2008 Winternationals Daily
Updates From The Track
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Orlando Speedworld (Orlando, Florida)
6:00pm ET - The track is silent at Orlando Speedworld as the 2008 Winternationals have been completed.
Kendall Sellers and Jacob Hicks got to race their Outlaw feature by themselves today instead of being grouped with the Young Guns. The officials shortened the race to 10 laps, and it was Sellers taking the checkered flag and the championship.
Chad Finchum swept the Young Guns division races this week after scoring his fifth consecutive win. The championship hangs in the balance though from a motor protest by Matthew Linker's crew after the second round. We should know the official results early next week.
Justin Swilling took the checkered flag for the second night of the five event series. We are still awaiting the official word, but unofficially it appears Swilling might have won the championship.
Clay Hair won the Masters division feature. Unofficially he won the championship too.
Ryan Schleuser won the Chargers division feature, sweeping all races for the Chargers during the Winternationals.
Dillon Bassett scored his second straight win in the Bandolero Bandits division feature. Critter Saile finished second. Kyle Benjamin finished third, but won the championship.
Kory Abbott beat Nick Pistone back to the line to win the Pro division Legends race as well as the championship.
Dylan Presnell won the championship in the Legends Young Lions division on Friday, so Saturday he decided to move up and run the Semi-Pro race Saturday. That allowed a different driver to enter victory lane. On the last lap, it looked to be Ronnie Bassett or Scott Hensley to take the win, but after contact was made, both drivers went around and Austin Leitner got the win.
We will have full results from today's racing on the site soon as well as stories and points next week on LegendsNation.com.
2:48pm ET - All heat races have concluded. The track is silent at the moment, but the Chargers were just called to staging, so the features are about to start. We will come back after the day's action to post results.
2:42pm ET - Initially the officials were going to have a B Main feature again today for the Semi-Pro cars, but enough cars had issues or packed up and went home after the initial heat races to bring the car count down, allowing everyone that is here and ready to race to be in the feature.
2:40pm ET - According to the announcer, Kendall Sellers and Jarod Hicks have decided to race their own feature race for the Outlaws instead of combined with the Young Guns. Sellers has been trying to beat Chad Finchum (Young Gun) all week and told LN he was going to do it today, but now with the split features it will not happen.
2:35pm ET - Dylan Presnell locked up the Young Lions title yesterday with his fourth win, so today his team decided to move him up to the Semi-Pro division. That means there will be a new winner today in the Young Lions class.
2:30pm ET - Ryan Truex was involved in a wreck during the heat race. His car flipped over on it's lid. He was alright, but the team has packed it up and left the track prior to the features.
1:30pm ET - Heat racing has started. After they conclude, the features will be on track.
1:00pm ET - The last driver's meeting of the Winternationals has concluded. During the meeting, Rusty Marcus thanked everyone for attending as well as thanking his track crew, sponsors and even Speed51.com (LegendsNation.com) for the updates.
Brad Hockaday stressed today that bumping will not be allowed in the corners whatsoever. He stated he thought about buying balloons, having them blown up, and strapping them to the bumpers to keep people from bumping, or know who is. According to Hockaday, bumping on the straights will be allowed, but there is a zero tolerance policy today for bumping in the corners.
11:30am ET - The Winternationals takes place during Valentine's week, and here at Orlando Speedworld, the love can be filled in the air.
Kyle Beattie, driver of the #96 Legends and owner of Kyle Beattie Racing, asked his longtime girlfriend Lori Easley to marry him and she accepted.
LegendsNation.com sends it's congrats to the engaged couple.
11:15am ET - One of the most bizarre fixtures on site has to be Rusty Marcus, the promoter for the Winternationals. Rusty can always be found having a great time here, but his choice of wardrobe has had many people smiling. A few times this week he has shown up with a pink jacket and multi-colored shoes.
11:00am ET - The final practice sessions are currently taking place on the track. The pits have thinned down a little bit, but we are not yet sure of how many decided to pack up a day early.
10:30am ET - The final day of Winternationals is upon us. While some are glad it is almost over, others are ready to celebrate their championships.
The race order schedule can be found here.
Larry Friddle (left) and Cotton Spry (right) chillin in the infield snack shack area. (LN Photo)
Lori Easley shows off her engagement ring given to her this week from Kyle Beattie. (LN Photo)
Rusty Marcus wears wild clothes at the race track. (LN Photo)
