"Harned claims 1st Sure Fire Racing League Victory"
Friday night the Sure Fire Racing League rolled into the New Smyrna Speedway for the running of the "World Series of Asphalt 100" for the SK Modified division. the 1 hour practice session was led by the #55 of Thomas Christ with a quick time of 17.385 followed closely by the #16 machine of Darryl Tiezzi with a time of 17.388. As close as that time was it was to be bested during the 2 lap qualifying session. Andre Beaudoin looked set to begin the event from pole after posting a lap of 17.463 but Tiezzi had other ideas and managed to clock in with a 17.462 to take P1.
The green flag waved over the field and it did not take long for Beaudoin to assume command of the field as he was able to ease in front of Tiezzi. While the field battled for position behind them the #55 of Christ had a lazy spin off of turn 2 but was able to recover quickly and kept the field under green. A strong side by side battle between the #65 of Kyle Ammon and the #44 of Jay Harned raged for several laps as the #59 of Michael Allen and #22 of Eric Nordhoff held ground waiting for the battle to be decided. This however allowed Christ to slowly work his way back into contention. On lap 22 Allen spins his machine off of turn #2 and pounded the inside barrier doing significant damage to the nose of his ride. The green stayed in the air until lap 25 when Ammon spun off of turn #2. The flagman had finally seen enough and the track crew was dispatched to check the racing surface for oil.
The lap 30 restart would see Tiezzi out front followed Beaudoin, Christ and Harned. Quickly though Beaudoin would again stake his claim to the top spot as he worked his way around the #16 machine also allowing Christ and Harned through. Perhaps the damage to the #55 from his contact with the wall was hindering his progress but Harned was able to dispatch Christ to the 3rd position and set his sights on the lead. Lap 47 sees Harned get a look under Beaudoin in turn 4 and after 2 laps side by side Beaudoin pushes high and allows the #44 to take the lead.
The yellow flag would wave again on lap 65 as Christ trying hard to wrestle his bent machine spun it again only this time off of turn 4 doing a little more damage. This yellow would benefit the #59 of Michael Allen as he was awarded the free pass and all cars come in for fresh tires.
The restart would see Ammon get a great launch on the start and power around Harned for the top spot, Christ was also able to work around Harned for a few laps before the #44 found his rhythm and retook the 2nd position. Ammon had built a nice lead while Harned and Christ sorted out their battle but the #44 was now closing in on Ammon with the lead on his mind. That all changed when on lap 88 when once again turn 2 reached out and bit Ammon as he spun out of the lead opening the door for Harned. The race would come to a grinding halt on lap 96 when contact between Tiezzi and Beaudoin would send the #31 machine hard into the outside wall ending his night. The race would conclude behind the pace car with the #44 of Buffalo, NY's Jay Harned scoring his first Sure Fire Racing League win.
1. #44 Jay Harned
2. #55 Thomas Chris
3. #16 Darryl Tiezzi
4. #22 Eric Nordhoff
5. #65 Kyle Ammon
