| Bobby Gill Takes Win at New Smyrna Speedway in Hooter's Pro Cup | by Jane Smith
 (KNS)The pits were busy as thirty seven cars got ready to qualify for the first time race at New Smyrna Speedway since the old Hooter's Cup changed to Hooter's
Pro Cup. A few Florida racers were among the 37 including Mario Gosselin from Lake Wales, Billy Mowery, David Pletcher and Derrick Kelly.
This was the first race of the season for Gosselin who
drove his familiar #10 and it was Gosselin's day as he
sat fast time at 19.109. Jason Sarvis #22 was second
fastest with a 19.134. Since the field was set for
thirty six starting, the #69 of John Flaggan was the
unlucky driver who got sent home.
When the green flag dropped at 7:30 PM, it was the #10
of Gosselin taking the lead but on lap 4, Bobby Gill
#5 passed Gosselin and took over. This would set the
night as Gosselin and Gill battled each other most of
the night for that lead spot.
Lap 10 saw the first of 15 cautions as the #81 of Scott
York and #3 of Michael Strother spun. On the restart,
Gosselin passed Gill for the lead and built up a 5
car length lead. Top five were Gosselin, Gill,
#84 Shane Hoffman, #22 Jason Sarvis and #92 Hal
Goodson.
Kertus Davis #0 passed Goodson and takes
away his fifth place position, putting Goodson in
sixth.
Lap 21 saw Caution 2 as a car spun in turns 1 and
2. On the restart, this set the battle as Gill and
Gosselin went side by side never touching for the lead.
Gill finally got his nose just in front of Gosselin
and took over once again.
Caution 3 comes out for the #01 of Preston Jernigan
as he broke. On the restart Gill was leading but only for
a few laps as Caution 4 came out for the #44 of Jon
Kerley who spun out.
With Gill still in front, caution 5 came out for the #18 of Mark Whitaker. Four other cars also spun as Whitaker sat on the track but all were able to continue on. The #94 of Keith Roggen caused caution 6 as he hit the turn 4 wall.
Gosselin took over the lead from Gill on the restart
but Gill battled back and took the lead but
Gosselin was not to be beat and retook the lead
position.
Just as the battle gets very hot and
heavy, caution 7 comes out for the #13 of Free
Pennington who spun out in the bottom of turn 1.
On the restart, the #55 of Lee Tissot spun but
is able to continue with no yellow coming out but
lap 109 saw caution 8 for a car spinning on
the bottom of turn 2.
On the restart, Gosselin built up a seven car length
lead over Gill with Goodson, Sarvis and #58 Jeremy
Bowser in the top five. Kertus Davis #0 then made
his move on Bowser and took over fifth putting
Bowser to sixth.
Caution 9 came out for the #09 of Jabe Jones as he
ran out of gas and had to be pushed back to the pits.
This set up the pits stops for the lead cars with
#84 Shane Hoffman beating out Gill, Gosselin, Goodson.
The #55 of Lee Tissot now had the lead after pit
stops with the #16 of Steve Christian in second.
On the restart, Christian made his move on Tissot
and took the lead. Christian started building his
lead until caution 10 came out for the #13 of
Free Pennington, #18 of Mark Whitaker, #6 Ronnie
Davidson and #81 of Scott York who all spun out
in turn 4.
The restart saw Christian still leading
with #18 Michael Ritch, #33 Billy Mowery, #55
Lee Tissot and #44 Jon Kerley filling out the
top five spots. But with Gill and Gosselin on
fresher tires, Gosselin moved up to second behind
Christian with Gill right on his tail for third.
Ritch and Goodson ran fourth and fifth.
Caution 11 came out for the #88 of Ray Peele as
he brushed the frontstretch wall. Christian still ahd the
lead on the restart but not for long as Gosselin
first took over the lead but not for long as Gill
made his move on Gosselin and took over once again.
Christian was now running third followed by Goodson
and Ritch. But Ritch had problems of his own as the
#22 of Sarvis wanted his fifth place position and
was right on his tail. Sarvis got the edge and
Ritch wass put to sixth. Shane Wallace #4 brought
out caution 12 as he visited the turn 2 wall.
Caution 13 saw the #13 of Free Pennington spun
in turns 3 and 4. Restart still had Gill over
Gosselin with Goodson, Sarvis and #29 Clay
Rogers in the top five. Steve Christian #16
started to make his moves and slowly worked himself
back into the top five knocking out Sarvis.
Jeremy Bowser #58 and #18 Mark Whitaker brought out
caution 14 as they spun in the bottom of turn 2.
Gill retained the lead over Gosselin on the restart
and the last caution of the night, 15, came out
for the #16 of Christian as he hit the backstretch
inside wall.
Looking at a green, white, checker situation, everyone
was ready to rumble. At the worst time to lose an
engine, #10 Mario Gosselin lost his and the second
place position in the race. This gave #92 Hal
Goodson the second place spot with Gill still in
the lead. Bobby Gill got the victory with Goodson,
Rogers, Ritch and Medlin filling out the top five.
Footnotes: #1 Don Satterfield remarked after the
race, "I dropped a cylinder on lap 5 and was only
running on seven. I finished the race but was very
slow."
Derrick Kelly lost an axle early in the race and had
some choice words since he had a spare one in his
trailer but it was parked outside of the track. He
retired early and was one of the first to leave after
the race.
Mario Gosselin, holding a very sleeping child in his
arms said he missed the first two races because of
funding. "It is getting harder and harder to race with
today's costs. But I will be at Lakeland and it was
nice to not have to drive but an hour and half from
home tonight to race. I had a great car but engines
fail and that is racing."
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