Friday, February 18, 2011

Friesen (Night 1) and Sheppard (Night 2) Kick Off 2011 Just Like 2010...

Last year's opening night winner, Stewart Friesen, snuck around Brett Hearn on the final lap of night 1 at Volusia Speedway to pick up the first modified feature race of the year. Brett Hearn hung on for second, Danny Johnson, Matt Sheppard, and Tim Fuller rounded out the top 5.

Volusia Speedway
1st 1 Stewart Friesen
2nd 20 Brett Hearn
3rd 27J Danny Johnson
4th 9s Matt Sheppard
5th 74 Tim Fuller

Last night it was Matt Sheppard who passed Tim Fuller around the half way point for the lead, and narrowly missed 42B of Kevin Bates as he slowed with mechanical problems against the outside wall. Tim Fuller, who was battling Sheppard hard for the lead, was not as lucky and clobbered Bates, ending Fuller's night. Matt Sheppard didn't look back from that point on, and went to collect night #2 at Volusia (just as he did last year.) Here was the top 5 from night 2

Volusia Speedway
1st 9s Matt Sheppard
2nd 1 Stewart Friesen
3rd 1x Willy Decker
4th 5 Jimmy Horton
5th 20 Brett Hearn

A couple of cars ran into mechanical problems last night. Jeremy Markle hurt his primary engine in warmups which ended his night. The 79 team has switched motors for the rest of the weekend. Chris Higgins caught a rut going into turn 1 and damaged the rear suspension on the 19H, it was enough to end his night after just the heat race, but again, he'll be back tonight. Brian Truppi busts a left rear hub in the feature, which is an easy fix for the team. Randy Chrystler pulled off with major overheating problems, but he says that it's not a major problem either. Mario Clair and Kevin Bates ran into problems during the night as well, but I wasn't able to catch them to find out what the issues were.

RPW, SJDR, and DTD continue to do a great job with their Speedweeks coverage, be sure to check in there for live updates tonight and tomorrow night.

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