|
The only thing to slow Patrick Conrad
in RE/MAX Legends Car action so far this year at Orlando
Speedworld was a blown engine last week. With a new
power plant under the hood, Conrad was back in victory
lane for the seventh time in eight races Saturday night.
Three heats were needed to set the
field for the 25 lap Legends feature and they were won
by Conrad, Jeremy Colangelo and Jeff Deggeller. For
Deggeller, a rookie in racing this year, it was the
first win ever for the carnival operator from Palm City
who is racing Legends as a way to get away from the
day to day grind of running a business.
Sam Watts,
the winner from the previous week, spun around on the
original start and for the second week in a row found
himself in the back of the field for the start of the
race.
Doc Richardson had the pole for the
feature and grabbed the early advantage as Conrad quickly
moved his machine to second. Caution flew at the end
of lap one for a multi-car tangle in turn three involving
Wesley McLeod, Deggeller, Kory Abbott and Doug Hall.
Only Deggeller was able to continue although he dropped
out of the race shortly after the restart.
Richardson set the pace for the restart
but Conrad wasted little time moving to the front, taking
the lead on lap three. The field ran under green until
a lap 15 caution for debris on the track. Sam
Watts got into Jeremy Colangelo on the restart
knocking the rear bumper on Colangelo's car partially
off as the caution came back out to remove Colangelo's
car from the track per INEX Legends rules that require
bumpers both front and rear in order to continue racing.
Conrad continued to set the pace while
Richardson slowed on lap 18 as something fell off his
car on the backstretch, bringing out the yellow flag
again. The race again was restarted with Conrad now
having to fend off a resurgent Sam
Watts. Their nose to tail fight was interrupted
on lap 21 as a fender fell off third running Darin "T-Bone"
Coker's car. The fender was removed from the track with
no penalty against Coker.
Conrad was able to fend off Watts
over the final four laps to take his lucky seventh win
of the year with Watts
second and Coker having his best Legends finish in third.
Bobby Byars had a good run for fourth while rookie driver
Brandon Thomson took fifth in just his fifth Legends
race.
Derrick Wood, Jared Cawley, Spike
Sabo, Wild Willie Wilson and Kyle Dombek rounded out
the top ten.
Thomson backed up his good run in
the Legends with a win in the Bandelero Young Guns feature.
Thomson missed a big crash on lap six that eliminated
Scott Jarrett at Derrick Wood before leading Nik Wesenick
to the checker. Wesenick's second was the best of his
young career while Matthew Jarrett and Kara Clarke trailed.
Gerald White, Jr. won his fifth straight
Bandelero Bandits feature over Blake Eden, Ryan Rust
and Donovan Ponder while 68 year old great grandfather
Dave Jarrett topped Evan Russell in The Bandelero Outlaws.
Another "old timer," Red "Pop" Honaker,
led most of the way to win the wild Hurricane feature
in his Dodge Daytona. Greg Bruce and his Ford Escort
had to settle for second this week while William "Wild
Man" Hindman drove his Starsky & Hutch Mustang to third.
Sly Cawley and Bobby Crites completed the top five.
After the Hurricane race was completed,
the ladies came on the track to take over for a special
"Powder Puff" race.
After watching her brother Brandon
win the Bandelero Young Guns feature and finish fifth
in Legends, Ashley Thomson charged through the field
in Ken Walker's car after starting dead last to take
the win in her first ever race. Laurie Beach made a
late run to take second with Carla Conrad, Maureen "Pokey"
Abbott, and Emily Stith rounding out the top five.
Legends Results
Orlando Speedworld - 4/17/04
1. Patrick Conrad #2
2. Sam Watts #73
3. Darin Coker #00
4. Bobby Byars #12
5. Brandon Thomson #29
6. Derrick Wood #33jr.
7. Jared Cawley #31
8. Johnny "Spike" Sabo #5X
9. Bob Wilson #27W
10. Kyle Dombek #20
11. Tom Clarke #77
12. Jeremy Colangelo #05
13. Doc Richardson #100
14. Jeff Deggeller #91
15. Kory Abbott #5
16. Wesley McLeod #22
17. Doug Hall #55
Reproduced
with permission.
|
