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Another top finish for Sam “Finally”
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Sam signing during the autograph session Saturday night.
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The luck of the Irish was the theme of the day—even though Sam is from England, that didn’t deter him. Qualifying was set with Sam to go out 6th. The weather was cooling down and the track temperatures were dropping. Just before Sam was due to go out on the track, the 60 car of Atkins blew a motor, dumping oil all over the track. Any car that needed seat time was called to the track to help out. Finally Sam got to qualify, but sadly, the oil was still present which caused Sam to set a time of 18.236. As more cars went out, the oil cleared, and everyone got faster. The fastest time was a 17.933 set by the 88 car of Justin Larson. He drew a 3, so the field got inverted by 3. This didn’t affect Sam, since his time was 9th fastest.
An autograph session was held and the spectators came onto the track to meet the drivers. Afterwards, everyone was set to race, the green flag dropped and everyone took off. The inside lane started to move quickly, but then there was a caution on lap 4—the 26 car of Boyd ended up in the wall, as did the 48 car of Johnny Kay. After a 12 lap yellow flag session, the cars were lined up and set to go green. Sam’s patience shone through on Saturday night as he gradually made his way up front. He passed the 2 car of Curelli on a restart to take third place. After another caution on the restart, Sam got under the 8 car of Drew Brannon, who became unhappy and started pounding on the rear end of Sam’s car. By now Sam’s car was getting real tight—as were many other cars—he was having trouble coming off turn 2. This was where the 8 car was gaining on Sam.
With 7 laps to go and Sam still in second place, Drew Brannon hit Sam so hard in the rear that it caused front end damage to Drew’s car, ending his race night. After the caution and with 6 laps to go, Sam managed to hold off Winchell to bring the car home in second place. Sam said he was glad the race was over. After the last caution he knew he could hold Winchell at bay, since his car was good for 6 laps before it got tight again.
The whole camp—including crew chief Michael Williams—was extremely happy that the car was able to be loaded into the trailer in 1 piece.
Sam’s next Goodyear race will be on April 7th at Bronson, one of Sam’s favorite tracks. Watch this site as Sam may throw in another race before then at New Smyrna to test the new car!
OFFICIAL RESULTS
GOODYEAR CHALLENGE LATE MODEL 100
NEW SMYRNA SPEEDWAY, MARCH 17
1. #46 Doug Moff, Ft. Meyers
2. #73 Sam Watts, Winter Springs
3. #57 Joe Winchell, Davie
4. #88 Justin Larson, Safety Harbor
5. #1x Chuck Burkhalter, Clermont
6. #9 Rich Clouser, Palm Bay
7. #31 Greg Kaouk, Penbroke Pines
8. #119 J.R. McMichael, Davie
9. #16 Daniel Keene, Jr., Weekie Wachee
10. #53 Darren Brown, Ormond Beach
11. #19 Chuck Abell, Apopka
12. #40 Jeremy Goddard, Naples
13. #08 Drew Brannon, Miami
14. #48 Johnny Kay, Deerfield
15. #100 Dean Ferri, Deerfield
16. #23 Dave Grosswiler, Margate
17. #99 Rick Penton, Loxahatchee
18. #98 Ricky Lindner, Deltona
19. #2 A.J. Curreli, Daytona Beach
20. #1xx Richard Douglas, Christmas
21. #4b Alan Bruns, Clermont
22. #Stuart Dutton, Tallahassee
23. #26 Jason Boyd, Orlando
24. #05 Jeremy Colangelo, DeLand DNS
25. #60 Chad Akins, Port Orange DNS
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