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As they say, all good things must
come to an end and Patrick Conrad's six race win streak
went up in smoke along with his engine Saturday night
while rival Sam Watts
thrilled the crowd with a come from behind win in RE/MAX
Legends Car action Saturday night at Orlando Speedworld.
This would end up being a wild 25
lap affair although for the first nine laps it looked
like it would be all green flag racing.
Kory Abbott led the opening lap but
was passed by his older brother Kevin who led laps two
and three. Jeremy Colangelo took over at that point
and led through lap six until Conrad came streaking
by. Colangelo wasn't giving up without a fight as he
remained on Conrad's bumper until the first caution
flew on lap nine due to Spike Sabo's spin. The caution
was extended as track crews had to clean up some fluid
that was coming out of Mitch Verhaagh's car as he headed
for the infield.
Only one lap could be completed before
Brandon Thomson looped his machine in turn four with
caution coming out a third time on lap eleven as Sam
Watts and Kory Abbott tangled up in turn
two with both cars going to the rear of the restart
line-up.
Going into turn three on the restart
lap, Conrad's engine exploded dumping oil and water
all over the racing surface. Colangelo, who was right
on Conrad's bumper, hit the slick and slid hard into
the turn three wall but despite a severely damaged car,
Jeremy was OK. Somehow, the rest of the field managed
to avoid a much worse situation than it could have been.
Following the clean up, Kevin Abbott
had the lead and was running strong, looking for his
first ever win here. However two late cautions would
hurt Abbott in the long run and play into the hands
of Sam Watts.
Kevin Howard spun on lap 20, then
Darin "T-Bone" Coker spun while running in second spot
a lap later allowing Watts
to move back into second place on the leader's bumper
with Kory Abbott back up to third spot.
The younger Abbott spun out of contention
with two laps to go as 13 year old Watts
moved in on Kevin Abbott, passing him on the final lap
to claim the first win for any driver other than Patrick
Conrad this year.
Watts
took the win driving for the first time this year a
car that he practically destroyed at another track late
last year. "This car still isn't as fast as the other
one yet, but it was fast enough tonight, plus a little
luck always helps," said a happy Watts
in victory lane.
Kevin Abbott was disappointed with
his second place finish. "The car just wouldn't go through
the corners right the last few laps but Sam drove a
great race and he deserves the win," said Abbott. Fourteen
year old Wesley McLeod scored his best career finish
coming home third while hard luck Mike Verhaagh, one
of the nicest guys in the Legends Series, also had his
best ever Speedworld finish in fourth. Bobby Byars,
using a borrowed car, came home with a nice fifth place
finish.
Spike Sabo came back from his early
spin to grab sixth spot followed by Derrick Wood, Kory
Abbott, Brandon Thomson and Bob "Wild Willie" Wilson.
Conrad and Colangelo won the heats.
Ben Booth, the defending Dan Webster
for U.S. Senate Classic Auto Racing Series Champion,
made it two wins on the season in two races using the
outside groove to do all his passing.
Bill Posey won the trophy dash and
had the pole for the 25 lap Classic Car feature. Posey
quickly assumed the lead with heat race winner Jim Rahman
tucking in behind him. Booth got shuffled back from
his sixth starting spot early in the race, but the veteran
driver began picking his foes off one by one until he
zipped past Posey on lap 13 never to be headed again.
Posey held off Rahman for second and
turned around a spate of bad luck that had seen him
have hard crashes in his last two outings, one of which
left him with a lower back fracture. Daryl Grief "dirt
tracked" his way to fourth with Joey Strehle rounding
out the top five.
Gerald White, Jr. led the entire distance
to win the Bandelero Bandits feature for the fifth week
in a row but he had to hold off a late charge from North
Carolina visitor Cole Miktuk. After finishing second
in a race at Kenley, NC on Friday night, Cole and his
dad drove all the way to Florida with two hours sleep
to compete at Speedworld on Saturday.
Blake Eden, Ryan Rust and Donovan
Ponder were third through fifth. white also won the
heat.
Scott Jarrett won the heat then led
all the way to take the Bandelero Young Guns feature
as second and third running Brandon Thomson and Chelsea
Schillig closed in late but ran out of laps. Derrick
Wood took fourth with Matthew Jarrett fifth.
Scott and Matthew Jarrett's grandfather,
Dave Jarrett led all the way to capture the Bandelero
Outlaw feature, the first out-right win for the 68 year
old driver from Taft. Evan Russell and Sam Gearhart
trailed Jarrett, who also won the heat.
Greg Bruce drove his Ford Escort to
another easy win in the Hurricane class, his fifth of
the year. Bruce won by more than half a lap over Eric
Smithers. Following some wild action over the last three
laps, Sly Cawley ended up third followed by Ralph Aldrich
and Rusty "Blinky" Marcus.
Legend Results
Orlando Speedworld - 4/10/04
1. Sam Watts
#73
2. Kevin Abbott #98
3. Wesley McLeod #22
4. Mike Verhaagh #7
5. Bobby Byars #12
6. Johnny "Spike" Sabo #5X
7. Derrick Wood #33
8. Kory Abbott #5
9. Brandon Thomson #29
10. Bob Wilson #27W
11. Darin Coker #00
12. Kevin Howard #129
13. Jared Cawley #31
14. Kyle Dombek #20
15. James Rodriguez #19
16. Patrick Conrad #2
17. Jeremy Colangelo #05
18. Mitch Verhaagh #9
19. Dion Hinskey #4
Reproduced
with permission.
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