Arena Racing USA News
Saunders nips Prillaman for Top Dog win
Oct 31, 2009 - updated Oct 31st, 2009 10:40pm
Web posted by Gary Daughtrey

Hampton, Va. -- ARENA RACING HAMPTON ROADS at Hampton (Va.) Coliseum Event #2:

Halloween Havoc Race Report Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Spencer Saunders nosed out front on lap 45 and held off Scott Prillaman over the closing circuits to snag his first win in the 50-lap Top Dog race, the featured event of Saturday evening's Arena Racing Hampton Roads program at the Hampton Coliseum.
Jordan Wood drew the pole and took the lead on the start. Prillaman, who started third, slipped by Robbie Davis for second place and left Davis in a third-place battle with Aaron Leach.
The first caution flag flew on lap 3 when Curtis Hughes and Cody Turbitt tangled in Turn 4. Lining up for the double-file restart, Wood and Prillaman shared Row 1.
Back under green, Wood pulled ahead, while Prillaman managed to fight off Davis to hang onto second. With the second spot securely in his grasp, Prillaman quickly closed in on Wood and nabbed the lead on lap 6.
Caution #2 waved on lap 14 for debris on the backstretch.
As the race resumed, Prillaman, Wood, Davis, Saunders and Leach bolted from the pack and lined up in nose-to-tail formation, putting the side-by-side scrum behind them.
The third caution flag appeared on lap 19 when Matt Leach went around off Turn 2. As the field gathered for a restart, Prillaman and Wood were out front, followed by Davis and Saunders in Row 2.
Back under way, Wood remained on Prillaman's flank until lap 21 when the leader pulled ahead off the second corner. Behind them, Saunders used the high lane to bypass Davis -- an indication of things to come.
The fourth caution flag waved on lap 26 when Sparky West and Chris Raiford tangled, sending Raiford for a whirl at the flagstand.
On the restart, Prillaman quickly cleared Wood, who suddenly found Saunders to his inside. Saunders picked up the second spot off Turn 2 on lap 27.
The fifth caution flag flew on lap 32 when Davis spun off Turn 2.
Back under green, Saunders stayed to the outside of Prillaman until they reached Turn 4. Exiting the corner, Prillaman pulled ahead of his new challenger. For Saunders, though, it proved to be a good warmup.
The final yellow flag was displayed on lap 38 as Turbitt smacked the Turn 1 wall. By this time, officials were scoring the caution laps. Forty-three laps were on the board when the green flag waved for the last time.
On the final restart, Saunders mustered a strong run and kept his machine alongside Prillaman. He nosed out front for the first time on lap 45 and cleared Prillaman on lap 49.
Prillaman tried to rally on the white-flag circuit, but his charge came up half a car-length short as Saunders held on for the win. Wood was third to the line, followed by Derek Miller and Charlie Green.
Brothers Aaron and Matt Leach were sixth and seventh, in that order, while Davis, Sparky West and Clayton Parrish completed the top 10, all on the lead lap.
Saunders' effective use of the high lane was a marked turnabout from the season-opening Top Dog race when the driver on the outside lost spots on six of eight restarts.


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Scott Prillaman led all 50 circuits from the pole and breezed to his first victory of the new season in the A Main.
Prillaman shared the front row with Robbie Davis and those two drivers emerged from the opening shuffle in the top two spots, followed by Jordan Wood, Patrick Morgan and Michael Weddell.
Anthony Perez nosed ahead of Weddell to crack the top five on lap 7. He cleared Weddell's machine on lap 8 and brought Adam Florian and Travis Wall along with him. On lap 12, Florian and Wall double-teamed Perez, moving up to fifth and sixth, respectively.
At the front, Prillaman was having things his own way, leading by half a straightaway over Davis. Slower traffic loomed ahead, though.
By the halfway mark, Davis had narrowed the gap between himself and Prillaman to only three lengths as the leader struggled with the lapped machines.
The first caution flag waved on lap 28 when Jason Styron spun across the nose of Davis' car off Turn 2.
Only one more green-flag lap was in the books when the second, and final, caution flag flew as Weddell and Florian tangled in Turn 4. Setting the lineup for the restart, Prillaman showed the way, followed by Davis, Morgan, Wood and Wall.
Under green for the final time, Prillaman quickly established a two-length edge over Davis. With Morgan pressuring Davis for second, Prillaman extended his advantage over the remaining circuits and won by half a straightaway.
Davis held off Morgan down the stretch to take second place. Morgan was third, followed by Wood and Spencer Saunders. The top five drivers, along with sixth-place Derek Miller, advanced to the Top Dog race. Defending series champ Florian was seventh and missed making the Top Dog field.

