Southard, Foley and Johnson Big Winners At Bronson
Rick Warren
The TBARA Winged Sprint Cars stormed into Bronson Motor Speedway Saturday Night, and gave the packed grandstands a demonstration of why they are one of the Premiere racing series in the south. There were 19 racers signed in to race, but during practice Shane Butler had a motor go away on him, and had to withdraw.
The 18 remaining cars ran some very impressive laps in their heat races, giving the fans an inkling of what to expect in the feature race.
The only incident in the heat races came in the second heat race when the car of Keith Butler tried to pass Bobby Rose for the lead as they were exiting turn 2, and the cars made contact sending Butler hard into the wall.
The race was red flagged as Butlers car was removed to the pit for extensive repairs. Heat Race winners were : #96 Joey Aguilar, #56 Bobby Rose, and #00 Wayne Reutimann Jr.
When feature time arrived, the standing room only crowd was buzzing with anticipation.
This was what they had been waiting for, and the TBARA Pros didn’t disappoint them. As the race started, with Wild Child waving the green flag for the field of 18 racers, the racers never got to the first turn.
The car of Bobby Rose, starting on the front row, got together with the car of John Sabor, also on the front row, as they exited the #4 turn, and the car of Sabor bounced hard off of the wall, back into traffic, and collected the racer of Gary Gimmler.
The race had to be red flagged, as the cars of Rose, Sabor, and Gimmler were taken to the pit. Keith Butler, Doug Heveron and Joey Aguilar also pitted to make repairs, with Butler and Heveron able to return to the race before the restart.
When the race was restarted, the line up was different, with Bo Hartley on the pole. Hartley jumped to the lead, and was running strong. On about lap 6, another red flag waved as several cars got tangled up on the back straight, with the # 22 car of Doug Heveron flipped up on its’ side, and cars all over the track. The cars of Dude Teate and Mark Gimmler were also involved in the wreck and unable to continue.
The race restarted once again with Hartley in the lead until engine problems put him out of the race, and the car of Nick Manikers also retired with mechanical problems on the same lap. This gave the lead to Reutimann Jr. who wasted no time in opening a lead on the rest of the pack. The race stayed green until late in the race when back to back cautions occurred, ending the evening for Ray Bragg and Tim Sharrone. The rest of the race was all green flag racing, with Wayne Jr. holding on for the win, followed by Scotty Adema and Wayne Reutimann Sr.
Just as a matter of interest, during the race, Reutimann Jr. was clocked running laps in the 11.55 -11.65 range on the 3/8 mile high banks. For point of reference, when the Sunbelt Series was last in town, the Super Lates were racing in the 12.90 – 13.10 range !! The TBARA racers were well received by the fans at BMS, and we are looking forward to them returning later this year.
The Modified race was tough as well, with Gary Southard powering to an early lead with last weeks winner, Gene Owen, in hot pursuit. Buddy Hughes and Monty Morgan were having a good race for third, but were no match for the machines of Southard and Owen this night.
Owen tried every bit of race track to find a way around Southard, but didn’t quite manage to get by. Southard drove a very smooth race, and brought home the win, with Owen close behind. Morgan had managed to pass Hughes for third, but ran out of laps before he could become a factor in the race for the win.
A good field of mini stocks were in attendance, and had a very exciting race as a Tune-Up for next weeks FMSCS race here at Bronson. Clint Foley started his #7 on the front row with Morris Richardson on the outside. When the green flag dropped, Foley took the lead, and stayed out front for a convincing win, but the race behind him was any thing but dull.
There were passes on both ends of the track, a little bumping, a little rubbing, and some close, hard racing. With Foley in the lead, Robby Storer worked his way through the field, and gained second place, but couldn’t catch the leader.
As the racers were coming for the checkered flag, Tim Reviere lost a motor coming off the #4 turn, with the leaders right behind him. Cars slid, cars spun, cars hit each other, and the race ended with Foley taking the win, followed by Storer, and Richard Kelly Jr.
The Pure Stocks were up next, and once again showed why the fans here just love this class. This was some GREAT racing ! Tommy Smith and Tommy Ausburn occupied the front row when the race started, with Smith taking the early lead.
Arthur Conquest and Bobby “ don’t tell me you can’t run the outside” Johnson, worked there way past Ausburn and went to work on Smith. Johnson put his racer on the outside of Smith, with Conquest following first Smith then Johnson. Bobby ran outside of Smith for 12 laps in the 20 lap feature, before he finally got a good run down the front straight, and passed Smith for the lead in turn 1.
Conquest saw what was working and followed Johnson to the outside, and also worked his way around Smith. The fans loved it ! This was racing the way it ought to be ! Hard, no favors given, clean racing ! This class has consistently put on some of the best racing we see. Ausburn finished a close fourth, followed by Arnold Hughes.
In the V-8 Bombers, Kevin Hodge made it 2 in a row, as he took the lead early, and held off a very hard charging Michael Holbrook. Sandra Skinner took third followed by Charlie Kennedy.
The Sportsman race was won by Rob Cooper, And the 4 cyl Bombers were won by Rick Fort.
Be sure to join us next week as the Florida Mini Stock Challenge Series rolls into town. Some of the fastest Mini Stocks in the South will try to tame the high banks of Bronson Motor Speedway, and take home the win !! See Ya There !!
-PHOTOS BY: TFG Sports Photography
TBARA SPRINT CARS
1. #00 Wayne Reutimann Jr. 2. #2 Scotty Adema 3. #99 Wayne Reutimann Sr. 4. #19 Keith Butler 5. #6 Skeeter 6. #6f B. Pettijohn 7. #3 Ricky Burnett 8. #78 Tim Sharrone 9. #66 Ray Bragg 10. #3x Bo Hartley
