Trackside Now: Smyrna Speedweeks - Friday, Feb. 8th
Racing Is Underway Here At New Smyrna
2008 Smyrna Speedweeks
Super Late Models
Tour-Type Mods
Much More
Feb. 8th-16th
New Smyrna Speedway
New Smyrna, Florida
Friday 11:45pm ET - Jimmy Blewett dominated the SK Modified event on opening night at New Smyrna.  Blewett took the lead early and never looked back. 

The only real action was for second-place, where Josh Sylvester and Kenny Horton battled.  Horton got into Sylvester at one point, spinning him around.  Horton was then never able to challenge Blewett, despite getting on his bumper at one point when Blewett slipped up.

“Starting position was key for us,” said Blewett.  “The car wasn’t handling the way we would have wanted.  We will come back tomorrow night and see what we can do with that.

“Cannonball is a good shoe.  He is fun to race with and clean, but he is aggressive at the same time.  He is a pleasure to race with.  I’m glad someone like him is here.”

“Junior Woods, my crew chief, and my guys gave me a fast piece,” said Kenny Horton.  “The car was quick.  It was really quick.  We got up on Blewett.  I let him correct the car and then we caught lapped traffic.  By that point, there was no way to get by him without wrecking him, so I just sat in second and finished the race.”

Ironically, the two drivers meet each other at the airport on their way into New Smyrna.  Blewett told Horton he was glad he was here to race.

SK Modified Results
1 Jimmy Blewett
2 Kenny Horton
3 David Cramner
4 Billy Anderson
5 Glen Griswold
6 Eric Goodale
7 Russ Savoy
8 Jimmy Zacharrias
9 Shelly Perry
10 Butch Perry
11 Josh Sylvester
12 Phil Wehrkiem
13 Don King, Jr.
14 Mike Fiebelkoran, Jr
15 Chris Jensen
16 David Brown
17 Jason Migonia

Friday 11:25pm ET - The Crate Late Model event was crazy.  It took three full restarts to get the race going.  First, there was a multi-car accident in turn two on the first lap.  Then, on the second start, several cars got together on the frontstretch.  The pace setter, Shane Sawyer, fell out of the event on that second restart.

Eric Chase and Gene Kirila III put on a great race up front early.  However, Kirila pulled off the pace just before an early race restart.    From there on out, it allowed David Wagner to play catch. 

However, another big accident where one car ended up on top of another car with a few laps to go forced officials to shorten the race to 20 laps. 

But no one was going to catch Chase, who picked up the marathon win.  Wagner finished second, with Will Thomas coming home third.

Crate Late Model Results
1Eric Chase
2David Wagner
3Will Thomas
4AJ Fulgenzi
5Earl Beckner
6Logan Ruffin
7Steven Brooks
8Kyle Maynard
9Jerick Johnson
10Kyle Eastham
11David Rigan
12Tyler Brown
13Thor Anderson
14Griffin McGrath
15Patrick Staropoli
16Casey Caudill
17Dustin Skinner
18Darrell Midgley
19Jimmy Weller
20Robert Petrus
21Gene Kirila III
22Jimmy Lang
23Shane Sawyer
24Brett Moffitt
25Joey Pole
26Blake Koch
27Chuck Tuck
28Cody Pitts
29Nick Glaze
30Joseph Gase

Friday 11:00pm ET - The Crate Late Model 25-lapper is still on the track... and people are starting to get restless.  The third red flag of the race has just brought the race to a stop when one car climbed up on top of another car.

Friday 10:30pm ET - Word from our friends at Orlando has told us that Nick Stroupe has won the Pro Challenge Series event at Orlando SpeedWorld. Brandon Williamson was second, with Terry Mathis third.

The Crate Late Model event is just now restarting.

Friday 10:15pm ET - The Crate Late Model event has begun with a bang.  The race is not even one lap old and a huge, multi-car accident has taken out of a bunch of cars, including quick-qualifier Brett Moffitt, Dustin Skinner, Joey Pole, Cody Pitts, Griffin McGrath and a host of others.

