS (100 LAPS):
- Tim Russell, Longwood #36
- George Gorham, Jr., Lakeland #10
- Bobby Good, Lake Mary #27
- Jeff Scofield, Plant City #07
- Brad May, Oviedo #9M
- T. J. Duke, Southwest Ranches #28
- Derek Thorn, Bakersfield, CA #9T
- Dylan Martin, Lakeland #7
- Chris Fontaine, Auburndale #47
- Drew Brannon, Tampa #77
- Daniel Keene, Jr., Weeki Wachee #5K
- Noah Cornman, Mt. Dora #30
- Dustin Dunn, West Palm Beach #59
- Joey Padgett, Concord, NC #83
- Kaz Grala, Westborough, MA #3
- Tyler Scofield, Plant City #07S
- Michael Atwell, Naples #51
- Travis Wilson, Bartow #75
- Anthony Sergi, Oviedo #20
OFFICIAL FINISH - SOUTHERN PRO-AM TRUCK SERIES (35 LAPS):
- Kody Jett, Middleburg #9J
- Becca Monopoli, Lakeland #59X
- Taylor Moxley, Palm City #38
- Richard Griffis, West Palm Beach #5
- Cole Partelo, St. Petersburg #9P
- Eddie Lichtenberger, Longwood #88
- Mike Kohut, Lehigh Acres #29
- Randy Leonard, Lake Placid #77
- Rich Cordis, Royal Palm Beach #27
- Mark Bryer, Jupiter #42
- Austin Howell, New Smyrna Beach #96
DNS - Robert Strader, Orlando #11
Photos:
- Cars get ready to qualify including Kaz Grala #3, Noah Cornman #30 and Drew Brannon #77…
- Jeff Scofield cracks a smile in pre-race tech (Jim Jones Photo)
- Tim Russell after his win in the Marion Edwards, Jr. Memorial…
- Track owner Robert Hart was back in action after his recent back surgery and congratulated Tim Russell after his Edwards Memorial win (Jim Jones Photo)
- Kody Jett led all the way to win the Southern Pro-Am Truck race…
