March 30, 2004 No Surprises In Charlotte Late Model Action By CLAUDE LEWIS Life ain't easy being a Hobo. Hobbled with gout and all, there was a happy ending after all for veteran race car driver Mike "Hobo" Hovis Saturday night at Charlotte County Speedway. A Hobo can always use a couple grand. Hovis took the lead two-thirds of the way through and never looked back in capturing the Limited Late Model 100-lapper. Hovis collected $2,000 for the win in the red No. 29 Budweiser Monte Carlo. Hovis, a North Fort Myers native who placed second in the January 100-lapper at CCS, passed Glenn Morris on lap 68 and checked out on the field up to lap 86 when Jeremy Goddard spun on the front straight. There were a series of cautions that kept the field tight the rest of the way through. In the end, Hovis outhustled Randy Fox of Lehigh Acres and Wayne Morris of Auburndale to the stripe. Wayne Morris, who won the February 100-lapper, said a funky set of tires kept his slow for most of the race. Chris Libak of Fort Myers ended up fourth and Bobby Beauchemin fifth. The winner of the January 100-lapper Joe Winchell came up for a sixth-place finish after being sent to the back of the 22-car field early for spinning out leader Glenn Morris. Fading Glenn Morris settled for eighth. Goddard, last year's Sportsman champ at CCS, claimed 10th. Mike Franklin Jr. was strong early in the race but hit the pits on lap 22, never to return. Two Charlotte County drivers had long nights. Joey Gentry of Punta Gorda was involved in a wreck on the first lap and finished 21st. Jason Kuykendall of Punta Gorda was in and out of the pits all night and placed 18th. In other races, Dale Dean III outdragged Goddard to the checkered in the 25-lap Sportsman feature. James Dubose just nipped Jerry Bryant at the stripe for third. Clete Trimmer stayed ahead of trouble in the 25-lap Super Stock feature. Elbert Butts and Eric "Stonewall" Smith might have had chances to catch Trimmer, but both were spun by John Hanuschik, who ended up taking second. George "Bat Out of Hell" Tanner took third. Post-race technical inspection took a heavy toll on Road Warrior. The apparent winner Bob Waltz Jr. had his car DQed in tech. Three other cars ended up not passing inspection. The aftermath left Chris Huntoon of Englewood in first, Jesse Gargus in second and Roger Hunt in third. Thunder Trucks saw intense duels between Mike Bialecki, John Garrett and Cheryl Weaver. Bialecki had the lead early but saw his night end when his transmission went. That left Garrett and Weaver to fight it out. Garrett just nosed out Weaver in the 25-lapper. Wally Smith was third. Front-Wheel Drive 4-Cylinders had two features. In the kids race, 13-year-old Imran "Little Rocket" Sattar of Punta Gorda was a smash in his racing debut, as he took the checkered in the No. 12 Toyota GT-S. Later, Walter "Old Flame" Forbes on Punta Gorda used the same car to win the adult race. The TQ Midgets brought a whopping 14 cars to race a 25-lapper. Brandon Cagle passed Hoogie Goff on lap 16 and spun the No. 3 car to checkers. Paul Huffstutler was second and Murray Hall third. Thursday night, April 1st the First Ever Thursday Night Thunder will feature the top Super Late Model drivers in the state running in a $4,000-to-win 100-lapper. Second place is worth $2,000 and third $1,000. A driver will get $300 to take the green flag. The top Super Late Model drivers in the Sunshine State will be driving in the Thursday Night Thunder TNT series – Dickie Anderson, Wayne Anderson, Dave Pletcher, B.J. McLeod, Brad Barkis and Joe Winchell, to name a few. A full field of cars is expected for this extravaganza. Only Super Late Models will race on the Thursday night, meaning fans will be able to get home at an earlier hour than Saturday nights. Super Late Models will qualify at 6:30 p.m. The top qualifiers will draw pills and the 100-lapper will get under way at 7:30 p.m. Limited Late Model Pacifier 100 1. 29 Mike Hovis 2. 88 Randy Fox 3. 56 Wayne Morris 4. 64 Chris Libak 5. 29x Bobby Beauchemin 6. 57 Joe Winchell 7. 17 Raymond Lovelady 8. 100 Glenn Morris 9. 8 Perry Lovelady 10. 40 Jeremy Goddard 11. 26 Bobby Shelton 12. 36 Al Fradette 13. 36p Gary Padula 14. 12b Cliff Bifaro 15. 39 Phillip Johnson 16. 23 Cory Collum 17. 07 Troy McNabb 18. 99 Jason Kuykendall 19. 7 George Couse 20. 12 Mike Franklin Jr. 21. 26g Joe Gentry DNS 2 Joe Sumansky Road Warrior 1. 30 Chris Huntoon 2. 3. 1 Jesse Gargus 4. 14 Roger Hunt 5. 29 Rob Popkin 6. 21 Lee Rhodes 7. 11 Robert Hendry 8. 23 Jeff Rumbold 9. 2f Bobby Fischer 10. 18 Shane Leonard 11. 98 Robert St.John 12. 19 Brandon Anderson 8 Bob Waltz Jr - Disqualified in Tech 5 Bob Waltz Sr - Disqualified in Tech 7 Jonathan Abraham - Disqualified in Tech 88 Larry Rudd - Disqualified in Tech Thunder Truck 1. 22 John Garrett 2. 37 Cheryl Weaver 3. 16 Wally Snith 4. 13 Jay Bryant 5. 56 Bob Charette 6. 8 Mike Bialecki 7. 9 Ray Scott 9. 88 Roger Swinton 10. 6 James Wright Super Stock 1. 0 Clete Trimmer 2. 83 John Hanuschik 3. 8 George Tanner 4. 24 Aaron Zartman 5. 10 Eric Smith 6. 31x Elbert Butts DNS 39 Fred Kight Sportsman 1. 19d Dale Dean 2. 40 Jeremy Goddard 3. 67 James Dubose 4. 9 Jerry Bryant 5. 46 Buck Wilson 5 5 Chad Rutherford 6. 24 Justin Bryant 7. 74 John Garrett 8. 98 Chuck Wolfe 9. 72 Shawn Reim 10. 30 Chris Huntoon DNS 12 Dwayne Arthur 4 Cylinder Kids 1. 12 Imran Sattar 2. 28 Chris Libak Jr. 3. 8 Ray Lang 4 Cylinder Adults 1. 12 Walter Forbes 2. 32 Jason Wilburn 3. 99 Robert Benning 4. 6 Shawn Bates 5. 20 Justin Girling 6. 53 Lee Bates TQ Midgets 1. 3 Brandon Cagle 2. 26 Paul Huffstutler 3. 10 Murray Hall 4. 30] Joey McKinney 5. 22 Mark Alvarez 6. 25 Allen Eash 7. 18 Eric Anderson 8. 96 Hoogie Goff 9. 4 Ted Durfee 10. 17 Doughas Feasel 11. 52 Greg Dennis 12. 47 Joe Moncada 13. 1 Jack Duffy 14. 33 Kenny Busch Have an opinion on this story? 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