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| Turner Charlotte Open-Wheel Winner | Charlotte County Speedway welcomed a good turnout of the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association (TBARA) Sprint cars this weekend for their first visit of the year to run a 25-lap feature race.
Before they had their turn on the 3/8-mile oval, the Lee's Auto Repair Road Warriors had a turn out of eleven weekend warriors to start the first heat race for the action packed night of racing.
Donna Connolly from Lehigh Acres started on the pole in #52 for their six-lap race. Connolly led the rest of the field with a first lap lead doing a little slideways driving coming out of turn four, only to have three cars spin around in the back of the pack to bring out the caution.
On the single file restart, the #9 of Gary Miller from Englewood took the lead. On lap two, Donna's car started smoking real bad, slowing her down to a last place position. Gary, in the #9, stayed out in the lead for the win. After starting in the next to the last place, the #82 from Fort Myers Beach of Billy Lentz drove a hard race to finish in second position, with Ricky Gill from North Fort Myers in #14 finishing in third.
The second heat also had eleven cars lined up to take the green with #31 in the top spot and Scott Barns from Fort Myers at the wheel. When the green flag started flying, it stayed out for all six laps of the race. The #M00 of Bob Williams from Naples took the lead on the start, only to end up breaking down and going to the pits on lap three after starting in the fourth position.
In the mean time, the #21 of Andy Wood from Fort Myers took the lead after charging up from the eighth starting spot to go on for the win. The #47 of Terry Price from Punta Gorda had a hard but clean run from a ninth place start for a second place finish, with Chris Oncken from Fort Myers in the #61 taking third.
The first heat race of the K&S Transport Inc. Open-Wheel Modifieds had seven cars for six laps with the #31's Kurt Riley from Cape Coral on the point. He stayed out front for all six laps to take the checkered flag, but had to drive a hard race to keep the #00 with Wayne Reutimann, Sr. behind the wheel back in second, and #22's Scott Adema from Fort Myers in third.
Meanwhile, Bill Brewer from Naples smacked the wall going into turn three with his #125 ending his night of competition. Riley, Reutimann, and Adema finished one two and three.
Their second heat started #25's Scott Kleiber of Naples on the pole for six more cars and six more laps. Scott goes on to win while Chris Turner, in the #95, makes a bold move under the #80 car of Chris Dean from Fort Myers going into turn three, to take the third position and stay there until lap five. Dean starts racing hard with the #80 in turn one, spinning himself and #95, Turner, out for the only caution of the race.
Both drivers got their positions back, setting up a green-white finish shoot out. Scott Kleiber #25 was able to hang on for the win with Dan Atwell of Naples in #55 taking second and third place finish going to Chris Turner, #95 of Naples.
The Tampa Bay Area Racing Association Sprint cars came up for the first of their three heats with #10 and Matt Mercer starting on the pole for their eight lap race a head of eight other sprint's. As fast as these guys go, it isn't easy to keep up with all the action. To give you an idea of just how fast they cover the 3/8-mile oval in these cars, Shane Butler set a track record in the year 2000 with a time of 10.989 seconds. We didn't have any timed qualifying laps this past Saturday night, but these guys and gals did it true sprint car fashion, FAST! The first heat win went to the #22 of Wayne Reutimann, Sr. from Zephyrhills, with the #19 of Keith Butler from Tampa taking the win in the second heat, and Bobby Rose from Holly Hills winning the third heat in the #56.
Up next came the first heat of two for the Lee's Auto Detail and Transmission Pure Stocks division. The pole was occupied by the #8 of George Tanner from Cape Coral for a six lap, ten car run to the finish. It wasn't long before #33's Mike Loney of Naples, starting from the third row outside position, takes the lead by lap three and goes on for the win, with #71's Scott Moran from Port Charlotte holding on to second and George Tanner winding up in third.
Their second heat race started Christine Gibson from Lehigh Acres in the #49 on the pole for another six lap, ten car race. She held on to the lead until #38's Joe Reese, from Bonita Springs, gets a little too close going in to turn one resulting in a left front flat for Christine. Joe Reese goes on for the win. The #6 of Kevin Utter from Fort Myers takes second while #21's Jeff Padilla from Lehigh Acres comes home third.
The Big Wheel Mini-Stocks saw another six-car line up for their first of two, six-lap heat races with the #1 of John Trotta from Cape Coral on the pole. The #5 of Glenn Travis from North Fort Myers, tried to get under Trotta to take the lead while #6's Marshall Parr Sr. spun on his own bringing out the caution on the second lap.
The restart saw the same moves from Glenn Travis on John Trotta, but failed to take over the lead with the #2 of Roger Garrett from North Fort Myers watching and waiting to make his own move to challenge for the lead. He did manage to take over the second spot and put a move on the #1, but he tried a little too hard and ended up spinning out John Trotta and himself. He went to the rear on the restart while #1 goes on for the win with #5's Glenn Travis stayed in second, and #16's Chase Gooden from West Palm Beach brought it home for third place.
The 92.9 Kix Country Sportsman heat race number one started with the #94 of Chuck Wolfe from Naples on the pole for a six lap, six car freight train to the finish. The #23 of Butch Murry from North Fort Myers took the lead on the first lap to hang on for the all green flag race to win with a second place finish by Chuck Wolfe in the #94, and # E38's Ralph Goddard of Naples taking third place.
Heat race number two for the sportsman class had the #39 of Phillip Johnson from Naples on the pole. He had his work cut out for him with the #8 of Raymond Jones from Arcadia and the #9 of Jerry Bryant from Punta Gorda aiming for a shot at the lead position over Phillip. He stayed out front though, to go on for the win, with Jones in second and Bryant in third.
