The multi-year GARC win streak at Five Flags Speedway has ended
Jim DeWitt , Z3 Sports
jim@z3sports.com
Friday, April 27, 2012
Mike Garvey and Goodson Racing have taken their second victory of 2012 and broken the dominance of GARC manufactured cars in The Buddy's Home Furnishings Blizzard Series. (Z3 Sports Photo)
PENSACOLA, FL -- A field of 30 Super Late Models rolled away from The Papa John's 100 starting grid just after 8:30 Friday night, led by Hayden, Alabama's Augie Grill. While Grill is the defending champion in The Buddy's Home Furnishings Blizzard Series, he didn't earn the top starting position by way of being the fastest driver in qualifying.
It was Georgia's Bubba Pollard who turned in the fastest time earlier in the day, but his luck with the giant inversion die wasn't as good as his luck on track. A six on the die put Pollard back to sixth and Grill in front of the field.
Grill wasted no time jumping out to a big lead, pulling Brandon Odom and TJ Reaid in tow.
The name Clay Alexander is usually synonymous with Pro Late Model racing and usually only in shows local to his Tennessee home. Friday, however, Clay Alexander was very much a Super Late Model driver. Within laps of the green flag Alexander was quickly headed back to the front, where he qualified before being sent to a fifth place start by the die roll.
A lap six caution put a halt to Alexander's progress. The spinning car of Gary Sullivan Jr., the culprit of the caution, drove away without damage and rejoined the field for the restart. That was only after Tony Clark was sent to pit road for an obvious fluid leak.
Remnants of oil dry filled the hot night air as Grill set sail again on the first restart, but again it was Alexander who brought the fans to their feet. The young Tennessean went to work on the fourth spot, then set his sight on Reaid for fourth. Just when that battle seemed it couldn't get any better, the second caution of the night slowed the field again on lap eight for a spinning car at the bottom of turn one. Again there was no contact and the race resumed quickly under the command of Race Director Dan Spence.
Odom lined up alongside Grill for the double file restart, but couldn't keep the No. 112 under wraps. Instead, Reaid muscled his way under Odom for second, with Casey Smith follwing Reaid through to third.
Within a single lap around the half-mile oval, Grill had a mirror full of the No. 99 Sealmaster machine of Smith.
Lap 13 belonged to Smith, followed by Grill and Reaid. Bubba Pollard had been handling his duties well while the competition ahead of him was distracted; he now ran fourth, with Alexander trailing.
Caution three of the night came for the spinning cars of Allen Karnes and Tyler Miles on lap 16.
Smith was off and running just the same on the restart, but Grill mounted a challenge to the outside through turns one and two. That effort was cut short for Grill as holding off TJ Reaid to his inside became the order of the day.
The damage free caution streak ended on lap 18 with a multi-car pile-up exiting turn four and extending all the way to the finish line.
"It looked like the 40 [of Tyler Miles] got into [turn] three a little hot," said Dwayne Buggay, whose car came to rest against the outside retaining wall after hard contact. "The two [of Donnie Wilson] and the 20 [of Anthony Sergi] got together and the 20 ran out of room and got into me and we just all went spinning. I broke some ribs a while back and re-aggravated that injury," Buggay said after being checked out by speedway emergency personnel.
Limping and seemingly disoriented, Buggay made his way back to the garage area to access the damage to his demolished Ford.
Buggay, Tyler Miles, Donnie Wilson, and Troy Grissaffi were all involved. Only Buggay's car needed assistance to get off the speedway.
Brandon Odom, who started the night strong in his first Super Late Model appearance in some time, found bad luck and couldn't get his No. 16 Royce Johnston Motorsports machine refired after the red flag.
Grill made a brief bid for the lead after the restart, but Smith again showed his hunger for a win. Pollard, however, took advantage of the double file restart and emerged third with some 80 laps still to run.
Clay Alexander brought out caution five with 25 laps in the books, looping his No. 84 to the inside of turn two. Hidden from drivers and spotters by the inside retaining wall, Allen Karnes and Danny Bagwell were unable to avoid each and Alexander both when they sped onto the scene. The two also spun, long after the caution flag flew, but gathered their machines up and rejoined the field. Alexander was also able to continue.
Following a seemingly unfriendly exchange of bumper tags under caution between TJ Reaid and Mike Garvey, the green flag signaled Casey Smith to hammer down again, and the Texan did just that.
