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| Whitesell Street Stock Winner at DeSoto | by Ken Willis
 John Whitesell of Bradenton overcame the odds and took his first ever feature win in the Comcast Street Stock Saturday night at DeSoto Speedway. Whitesell, who was born with Cerebral Palsy which affects his right hand, turned on the speed, overcame the handicap, and an emotional evening, to drive a near perfect race and win the 20 lap feature event. The win for Whitesell came while his son, John, is still in the hospital recuperating from a broken collarbone. "I want to dedicate this race to my son," Whitesell said. "I was thinking about him the whole time. When I saw the checkered flag come out I just said I don't want to make a mistake."
Related:1999 Article on Whitesell
The incentive to win came against tough odds. Whitesell held the lead against the grand master of racing, Lucky Brown of Sarasota. "Wow, I didn't think I could hang onto it," Whitesell said. "Especially with Brownie behind me. It's an honor to run against him. I just took the line I needed to and didn't look back" Lucky Brown of Sarasota placed second in the feature and Clint Roberts of Duette took third place.
Marty Pierce of Sanford took his fourth trip to the Pepsi winner's circle in the Turner Tree & Landscape Limited Late Models 50 lap feature event. "I had a blast tonight," Pierce said. "It looks better and better every time I show up here. We didn't qualify that good so we made a few changes on the car. It wasn't great but it was better." Brian Hollifield of Bradenton placed second and Jeff Dufresne of Naples took third place.
James Glover of Pinellas Park took no pity on his brother in the DeSoto Trucks 25 lap feature event. Glover passed Danny Glover Jr of Pinellas Park within the last couple of laps to win the race. "I had to work for that one," Glover said. "I didn't think I was going to get by. He went down in the corner, got a little slowed up and I got a run on him. It was a good run for us though. This Q Auto & Injury Chevrolet ran really well. I want to thank my brother for running me a clean race and thank everyone that help us keep running." Todd Bontrager of Sarasota took third place.
Clay Joseph of Bradenton collected the win in the Manatee Lumber Modified Minis. "It was a good race, everyone raced clean," Joseph said. "I've got to thank Bruce Carbone, it's his car. I want to dedicate this to everyone that helps me on the car." Tony Elrod Jr of Lakeland placed second and Steve Martin of Pinellas Park took third place.
Danny Poling of Sarasota collected the win in the Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Stock Minis. "The car started missing half way through the race," Poling said. "We didn't think we were going to make it." Shane Whitbeck of Sarasota placed second and Arlin Pope of Bradenton took third place.
In a make up race Teddy Nelson of Pinellas Park got back on the winning track in the Callaghan Tire Open Wheel Modifieds. "The car's pretty good," Nelson said. "It's not near where it needs to be. We'll keep digging and we'll get the hang of it. We built this car in three weeks from the ground up. We experimented with some thing that didn't work but we are working on it." Nelson edge out Bill Davis of Wauchula for the win with Phillip Morrison taking third place.
In the second Open Wheel race of the evening J.R. Wade took his first ever win in the Callaghan Tire Open Wheel Modifieds. "I was just doing my job," Wade said. "It was awesome. I loved it." Bill Davis of Wauchula came back to take his second, second place finish of the evening and Steve Perez took third place.
Mark Gill of Bradenton took the win in the Pure Stock with John Clouser of Grant in second and Jason Esposito taking third place.
TURNER TREE & LANDSCAPE LIMITED LATE MODEL:
1. #76 Marty Pierce, Sanford;
2. #31 Brian Hollifield, Bradenton;
3. #34 Jeff Dufresne, Naples;
4. #51 Ritchie Anderson;
5. #32 Ronnie Skipper, Lakeland;
6. #71 Richard Rogero, Davie;
7. #7 George Couse, Sarasota;
8. #36x Al Fredette;
9. #11 Junior Purcell, Sarasota;
10. #37 John Shields, Bradenton.
CALLAGHAN TIRE OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED:
1. #2 J.r. Wade;
2. #15 Bill Davis, Wauchula;
3. #92 Steve Perez;
4. #60 Pat Nanney, Bradenton;
5. #34 Teddy Nelson, Pinellas Park;
6. #63 Phillip Morrison;
7. #72 Ronnie Barnett;
8. #67 Rocco Rannallo, Bradenton;
9. #90 Mark Mcknight.
COMCAST STREET STOCK:
1. #7 John Whitsell, Bradenton;
2. #15 Lucky Brown, Sarasota;
3. #95 Clint Roberts, Duette;
4. #12 Dan Hall, Sarasota;
5. #69 Chet Roberts;
6. #05 Bruce Sherwood, Bradenton;
7. #44 Jamie Cassidy, Sarasota;
8. #47 Bruce Ahlers, Bradenton;
9. #56 Mike Wiseman, Cape Coral;
10. #8 Sue Purington, Nokomis.
PURE STOCK:
1. #54 Mark Gill, Bradenton;
2. #52 John Clouser;
3. #23 Jason Esposito;
4. #52t Keith Thorbin;
5. #27 Terry Price;
6. #14 Richard Gill;
7. #61 Chris Oncken;
8. #73 Del Becker;
9. #A1 Jesse Gargus, N. Ft. Myers;
10. #M00 Bob Williams.
MANATEE LUMBER MODIFIED MINI:
1. #44 Clay Joseph, Bradenton;
2. #70 Tony Elrod Jr, Lakeland;
3. #7 Steve Martin, Pinellas Park;
4. #22 Randy Koon, Lakeland;
5. #0 Bob King;
6. #46 Mike Gonzalez;
7. #47 Mark Gonzalez, Wesley Chapel;
8. #72 Chip Gaines, Sarasota.
Q AUTO & INJURY ATTORNEYS MINI STOCK:
1. #68 Danny Poling, Sarasota;
2. #22 Shane Whitbeck, Sarasota;
3. #98 Arlin Pope, Bradenton;
4. #23 Mike Gayle, Sarasota;
5. #14 Jon Bailey, St. Petersburg;
6. #9 Jeanne Whitted, Sarasota;
7. #17x Syndee Brown, Bradenton;
8. #05 John Wilson, Sarasota;
9. #8 Steve Glover, Bradenton;
10. #97 Todd Freed, Bradenton.
TRUCKS:
1. #70 James Glover, Pinellas Park;
2. #22 Danny Glover Jr, Pinellas Park;
3. #8 Todd Bontrager, Sarasota;
4. #71 Leonard Mccue, Bradenton;
5. #93 Jeff Firestine, Nokomis;
6. #20 Keith Warren, Seffner;
7. #19 Bart Gilkes;
8. #50 Andy Breedlove, Sarasota;
9. #6 Al Sapp;
10. #7 Bill Davis, Wauchula.
OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED (Make up race)
1. #34 TEDDY NELSON, PINELLAS PARK:
2. #15 BILL DAVIS, WAUCHULA;
3. #63 PHILLIP MORRISON;
4. #92 STEVE PEREZ;
5. #2 J.R. WADE;
6. #67 ROCCO RANNALLO, BRADENTON;
7. #72 RONNIE BARNETT;
8. #90 MARK MCKNIGHT;
9. #33 SCOTT FAULKNER, SARASOTA;
10. #8 D.J. HOELZLE, DUNEDIN.
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