Friday 10:00pm ET - Jimmy Blewett and Chuck Hossfeld put on a great race for the top spot all race long in the Tour-Type Modifieds.  Blewett led all of the event from the start, but Hossfeld was glued to his number the whole night long. 

On lap 18, Hossfeld made a bonzi move to get underneath Blewett in turn one and took off.  Blewett began to drop back after getting passed and pushed high by Hossfeld, with Bobby Grigas III jumping into second spot.

Ted Christopher, Andy Seuss and Eric Beers rounded out the top-five.

“I think (Blewett's) motor was breaking up,” said Hossfeld.  “I had a great run on him.  His car was looser than ours though.  Jimmy tried to throw a block and I had a run on him.  I locked up the left front.  I feel bad about that.  I probably could have gotten by him cleaner than that.  But no one wrecked, so that was good.

“This is as prepared as my team has been.  This is a sign for things to come.”

Kenny Troyer is here acting as Hossfeld’s crew chief.

Seuss got into the back of Charlie Pasteryak at one point, second the veteran around in turn one after running in the top-five all night long. 

JR Bertuccio brought out his own personal car as a backup to start the event, after crashing the #14 in qualifying.

The Brady Bunch #80 and a team car to Jimmy Blewett, the #1, both started the race as well, but pulled in after just a couple of laps.  

Tour-Type Modifieds Results
1 Chuck Hossfeld
2 Bobby Grigas III
3 Ted Christopher
4 Andy Suess
5 Eric Beers
6 Rowan Pennick
7 Kevin Goodale
8 Jimmy Blewett
9 Billy Pauch, Jr
10 Jon McKennedy
11 Justin Bonsignore
12 Kenny Horton
13 Charlie Pasteryak
14 JR Bertuccio
15 Butch Perry
16 Billy Anderson
17 George Bierce

Friday 9:40pm ET - Tim Russell jumped to the lead on the first lap from the outside row and never looked back, taking the win in the 30-lap Super Late Model feature.  Russell got caught behind several lapped cars at one point, but was able to make it by without losing the lead to Landis.   The leaders bobbed and weaved their way through a ton of lapped traffic all night long.

“We had a good car in practice,” said Russell.  “Landis put up a pretty big number in qualifying, but we were able to get him.  We had a good car in the race.  The lapped traffic was horrible.  I about wrecked two or three times around them.  It was terrible.”

“We were good at Lakeland.  Unfortunately, it got rained out and I got married the next day.  I’m just glad to be here at Speedweeks.  This is a good way to start things.  We have Mike Garvey down here helping us.  He’s a huge help.”

Ryan Sieg finished second, with Jack Landis in third.

Justin Drawdy got into the back of BJ McLeod at one point and spun McLeod.  The field stacked up behind the two, with Jason Hogan getting the worst of it.  Hogan hit the wall nearly head on.  Louis Mechalides also got some damage in the accident. 

Trevor Sanborn dropped out of the event after smoking heavily.

Super Late Model Results
1Tim Russell
2Ryan Sieg
3Jack Landis
4BJ McLeod
5Justin Drawdy
6Jeff Choquette
7David Rogers
8Joe Winchell
9Kurt Jett
10Louis Mechalides
11Darrell Midgley
12Jeremy Gerster
13John Coffman
14John Gerster
15Car #158
16Travis Towell
17Bruce Gowland
18Martin Maresca
19Frank Alberson
20Steve Weaver
21Eddie Gainey
22Russ Shaw
23Trevor Sanborn
24Ricky Carmichael
25Jason Hogan
26Derrick Wood
27Car #56
28Nevin Gainey
29Rusty Ebersole
30John Kennedy
31David Myer

Friday 9:20pm ET - With 15 laps down, Tim Russell is in the lead, followed by Jack Landis.

Friday 9:05pm ET - The Super Late Models are headed out onto the track.  They will run 30 laps.

Friday 8:55pm ET - The Florida Modified event started out with a fantastic three-way battle between Tank Tucker, Jerry Symons and Lee Collins.  Tucker got the lead on lap five and pulled away for the win.  Symons was able to finish second, well ahead of the third-place Collins.

