2008 Winternationals Stories
Round Five of Five
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Orlando Speedworld (Orlando, Florida)
LEGENDS PRO: Kory Abbott Takes Final Checkered Flag ~ by Jason Buckley
Kory Abbott scored the final Pro division victory ahead of Nick Pistone Saturday. (LN Photo)
Orlando Speedworld is Kory Abbott’s home track. He is the track champion in the Pro Legends division and knows how to get around the facility. Going into the Winternationals, Abbott was listed as a favorite to win every event, and Saturday he scored his third victory in a row.
Once again it was a battle between Abbott and Nick Pistone for the top spot. Abbott used another car on the track to help get by Pistone for the win.
“It was intense,” said Abbott. “I knew I was going to take my time getting by him (Pistone). I didn’t want him right behind me. That #48 (Daniel Hemric) was coming up fast and pressuring me really good. When he got to my back bumper I knew that was the time to make the move on Nick to hang him out to dry. It did that and I think that is what won me the race. I don’t know if the #48 was trying to help me, but he was right behind me. He raced me clean and Nick raced me clean too. I appreciated that.”
Pistone tried once again to take the victory, which would have given him the Pro division championship, but had to settle for second in the race and the championship as the #5 Legends car of Abbott was hooked up.
“We freed up the car a little bit,” said Pistone. “It was good. We just didn’t quite have the horsepower of the #5. This is their home track. We got beat for the first time straight up so we are going to go back and work on it in the shop.”
After the checkered flag, Abbott spent a few moments doing doughnuts on the track with his Legends Car.
“Clay Hair cut my tires,” said Abbott. “I am going to have to get another set after those doughnuts.”
LEGENDS SEMI-PRO: Swilling Goes Back to Back for Title ~ by Matt Kentfield
School obligations kept Justin Swilling away from Orlando SpeedWorld’s Winternationals action for the first day’s doubleheader on Wednesday. By the time Swilling got to the track, he was already two races behind the rest of his Legends Semi-Pro foes in terms of track time and points.
In just his 13th race in his Legends Car career, Austin Leitner claimed his first win. (LN Photo)
In just his 13th Legends Car race, Austin Leitner was comfortable finishing third behind Ronnie Bassett and Scott Hensley in the final Winternationals event at Orlando Speedworld. In fact, going into turn three on the last lap, that is exactly where he was and where he thought he would be at the checkered flag, but when the two leaders tangled in front of him, Leitner slipped by, scoring his first Legends Car victory of his career.
“I saw the #5 (Hensley) get into the #04 (Bassett) there and I knew we had a chance at the checkered flag, so I went,” said Leitner. “I didn’t even hit the brakes. I drove it right in there and on to victory lane.”
All week long the driver to beat in the Young Lions class was Dylan Presnell, who scored the first four of five victories and the championship. Presnell decided to move up to Semi-Pro for the final race, giving another driver a chance at victory. Bassett wanted to be that driver, but when the contact was made that took him out of the lead, he ended up finishing fourth.
“The last lap we had a racing accident,” said Bassett. “It is all cool. I was sort of mad, but that is a racing deal that you cannot do much about.”
For Leitner, the win was just the right way to close out the 2008 Winternationals.
“I was about to die when I crossed the line,” said Leitner. “It is my first career Legends win and it made my day. We are going to go home with the win and a big ole’ trophy.”
BANDOLERO BANDITS: Dillon Bassett Scores Second Winternationals Victory ~ by Jason Buckley
Critter Saile cheers at Dillon Bassett as the two head to tech after the race. (LN Photo)
All week long the driver to beat in the Bandolero Bandits has been Kyle Benjamin. Winning the first three races and finishing second to Dillon Bassett in the fourth race, he had the championship locked up, but there was still one more race on the schedule before the Winternationals were over. This time it was Bassett winning the race over Critter Saile with Benjamin crossing the line third.
