IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

August 22, 2004 FSCR East Bay Raceway Park Runs First Full Night in 8 Weeks by Bill Green Tampa, FL (Aug. 21st, 2004) East Bay Raceway Park finally over came Mother Natures constant onslaught, to complete a full racing program Saturday Night. One of the make-up features came from a June race-weekend lineup. Yes, the oldest feature left to run had it’s heat races run on June 26th. So the Street Stocks had not seen the track for competition in 8 weeks. After the helments were passed through the crowd during intermission, some $816 dollars were added to the Easy Bay Raceway Park relief effort. Then Team Green and T. S. Racing bumped it up over $1000 with genrous donations. Sunday East Bay racers and fans will travel to the Ft. Meade area with supplies for the families in need. The Able Body Limited Late Models started at the lap-7 mark of their make-up feature. In the end it was Bruce Harvey in Victory Lane. Second would go to Richard Kessinger coming from his 14th starting spot. Third place went to Pete Grantham, with Shane Koperda fourth and Robert Douglas fifth. Street Stocks saw a great race for their first try after two months. Thomas White was the class of the field as he ran away with this one. Michael Cherry held on for second, with Danny Paris third, Tim Spencer fourth and Buck Woodhouse fifth. Mini Stocks returned to action with Jim Courson taking the win. Chad Rose went from 10th to second, followed by Willard Dailey third, Cecil Martin fourth and pole sitter Kenny Rutledge held on for fifth. Speed Pro’s of Lakeland pitched in to sponsor the Late Model return to racing. The $1500 winner’s share of the purse brought out 20 starters of the original 22 eligible cars. Jeff Choquette towed from West Palm Beach, through what he said at times looked like "a war zone" in central Florida, after hurricane Charley. The "Gunslinger" came looking to steal the cash, but "The Master" Donnie Tanner got the best of the youngster on lap-6 and never looked back. Taking the win and the Speed Pro's money. Donnie was quick to point out that it was anybody’s race, "I was lucky enough not to make any big mistakes, otherwise it would have been a different story." Second would go to Choquette, David Schmauss battled to third, with Keith Nosbisch fourth and Jackie Nosbisch, Jr. fifth. Limited Sprint’s returned with Rich Alexander taking the win on the track, but not surviving the post race inspection. To much porting was the report, so second place finisher Tim Holtson takes the win. Greg Leonard brought the #85 of Clyde Poole to second. Third became Tyler Godwin’s spot in the shuffle after the DQ, while Brain Maddox took fourth and Larry Brazil, Jr. jump to fifth in tech. Open Wheeled Modifieds sponsored by Gagel’s Auto Parts saw David Schmauss take the win and Greg Reutimann finishing second from his 8th starting spot. Third would be Bill Howard, fourth went to Jeff Mathews and John Bradley salvaged a fifth place run. Able Body Limited Late Models came out for their second feature event, but could only muster 1-lap at a time. Loosing 5-laps to time in the end and several cars along the way. It would be Richard Kessinger taking the win over Jason Bronson second and Ricky Land third. Fourth would go to the "Flying" Zero of Keith Simpson, with J. R. Prather, Jr. recovering from an earlier flip on the back stretch in the LM feature, to finish 5th in the Limited. Fan participation racing saw Jay Bingham take the win and the $100 prize in his Nissan 240-X. Next week it’s the First Annual Summer Outlaw Shootout for the East Bay Karting series racers. They will have their opportunity to run for the cash, instead of just the trophies. So we will see more than the normal 100 plus racers at East Bay come Friday’s practice and Saturday’s First Annual Summer Outlaw Shootout. September 4th will see 360 Winged Sprint Car racing action return to East Bay Raceway Park, as the dirt rocket pilots come back from the longest mid-season layoff ever. We’ll See You at The RACES! Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!