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It was a bad night for practice on Friday night—a spinning car clipped Sam, forcing him to hit it straight on. This created a lot of hard work for dad and crew chief Michael Williams, who managed to get the car back into ready-to-race condition. A few more practice runs after the repairs was enough for Sam to be satisfied with the car's performace, so they sat back and waited for qualifying. Unfortunately, the rain qualified first, canceling the night's race at Bronson.

The next day, a few of the drivers decided to go to New Smyrna to run in that race. So the VCR team loaded Car 73 into the trailer and headed out. After arriving at 8:45, they made a quick gear change just in time for the race to start.

Unfortunately Watts had to start at the rear (out of 11 cars), but at the drop of the green flag he immediately was on the move, following Jerry Artuso (5) closely. By the second lap, Sam had already climbed up to 4th place. The evening ended early for David Gibbs (47) and Jerry Artuso (5) who were both involved in a wreck, but it opened the door for Sam to advance to 2nd place. On the restart he got underneath Duane Schubert (39) and took the lead, never looking back. The race remained caution-free as Watts left the rest of the field behind. At the drop of the checkered flag Sam was about a 1/3rd of a lap ahead of the rest of the pack!

The whole team was extremely happy about the victory. After all the hard work and effort put in by everyone this weekend, this win meant a great deal. As an added bonus, Sam's grandparents were in town so it was extra special for them to be there to celebrate with everyone as well.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
New Smyrna - June 17, 2005
LATE MODEL

1. #73 Sam Watts
2. #11 Jeremy Fitch
3. #22 Alli Owens
4. #4b Alan Bruns
5. #39 Duane Schubert
6. #17 Phillip Bessette
7. #48 Mark Smith
8. #111 Rusty Ebersole
9. #21 Frank Barberie
10. #47 David Gibbs
11. #5 Jerry Artuso

Reproduced with permission.