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Chris Thornton wins Modified Mini 50 Lapper at Desoto Super Speedway
By Tom Blakeley
(September 20, 2008 Bradenton, Florida) It was another night of racing excitement at Desoto Super Speedway. The lineup started with a bang when the Street Stock class took to the track first. Going to Victory circle was James Nanney in the #6 car. Alex Abbott in the #17 car was 2nd, and Jonathan Heidenthal in the #27X car was 3rd. Along with the hot Florida nights, comes even hotter tempers. Casey Hall in the #11 car and Charles “Chucky” Ramsey in the #99 car got cross wise with each other on the track and it carried over into the pits after the race. The end result was a disqualification of #99 car and Charles Ramsey for fighting. The drama alone was well worth the price of admission.
Pure Stocks were next on the agenda. This class always has the fans on the edge of their seats and they came through again with Troy Thiem in his #18 car taking the checkered flag. A close 2nd was #75 Troy Meredith and Points Leader Randy Johnson in the #73 car came in 3rd. This was one hard driven and clean race; the drivers did a great job.
It was “Thundering Herd” time as the 3rd feature of the evening took their Karts to the track. They ran a very fast 25 lap race that had some really close calls, but all ended well with Brian Sherrer of Melbourne in the #17 kart pulling into Victory Circle. Right behind him was J. D. Cordon of North Fort Myers in the #99 kart taking 2nd place and 3rd place belonged to Tim Simmons of Ruskin in the #57 kart. The “Thundering Herd will return to Desoto Super Speedway in October.
The Modified Mini class 50-lap feature was next on the track. The 14 car field got right down to business and when all the paint had been rubbed and walls scraped the winner was non other than Chris Thornton in the neon color #24 car. Robbie Storer in the #3 car finished a close 2nd. In 3rd place was Rick Sirmans in the #05 car. This was one great race that had the fans yelling for more. Another 50 lap Modified Mini exciter for sure.
After a short 10 minute intermission the Trucks took to the track with a roar. The 13-truck field raced hard and very fast for 50 hot laps. Three trucks ran bumper to bumper and traded places for most of the race. The three were also the first three places at the finish line. Charlie Montgomery in the #12 truck took 1st place and Danny Anderson in the #50 truck was 2nd. In 3rd place was Steven Darvalics in the #41 truck. The first of five yellow flags dropped at lap #3 with the #07 truck of Kyle Musselman spinning out. In lap # 26 the 64X truck of Andrew Gipson hit the wall. The fans always expect fast and clean racing from the truck class and they got it tonight.
It is Rockem Sockem time! Oh yeah hold onto your hat cause the Desoto Super Speedway ‘Rockem Sockem” Bombers claimed the track next. It did not take long for the action to begin when Michael “The Punisher” Crooks maneuvered the famous “Sling-Shot” move that shot him up three positions fast. The 9-car field put on quite a show and rubbed lots of paint before the checkered flag dropped at lap #25 for Jody Collins in the orange #32 car. Michael “The Punisher” Crooks in the #33 car drove to a 2nd place finish while Steve “The Hammer” Elder in the #42 car was the 3rd place finisher for the event. Todd “The Sling-Shot” Jacobs in the #44 car gets the credit for the sling–shot move of the night.
The final event for the evening was the Open Wheel Modified class 35-lap feature. The pace was blistering and the action hot as these drivers took no prisoners. In Victory Circle at the completion of the race was Wayne Jefferson in the #1 car. Wayne led this race from flag to flag. John Shields in the #37 car was our 2nd place finisher and Ralph Bowman in the #2 car placed 3rd.
It was a great night of racing. Next Saturday the 27th of September the TBARA Winged Sprints invade Desoto Super Speedway. These Sprint cars fly around the asphalt track at speeds well in excess of 100 miles per hour. The gates open at 5:30 with racing action starting at 7 PM. Come on out and watch as these drivers drive their hearts out, it is good family fun. Join us.
