Father's Day Eve Racing is the Best for Racing Dads!!
by Bill Green
Father’s Day Eve racing included Fan Participation races with 11 fathers bring out the family sedan or high-lift 4-wheel drive, for a little friendly competition. Winner of the $200 first prize was Matthew Collins in an IROZ Camaro, with sponsor J.R. Prather second in a 93 Cadillac. All of this Fan Participation fun was made possible by; Bargo Auto Sales, Tampa Bay Auto Sales, Dan Roberts Construction and Coastal Trucking, putting up $100 each for the $400 purse.
Limited Late Models opened the feature action with 21 cars taking the green. After just 12 minutes Forrest Gough was in Victory Lane from his 12th starting spot. That’s feature number 7 for Gough and he takes a slim 7-point lead in the Championship run. Second went to Bill Howard, nipping pole sitter Tommy Evonosky by inches for third was Dale Pope and rounding out the top-5 was Jeff Matthews.
Street Stocks would run from lap-5 to the checkered flag in their feature, but that wouldn’t claim the extra cash tonight. Claiming the win was Steve Johnson from the outside pole. Bruce Harvey would go second, Jason Bronson third, Paul Gibbs took forth and Steve’s brother Eric Johnson was fifth.
Sprints cars saw a smaller than usual turnout, but actually that made for some great racing. To night’s “Come Back” award would have gone to the Goodson Farms sponsored #21 crew. After a wing removing rollover in his heat, Johnny Gilbertson was able to answer the feature event call, start last on the inside row and finish 4th behind winner “Superman” Sport Allen. That is what teamwork is all about. Allen showed why he is a past champion at East Bay Raceway Park, working lapped traffic on the high side or low as needed, he would be very happy with a return to Victory Lane. “We started the year with the high of winning the “King of the 360’s,” a couple of feature event wins, then nothing but trouble week after week. Last week I won the non-winged show at Desoto and now finally another feature at Eastbay!” Second place would go to Joe Melnick, third finisher was Danny Martin, Jr., Gilbertson forth and Mike Senecal would round out a fast top-5 finish.
The Late Models maintained their high standard of action packed shows with 13th starter Jeff Choquette mastering an ever changing racing surface, a brush with lap traffic, and getting a touch of luck going his way. Donnie Tanner would loose air in the left front while leading. He survived several restarts, but on the last one he dove to the bottom and clipped the inside burm. That bent enough of the fender in on the flat tire to cause handling problems. Choquette would capitalize on the scramble to miss Tanner’s slow machine and jump from 4th to 1st in turns 1 & 2. Following the 70 across the finish line would be Jackie Nosbisch second, Phillip Cobb from 15th to third, Devin Dixon fourth and Bobby Alexander, Sr. fifth.
The Mini-Stocks sponsored by Hill’s Dirt Pits, Pioneer Tire & Auto, & Buzbee Aquatics, INC would bring 24 cars to the green. Ryan Mitchell would use the outside pole to take the win, with Josh Peac*ck hounding him for the final laps, but settling for second. Third was Brian Debore, fourth went to Chad Rose and fifth would be Jim Courson.
Father’s Day Eve would include fireworks for Dad and racing “ACTION” for the whole family. Next week the Limited Sprints and Open Wheels join our regular classes for more exciting racing “ACTION.”
"WHOLLY MACKERL," it’s been a tremendous year, and we’re only halfway this week! We’ll See You At The Races!
