Well... I have to tell you ... I was very disappointed that Flora did not race saturday night... I was all ready to go when it got cancelled.... I was invited to go to Charleston and decided that I would go....
I went out to get the mail...........WOW....... I had not realized how COLD it was.... good call on Richard's part to call off the race..........and it took me no time to decide I would not attempt to go to Charleston...
I was looking forward to meeting Jim Cross,jr and some of the other drivers there.... I hope to make it there soon........... and thanks for the help getting hold of the Cobble's..... and sorry I did not make it...
Needless to say.......with how cold it was saturday I put on my long underwear for the races on sunday... took my heavy winter jacket and blankets... I was all prepared.............GEEZ !!!!!!! I about smothered.....the weather was great !!!!! I didn't even need a jacket til the sun went down and thankgoodness I brought my lighter jacket... I sure didn't need my Bulls jacket...
After getting settled I headed to the pit area... I was looking for Sean Franklin but never did find him...
I ran into one of our photographers that puts his links on our site..."HARV"...
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He was standing with Jesse Snyder and Jim Shipman........got an interview with Jim...
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Right next to them was the #75 modified of Dustin Christie so I grabbed the opportunity to get an interview with him... He is from Washington, Indiana
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Right next to them was one of my favorite drivers "Scott Hutchinson..."
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was nice to see him back at Flora..He said he has been traveling around a bit this year and is really enjoying it.. Said he raced at West Plains in Missouri for the first time and really liked it there... He said that his brother Karl Hartung #113 is going to be back racing in a week or two... That is great news to hear.... Karl was one of the victims of that horrific accident in Mt Vernon where a car went up into the grandstand.... thankgoodness he is doing ok..
Scott then pointed me into the direction of his cousin Matthew Ragland #15 for an interview..enjoyed talking with him
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Across from him I spotted one of our members Rob Timmons
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He has been around racing for a lot of years ... I think there is a hole lot more I could have explored with him... very interesting to talk with..
As I was talking with him Chad Kinder and Team #22 pulled in... I had to go say hello...
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From there I went over and interviewed Jay Crichton...He is from Lakevilla, Illinois and runs the #4c crate..He said he is running for points and has been having a hard time finding tracks to race at due to the rain.............ha........we know all about that don't we !!!!
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Next I found Tyler Blankenship #3b... I am so glad that I did... this kid is great to talk with... love his personality... also met his brother Kristopher and Kristopher's little girl Madalynn Grace who is five years old
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I went from there over to Chuck Bell.... this year he is racing both the #360 hornet and the #360 street stock......... he showed me a picture of his dad's race car when he use to race and Chuck is using the same color scheme.... he had brought me a picture of his dad's car but it had got damaged.... his dad is suppose to send me some pictures.... looking forward to that !!!
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Chuck asked me if I knew Tim Rinehart was here tonight and I told him I didn't ... He took me over and introduced us... Tim said he finally got time to try and race this year... he is really busy building cars and motors for his comrades.... Really nice to meet him... interviewed him as well...
I talked with JR and Lloyd Dunlap for a while and caught David Wright for an interview in the pit stands..
I went and watched the racing and then back to pits where I interviewed both Daniel and Aaron and got half of an interview with Rick Heck....racing started again and I had to run... hope to finish that interview soon..
On way back to my seat Devin came down from bleachers to talk with me... said it was killing him not to be out on the track!!! Said he wished he had brought his car... Devin has bought a home and makes it difficult to race...
Also ran into Jeff Greenwood........I asked him why he was not racing and he told me he blew his engine so it will be a while before he is back...He told me this year besides him and his brother Darroll ,jr racing..his dad was going to join them on the track....
I made it back to my seat where Gennie Bare and family were... Nicole was keeping track of the results for me which I really appreciate... gives me more time to get interviews....
Hope to make it back to Flora again soon....
Was a fun night and the track was really good.....
The modified feature was exciting.....Chad Kinder got out to the lead and stayed there til the finish...Chad Evans stayed on Chad's tail but could not reel him in... Everett and Evans did some good moves on each other......Everett went into the infiedl causing him to lose some spots...Chris Moore kept uo the challenge with Evans and got the second place honors..
In the street stock race Anderson and Blankenship were on front row and they really went at it..Anderson was in lead then Blankenship......After running second Jerry Anderson had problems and had to pull off the track....Tim Feldhake worked his way up to 2nd and held on til finish of race..The one that gained the most ground was Josh Griffith coming up from 11th to finish 3rd..
In the hornets you had a race going on between the #17 and the #35... the #35 of Lash took the lead..Timmy Snelling moved into the second spot........the #BO of Mandrell was working his way toward the front from 8th..........there was a caution for a spin and on restart the #17 who had fallen back a few spots came flying up the outside wall passing several cars....when he got to Timmy Snelling the #17 got hooked on the #14 causing them to come to a stop in turn one..... Timmy got his spot back and Borland got charged with the caution sending him to the tail.......Lyn Lash held on to win with Snelling giving him a real run for his money....Mandrell took 3rd coming from 8th........I don't know where the #17 ended up but he was on a hard charge to the front and was moving up fast... good race....
In the Crate Late Model race the whole show was centered on the two Heck brothers...they started in the front and never looked back....Aaron beat out his brother Daniel for the win.....
The #13h of Scott Hutchinson looked pretty strong but pulled off before the finish of the race..Chuck Still took 3rd....