Bradenton, Fl. Wayne Jefferson has been on a tear in the Open Wheel Modified class at DeSoto Speedway. Although the class had a slow start the competition has been intense and the fields have grown.
Some top names in the Desoto modified ranks were on hand to take qualifying passes for the 75-lap feature event. Timmy Moore, Steve Hauser Jr. and returning Bill Davis were just some of the drivers who were making runs at fast time. But when the last car crossed the stripe it was former DeSoto track champion and NASCAR Craftsman truck racer D.J. Hoelzle was the fastest on the grid.
The roll of the die putting Timmy Moore on the point inverted the first two rows. Moore was offered an extra $1,000 to win (making it possible for Moore to win $2,500) if he started the race at the tail of the field, Moore declined the offer and started the 75 lapper from the pole.
The green dropped and Moore took the early lead. Moore lead several laps but it was apparent that Hoelzle's fast time was no fluke as the former champ used the high line and drove by Moore, along with him came "the Rocketman" Jefferson.
Hoelze had the dominant machine pulling to almost a full straight away ahead of Jefferson and easily maneuvering throw lapped traffic. Jefferson him self maintained and good margin over the third place car of Moore.
When the final yellow of the race fell with two laps left to go only the top three machines of Hoelze, Jefferson and Moore were the only cars left on the leader lap. When Hoelze took the white flag lap he was beginning to pull away from Jefferson but as the two came out turn two Hoelzle faltered and Jefferson blasted by on the inside to take the last lap victory. Hoelze held on to second and in his post race interview said " I think it broke a valve spring on the last lap, it's to bad because this car was really fast". Timmy Moore held onto the third spot, fourth was Chet Senogossoff and finishing fifth was Robby Mcauliffe.
Stock Car Soccer
The first ever "DeSoto Speedway/Cheapdiecast.com Stock Car soccer tournament started out slow but ended with a bang! As the event wore on cars began dropping by the wayside until it was down to two cars left on the "Manasota Flooring team against the crowd favorite "Pele'" station wagon of the "Flaming Scot's" The wagon came out early and scored but the Manasota team roared back to tie the game. The ball moved back and forth between the teams in the 10-minute final round. The strength of the ball was tested several times being pinched between the cars. But the real test was when the wagon literally bounced off the top of the ball. .
As the final seconds wound down and the score was tied 1-1 the Manasota team was making its way toward the goal when the Pele' wagon used a sharp body check the to stop the charge. The clock wound down and the crowd was asked to vote for the winner due to the tie, With a roaring cheer the " Flaming Scots" were declared the winners. Duane Campbell, Duane Campbell Jr. and Ricky Campbell were the $1,000 winning team.
Pure Stocks
1.Dale Shelton 2.Jimmie Best 3.Ed Stinson 4.Keith Thorbin 5.Jody Collins
Cowboy Caddies
1.Clint Roberts 2.Roger Swinton 3.John Sarppraicone 4.Patrick Cunnigham
Street Stocks
1.Duane Best 2.William Slack 3.Claudio Reyes 4.Jamie Cassidy 5.Brad Price
Mini-Stocks
1.Joe Gagen 2.Todd Freed Jr. 3.Mike Gayle 4.Ed Jasper 5.John Wilson
Coming up June 7th at the "High Banks of DeSoto Super Speedway" are the wingless FASTSprints for the first time plus SEVEN other feature events!
