Steele tops TBARA Outlaw Winged Sprints in Last Minute Run at Orlando SpeedWorld
by Dave Westerman
The Tampa Bay Area Racing Association was out in force Friday night at Orlando Speedworld as 27 Outlaw Sprint Cars signed in for action. Two drivers would not make it out of hot laps as Scotty Adema broke early and Bobby Rose had his engine explode on a ball of flame.
Three heats were needed to set the grid for the 30 lap TBARA feature. Young rookie driver Erik MacMillan took the third heat race after veterans Tommy Nichols and Keith Butler took checkered flags in the first two.
MacMillan and Nichols made up row one with MacMillan getting the early jump only to see the field under caution before a lap could be completed as Sonny Hartley banged wheels with another car and slammed hard into the turn three wall. Hartley was OK, but his car needed a double tow from the track.
The second start saw Nichols get the advantage this time as the field settled into some knock-down, drag-out green flag racing. The Butler brothers, Shane and Keith were on the move with Keith Butler making a daring move around his younger brother and Nichols to take the lead just prior to the half-way mark.
Keith Butler was pulling away from the field until the engine in Nichols' car expired on lap 21 to bring the field under caution.
Dave Steele had moved to second by this time and restarted the race with the lapped car of Wendy Mathis between himself and leader Butler. Butler got a great jump on the restart as Steele had problems getting around Mathis. But the leader caught lapped traffic again with just a few laps to go allowing Steele to close in.
Going into turn three for the final time, the lead duo caught the lapped machine of Brian Eckley. Butler committed high while Steele made an incredible move to the inside, taking the lead. Butler slid high and spun, doing a full 360. Amazingly, Butler kept his car going and still took second behind Steele who took his fifth TBARA feature race victory of the season.
Shane Butler came home third with rookie Michael Smith having a great run for fourth with Troy Decaire in fifth. Stan Butler, Bo Hasrtley, Dude Teate, John Anderson and Larry J. Brazil, Jr. rounded out the top ten.
After Brett Woodley led the opening pair of laps, Spencer Lemmerman claimed the top spot and went on to win his first Sportsman feature of the year.
When John Hodge and Timmy Todd, Jr. tangled while battling for third, Richard Hight took advantage and eventually came home second over Andy Nicholls, Bryan Silas and Woodley. Completing the top ten were Todd, Hodge, Steve Elder, Glen Castro and John Bennett. Lemmerman also won the heat.
Bill Loomis led the opening ten laps of the Super Stock feature only to get tangled up with second-running James Frisbie. Loomis took his car off the track, visibly upset while Frisbie went to the rear of the field only to drop out later with a smoking engine.
Johnny Brown took over at that point and sped to his first win of the season in style over Vince Keeler, Jason Foster, Paul Cornelius and Bruce Gayton. Rounding out the top ten were Lee Wagner, Mike Gennett, Geno Smith, Robert Ward and Daniel Laszlo. Loomis and Bobby Riley won the heats.
Robert Remus won both the heat and feature in the Strictly Stocks taking the feature win over Steven Streight, Bobby Crites, Rudy Bronson and Bob Snyder.
Luke Burke topped the Junior Stock 8-11 heat race for his first-ever win, but it was Luke Gaier taking his second straight win in the feature over Wes Railing, Jr., Trey Edenfield, Jeff Cuddy, Zachary Curtis, Burke and Jessica Railing. Jessie Cuddy dominated both her heat and feature in the Junior Stock 12-15 group winning the feature by a wide margin over Justin Curtis, Kaisee Crites, Jake Gaier and B.J. Hefler.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ORLANDO SPEEDWORLD, MAY 12
TBARA OUTLAW WINGED SPRINTS
1. #91 David Steele 2. #19 Keith Butler 3. #19b Shane Butler 4. #9x Michael Smith 5. #41 Troy DeCaire 6. #18 Stan Butler 7. #3x Bo Hartley 8. #0 Dude Teate 9. #1x John Anderosn 10. #68 Larry J. Brazil Jr. 11. #29 Gary Gimmler 12. #12B Byran Feldey 13. #11x Erik MacMillan 14. #80 Wendy Mathis 15. #47 Richard Waddell 16. #4 Rod Anderson 17. #55 Tommy Nichols 18. #8 Nick Marikis 19. #44 Bill Pettijohn 20. #51 Mark Gimmler 21. #21 Rusty Dixon 22. #59 Dan Statter 23. #1 Steven Bradley 24. #34 Sonny Hartley 25. #66 Mickey Kempgens
SPORTSMAN
1. #6 Spencer Lemmerman 2. #23 Richard Hight 3. #66 Andy Nicholls 4. #44 Bryan Silas 5. #99 Brett Woodley 6. #25 Timmy Todd Jr. 7. #00 John Hodge 8. #42 Steve Elder 9. #8 Glen Castro 10. #721 John Bennett
SUPER STOCK
1. #86 Johnny Brown 2. #7 Vince Keeler 3. #49 Jason Foster 4. #31 Paul Cornelius 5. #17 Bruce Gayton 6. #74 Lee Wagner 7. #00 Mike Gennett 8. #71 Geno Smith 9. #25 Robert Ward 10. #07 Daniel Laszlo 11. #3 James Frisbie 12. #114 Michael Poole 13. #4 Ray Brown 14. #52 Bobby Riley DQ'D 15. #77 Rick Taylor DQ'D 16. #26 Bill Loomis DQ'D
JR. STOCK (8-11)
1. #78 Luke Gaier 2. #51 Wes Railing 3. #31 Trey Edenfield 4. #64 Jeff Cuddy 5. #63 Zachary Curtis 6. #68 Luke Burke 7. #17 Jessica Railing
1. #16 Robert Remus 2. #80 Steven Streight 3. #1 Bobby Crites 4. #02 Rudy Bronson 5. #16x Bob Snyder 6. #54 Nelson 7. #82 Chris Stanton 8. #22 Miguel Barreachea 9. #x15 Chuck Smeltzer 10. #77 David Lasky
Dave Steele had moved to second by this time and restarted the race with the lapped car of Wendy Mathis between himself and leader Butler.