There were multiple spins and a four-car accident early in the race that took out Northeast Modified regular Woody Pitkat.

Florida Modified Results
1Tank Tucker
2Jerry Symons
3AJ Winstead
4Robbie Cooper
5Lee Collins
6Kevin Terry
7Kurt Jett
8John Gerstner
9Don Keeply
10Ryan Preece
11Gordon Moodie
12Alan Bruns
13Gary Fountain, Sr
14James Yarborough
15Dennis Pierce
16Art Kunzeman
17Marty Hanbury
18Jeff Coeburn
19Matt Wheeler
20Shane Hill
21Car #91
22Car #41
23Car #15x
24Damon Breedlove
25Bobby Jo Woodley
26Woody Pitkat
27William Burba

Friday 8:45pm ET - Full-field rundowns will be posted as soon as they are provided to us by the track.

Friday 8:35pm ET - Chad Akins took the lead from the start and pulled away to lead all 25 laps of the Limited Late Model feature.  Drew Brannon finished second.  Derrick Kelly was third.

Jessica Murphy got spun on the initial start by AJ Curreli.  Both were able to continue, even though Curreli, a former Speedweeks champion in the Late Models, made a pit stop to fix some damage.  Curreli was able to finish fourth.

"We have been testing here all week long," said Akins.  "I got a new crew chief and without him, we wouldn't have been able to get this done and I wouldn't have won this.  Last year, we tried to run this (Speedweeks) in Late Models, but we just didn't get the car done.  So this win really means a lot to me."

Limited Late Model Results
1Chad Akins
2Drew Brannon
3Derrick Kelly
4AJ Curreli
5Kevin Ingram
6JR McMichael
7Kirk Hooker
8Greg Skyta
9Thomas Horner
10Rick Penton
11Greg Skyta
12Allen Seymour
13Jessica Murphy
14Ben Bargnesi
15Daniel Maddox
16CJ Faison
17Richard Douglas
18Daryyl Maher

Friday 8:05pm ET - Action is getting ready to get under way here.  The schedule has been moved around a little bit.   Up first is the Limited Late Model feature.

Friday 7:50pm ET - When it's your night, it's your night.   Jimmy Blewett drew the pole for both the Tour-Type Modified and SK Modified features. 

Friday 7:20pm ET - He's two-for-two... Jimmy Blewett won the pole for the Tour-Type Modified feature on Friday night.  He blew away the rest of the field, besting Chuck Hossfeld by two-tenths of a second.

JR Bertuccio, driving Bear's #14, crashed the car coming out of turn four heading to the green flag.  The car was towed back to the pits and the team is currently working on the car.

1Jimmy Blewett16.880
2Chuck Hossfeld17.001
3Charlie Pasteryak17.135
4Eric Beers17.168
5Ted Christopher17.202
6Bobby Grigas III17.342
7Rowan Pennick17.420
8Andy Seuss17.426
9Billy Pauch Jr17.429
10Justin Bonsignone17.449
11Jon McKennedy17.454
12Kevin Goodale17.515
13Kenny Horton17.956
14Butch Perry18.797
15JR BertuccioDNF

Friday 6:30pm ET - In another "no surprise to anyone," Jimmy Blewett won the pole for the SK Modified feature on Friday night, beating out Kenny Horton.

1Jimmy Blewett17.648
2Kenny Horton17.903
3Josh Sylvester17.951
4Billy Anderson18.110
5Eric Goodale18.130
6Glen Griswold18.134
7David Cramner18.148
8Butch Perry18.344
9Shelly Perry18.488
10Jimmy Zacharrias18.609
11Phil Wehrkiem18.690
12Chris Jenson18.844
13Russ Savoy18.860
14Don King Jr.20.612
15David Brown29.469
16Jason Migonia34.540

Friday 5:30pm ET - To no one's surprise, Lee Collins took the pole for tonight's Florida Modified event.  A total of 27 cars took time.