Garvey and Reaid, respectively, worked their way into fourth and fifth, all the while still bouncing off of each other. Grill worked to hold off a hard charging Pollard in the second and third spots.
Fan focus shifted the the battle for third at lap 35. Pollard held it; Garvey wanted it. Numerous charges to the inside of Pollard proved unsuccessful at the current stage of the race.
Six more circuits were recorded before Garvey pulled off a move to the inside of Pollard down the back straightaway.
Smith's astounding three second lead was cut down somewhat as he began working the tail end of the field at the halfway mark. The No. 99 continued to hold a solid lead as Smith threaded his way flawlessly through slower traffic.
Turn two was little more challenging for the leaders on lap 63. A pile off racecars rendered the speedway nearly impassible as Smith motored through the corner. He would come to a complete stop to avoid disaster, while Grill miraculously drove through the mess. With the caution flag flying, Smith would retain the lead for the restart.
Kyle Benjamin made his way to pit road for a right front tire after contact with the wall. Daniel Webster made his way to pit road after being involved as well. Also involved were Clay Alexander, Danny Bagwell and Jeremy Pate.
Grill found his groove when the green flag flew again, driving into the lead. Smith wouldn't let him get away for several laps, but finally the No. 112 of Grill began to open up some comfort room.
Snowball Derby runner-up DJ VanderLey made a run at the top five with thirty to go, but settled into sixth and faded to eighth before the seventh caution of the night occurred on lap 73. Grant Enfinger went around inturn four and backed lightly into the outside wall รข€“ the result of hard racing between most cars still on track.
Other cars involved included Danny Bagwell, Clay Alexander, Allen Karnes and Michael Lance.
Enfinger received a stern warning from race control after making what appeared to be purposeful contact with DJ VanderLey under caution, after righting his car.
A handful of laps clicked off before caution number nine flew for the spinning cars of Kyle Benjamin, Daniel Webster, Anthony Sergi and, again, Clay Alexander.
This time, Alexander received damaged and got a tow back to the garage area.
With 26 laps left to go when the green flag flew, the tone of the race was significantly changed when Casey Smith came to pit road under caution. The 99 stopped only briefly before speeding away to set his sights on a long trip back to the front.
Pollard lined up alongside Grill on the outside for the restart. He would contend for the point briefly, before new Pensacola resident Mike Garvey hit the inside groove and motored past them both. Garvey took command with 25 to go. Pollard would slide back to fourth after drag racing the leader on the restart, but Grill was the real loser this time around; shuffling all the way back to eighth.
Garvey checked out on new second place runner David Rogers with 20 to go. TJ Reaid ran third, over Pollard and Donnie Wilson. The only lapped car still running was Anthony Sergi.
Augie Grill's day made a final turn for the worse with three to go. A flat right front tire on the 112 brought about a caution and a trip to pit road.
Pollard made a valiant effort to advance on the restart, but ended up right back in fourth, single file. Any improvement would have been for naught anyway; caution 11 brought fans to attention as smoke and fire encompassed a ball of cars spinning down the front straightaway. Michael Lance was battered even further in an already mangled car. DJ VanderLey, Daniel Webster and Josh Hamner were also entangled.
DJ VanderLey was parked and told to report to officials after the event, following a post-caution incident between himself and Grant Enfinger, extending a feud that began earlier in the night. According to series officials, Enfinger was attempting to climb from his damaged racecar when VanderLey slammed into the door of Enfinger's No. 82 BRG Ford.
Another attempt at declaring a winner failed when caution 12 flew on lap 98. Augie Grill backed hard into the outside turn four wall. Danny Bagwell was involved and spun his Ford as well.
The restart was anything but pretty, but it was flawless for Mike Garvey. The McDonough, Georgia driver claimed his second win of the season and a cash bonus for any team who could put an end to Grand Aamerican Racecars' dominance of The Buddy's Home Furnishings Blizzard Series.
TJ Reaid crossed the line second, followed by David Rogers, Bubba Pollard and Austin Theriault.
Stay with Z3Sports.com for more on the developing story surrounding the controversy between Dj VanderLey and Grant Enfinger, including any forthcoming penalties.
The next round of The Buddy's Home Furnishings Blizzard Series goes green at Five Flags Speedway on May 25, but the Sunoco Gulf Coast Championship action continues tomorrow at Mobile (AL) International Speedway with The Miller Lite Series Miller Lite 100. Z3Sports.com will have live Virtual Ticket coverage of the event from start of finish.
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