IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

November 5, 2004 FSCR East Bay Raceway Park Host O'Reilly USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour 360 Winged Sprints by Bill Green - "From Behind The MIC!" Tampa, FL (Nov. 5th, 2004) The opening night of the annual O'Reilly USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour "Florida Fall Brawl" kicked off two night's of 360 winged sprint car action on the famous clay-by-the-bay. Twenty-six cars from as far away as Ohio, competed in time-trials, heats, an Air-Flow dash, last chance B-Main and the 25-Lap A-Main Feature event. Fast qualifier would be "The Malabar Missile" Kenny Adams at just under 14 seconds. Only one other driver would get under the 14 second mark and that would be local standout Johnny Gilbertson. The heats would be set by time with the top-4 cars inverted and would also carry the weight of only the top-4 finishers qualifying directly to the A-Main. Everyone else would be battling for the final 9 spots in the feature field in the last chance consi B-Main. When it was all said and done, "The Hammer" Danny Martin added a Victory Lane visit at his home track to his USCS 2004 total. Second went to "Superman" Sport Allen, with Ohio's Greg Wilson third, 2004 USCS Champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, TN would manage a fourth place finish and Kenny Adams would recover from a very uncharacteristic early spin for the final top-5 spot. Six drivers would benifit through the points system and be locked into the Saturday night A-Main and the Air-Flow Dash. Points were awarded for the qualifying, heats and feature finishes for the Top-6 lock in awards. That list included Danny Martin, Kenny Adams, Terry Gray, Greg Wilson, Johnny Gilbertson and local Sarasota standout "Daisy Dukes" Paulie Milum drove to a one point lead over teammate Sport Allen for the final locked in spot. Other East Bay action included the very competive Able Body sponsored Limited Late Models with current points leader J. R. Prather, Jr. finishing second to Richard Kessinger's victory and all but mathmaticly sewing up the 2004 Championship. Behind those two drivers were Terry Bronson third, Tim Gay fourth and young Jeremy Simpson fifth. Late Models saw Jeff Mathews take the trip to Victory Lane. "The Master" Donnie Tanner went second and padded his 2004 Championship lead. "The Sheriff" K. D. Kelly made a few bold moves in this one and came to third, with Frank Erskine, Jr. having a great run to fourth. Leaving David Schmauss to settle for fifth in the "Mean Green" 105 Machine. Gagle's Auto Parts has hung it's name on the Open Wheeled Modifieds for 2004 and it's paying dividens as the class continues to serve up some of the best in local dirt track racing week after week. Tonight it would be the Daily Double for Jeff Mathews as he was able to overcome a late race pass by Bill Howard to claim the victory. Howard settled for second, but gave the fans what they have come to expect from the class, ACTION! Third went to "The Mayor of Muddville" Roger Crouse, with John Bradley piloting the new chassis to fourth and last weeks Late Model roll-over Jamie Burrows returning to the top-5 in his well known #11B rocket. Saturday Night offers up the same excitement and action as the O'Reilly USCS Fall Brawl continues, with Limited Sprints, Mini Stocks and Street Stocks seeing action. Call the track office at 813-677-RACE (7223) for more information on the December dates that have been added to the 2004 schedule. We'll See You at the RACES! LLM Finish 1. 67-Richard Kessinger 2. 007-J.R. Prather, Jr. 3. 3-Terry Bronson 4. 35-Tim Gay 5. 73-Jeremy Simpson 6. 24-Timmy Bronson 7. 21-Forest Gough 8. 66-Ricky Land 9. 25-Jason Bronson 10. 93-Paul Sampson LM Finish 1. 03-Jeff Mathews 2. 88-Donnie Tanner 3. 00-K.D. Kelly 4. 5-Frank Erskine, Jr. 5. 105-David Schmauss 6. 2-Devin Dixon 7. 15-Bobby Alexander, Sr. 8. 16-Trevor Merrell 9. 87-John Norris 10. 7-Frank Erskine, Sr. OWM Finish 1. 33-Jeff Mathews 2. 48-Bill Howard 3. 71X-Roger Crouse 4. 01-John Bradley 5. 11B-Jamie Burrows 6. 205-Bobby Dixon 7. 97-Rusty Dixon 8. 47-Jeff Conyers 9. 007-Brian Dalton 10. 4-Billy Boyd Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!