Two Northeast Tour-Type Modified regulars, Ryan Preece and Woody Pitkat, are racing in the class.

1Lee Collins18.141
2Alan Bruns18.172
3Kevin Terry18.282
4Jerry Symons18.319
5Robbie Cooper18.328
6Tank Tucker18.363
7Kurt Jett18.409
8Matt Wheeler18.431
9John Gerstner18.462
10AJ Winstead18.517
11Shane Hill18.546
12Gary Fountain, Sr 18.586
13Dennis Pierce18.681
14Jeff Coeburn18.813
15William Burba 18.827
16Gordon Moodie 18.881
17Car #15x18.914
18Ryan Preece18.927
19Damon Breedlove 19.004
20Bobby Jo Woodley19.078
21Car #4119.134
22Don Keeply19.234
23James Yarborough 19.397
24Woody Pitkat19.495
25Marty Hanbury 19.643
26Art Kunzeman 20.007
27Car #920.161

Friday 5:30pm ET -  Dirt Modified racers Brett Moffitt, from Iowa, was the fastest Crate Late Model driver of the 31 that took time.  Moffitt drives for Murphy Motorsports, a regular in the Florida Late Model world.  Florida Modifieds are next.

1Brett Moffitt17.949
2Jimmy Lang18.155
3Jimmy Weller18.158
4Joey Pole18.185
5David Wagner18.210
6Dustin Skinner18.296
7Gene Kirila III18.301
8Eric Chase18.311
9Shane Sawyer18.322
10Casey Caudill18.330
11Will Thomas18.334
12Patrick Staropoli18.338
13Blake Koch18.424
14Chuck Tuck18.431
15Griffin McGrath18.501
16Cody Pitts18.517
17Earl Beckner 18.548
18Logan Ruffin18.630
19Steven Brooks18.642
20Kyle Maynard18.715
21Jerick Johnson18.806
22AJ Fulgenzi18.807
23Darrell Midgley18.818
24Nick Glaze18.820
25David Rigan18.821
26Kyle Eastham18.893
27Joseph Gase19.016
28Thor Anderson19.195
29Robert Petrus19.307
30Tyler Brown19.381
31Car #2120.849

Friday 5:30pm ET -  We are in a break for the Crate Late Models qualifying, after Casey Caudill hit the wall hard coming to the checkers.  He had just turned in the fastest first lap before his crash.  Currently, Jimmy Lang has the pole. 

Friday 5:05pm ET -  JR McMichael took quick time in the Limited Late Model division.  Drew Brannon, a 16-year-old youngster, was second-quick.  The Crate Late Models are qualifying next.

1JR McMichael18.020
2Drew Brannon18.039
3AJ Curreli18.125
4Chad Akins18.235
5Jessica Murphy18.253
6Kirk Hooker18.303
7Derrick Kelly18.310
8Kevin Ingram18.348
9Greg Skyta18.803
10Rick Penton18.884
11Ben Bargnesi19.052
12Thomas Horner19.130
13Daniel Maddox19.180
14Allen Seymour19.269
15Daryyl Maher19.389
16Richard Douglas19.477
17Rob Knox20.019
18CJ Faison20.241

Friday 4:35pm ET -  Tim Russell set quick time for the Super Late Models on night one.  A total of 25 cars took time.  Limited Late Models will be next.

1Tim Russell17.325
2Jack Landis17.337
3Ryan Sieg17.507
4BJ McLeod17.545
5Justin Drawdy17.554
6Jeff Choquette17.674
7Trevor Sanborn17.844
8Louis Mechalides17.862
9Jason Hogan17.898
10David Rogers17.927
11Kurt Jett17.966
12Ricky Carmichael18.088
13Joe Winchell18.256
14Darrell Midgley18.381
15Nevin Gainey18.687
16Travis Towell18.753
17Rusty Ebersole18.919
18Eddie Gainey19.101
19Jeremy Gerster19.117
20Steve Weaver19.265
21Martin Maresca19.402
22Derrick Wood19.623
23John Coffman19.661
24Car #15820.016
25Russ Shaw20.794

Friday 4:00pm ET -  Qualifying for the Super Late Models is now getting ready to start.

