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2001
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| Saturday, February 16, 2002 | |
| Shaffer Rebounds for All-Star Win at East Bay | 
by Leo Dougherty
East Bay Raceway, Gibsonton, FL (Friday, February 15) It was a double header today at East Bay with the first cars taking to the track just before 12:30 P.M. Running a double header in this fashion seemed to be the only solution to Wednesday nights rainout. The track couldnt run the race on Sunday with the Daytona 500 running and theres really no sense delaying it until Monday since so many of the northern fans would be on their way home or would be home by then.
Tim Shaffer vindicated himself after his disappointing crash last night while leading, winning the A main today a full straightaway ahead of second place finisher Jason Johnson.
Last night the car was awesome, Shaffer said.
We tried to be patient (last night) and maybe we just werent patient enough. Well see what happens later in the evening. Were kind of short on points.
Jason Sides, Byron Reed and Michael Dupuy made contact before the cars could get through turn one, creating a complete restart. Reed went into the infield for a quick look at his car and rejoined the field before the restart. Dupuy and Sides came off the track on the hook.
Reed pulled out the second caution of the race when he lost the handle and spun on the eleventh lap.
Shaffer established plenty of real estate after the restart between his car and Johnson when he came back on traffic on lap seventeen. A spin on the eighteenth circuit however left him with clear sailing for the final seven laps.
Most of us did not expect Danny Lasoski to make the afternoon show after competing in and finishing sixth in the IROC race at Daytona International Speedway. But he arrived at the track before time trials were completed and then blew the field away in his heat race.
Zach Chappell was very impressive in his heat race, beating guys like Gary Wright and Tim Shaffer to win the first heat race of the day.
Johnny Gilbertson gave up his ride to Jeff Shepard, at least for this program, and Michael Smith climbed into the 3 car that Shepard had been driving. After time trials, Curt Michael then took over the wheel of the 3 car for the heat and the feature.
It was quite a treat to see Dean and Kenny Jacobs start side by side on the front row of their heat and run side by side for most of the first lap. By turn three, Kenny had the lead over brother Dean and went on to win the heat. Kenny leads the All Star Circuit of Champions in feature wins with 95 and Dean has 19.
In the second C main, Joey Saldana was running second to Terry McCarl and did everything but tie an anchor to McCarls tail tank trying to get around him. He got by near the end of the race but a yellow came out right after the pass and it didnt count. It didnt matter, though. He got by McCarl just past the white flag to win it. Unfortunately, in the B main he and Johnny Mackison made contact, tearing a front wheel off of Saldanas car.
Before the cars could restart, Travis Rilat, who was running in fourth spot and just about assured a transfer into the A man, stopped on the backstretch with mechanical problems. Rilat, who has been beset by bad luck here, still made it into the A main on the inside of the last row because the two fastest drivers who DIDNT make the main were added by East Bay just for these shows.
In addition to the blanket donated by Christi Passmore to raise funds for the Opperman Trust Fund, the good folks at East Bay set out jars for donations and there were some nice photos made available to donors. Some were of Jan himself and Jan Jr. was on hand to autograph them.
Its been brought to my attention that Lance Dewease really isnt a kid. Keep in mind when youre past the half-century mark, as I am, anyone younger than 45 is a kid!
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