Saile was more concerned about keeping his second-place spot on the track rather than trying to catch Bassett for the win.
“We were fighting off Kyle Benjamin just hoping he would stay behind us throughout the whole race,” said Saile. “Dylan Bassett is a good competitor. He races hard and he deserves the win.”
Bassett was thrilled with his second win of the Winternationals, which is something he couldn’t leave Florida without getting.
“We started on the pole,” said Bassett. “That is an awesome place to start. We got a good jump on Mason Massey. In a few laps I started pulling away. The caution came out with a few laps to go, but I drove away again. Right before the white flag came out the caution came out again and that wasn’t cool. I couldn’t handle having just one win, I wanted two. I got it though.”
BANDOLERO YOUNG GUNS: Chad Finchum Sweeps The Winternationals With Five Victories ~ by Jason Buckley
With low car counts and a dominate driver running out front, the Bandolero Young Guns division finale at the Winternationals was just more of the same from earlier in the week. Chad Finchum got out front and dominated the final race, taking his fifth win of the Winternationals, only one of two drivers to sweep a division’s races during the weekend.
Chad Finchum went five for five in the Young Guns division. (LN Photo)
“That was my fifth win and that feels pretty good,” said Finchum. “Last year we didn’t get any wins. This year we got all five.
“The car felt good. It had good horsepower. In practice we had a little problem. We worked on the setup and got it better. In the heat race we worked on the gear. We came out here in the feature and it drove good.”
About the only problem Finchum had during the race was his own equipment. Towards the end of the race the backend of his Bandolero started to kick out entering turn three.
“I don’t know what was going on there,” said Finchum. “I am not sure if it was the tire pressure was going up and down or if something wasn’t tightened on the car. It was getting loose on me, but I stayed with it and got the win.”
The championship is not official yet due to a motor protest earlier in the week, but it is expected that Finchum will be announced as the Winternationals Young Guns champion.
[Editor's Note: Late Monday, February 18th LegendsNation.com heard from James Finchum, father of Chad Finchum. According to James, the motor was taken completely apart today and declared legal, giving Chad the championship.]
BANDOLERO OUTLAWS: Sellers Outruns Hicks In Match Race ~ by Jason Buckley
Kendall Sellers (left) and Chad Finchum (right) chat after the racing action concluded. (LN Photo)
For the first four events of the Winternationals, officials combined the Young Guns and Outlaws together for their feature race, although they were still racing for separate finishes within their divisions. The final race though officials split the two divisions, allowing the two Outlaw racers, Kendall Sellers and Jarod Hicks, to engage in a match race on the track. In the end it was Sellers going to victory lane in a shortened-distance race.
“Two cars, 10 laps and had fun, that is about all,” said Sellers. “Jarod said before he went out to race he wasn’t going to race hard. He was just trying stuff for his team car driven by Layne Clifton. There wasn’t anything else to do so we just went out there and had some fun. We tried some different things and goofed off.”
It was unclear who decided to separate the two divisions. Initially the announcer said it was the Outlaw racers that requested it, but after LegendsNation.com spoke to both the Outlaw racers and the Young Guns, neither said they requested the split. Sellers, who had tried to beat Young Guns racer Chad Finchum all week, looked forward to the combined race that didn’t happen Saturday.
But when a driver has as strong of a car as Swilling had late in the week, even those odds were not insurmountable. Swilling scored the win in Friday’s Semi-Pro feature, then backed it up with a repeat victory Saturday, taking the lead from Alex Kampf halfway and surviving several yellow and red flag periods
“This feels really good,” said Swilling. “This team just never quits. They gave me a great car and I’ve got to thank everybody out there for racing me clean so I could just go out there and drive.”
Swilling’s back-to-back wins earned him the 2008 Winternationals Championship, proving that with a little bit of patience in the races he was in attendance for, including Saturday’s feature, anything was possible.
