MILTON, Fla. — Davie Franek came from the seventh-starting spot to take the lead on a lap-four restart and cruised to victory on night one of the Battle At The Beach on Friday night at Southern Raceway.
The 25-lap feature was Round 3 of the United Sprint Car Series Presented By Hoosier Racing Tire Winter Heat Series.
Lance Moss finished second, and third went to Jacob Allen. National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee Danny Smith took the fourth spot and Dale Howard was fifth.
Corbin Gurley took the lead at the start of the race followed by Moss, Franek, Smith and Allen. Franek passed Moss for the second spot on lap three, and the first of four caution flags came out on lap four when Sterling Cling slowed on the front straightaway.
Franek tried to slide Corbin Gurley for the lead on turn one on the restart, but was unsuccessful. Franek regrouped and dove under Gurley in turn three and completed the pass for the lead by sliding up in front of Gurley in turn four. Allen passed Smith for the fourth spot on the restart.
Bryan Gossel spun in turn four on lap six and collected Tyeller Powless, Blake Bowen and Brogan Carder to bring out the second caution flag. The field was red flagged, and the water truck came out as a safety precaution to knock down the dust. The red flag was lifted 20 minutes later.
Franek led Corbin Gurley, Moss, Allen and Smith down for the restart. By the 10th lap, Franek had opened up a 1.286 second lead over Gurley. The top four cars encountered the cars at the tail end of the lead lap by lap 15 and had a five second advantage over Smith in fifth.
Gurley shaved off two tenths of a second on the leader by lap 16, but the field was slowed by the third yellow flag of the race when Corbin Gurley spun out of the second spot in turn three. Franek now had Moss, Allen, Smith and Van Gurley Jr. lined up behind him for the restart. Van Gurley’s stay in the top five ended on lap 23 when he spun on the frontstretch.
Franek gave up a two second advantage when he saw the caution flag instead of the white flag. But Franek didn’t panic, as he pulled away for the green-white-checkered finish with a 2.727-second margin of victory over Moss.
The finish:
Feature (25 laps): 1. 28f Davie Franek, Wantage, NJ (7); 2. 23 Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC (3); 3. 1a Jacob Allen, Hanover, PA (8); 4. 4 Danny Smith, Chillicothe, OH (4); 5. 47 Dale Howard, Byhalia, MS (11); 6. 36 Jason Martin, Liberal, KS (16); 7. 44 Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (9); 8. 16g Austyn Gossel, Windsor, CO (6); 9. 95 Matt Covington, Glenpool, OK (10); 10. 5m Max Stanbaugh, Lima, OH (17); 11. 11 Trey Meredith, Dade City, FL (15); 12. 9 Lane Whittington, Denham Springs, LA (12); 13. 13v Van Gurley Jr., Valparaiso, IN (5); 14. 12 Corbin Gurley, Hebron, IN (1); 15. 5h Carson Bolden, Quinlan, TX (19); 16. 28 Jeff Willingham, Ripley, MS (23); 17. 13 Elijah Gile, Phoenix, AZ (18); 18. 6g Bryan Gossel, Windsor, CO (14); 19. 77t Tyeller Powless, Ohsweken, ON CAN (20); 20. 12b Blake Bowen, Dothan, AL (22); 21. 88 Brogan Carder, Sioux Falls, SD (21); 22. 10 Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN (2); 23. 34 Sterling Cling, Tempe. AZ (13).