BOMBERS - BOMB 20L Pos Driver Car # 1 JODY COLLINS 32C 2 MICHAEL CROOKS 33 3 STEVE ELDER 42 4 JOHN STEWART 02 5 DARRIN ELLIS 71 6 TODD JACOBS 44 7 LOU RUSSELL 3 8 MARK BOXELL 88 9 DUSTIN STROTT 12
DS TRUCKS - DS TRUCKS 50L Pos Driver Car # 1 CHARLIE MONTGOMERY-Mtks 12 2 DANNY ANDERSON-Mtks 50 3 STEPHEN DARVALICS-Mtks 41 4 BRENT HUBER 64 5 TYLER LAU-Mtks 51 6 BLAIR PONTIOUS-Mtks 39 7 JIM REPPI SR 57 8 KYLE MUSSELMAN-Mtks O7 9 SCOTT DAWLEY 74 10 ANDREW GIPSON 64X 11 BLAKE KOCH 34 12 STEPHEN HARBUCK 09 13 AL NEUMANN 4 14 WILLIAM CARLBERT JR-Mtks 11X
DS TRUCKS - QUALIFYING Pos Driver Car # 1 CHARLIE MONTGOMERY-Mtks 12 2 DANNY ANDERSON-Mtks 50 3 STEPHEN DARVALICS-Mtks 41 4 BRENT HUBER 64 5 BLAKE KOCH 34 6 TYLER LAU-Mtks 51 7 ANDREW GIPSON 64X 8 JIM REPPI SR 57 9 BLAIR PONTIOUS-Mtks 39 10 AL NEUMANN 4 11 WILLIAM CARLBERT JR-Mtks 11X 12 KYLE MUSSELMAN-Mtks O7 13 SCOTT DAWLEY 74 14 STEPHEN HARBUCK 09
MODIFIED MINIS - MM FIFTY LAP Pos Driver Car # 1 CHRIS THORNTON 24 2 ROBBIE STORER 3 3 RICK SIRMANS 05 4 BRIAN DORER-M-mm 97 5 CHRIS ZIMMERMAN-Mmm 29 6 DUSTIN PEREZ-Mmm 62 7 JESSE HENLEY-Mmm 0 8 JOE GAGEN 1 9 MIKE BIRK JR-M mm 10 10 BRAD STEGER-Mmm-R BUS 31 11 RICHARD NELSON 80 12 ANDY WHITTED 9X 13 MATTHEW PERKINS-Mmm 99 14 MITCHELL WEBB 6
MODIFIED MINIS - QUALIFYING Pos Driver Car # 1 CHRIS THORNTON 24 2 RICK SIRMANS 05 3 CHRIS ZIMMERMAN-Mmm 29 4 DUSTIN PEREZ-Mmm 62 5 ROBBIE STORER 3 6 MITCHELL WEBB 6 7 BRIAN DORER-M-mm 97 8 JESSE HENLEY-Mmm 0 9 JOE GAGEN 1 10 MIKE BIRK JR-M mm 10 11 RICHARD NELSON 80 12 MATTHEW PERKINS-Mmm 99 13 ANDY WHITTED 9X 14 BRAD STEGER-Mmm-R BUS 31
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED - OWM 35L 11 OR LESS Pos Driver Car # 1 WAYNE JEFFERSON 1 2 JOHN SHIELDS 37 3 RALPH BOWMAN 2 4 BRYAN ROGERS 77 5 SAMMY COGHILL 22 6 TONY CARRENO 61X 7 PAT NANNEY 60
PURE STOCKS - PS 20L 19 OR LESS Pos Driver Car # 1 TROY THIEM 18 2 TROY MEREDITH 75 3 RANDY JOHNSON 73 4 ALLEN BRAGG 89 5 MARK PICKLESIMER 07 6 ROBERT CRISP 2 7 CHELSEA LAU 13 8 MASON LOVE 12 9 JOHN BROWN 6 10 ANTHONY EASTON 90
SPORTSMAN - SP 20L 11 OR LESS Pos Driver Car # 1 ROGER WELCH 98 2 MARK PETERSON 73
STREET STOCKS - SS 20L 19 OR LESS Pos Driver Car # 1 JAMES NANNEY 6 2 ALEX ABBOTT 17 3 JONATHAN HEIDENTHAL 27X 4 GREGORY KROM 35 5 CASEY HALL 11 6 CHARLES "CHUCKY" RAMSEY 99