The Lee's Auto Repair Road Warriors Feature had a full field of twenty-two cars to start the twenty-lap race. #9's Gary Miller of Englewood took a first lap lead over the pole sitter, #52's Donna Connolly of Lehigh Acres, while the #88 of Wayne Wilson from Fort Myers, got a bump and a flat tire somewhere back in the pack, bringing out the yellow flag to bunch up the field for a restart. The restart saw racing action all over the track with the warriors slicing and dicing for various positions. It was Terry Price from Punta Gorda in the #47 who was a man on a mission, threading his way from the back of the pack to find the #M00 car of Bob Williams from Naples, the #21 car of Andy Wood of Fort Myers, and the #72 of Del Beckner from Naples, all fighting for the second, third and fourth positions, while the #52 of Donna Connolly was hanging on to first. By lap thirteen the yellow came out for the spin of #31's Scott Barns from Fort Myers and #79's Leigh Elliott from Charlotte Harbor. After the line up and the restart Terry Price knew what he had to do, by lap fifteen he had taken the lead over the #M00, the #21 and the #72 after they fought a hard lap or two to pass the #52, Donna Connolly, who finished in fourth place. Terry stayed out front to take the checkered flag with Bob Williams staying in second place and Andy Wood holding on to third.
The K&S Transport Inc. Open Wheel Modifieds Feature started their thirty-five lap race with #31's Kurt Riley of Cape Coral on the pole. The twelve-car pack saw a restart before they finished the first lap when the #2 of Kevin Brickley of Estero, spun around in turn one. After they got lined back up, it was clean and green up to lap six when Kevin spins it around again in turn four, this time he tapped the wall, ending up with some left rear quarter panel damage and going into the pits. After the restart, #72X's Vincent Koch of Fort Myers had a spin around on his own, bringing out the yellow and sending him to rear of the field. The green flag flew for until lap ten, when a few cars spun into each other, with the #80 car of Chris Dean from Fort Myers ending up in the pits with a broke right front A frame, ending his night. After a hand full of yellow flags for a spin around here and a spin around there, but no major wrecks or problems, the #22 of Scott Adema of Fort Myers gets the black flag after a strong run in second place, when his car started leaking some fluid. By lap eighteen, the #95 of Chris Turner of Naples takes the lead over from Kurt Riley after racing hard to get around the #55 of Dan Atwell from Naples for second place. Chris Turner held on for the feature win and second place finish was secured by Dan Atwell, third was locked in by the #00 of Wayne Reutimann, Sr. from Zephyrhills.
The Tampa Bay Area Racing Association Sprint cars put on a very fast but good show for the fans with their twenty five lap feature race, with twenty four cars doing that famous four wide "salute to fans" parade lap before Doug "the Wildchild" Dunham, the official T.B.A.R.A. flagman, gave them the green flag. Doug let'em go after they lined back up in the two by two starting position with #56 on the pole with Bobby Rose from Holly Hills at the controls. The #00 of Wayne Reutimann Jr. shot out like a rocket, literally, to take the lead on the first lap after a tangle between two of the sprint cars that bumped each other on the front straight away resulting in a restart. Once they lined back up it was thundering again at the Charlotte County Speedway with #00 still on point, but he didn't stay there long after #22's Wayne Reutimann, Sr. from Zephyrhills shoots around him to take the lead and go all the way for the win. The #0 sprint car of Dude Teate from Leesburg held on for second place (and the points lead), with #19's Keith Butler of Tampa sealing the top three spots. The whole twenty five lap race was ran in under fourteen minutes. That's pretty darned fast.
The feature of the Lee's Auto Detail & Transmission Pure Stock for twenty-five laps had the #8 of George Tanner from Cape Coral on the pole of the twenty car field.It wasn't long before Scott Moran from Port Charlotte took his #71 to the lead. Tanner and Mark Collins of Cape Coral in the #99 car held on to the second and third spot on the restart until #31X's Elbert Butts of Nocatee moved up to third on lap eleven. Butts had the lead by lap fifteen when another yellow flag flew. This one was for the blown engine of Randy Miller from Cape Coral's #13. #31X went on to win the race, followed by #99 Mark Collins and #711, Mark Ludvigsen of Fort Myers Beach.
Reporters note: Cars #99 and #71 were disqualified in tech. The official finish was #31X in first, #711 in second, and #38, Joe Reese of Bonita Springs in third.
John Trotta of Cape Coral had the pole in the #1 car for the feature race of the Big Wheel Mini Stock's 20 lapper and takes a five or six car lead over the other eleven cars in the first few laps. #2, Roger Garrett from North Fort Myers moved into second on lap six, with #51, Rick Nastan from Sarasota holding off #56, Brian Richardson from North Fort Myers for third on lap twelve. Lap fourteen saw Richardson moving the #56 car into the lead position to go on for the win. Trotta had to pit the #1 car on lap seventeen. Second place was held by #51, Nastan with third being held by #2, Garrett.
The 92.9 Kix Country Sportsman feature got underway with #94, Chuck Wolfe of Naples sitting on the pole of the thirty five-lap, fourteen car race. After three restarts, #27, Bryan Beckner from Naples took the lead. #23, Butch Murray from North Fort Myers pushed hard to take fourth from #67, James DuBose of Arcadia.
Lap twelve saw the #23 car getting pushed up in turn three by #67, sending #23, to the pits for the night when the #94, Wolfe, couldn't avoid the turned around car of Murray. The broom crew came out to clean up the aftermath. After the restart, Beckner, who was in the lead, and #8, Raymond Jones of Arcadia leaned on each other a bit too hard, getting hooked upon lap twenty-one, landing both in the rear of the pack. The rest of the race was clean and green with #67, DeBose taking first; #9, Jerry Bryant of Punta Gorda taking second; and #22, Danny Yates of Cape Coral taking third.
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