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Charlie Green started on the pole, jumped into the lead on lap 1 and roared to his first win of the season in the 50-lap B Main.
The event got off to a rocky start as a multi-car jumble in Turn 3 brought out a caution flag and prompted a complete restart. Brad Hancock was sidelined by the incident.
On the second try at a start, Green motored ahead of his front-row partner, Curtis Hughes, and left the inside lane open for Sparky West, who moved past Hughes for the runner-up spot.
Hughes tailed West until lap 16 when he rooted West aside off Turn 4 and regained second place. The exchange allowed Green to pad his lead to over half a straightaway.
Green maintained his half-straightaway advantage until lap 33. As Green battled his way past the slower machine of Craig Carlton, he shunted Carlton into the Turn 1 wall to bring out the second caution flag. The caution period also claimed fourth-place runner Matt Midgett, who pulled into the infield with a broken drive chain.
As the race resumed, Green manufactured a slim edge over Hughes, who joined him in a two-car breakaway at the head of the field. Behind them, Matt Leach moved up to challenge Chris Crecelius for fourth -- the final Top Dog transfer spot. Leach grabbed the position on lap 38 and, almost immediately, Crecelius fell off the pace.
The third, and final, caution flag flew on lap 48 when Zach Moran and Brittany Bangas locked horns off Turn 4.
Green showed the way on the last restart and won by a car-length over Hughes. West and Leach were third and fourth, locking up the final Top Dog spots, while Moran was fifth to the line.

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Cody Turbitt took the lead on the opening circuit and sailed to his second straight victory in the 50-lap C Main.
Clayton Parrish drew the pole for the event and got a jackrabbit start as the initial green flag waved. As the field reached Turns 1 and 2 for the first time, though, Turbitt nosed underneath Parrish and took the lead out of Turn 2. Caught in the outside lane, Parrish also gave way to Chris Raiford, Aaron Leach and Landon Florian.
The first caution flag flew on lap 18 for debris in Turn 2, erasing Turbitt's lead, which had grown to more than a full straightaway.
Back under green, Turbitt bolted to a four-length advantage as Raiford worked past a lapped car. Meanwhile, Florian hounded Leach for third, eventually taking the position on lap 25.
By lap 34, Turbitt had regained his full-straightaway edge as Raiford, Florian and Leach slugged it out for second.
The second caution appeared on lap 39 when Nelson Moody and Parrish locked horns off Turn 4.
As the race resumed, Leach slipped to the inside of Florian in a bid for third. He was successful as Florian's path was blocked by Cory Millard's lapped machine.
The last of the race's three caution flags waved on lap 42 when Moody stopped on the backstretch with mechanical damage.
On the final restart, Turbitt quickly fashioned a slim margin over Raiford and began to ease away. By the finish, Turbitt's winning edge was up to two lengths over Raiford. Leach was third to the line, followed by Josh Ayer and Parrish. As a rookie, Ayer was ineligible for a Top Dog spot, so Parrish advanced to the evening's finale.

***
For the second straight week, Adam Florian turned in the fastest lap during afternoon time trials. His 8.108-second effort was three-thousandths of a second quicker than Scott Prillaman's. Spencer Saunders, Travis Wall and Anthony Perez rounded out the top five. Thirty-two drivers made qualifying attempts. The separation from first to 31st was just 0.786-second. Arena Racing newcomer Sammy Gaita was 32nd-fastest, 1.929 seconds off Florian's pace.

***
OCT. 31 RACE RESULTS from Hampton Coliseum:

TOP DOG (50 laps): 1. Spencer Saunders; 2. Scott Prillaman; 3. Jordan Wood; 4. Derek Miller; 5. Charlie Green; 6. Aaron Leach; 7. Matt Leach; 8. Robbie Davis; 9. Sparky West; 10. Clayton Parrish; 11. Cody Turbitt; 12. Chris Raiford; 13. Curtis Hughes; 14. Patrick Morgan. Pole: Wood.

A MAIN (50 laps): 1. Scott Prillaman; 2. Robbie Davis; 3. Patrick Morgan; 4. Jordan Wood; 5. Spencer Saunders; 6. Derek Miller; 7. Adam Florian; 8. Travis Wall; 9. Anthony Perez; 10. Jason Styron; 11. Michael Weddell. Pole: Prillaman.

B MAIN (50 laps): 1. Charlie Green; 2. Curtis Hughes; 3. Sparky West; 4. Matt Leach; 5. Zach Moran; 6. Brittany Bangas; 7. Chris Crecelius; 8. Matt Midgett; 9. Craig Carlton; 10. Brad Hancock. Did not start: Mike Dayton. Pole: Green.

C MAIN (50 laps): 1. Cody Turbitt; 2. Chris Raiford; 3. Aaron Leach; 4. Josh Ayer; 5. Clayton Parrish; 6. Landon Florian; 7. Cory Millard; 8. Mark Brooks; 9. Nelson Moody; 10. Sammy Gaita. Pole: Parrish.

NEXT EVENT: Saturday, Nov. 7 @ Hampton Coliseum. Doors open at 6 PM and racing begins at 7 PM.