Scotty Adema "Rockets" to Starwars Victory @ Charlotte County Speedway!
Scotty Adema "The Fort Myers Flash" in the #67 Tommy Rice owned J & J Chassied Dirt Winged Sprinter rocketed his car to the first ever "STAR WARS" Challenge race held at the Charlotte County Speedway between the USA Sprints and FAST Sprints organizations. This was by far his most impressive Win in USA Sprints competition. The Sunshine Network taped show was kicked off to a very enthusiastic but curious crowd. All bets were off now and the two groups of drivers were set to get down to some serious racing.
After the Heat Races Officials conferred and it was decided that the "FAST Sprints" Non Wing pavement group cars would start in the front for the 30 lap feature event as it was obvious the Winged dirt cars had more grip due to the very hot and slick track conditions along with extra downforce. FAST Sprints drivers Daryl Smith #40 and Curtis Carter 2c jockeyed from the front row and were chased by the Max Steele # 0 of Charlie Ladner and Jimmy Alvis # 48 in the second row.
At the drop of the green flag the racing got hot and heavy. There was little grip on the hot slick surface so the cars were making adjustments immediately with their lines. Daryl Smith # 40 was looking strong as was and Charlie Ladner # 0. On lap 3 Smith slid high allowing Ladner to slip past in turn 2. Jimmy Alvis moved into 3rd in the #48. On lap 5 Curtis Carter # 2c got high out of the groove and looped the car bringing out the caution on lap 6.
When the race resumed Ladner was still in command but when exiting off of turn 4 his car spun and brought out another caution flag. Rod Sanders in the Pro One Racing # 2 J & J made it known that he was going to the front and was now in the lead due to Ladners spin. Meanwhile it seemed that the Winged cars that were capable of passing chose the high side and the Non Wing cars were on the bottom. Scotty Adema, Tim George and RC Roper were steadily working their way from the back.
Adema got by the #48 of Alvis to track down the # 2 of Sanders and on lap 17 moved under the Pro One Racing chaueffer to take the lead. The #48 of Alvis and George # 1 were in a heated battle when the 2 cars got together resulting in Alvis spinning off of turn 2. The order was now Adema (W), Sanders (W), George (W), Daryl Smith (NW), JT Thompson (NW) and the Michael Smith # 9 Winged car. On lap 18 the yellow waived for Rookie USA driver Larry Gentsch in the # 63 when his motor blew in turn 3.
After a restart on lap 20 the cars of JT Thompson # 87 and Young Michael "Bones" Smith # 9 tangled resulting in a flat left rear tire on the Michael Rudolph machine. Meanwhile silently working his way from dead last was the # 92 of RC Roper to claim 4th from Daryl Smith's Ken Sands owned # 40, just before the last caution flew. Cars were all over the Track and the fans were treated to a very unusual race but an entertaining one at that. Dennis Misuraca in the # 3 and Tommy Nichols put on a wild side by side show for a bunch of laps as were Michael Smith #9 and Bill Pettijohn in the #44.
Scotty Adema brought home another Win for car owner Tommy Rice and led the remaining 5 laps. He was chased by Rod Sanders in a USA dirt winged car who came home 2nd. This was Sanders first ever Sprintcar race. "Hot-Rod" was followed by Tim George in a winged car, RC Roper in a winged car with Daryl Smith being the first non wing car to cross the finish line in 5th. Daryl Smith did an oustanding job and was cheered by the crowd. There were a total of 17 cars on hand for the race.
Official Finish - Scotty Adema # 67, "Hot Rod" Sanders #2, "Tiny" Tim George #1, RC Roper #92, Daryl Smith #40, Dennis Misuraca #3, Tommy Nichols #03, Charlie Ladner #0, Micheal Smith #9, Bill Pettijohn #44, JT Thompson #87, Jimmy Alvis #48, Curtis Carter #2c, Larry Gentsch #63, Bobby Gordon #29, Dakotah Stephens #79- DNS, Tighe Schloss #8s- DNS.