“Patience was huge,” said Swilling. “We had to take our time because they told us we’d be getting the black flag if we used the bumpers at all. I tried to use the bumper as much as I could without going too far and getting black flagged. I think I used it perfectly and I tried to race everybody clean, just like they raced me. I did everything I think I needed to and I pulled it off.”
Kempf followed in second, with Mike Alcaro in third. Dylan Presnell, who had swept the Legends Young Lions action at Orlando before moving up to the Semi-Pro ranks for the final day, charged through the field for a strong fourth-place finish. Michael Brown, winner of the first Winternationals Semi-Pro race, rounded out the top-five.
LEGENDS MASTERS: Hair's Victory Earns Him Another Championship ~ by Meghan Dillner
The non-repetitive winning streak for the Masters division finally broke as Clay Hair takes home his second victory on the last day of the 2008 Winternationals.
Hair took the lead from Tim Brockhouse early on in the race and dominated for the remainder of the 20-lap feature.
“It was fantastic,” said Hair. “We did exactly what we said we were going to do. We left the car alone. We ran low 50’s in the heat race, so I told the guys not to worry about it and not to bother with it. I said that I would get to the bottom of the track and that we had 20 laps to get by everybody. The car was just absolutely flawless. Hats off to the guys. This is the car we are going to run at the Summer Shootout. It was just a good win for us.”
“The officials apologized to me. They said they missed the call. I will police it myself on the track if someone jumps the start like that. If you jump one of the old dirt guys, they will just stick you in the pits. So maybe we will have to do that sometime.”
Even with the hardships and action that Hair found himself in the middle of all week, Hair’s two wins earned him the Winternationals Championship. Larry Friddle was leading the points going into the last race but was wrecked out and had to pull his car into the infield during the main event, allowing Hair to capture the title with the victory.
LEGENDS CHARGERS: Schleusner Seals Up Sweep ~ by Matt Kentfield
All week long in Orlando, the Legends Chargers field had a pretty clear view of Ryan Schleusner’s rear bumper. Try as they might, the likes of Mike Fuchswanz, Joe Graf, Johnny Love and Bailey Freeman had not been able to dethrone Schleusner from Chargers Victory Lane before Saturday’s Winternationals finale.
Win two earned the S-P title for Swilling. (LN Photo)
Ryan Schleusner made it a full-hand's worth of victories during Winternationals. (LN Photo)
Schleusner did not make the trip from Minnesota to have his win streak stopped on Saturday, however, as the young driver powered by Graf at the halfway point and cruised to the finish to complete the Winternationals sweep.
“It feels really good to sweep all five,” said Schleusner. “Just coming down here and being up front all week was the highlight of my Winternationals.”
Saturday’s win was not as easy for Schleusner as some of the mid-week races had been, however. While Graf led the first half of the 20-lap feature, Schulesuner, Freeman and Fuchswanz followed him bumper-to-bumper. Eventually, Schleusner found room beneath Graf and headed for the checkered flag.
“I had to take my time because I knew he had a good car and I knew I had a good car,” said Schleusner. “I was patient and got by him and went on from there. I knew I had a pretty good piece.”
Graf followed in second, followed by Freeman, Fuchswanz and Tony Bonavia.
LEGENDS YOUNG LIONS: Leitner Wins After Wild Last-Lap Action ~ by Jason Buckley
Hair was the man once again at Orlando (LN Photo)
Although Hair had a strong car all week, he had some bad luck in a couple of his main events. These unfortunate events often had Hair working his way up from the rear of the pack, which is never easy in any form of Legends car racing.
“You know, it is about racing. We got spun and we got put to the back. They [the officials] made a bad call and they apologized to me in the Tech shed. They let a guy jump the start who then blocked me in the race and I trucked him going into three, letting him know I didn’t appreciate him jumping the start and didn’t appreciate him driving into me on the straightaway. So I knocked the poopy out of him going into three. He spun on his own coming off of four which served him right, but they blamed me for it and put me to the back.
