IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

November 1, 2004 FSCR STEELE TOPS TBARA WINGED SPRINTS By Curtis Whalen David Steele in Winners Circle It was the fourth consecutive weekend of racing for the TBARA this past Saturday at Desoto Speedway in Bradenton. There were 29 cars at the track, the highest car count since the season opener in February. There was to be three 8-lap heat races and a 25-lap feature event. The first heat race had a 10 car line up with the 2C of Curtis Carter starting in the pole position and Jim Alvis in the 21 starting in second. The 67 car driven by Donnie Maxwell would not fire and did not make the start of the heat race. As the cars got in order and took the green flag the 5W of Randy Woodall which had started in third place got high up the track and hit the wall at turn 1. The caution flag was bought out while the car was cleared from the track. The damage to the car was enough to end the night’s racing for the 5W. The cars lined back up for a complete restart and as they got away for the second time, the 2C of Cutis Carter spun on his own at turn 2, burning rubber and throwing up smoke, bringing the caution flag out for a second time. As the cars lined up for the third attempt at starting the heat race, the 21 dropped from his front row start position to the back of the grid, giving Lee Cipray in the 33 second place starting position. A ll of the cars got away but were called back by the starter after a car jumped the start. The fourth time proved to be the winner and the heat race got underway with Ray Bragg taking the race lead from his third place starting position. The 21 pulled in on lap 4 and retired from the rest of the evenings racing with oil pressure problems. The 66 won the heat with the 91 driven by David Steele coming in second. As the cars crossed the finish line to take the checkered flag, the 00 driven by Wayne Reutimann Jr, starting smoking and stopped at turn 1 with what was initially thought to be a blown motor. Luckily, once the car was off the track, it was identified as a problem with an oil seal and the car was able to be fixed and to run in the feature race. The second heat had the number 2 driven by Scott Adema on the pole and John Sambor in the 33C in second place starting positions. The 2 car made the better start and took the lead, holding on to it to win the heat. The 3X car owned and driven by Bo Hartley took second place in the heat. Just like the first heat, as the cars crossed the line to take the checkered flag, the 99 car driven by Wayne Reutimann Sr had a major oil leak on the race track. This was caused by the same problem as the 00 car –a faulty oil seal on the oil filter. The track was cleaned up and the 9 cars in the third heat were pushed off. The 47 car driven by Richard Waddell had the pole position for the start of the race alongside J. J. Dutton in the 6F. The 3Y car driven by Sonny Hartley pulled into the infield before the race started when the car started to overheat. The 47 took the lead at the start of the race. At turn 2 on the first lap, the number 79 driven by David Slawiak made contact with another car and spun out, causing a complete restart. On the second start, the 47 again took the lead at the start of the race but was passed by John Gilbert Jr in his number 7 car on lap 2. John Gilbert Jr went on to win the heat Sport Allen in the 96 car coming in second. With all the excitement of the heat races, the crowd was looking forward to the feature race and they were not disappointed. As the track is one of the bigger circuits that the TBARA run, a decision was made to run all 27 remaining cars in the feature race and not to hold a B-Main race. The feature race was headed up by Scott Adema in the 2 car and John Gilbert Jr in his 7 car. The 2C driven by Curtis Carter spun out coming out of turn 4 during the warm up laps bringing out a caution and putting him to the back of the line up. The sound of 27 sprint cars at full throttle is a whole lotta rumble and as the cars lined up in race order and then the rows paired up for the 4 abreast parade lap, the near capacity crowd was on their feet and cheering. The cars dropped back into the starting line up and the green flag dropped. John Gilbert Jr in his number 7 car got the better start and took the race lead. The 2C retired to the infield on lap 4 was reasons unknown, followed on lap 5 by the number 6 car driven by Skeeter Faulconer after the car jumped out of gear. The 79 pulled into the infield on lap 7 due to a mechanical problem and was joined by the 3Y of Sonny Hartley on lap 8 after the car again overheated. The 44 car of Bill Pettijohn retired to the infield on lap 10, followed by the 8 car of Nick Manikis on lap 16 and the 67 driven by Donnie Maxwell on race lap 18. The 91 car driven by David Steele was challenging hard for the lead and passed race leader John Gilbert Jr in the 7 car on lap 18. However, a caution was thrown on lap 18 to bring in the 33 car which was smoking, giving John Gilbert Jr the lead back as the cars restart the race in the positions that they were in as they completed lap 17. As the cars crossed the line for the restart, the 91 made another challenge for the lead and got around the number 7 again on lap 20, only for the number 18 car driven by Shane Butler to spin at turn 2 on that same lap and bring out another caution flag, which again gave the lead back to John Gilbert Jr in the 7 car. The cars got lined back up again and got back to racing. This time, the 91 passed the 7 car on the opening lap and with no more cautions for the rest of the race, the 91 car driven by David Steele went on to keep the race lead and win the feature event. John Gilbert Jr in the 7 car took second place, the number 2 car driven by Scott Adema came in third. Fourth place was claimed by Gary Gimmler in his 29 car with Wayne Reutimann Sr rounding out the top 5 in the 99 car. The TBARA will be running their last race of the 2004 season at Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, FL in two weeks time on Saturday November 13, 2004. With a close points race this will be the deciding race for the 2004 champion. We hope you all can come out and see us off at the end of another great years racing. HEAT 1 1) 66 Ray Bragg 2) 91 David Steele 3) 33 Lee Cipray 4) 00 Wayne Reutimann Jr 5) 118 Troy DeCaire 6) 44 Bill Pettijohn 7) 2C Curtis Carter 8) 21 Jim Alvis 9) 5W Randy Woodall (DNS) 10) 67 Donnie Maxwell (DNS) HEAT 2 1) 2 Scott Adema 2) 3X Bo Hartley 3) 29 Gary Gimmler 4) 68 Dude Teate 5) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr 6) 22 Doug Heveron 7) 33C John Sambor 8) 8 Nick Manikis 9) 6 Skeeter Faulconer 10) 12 Bill VanDevender HEAT 3 1) 7 John Gilbert Jr 2) 96 Sport Allen 3) 18 Shane Butler 4) 79 David Slawiak 5) 19 Keith Butler 6) 51 Mark Gimmler 7) 47 Richard Waddell 8) 6F J J Dutton 9) 3Y Sonny Hartley (DNS) FEATURE 1) 91 David Steele; 2) 7 John Gilbert Jr; 3) 2 Scott Adema; 4) 29 Gary Gimmler; 5) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr; 6) 00 Wayne Reutimann Jr; 7) 96 Sport Allen; 8) 66 Ray Bragg; 9) 68 Dude Teate; 10) 22 Doug Heveron; 11) 118 Troy DeCaire; 12) 3X Bo Hartley; 13) 19 Keith Butler; 14) 51 Mark Gimmler; 15) 18 Shane Butler; 16) 6F J J Dutton; 17) 12 Bill VanDevender; 18) 33C John Sambor; 19) 47 Richard Waddell; 20) 33 Lee Cipray (DNF); 21) 8 Nick Manikis (DNF); 22) 67 Donnie Maxwell; 23) 44 Bill Pettijohn (DNF); 24) 3Y Sonny Hartley (DNF); 25) 79 David Slawiak (DNF); 26) 6 Skeeter Faulconer; 27) 2C Curtis Carter The 5W did not start the feature race as the car was too badly damaged from the heat race crash. The 21 did not start the feature as the car had oil pressure problems. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!