Friday 3:10pm ET -  Practice is now all complete.  The track has some down time and will be back for qualifying soon.  They was working to get the Late Models and Modifieds through tech right now.

Qualifying order will be Super Late Models, Late Models, Crate Late Models, SK Modifieds, Florida Modifieds, Tour Modifieds.

Race order will be Late Models, Florida Modifieds, Super Late Models, Tour Modifieds, Crate Late Models and SK Modifieds. 

Friday 3:00pm ET -  With six divisions here today, and plenty of cars in each division, practice is running a little long today.  Qualifying was scheduled to start around 3pm, but will be pushed back a bit.

Practice was rather incident free.  There were spins here and there, and cautions for debris, but there were no major accidents. 

A few notes from practice, in the Super Late Models, Justin Drawdy and Tim Russell each had two cars on the track at various times, trying to get a feel for the better one.

Jason Hogan is here driving a Super Late Model.  His friend and former Lanier National Speedway regular Richie Ethridge has a brother-in-law in Florida who owns two Late Models.  Hogan will run one, while Ethridge is planning to run the other later in the week.

Modified practice was rather uneventful, with plenty of teams taking just a few laps here and there.

Friday 12:30pm ET -  It’s a bright, sunny day here at New Smyrna Speedway, and the first official day of Smyrna Speedweeks kicks off here on Friday.  It’s the first of nine-straight night’s of competition for several divisions of competition, including Super Late Models, Crate Late Models, Tour-Type Modifieds, SK Modifieds and more. 

Practice actually got underway a little bit early today.  It was scheduled to go off at Noon, but started even earlier.  All of the divisions have already had one round a piece, and they are going for more now.

There are a lot more cars here today practicing than there were yesterday.  There are some other big names here as well.  We’ll get the full rundown and let you know.

Today’s schedule calls for practice, and then all six divisions will qualify starting at 3pm.  Racing is scheduled to start around 7:30.

We’re going to head down now and get some photos and see what’s going on in the pits.  So stay tuned and check back often, as we’ll get things really cranking around 3pm.

CHECK OUT YESTERDAY'S TRACKSIDE NOW BY CLICKING HERE




The pits are busy here on the first official day of Smyrna Speedweeks at New Smyrna Speedway.
The SK Modified practice was close... as Josh Sylvester (#18) found out.
Jason Hogan is in New Smyrna driving a friend's car.
Limited Late Model driver John Kennedy has an interesting slogan on the back of his car... "Be Easy, I'm Old."
Jimmy Blewett earned the pole for both the SKs (#12) and the Tour Mods (#19).
Tim Russell set quick time in the Super Late Models.
Jimmy Lang, a ASA regular, was the second-quick.
Big surprise... Lee Collins was the fastest Florida Mod.
Chad Akins took the Limited Late Model win at New Smyrna on Friday night.
Tim Russell started off Speedweeks with a win, after leading all 30-laps of the Super Late Model feature.
Chuck Hossfeld and Dick Brooks in Victory Lane after one night of Smyrna Speedweeks.
Make sure to check back later for full results and quotes.
Eric Chase won the marathon event for the Crate Late Models.
Jimmy Blewett and his team were back in action and back in Victory Lane on Friday night. 
Tim Russell had his whole crew with him on this Friday night.  (Jim DuPont photo)
Getting through lapped traffic was tough on this night for Russell (#36) (Jim DuPont photo)
There was a great battle for the lead early in the Florida Modifieds between Lee Collins (#89), Tank Tucker (#15) and Jerry Symons (#66).  (Jim DuPont photo)
Eric Goodale went for a spin in the Modified event.  (Jim DuPont photo)
Jimmy Blewett (#19) held off Chuck Hossfeld (#22) for a while... but not all night long. (Jim DuPont photo)
The Crate Late Model race was a tough one for many drivers.  (Jim DuPont photo)
Jimmy Blewett  (#12) held off Kenny Horton (#19).