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| Gainey Back in Winning Form at Lake City | by Jon Harney
Lake City, Fl - Eddie Gainey returned to winning form
as he won a tough battle with Randy Ellenberg to take
the third stanza of the eight-race GA/FL Late Model
Sportsman Challenge Series at Lake City Speedway.
Tom Jones, Jr. porved to be the quickest in qualifying
with a lap of 16.818 but couldn't hold off Ellenberg
at the start. Jones was able to regroup and overtake
Ellenberg on the second lap. Numerous cautions slowed
the action early as several drivers uncorked their
engines around the speedway which left considerable oil
and water deposits on the surface. Despite the best
efforts of the safety crew to remove all residue, a few
patches remained and Jones hit one which sent him up
against the fourth turn wall while the drivers were
testing the track for raceworthiness. Jones was
able to continue, but his car was never the same. Gainey
took advantage after the restart and passed Jones on
the inside on lap 18, taking Eric Platt with him.
Ellenberg had experienced mechanical difficulties early
in the event but worked his way back into contention by
passing Platt on the 28th circuit. Gainey had built a
solid lead to this point, however, Ellenberg was making
steady progress towards the front. A late caution knotted
up the two and set up a two lap shootout. Ellenberg tried
both inside and outside lanes, but Gainey withstood the
daunting challenges to capture his second win in the
series. Florida drivers now enjoy a 2-l advantage and
will give the GA boys a rematch on June lst.
In other action, Shane Taylor's bid for victory in Street
Stocks was cut short on lap 12 when Taylors' car inexplicably
died during a caution period. Dean Sands was the beneficiary
and seemed to be headed towards victory until Bubba Clark
took the lead after a gritty two lap door-to-door duel.
Clark, who started in the middle of a 19-car field,
survived a race that saw heavy attrition and survived
to capture the flag. Sands was the best of the rest as
he beat Randy Clark Sr., Brad Fiene, and Marvin Hassell
to the line in that order. Street Stocks will run a
30-lap special race on Saturday, May 25.
Pure Stocks drew 22 cars in another cautionfest. The
camage continued lap after lap as the usual few suspects
brought out repeated yellow flags. Despite the stop
and go complexion of the event, there were moments of
good, hard racing as large packs of cars beat and banged
it out for top five positions. Joey Rolling was taking
the measure of Coleman Jandle until he spun near halfway.
While Rolling head great difficulty working back from the
rear of the field, Jandle had things relatively easy
as he outdistanced his competitors during the brief green
flag runs. The race was eventually shortened due to the
time limit with Jandle earning the top spot. Jack Mosley
had his best finish of the year with a second place finish.
Third was newcomer Will Jerkins, fourth was Charles
Smith and fifth was Michael Sheffield.
Modified action saw Derek Crawford take his fourth win
ina row as he easily assumed the lead on lap three and
never looked back. The real race was for second as
Kyle Owen, Kevin Bayless, and Grey Nordstrom sliced
and diced around each other with each successive lap.
As the battle for runner-up raged, Crawford put about
two zip codes distance on the field to take an easy
win. Bayless held off Owen for second with Nordstrom
and Bill Johnson finishing up the top five.
Mini Stocks saw a Stainaker in Victory Lane for the
third week in a row. This time it was Bill Stalnaker
taking the win as he beat runner-up Jeff Stalnaker Sr.
by over a half lap. Jeff Stalnaker Jr. and Sr. traded
cars this night but the move did neither of them a
favor as neither had anything for Bill. Third was
Curtis Clark, fourth was Josh Hars and fifth was
Jacob Antis.
Saturday, May 25th, will be an extremely busy and action
packed night at Lake City Speedway as numerous special
events are ont he docket. First and foremost, the
Florida Sprint Car Association winged sprints will return
to assualt the 3/8 mile facility. Pure Stocks will run
a 40 lap $500-to-win special. Street Stocks get a 30-lap
special event and kids are invited to bring their
bicycles to the track to compete in races on the front
straight. All drivers will race for double points on
the 25th.
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