Florian wins No. 8, Prillaman nears UCAR title

Published 1:13 pm Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Jonathan Mullett took the lead on lap 31 and drove on to his first victory of the season in the Casey Cycle City 50 for the Atlantic Power Sweeping Super Streets, the featured event Saturday at Langley Speedway.

Randy Akers nabbed the pole in afternoon time trials. Randy Sample, who only needed to take the green flag to wrap up the ‘09 championship, started third.

As Akers began to ease away from his pursuers, the second-place battle between Sample and Jeff Shannon heated up on lap 16. In Turn 2, they skittered up the track and Mullett pounced, driving under and past both cars to take over second.

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The field was bunched when the first caution flag appeared on lap 25. Back under green, third-place Shannon immediately went on the attack. He drove under Mullett on the backstretch and nosed ahead at the line. Continuing his march toward the front, he overtook Akers on lap 27.

Shannon’s stay at the front was short-lived, however, as he lost an engine, in impressive fashion, at the end of the front straightaway. With Shannon heading for the sidelines, the top spot passed to Mullett.

At the checkers, Mullett had a four-length edge and won by 0.826-second over Akers.

In the final Super Street standings, pending official verification, Sample claimed the title over Mullett, 598-568. Shannon and Larry Venable were third and fourth, respectively.

In the evening’s other feature events:

The Casey Cycle City INEX Legends race featured seven lead changes among four drivers. At the end, though, Brad Hancock came out on top, scoring his division-best sixth win of the season. Steve Keesee clinched the division championship and Jamie Price finished second for the season.

In search of his first victory, Joe Hendricks, Jr. showed the way as the white flag waved. Heading into Turn 1, though, Spencer Saunders made a strong bid for the lead. The two front-runners locked horns and spun, prompting a caution flag and setting up a “green-white-checkered” sprint. Hancock assumed the lead with Rette Causey and Keesee.

At the finish, Hancock was the winner by 0.191-second over Causey.

Doug Warren started on the pole and paced the field from wire-to-wire for his second win of the year in the 30-lap points finale for the Standard Welding Pro 6 division.

At the finish, Warren was the winner by about three lengths. Casey Sipe was second. Sipe had clinched the point title in the previous Pro 6 race.

Mike Ganoe notched his fourth victory of the season in a 50-lapper for the Larry King Legal Services Enduros and overtook Wayne Groome to claim the division championship.

Ganoe started on the pole and led laps 1 and 2 before giving way to Tony Spivey. On lap 10, Ganoe regained the top spot and set sail. By the finish, he had lapped all but the second-place machine, winning by three-quarters of a lap.

In the final Enduro standings, Ganoe claimed the championship by 20 over Groome, 268-248.

It’s likely that Adam Florian won’t be the 2009 EZ Auto of Newport News UCAR champion. A couple DNFs during the season saw to that. So, if he can’t win the title, Florian is aiming to do the next best thing and win everything else.

Starting on the pole, with a new division record (71.735 mph), Florian led all the way and picked up his eighth win of the year in Saturday evening’s 25-lapper.

Closing in on the finish, Florian approached a gaggle of slower machines. Rather than risk a headlong plunge into traffic, Florian wisely backed off his pace a bit and cruised to the checkered flag.

At the end, Florian was the winner by about five lengths over Allen Dail. Randy Prillaman was third. Prillaman will carry a 16-point lead, 642-626, over Chris Hildebrand into next Saturday’s UCAR points finale.

In the 25-lap Med Express Urgent Care Super Truck feature, Robbie Davis continued his late-season roll, leading flag-to-flag for his fifth win in a row.

Davis started on the pole and by lap 4 he had already pulled away from division points leader Tommy Nixon by nearly half a straightaway.

Following a yellow flag on lap 17, Davis quickly drove away from Nixon by nearly three lengths. By lap 21, Nixon was within half a length of Davis’ tailgate. That’s as close as he would get, however, as Davis held on to win by 0.272-second.

Nixon will bring a 24-point lead over Davis into next Saturday’s Super Truck finale, 526-502.