by Thom Watson

GIBSONTON, FL - Jamie Burrows was all set to take the $2,500 winners share of the Mr. Budweiser, but on lap 23, of the 25 lap Mini Stock Mr. Budweiser main, he slipped out of the low groove and that allowed William Hampton to sneak by. Hampton went by on the low side on the backstretch to take the lead. Burrows tried valiantly to get the lead back, but it wasn't to be as Hampton was too strong. Burrows started on the point but lost it to Devin Dixon on lap two. Dixon looked like he was going to lead the rest of the way, but on lap 20, he suddenly slowed in turn two and was done for the night. Burrows had been patiently biding his time in second and quickly took the lead when Dixon slowed. Meanwhile Hampton was riding along in third at the time and moved into the runner-up spot. On lap 22 Derrick Nagle spun on the front stretch and got bogged ion the mud. On the restart, Burrows took the lead but went high going down the backstretch and allowed Hampton to get in front and after he smelled the $2,500 winners share, he was not to be passed. "I was looking forward to winning this as it will be my last year in the Mini-Stocks class," said Hampton from Victory Circle.

In a full night of racing sponsored by Buddy's Home Furnishings, the sprint cars decided to go topless for the first time in many years at East Bay Raceway. In the 11-car field, Sport Allen proved he knows how to drive the winged and the wingless cars as he led wire-to-wire and built huge leads when the green flag was flying. Only caution flags allowed the rest of the field to even get close to Allen. After the final caution of the night, Allen pulled away to a three-car length win. Joe Melnick, who took over second on lap 11, was the runner-up and Casey Johnson came home third.

In the Street Stock A main feature, Hollie Smith started on the pole and took the early lead. On lap five, Smith suddenly slowed and Ronnie Pope took advantage to take the lead. His lead was only for one lap as he bobbled and Danny Paris quickly took over the lead and never looked back as he went on to win the 15 lap feature on Buddy's Home Furnishing night. Pope was able to hold on to the runner-up spot and Jason Bronson was third. " Three months ago I dedicated a race to a friend who passed away, Sandy, this week here fianc also passed away, this is dedicated to them, they were close friends, " said Paris.

Raymond Rogers was able to jump to the lead from his fourth starting position on the first lap and led wire-to-wire in the Limited Late Model feature event. It wasn't as easy as it looked, Forrest Gough and Jerry Rogers swapped the runner-up spot four times in the last half of the race. Finally on lap 12, Gough was able to wrestle second place to himself and set his sights on Raymond Rogers. He tried for four laps to take the high groove but could never make it work to take the lead and had to settle for second. Jerry Rogers, Raymond's father came in third.

In the Limited Sprints, Tony Pinero started on the point and held the lead early. It took Donnie Maxwell until lap three to move up from his fifth starting position to take over the lead. He took the low groove and made it work as he passed the top four to bolt into the lead. Jim Ballew used the high groove coming out of turn four to pick up two spots in the final two laps to finish second. Pinero was able to finish third. " They told me it wouldn't run on the bottom, but this Ford power did pretty good down there tonight," said winner Maxwell to the crowd. After a five-car pileup before a lap could be completed, K.D. Kelly was able to hold his point position for the first four laps. In the meantime, Phillip Cobb was on the move and was able to avoid another pileup on lap three, which collected the second through fifth place running cars. On lap five, Cobb went high in turn four and took the point. He was able to hold on the rest of the way and stretched it out to a five-car length win. over Bobby Alexander, Jr. who had taken over second on lap 10. Donnie Tanner came home third.

In the Street Stock B Main ten lap feature race, Terry Bronson led from the start to take the win. By the end of the race it was a one-horse race as Bronson stretched out to 10-car lead. The real race was for second place, as Mac Kersey tried to pass Steve Spencer for the final two laps but could never pull it off. Spencer was second, while Kersey had to settle for third place.

In the Main Event on Buddy's Home Furnishing night at East Bay Raceway, the demolition derby started 22 cars, including one driven by KARNAC.COM's own Rick Anges. As the cars were lining up in their unique hood-to-hood rows of five or six cars, a water truck also was pulling out of the pits and coming around the track. On the side was a sign that said "Rick from KARNAC.COM". This might be an advantage considering the truck weighted about two tons more than all the other cars and it was up higher than the others were also. Announcer Ken Sands finally got Anges to get out of the truck to discuss the situation. Although Anges insisted he be able to drive the tanker, Sands was able to persuade him not to.. Then Anges finally pointed to the orange, KARNAC.COM sponsored, #413x Lincoln sitting on the backstretch.It was outfitted with an in-car camera to give a birds-eye view of the action from a driver's perspective. At the start of the derby, the cars were banging away and several quickly dropped and littered the front-stretch area. Sadly to say, after three hits (and it might have been only one) the #413x, KARNAC.COM car was finished for the night. Although it did take a few more hits from some of the others. It finally came down to the final two, with the winner collecting $1000 and the runner-up $500. It was now between Mark Dewaine and Chris Hoffman. After several running attempts of about 100 feet at Hoffman, Dewaine was finally able to disable him and be declared the winner.

-Thom Watson

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