Round 2 of the Florida State Series was hosted by Grand Prix Raceway in FT. Pierce last weekend. The beautiful track was very tight, but was super smooth and had a large blue groove around the whole layout. With 119 entries, the track grooved even more throughout qualifying.
In round #1, Gene Hickerson set the early TQ with his XB8 with a 11/5:26.29. The track got faster as the sun came out and warmed up the track. Near the end of the round, Luis Perez stole the TQ time by .02 seconds over Hickerson. The top 10 were all within 5 seconds of each other.
In round #2, Hickerson was determined to regain the TQ spot. He did so by going almost a second a lap faster then in round 1. He shattered the 1st round TQ by more then 12 seconds with a 11/5:14.19 run, even with 1 mishap with a slower car. Ryan Eckert was the only other driver to beat the round 1 TQ. He took over 2nd qualifying position with a 11/5:25.74, still 11.5 seconds slower then TQ. David Diehl also put his XB8 in the main by qualifying 8th in the last round, only 3 seconds slower then Eckert.
The 30 minute main was run under the lights, as the track got cold and slick. Hickerson took the hole shot and after 2nd place Eckert crashed on the 5th lap, Hickerson checked out. By the 9 minute mark, Hickerson had a half a lap lead over 2nd and had lapped most of the field. But that was when the TQ blues struck again. A back marker crashed over the huge double jump. Hickerson jumped to the inside to avoid the wreck. But the turn Marshall got to the car before he passed, and threw the car in front of Hickerson's fast moving Xray. The collision was hard and unexpected. It sent Hickerson into the pipe and flipped the other car back on its lid. Hickerson got the worse of it, because a front shock shaft broke and the front universal popped out, ending his run.
David Diehl dropped out also with a broken pressure fitting. Ryan Eckert ran into problems also, which allowed the bump up driver Dave Bengston and Jovan Pilon to take 1st and 2nd, followed by Luis Perez in 3rd.
1. Dave Bengstone
2. Jovan Pilon
3. Luis Perez
4. Mike Tarach
5. Anton Watson
6. Jim Myers 7. Gene Hickerson - TQ XRAY XB8
8. David Diehl XRAY XB8
9. Ryan Eckert
10. Bobby Moore
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Round 2 of the Florida State Series.
