By ROB LEE
LAKE CITY, Fla. (July 29) – Check it off the list.
After four years of trying, hometown driver Tyler Sistrunk finally took the checkered flag the Sistrunk Motorsports team has worked toward.
He steered the gracelandportablebuildings.com/Bad Boy Race Chassis/Smith Asset Management/Creative Concrete/RH performance/Tire Mart of Lake City machine to the 22-lap Hobby Stock feature win on opening night of Summer Slam at North Florida Speedway.
Chase Collins hopped behind the wheel of Marc Mcleod’s EMod and won the Florida Outlaw EMod Series 22-lap finale.
He passed FOES point leader Dale Graham about midway through and held on after several restarts.
Sistrunk’s win was special. His only win at NFS came in a Box Stock in 2008.
LAKE CITY, Fla. (July 29) – Check it off the list.
After four years of trying, hometown driver Tyler Sistrunk finally took the checkered flag the Sistrunk Motorsports team has worked toward.
He steered the gracelandportablebuildings.com/Bad Boy Race Chassis/Smith Asset Management/Creative Concrete/RH performance/Tire Mart of Lake City machine to the 22-lap Hobby Stock feature win on opening night of Summer Slam at North Florida Speedway.
Chase Collins hopped behind the wheel of Marc Mcleod’s EMod and won the Florida Outlaw EMod Series 22-lap finale.
He passed FOES point leader Dale Graham about midway through and held on after several restarts.
Sistrunk’s win was special. His only win at NFS came in a Box Stock in 2008.
Collins machine suffered a blown engine last weekend. He showed the car does not matter especially after winning his heat gave a fourth row starting slot after the invert.
“I thank Marc for a great car,” Collins said. “I had to take my time and use different parts of the track. It was a little wet, but once it blew off it was OK.”
Most of the cars ran topless and the 22 lap distance was in memory of local racing legend Frank Webb.
Sistrunk started outside row one and sped to nearly a straightaway advantage. The race’s only caution did not deter the Lake City Lamborghini as the lead opened right back up when the green flew again.
He beat a charging duo of Kevin Mills and Bubba Christian to Chuck Strickland’s checkered flag.
Polesitter Jerry Fortner and Heath Walker rounded out the top five.
Four time NFS track champion Dean Sands returned for the first time in two years and was a heat winner with Christian. The invert also was four so they started in that row.
Devin Walker’s try at a fifth straight win ended early with mechanical problems.
Collins survived after a wild start. Cliff Suber took the early lead, but was involved in a three-car incident as the others challenged for the top. Frontrunners Jason Garver and Brandon Wells also were eliminated.
At the checkers Graham, Shane Taylor, Dylan Crews and Ray Durrence followed Collins.
Seth Caudill, Jr. has a new car in the works, but the old one is just fine for now. He started eighth and raced to the front to win the 12-lap Box Stock feature.
Shannon Lang was awarded second after Jonathan Wilks was disqualified for not reporting to the scales and tech area after the race.
Casey Feaster, Ryan Newman and Charles Teale came next.
Summer Slam is a two-night event for the Thunder Stocks. Heat winners Friday were Justin Durbin, Jonathan Croson and Allen Peacock. The 22-lap feature will be contested tonight.
Also on night two will be full shows for Late Models ($2,000 to win) and Open Wheel Modifieds ($1,000 to win). Both purses are dependent on car count.
FOES and Box Stocks return for full shows along with 3/4 Modifieds.
Gates open at 5pm with racing at 7:30 p.m.
After Summer Slam the track will close for the second half of summer break with the next scheduled event Sept. 10.
For more information log on to northfloridaspeedway.com, the track’s Facebook page or call 386-754-8800. Also log on to the NFS fan Facebook page Slidin’ Sideways at North Florida Speedway.
Following are feature race results from racing Friday July 29 at North Florida Speedway, Lake City, Fla.
Thunder Stocks
Feature (22 laps) – scheduled Saturday July 30
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. 3T Justin Durbin 2. 82 Shane Taylor 3. 52 Willard Driggers 4. 78 Arthur Conquest
2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. 94 Jonathan Croson 2. 16 Nevin Gainey 3. 84 Shawn Taylor 4. 22K Nelda King
3rd Heat (6 laps) – 1. 9 Allen Peacock 2. 1X Darrell Roberts 3. 8 David Showers, Sr. 4. 44 Timmy Roach
Feature (22 laps) – 1. 37 Tyler Sistrunk 2. 01 Kevin Mills 3. 04 Bubba Christian 4. F16 Jerry Fortner 5. 55 Heath Walker 6. 4C Cory Hupp 7. 08 William Edwards 8. NINE Devin Walker 9. 31 Jonathan Crain 10. 14 Dean Sands 11. 83 Shawn Taylor 12. 69X Jimmy Baker (Did Not Start – 61C Doran Cheney)
1st Heat (6 laps) -1. Sands 2. Edwards 3. Mills 4. Baker
2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. Christian 2. D. Walker 3. H. Walker 4. Sistrunk
EMods
Feature (22 laps) – 1. 61K Chase Collins 2. 14 Dale Graham 3. 82 Shane Taylor 4. 5 Dylan Crews 5. 2 Ray Durrence 6. 18R Dalton Rathel 7. 29 Marvin Hassell 8. 18M Michael Mayo 9. 50 David Markham 10. 17 Nevin Gainey 11. 18S Cliff Suber 12. 27G Jason Garver 13. 4 Brandon Wells 14. 26 Dylan Jurston 15. DOUBLE07 Jimmy Peele (Did Not Start – 18B Billy Rathel).
1st Heat (6 laps) – 1. Collins 2. Gainey 3. Garver 4. Graham
2nd Heat (6 laps) – 1. Wills 2. Taylor 3. Mayo 4. Suber
Box Stocks
Feature (12 laps) – 1. C2 Seth Caudill, Jr. 2. 48 Shannon Lang 3. 20 Casey Feaster 4. 22 Ryan Newman 5. 11 Charles Teale 6. 7 Damion Brown 7. 72 Walker Windham 8. 13. Emmett Mims (Disqualified – 8 Jonathan Wilks).
