IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 29, 2005 FSCR Austin Breaks Through; Johnson, Mitchell and Simpson Repeat at East Bay By Larry Jewett The Memorial Day weekend action was a true battle as five divisions gathered for Saturday night excitement at East Bay Raceway Park. A good indication of the night’s competitiveness came in the running of the heat races where four of the preliminaries were decided with last lap passes. Both Street Stock heat races saw the leader at the white flag fail to prevail at race end. Steven Johnson outdueled Michael Cherry to win the first heat event. Mac Kersey slipped by on the last lap to win the second preliminary. When feature time rolled around, the 17 cars on the starting grid found Cherry back on the point. Cherry proved to regain his heat race momentum, moving out to a commanding lead. A lap four tangle wiped out six cars, including two of the top-five runners, but Steven Johnson was able to escape the melee. Johnson lined up behind Cherry and snatched the lead on the restart. Donnie Reed was looking for the opportunity to make it back-to-back features as he charged to third. A lap 12 caution saw Reed go pitside with Buck Woodhouse inheriting the spot. Woodhouse has earned the opportunity by steadily picking off cars after starting ninth. Johnson continued to hold command as the field reached the checkered. It was his third feature win, but it has been two months between victories. In the post-race celebration, he acknowledged his many supporters, including brother Eric who loaned him the winning car. Cherry kept second and Woodhouse claimed third. Mac Kersey, who used the outside line at times, snatched fourth with Tim Spencer rebounding from a lap 10 spin to gain fifth. Limited Late Models brought 20 cars to the start of the 15-lap main event. Randy Shields and Bruce Harvey waged a battle for the position with Harvey prevailing before a series of cautions flew. Timmy Bronson moved up six spots in one lap after an early race incident found him in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bronson was trailing Tim Gay, who was also on the move to chase Harvey. David Simpson shot past both Gay and Bronson to gain second. On lap 7, Harvey and Simpson were side by side at the line with Harvey holding the edge under the crossed flags. Simpson edged past on lap 10 and the field was bunched again for a single car spin with three laps left. Bronson began a new charge coming from fourth, but could only gain second as Simpson cruised to his second feature win. Third went to William Hampton, fourth was taken by Gay with Harvey holding fifth. The front four cars came from deep in the field with Simpson starting 12th Bronson 11th, Hampton 16th, and Gay 13th. Heats were won by Bronson and Shane Koperda with Koperda making the winning pass on the last lap. Outlaw 4s took the green with Brad Boerner at the head of the 14-car pack. Boerner got about the business of leading the race while position battles were abundant deep in the field. Eddie Mercer moved from the 13th spot to just outside the top five and Chad Rose and Ryan Mitchell were among those moving forward. Heat winner Boerner’s biggest challenges were coming from Josh Peacock and Wallace Peacock. Mitchell made his move around the Peacock pair and set his sights on Boerner, taking the lead before a yellow flag flew. The yellow turned to red as a fuel spill was cleaned up. Once the field started rolling, Mitchell got a challenge from Chad Rose, who tried the outside and saw his momentum go away. That opened the door for Steve Miller, who moved to second. Mitchell was able to make it back-to-back wins, crossing ahead of Miller, Josh Peacock, Rose, and Wallace Peacock. In picking up his heat win, Wallace Peacock became the fourth driver of the night to win a preliminary with a last lap pass. The thundering Late Models opened their portion of the program with Marshall Austin and Jack Nosbisch Jr. on top of their heat races. The 15-car field started the feature, but caution came out after one lap when Hamp Conley spun in front of the field, collecting K.D. Kelley and last week’s winner, Roger Crouse. Austin had the lead from the start, but Devin Dixon, in his first Late Model start of the season, was moving through the field nicely. Jeff Mathews, doing double duty, ran strong in pursuit of Austin. Keith Nosbisch was able to pass Mathews on lap 7 and began the chase of race leader Austin. Dixon’s charge through the field ended with mechanical problems on lap 15. Mathews had company as David Schmauss and Jack Nosbisch Jr. wanted to take third, but no one could lay claim to it. As the 25-lap main wound down, Austin found himself facing lapped traffic, allowing Keith Nosbisch to close in. With two laps left, Keith Nosbisch was on the leader’s back bumper, but could not make the winning pass. Austin, who had been plagued by misfortune this season, could finally claim a win. Keith Nosbisch stayed second with Mathews, Schmauss and Jack Nosbisch Jr. following in that order. The Gunslinger Trucks saw Randy Thomas pull off a clean sweep with heat and feature wins. Jim Cowhey Jr. got his truck up onto its side in the heat race, but the truck came back onto its wheels without rolling further. East Bay Raceway Park will open the month of June with a Saturday night racing spectacular featuring six divisions. Late Models, Limited Late Models, Open Wheel Modifieds, Street Stocks, Outlaw 4s and 4-Cylinder Bombers are on the schedule. Complete information is available at www.eastbayracewaypark.com. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!