The Street Stock Sensation awards $1000 to the winner of the Daytona Sportswear Street Stock Division in a 25 lap dash for the cash, and a full field of determined racers took aim at the track and each other in order to get it. Grady Christian and Mike Tovet exchanged the early lead as they tussled over the top spot and Kevin Durden followed, but just short of the halfway point Tovet developed problems and slowed, and Durden happily stepped up and applied the heat to "Shady" Grady in his place.
Billy Medders had moved into the third spot and was giving Durden as much grief as Durden could dish out to Christian, when on lap 17 things got a bit dicey at the front of the pack as they entered turn one. A move to clear lapped traffic, coupled Durden's determined move to get around Christian, resulted in contact, and Grady Christian ended up with the short end of the deal against the inside wall with steam pouring from the 36 machine. But "Shady" Grady was not finished as he managed to refire the car, drove to the pits, then rejoined the field at the back of the pack.
Durden wasted zero time in declaring his superiority on the restart, immediately expanding his lead until yet another multi car fracas in turn 3 all but claimed Grady Christian yet again. And try as he might, Billy Medders had nothing for Kevin Durden, as Durden collected the winner's check, plus a $100 bill courtesy of Astor Recycling. Billy Medders claimed the second spot, while Philip Brown was a very respectable third place finisher. Cory Hupp hung tough for the fourth place spot, and Trevor Gamble returned to Volusia Speedway Park after a lengthy absence to finish fifth.
Joe Kump held the front position as the Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Late Models began their feature race,
but Donnie Chappell made quick work of him on lap 1 and took early control of the race by setting a blistering pace. But by the mid point of the race Ivedent Lloyd had given himself the green light and was all over Chappell as Darrell Padgett followed in the third spot, as both quickly erased any gap that Chappell had created between himself and the rest of the front runners. Also on the hunt for the front pack was Lawton Minchew, and "Chewy" began to gnaw at the rear spoiler of Joe Kump's machine as Kump had slipped to third place.
As Ivedent Lloyd threw everything he had at Donnie Chappell in an effort to get around him, Chappell's car began spewing fluid from the overflow as the engine over heated. Lloyd kept the heat on as Chappell pegged the throttle and prayed that the car would last to the finish, but by lap 12 the spewing had stopped, and on lap 13 so did the engine. Chappell ended up against the inside wall in turn 4 with no water left in the 25 machine to boil out after the impact. Ivedent Lloyd was in complete control from there, easily outpacing Darrell Padgett for the win as Joe Kump held off Lawton Minchew to take the third spot. Barry Sheffield followed Minchew to the checkers to round out the top five.
Jeff Mathews had been furiously chasing Jamie Carter for the Budweiser Modified points lead, and so Carter was nothing but pleased to see that Mathews was MIA for Saturday's events at VSP. In fact, that was Carter's signal to go for broke, as he claimed the pole, then outpaced everyone else to the checkers with ease. Behind him Larry Burkins had to work hard to get the better of Dale Murray, but Burkins was up to the task as he claimed second place and bumped Murray to third. Kent Corbin had to overcome some earlier woes to place fourth, and Josh Sanford kept it together for a fifth place night.
Saturday was a very bad night for some heavy hitters in the Taylor Racing Products Sportsman Division, and probably the most upset was Shaun Daugharty, whose new car wound up trashed in a heat race incident that also claimed David Clegg's P4 entry, and removed all competitive edge from Steve Shead's machine. And while Daugharty and Clegg never got to start the feature race, Danny Vogel shot himself in the foot by being tardy to staging, and joining the field after they were on the track. That mistake got Vogel relegated to the rear from what would have been a spot on the outside of the second row, and the back side of slower cars were all that Vogel saw once the green flag dropped.
Meanwhile Aaron Barsness had an excellent night to offset the woes of the others, jumping into the lead early, dominating the event to the finish, and leaving the rest for everyone else to fight over. Barsness' only competition came from Matt McGillivray, who had an excellent night but had to settle for second place in the end. Collin Wright was also in line for a good showing, as he claimed the third spot while Dan Lane Sr.raced his way into the top five with a fourth place run at the checkers. And Chris Day held off David Showers and Danny Vogel to close out the top five.
Being the points leader at two of Florida's top dirt tracks might lead fans to think that Casey Feaster is the dominant force in 4 Cylinder Challenger racing, but Feaster has taken quite a few lumps along the way, and Saturday was no exception. Feaster had mechanical issues and never got going from his second row starting position, as the Challenger Division saw Larry Langston rocket to the front after Denica Hetznecker failed to hold the top spot, and Tony Laporta and James Sullivan followed in later laps. Langston was over and above the rest on the night, outrunning Tony Laporta to the checkers while Sullivan finished behind them. But Sullivan's car ran into problems in post race tech, leading to a disqualification and moving Casey Feaster up to the third place spot. Jordan Myers was fourth, while Nathan Rhoades wound up in the fifth spot.
Volusia Speedway Park's racers and staff are taking a well deserved break on Saturday, July 31st, so there will be no racing this coming weekend at the south's fastest half mile. Racing returns to VSP on August 7th as the long awaited 3rd Annual Wiener Nationals pits "hotdog" against "hotdog" in a high speed dogfight on the VSP front stretch. In addition to the Daschund races, fans will see action from the Budweiser Modifieds, the Taylor Racing Products Sportsman Division, the Daytona Sportswear Street Stocks, the Amsoil Thunder Stocks, and the 4 Cylinder Challengers. For more schedule information, please visit
www.VolusiaSpeedwayPark.net.
