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| James Knight Charges to Sportsman Win at DeSoto | by Ken Willis
In a hard fought 75 lap shootout Teddy Nelson of Pinellas Park took the checkered flag in the Callaghan Tire Open Wheel Modifieds last Saturday night at DeSoto Speedway. Nelson, who came into the feature event with four wins this season, continued to dominate in the Open Wheels although the championship race was anything but easy. "It was a tough race, but this is the best my car's been all year," Nelson said. "I have to thank my dad and my uncle, they really worked to get the car ready." Nelson started third in the 15 car field and by lap three had claimed the lead. By lap eight D.J. Hoelzle of Dunedin had staked a clim to second place and Wayne Jefferson of Pinellas Park in third place. Through 72 laps the three worked the 60 foot asphalt at speed reaching more than 85 mph. "Teddy was good on the short runs," said Hoelzle, who recorded his seventh second place finish. "On the long runs we had the better car but with these small motors it's hard to get a lot of momentum off the corners. It's hard to get a half a car length on someone to pass them." The one hour race had 11 cautions flags, the worse of the wrecks coming on lap 17 when between turns one and two Barry Carlson, J.R. Wade and Fred Jouy collided. All three drivers were uninjured and when racing resumed Nelson Hoelzle and Jefferson picked up where they left off. James Glover of Pinellas Park, who also races in the DeSoto Truck series placed fourth and Bill Davis of Wauchula, who set fast time for the event with a 14.97 (90 mph) lap time placed fifth. Nelson not only claimed the $1800 winner's purse but $100 for being the halfway point leader and $50 for leading the most laps. "I'd like to dedicate this race to the Rusty Dixon family," Nelson said. "Rusty's wife passed away after suffering a terrible accident and our thoughts and prayers go out to them."
In other races: In the Selective HR Solutions Sportsman feature James Knight of Bradenton took his first checkered flag in the Division. "I figure if you can't win from the pole you can't win anywhere," Knight said. "But I'll take anything after the way the luck's been since I built this car. I'm just happy to show I can handle this thing after coming from the Pure Stock." The popular young race car driver edged out Buddy Brown of Sarasota and Johnny Cassidy who took third place.
Dennis Wilson Jr of Bradenton raced to the winners circle in the Comcast Street Stock. "We finally put some new tires on it," said Wilson, who is moving up to the Open Wheel division. "The car came alive on the last restart. The outside was there and I didn't know whether to go for broke or not. I went and it stuck." Rich Clouser of Grant placed second. Mark Chapman of Sarasota took third place.
Randy Radley of Bradenton took the win in the Contemporary Cabinetry & Closet Concepts Pure Stock. David Yahraus of Sarasota placed second. Greg Banach of Bradenton took third place.
Danny Poling of Sarasota collected the win in the Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Stock Minis. Jesse Dutilly of Bradenton placed second and Syndee Brown of Bradenton took third.
John Rosploch of Sarasota roared to the win in the DeSoto Speedway TQ Midgets. Jack Duffy of Sarasota placed second and Joey Mckinney took third place.
David Tart took the checkered flag in the Legends. Jason Reisman of Leesburg placed second. Scott Seither took third place. Mike Stillwill of St Petersburg won the five lap fan race during intermission.
TOP TEN:
CALLAGHAN TIRE OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED: 1. #34 Teddy Nelson, Pinellas Park; 2. #8 D.J. Hoelzle, Dunedin; 3. #4 Wayne Jefferson, Pinellas Park; 4. #20 James Glover, Pinellas Park; 5. #15 Bill Davis, Wauchula; 6. #60 Pat Nanney, Bradenton; 7. #V1 Terry Vaughan; 8. #7x Ron Gillis, Bradenton; 9. #52 Steve Hauser Jr, Parrish; 10. #3 Barry Carlson, Largo.
SELECTIVE HR SOLUTIONS SPORTSMAN: 1. #23 James Knight, Bradenton; 2. #62 Buddy Brown, Sarasota; 3. #3 Johnny Cassidy; 4. #98 Lonny Miller, Bradenton; 5. #17 Clyde Cole, Sarasota; 6. #41 Gus Coorssen, Sarasota; 7. #9 Bill Bathrick, Englewood; 8. #31 Hal Vickery; 9. #7 Patrick Mcginnis, Bradenton; 10. #19 Jim Frake, Sarasota.
COMCAST STREET STOCK: 1. #42 Dennis Wilson Jr, Bradenton; 2. #8 Rich Clouser, Grant, Fl; 3. #40 Mark Chapman, Sarasota; 4. #69 Chet Roberts; 5. #47 Bruce Ahlers, Bradenton; 6. #10 Todd Wozniak; 7. #05 Bruce Sherwood, Bradenton; 8. #8 Sue Purington, Nokomis; 9. #18 WayneDove; 10. #45 Fred Ruggiero, Bradenton.
CONTEMPORARY CABINETRY & CLOSET CONCEPTS PURE STOCK: 1. #31 Randy Radley, Bradenton; 2. #67 David Yahraus, Sarasota; 3. #20 Greg Banach, Bradenton; 4. #93 Terry Collins; 5. #4 Bob Petrilli, Sarasota; 6. #30 Joe Wengerd, Sarasota; 7. #3 Peggy Hurst, Sarasota; 8. #52t Keith Thorbin; 9. #52 John Clouser; 10. #68 Stewart Bradshaw, Tampa.
Q AUTO & INJURY ATTORNEYS MINI STOCK: 1. #68 Danny Poling, Sarasota; 2. #30 Jesse Dutilly, Bradenton; 3. #17x Syndee Brown, Bradenton; 4. #35 Greg Krom, Sarasota; 5. #84 Robert Haygood, Bradenton; 6. #14 Jon Bailey, St. Petersburg; 7. #23 Mike Gayle, Sarasota; 8. #34 Eric Anderson, Bradenton; 9. #05 John Wilson, Sarasota; 10. #8 Steve Glover, Bradenton.
DESOTO SPEEDWAY TQ MIDGETS: 1. #25 John Rosploch, Sarasota; 2. #3 Jack Duffy, Sarasota; 3. #52 Joey Mckinney; 4. #15 Murray Hall, Bradenton; 5. #5 Jerry Baetty, Sarasota; 6. #33 Kenneth Busch, Sarasota; 7. #47 Joe Moncada; 8. #27 Dennt Clark, Sarasota; 9. #24 Dick Stolec, Hudson; 10. #9 Mike Leroy, Gulf Breeze.
LEGENDS: 1. #3 David Tart; 2. #25 Jason Reisman, Leesburg, Fl; 3. #00 Scott Seither; 4. #8 Kay Sasser; 5. #20 Dale Horne; 6. #24 Joey Mckinney, Bradenton; 7. #6 Bruce Sasser, Lake Wales; 8. #66 Tim Hart; 9. #97 Brett Montgomery; 10. #76 Ken Penta
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