April 29, 2000 (Okeechobee, FL) - West Palm Beach's John Choquette inherited the race lead when Buddy Geiger spun out Saturday night at Thunder Cross Motorsports Park in Okeechobee, FL. Choquette with stood a late race charge to capture $3,000 for winning the 50 lap Southeast Late Model Dirt Racing Series event before a standing room only crowd.


Thunder Cross regular Danny Cox mastered the quarter mile, red clay oval during time trials, recording a fast time of 16.996 seconds. He recorded the only 16 second lap out of the twenty cars to qualify. Cox, John Choquette, and East Bay hot shoe Jack Nosbisch won the three late Model heat races, putting Cox and Choquette on the front row for the 50 lap feature.


At the drop of the green flag, Choquette jumped into the lead, followed by Cox, Buddy Geiger, Nosbisch, and sixteen year old Jeremy Morgan. Geiger dogged Choquette for several laps before moving into the lead. Geiger pulled away from Choquette with Cox close in tow.


The most serious accident of the night occurred on a lap 11 restart. David Farmer, Thomas Conrad, David Augspurger, Jack Nosbisch, and Doc McKiney piled up in turn two. Augspurger was unable to continue. On the next restart, Geiger pulled away from Choquette again. Entering turn one all alone on lap 15, Geiger drifted high, spun his car and backed into the outside wall. He was able to drive away, but the caution flew for the fifth time and Geiger headed to the back of the pack.


All this returned John Choquette to the point. Cox, Morgan, Jack Nosbisch,and Eric Platt rounded out the top five. For almost 20 laps the top five stayed in line through several restarts. Cox pressured Choquette heavily but he could not grab the bottom groove away from Choquette on the bumpytrack.


With the laps counting down, Platt dove his brand new Late Model underneath Nosbisch to take fourth. A few laps later, Platt moved by Morgan into third. Morgan faded to a seventh place finish down the stretch. Platt took off after the lead duo, but he could not pass either driver.


John Choquette passed under the checkers to capture the $3,000 first prize. Cox, Platt, Jack Nosbisch, and Buddy Geiger rounded out the top five. Geiger had the fastest car at the finish but simply ran out of time. The event was marred by 13 cautions and took 50 minutes to run.


The Southeast Motorsports Dirt Racing Series returns to action Saturday night, May 27 at Lake City Speedway.


In the Sportsman feature, Tom Lusk drove away from Rick Miller and Terry McKay for the win. Charles Permann held off Jeff Choquette to win in the Mini Stock feature. I did not see the remainder of the features because the program was running late.


In the past year, Thunder Cross has added new lighting, new pit side and grandstand side bathrooms and concession stands. This Saturday Night was also the first night the turn four VIP area was open. Thunder Cross Motorsports Park is located off State Highway 70, three miles east of theCity of Okeechobee. Call (863) 357-2277 for more details.

by: John Matthews


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