IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

June 21, 2005 FSCR JACK NOSBISCH, JR AND JEFF MATHEWS HEAD WINNERS AT EAST BAY by John Berti Gibsonton, FL - June 18, 2005 - It was a beautiful night for racing at East Bay Raceway Park Saturday night after two consecutive weeks of rainouts. An anxious crowd and even more anxious drivers came out in good numbers for the long anticipated return of racing action to the famed dirt oval. A total of 110 race cars signed in the pits. Jack Nosbisch, Jr was the class of the field taking down an easy win in the 25 lap Late Model Feature. Jack was fielding a new Rocket Chassis Late Model #007 saying, "The car worked good tonight from lap one to the finish". Philip Cobb was the early race leader, from his pole starting position in the #89 a ride he recently took over from Steve Gillman. Jack Nosbisch, Jr wasted no time getting the lead from Cobb on lap two. Once in the lead he coasted to victory unchallenged. Keith Nosbisch was runnerup; Roger Crouse, third; Donnie Tanner, fourth; with Bobby Alexander Sr. rounding out the top five. An impressive field of 24 open-wheeled modifieds made management rethink the distance for the feature race. Instead on the usual 15 laps the race was going to be over the 20 lap distance. Unfortunately due to an excessive amount of cautions 20 green flag laps of racing never materialized. The yellow flag was brought out a dozen times before the completion of 15 laps, so it was decided to close out the feature with a green-white-checker finish. Jeff Mathews went wire-to-wire to claim the win. "The Legend" Buzzie Reutimann, who got by Mathews once only to see the lap not completed due to a caution, had to be satisfied with second. John Bradley, Trevor Merrill, and Rusty Dixon were next over the finish line. Chad Rose had two good reasons to want to come away with an Outlaw 4 feature win on this night: 1.) Chad's father had recent triple bypass surgery and 2.) he didn't want to get shown up by his son, C.J., who won his heat and feature in go kart competion at East Bay the night before. James Murphy led lap one from the pole with Josh Peacock taking the top spot on lap two. It looked like Peacock had the field covered and Rose wouldn't get the anticipated win. All that changed on lap seven when Peacock's car began to sputter and pop between turns three and four. Peacock headed for the infield while Rose inherited the lead going on from there for the win. Matt Miller was on Rose's bumper for second. Murphy held in for third. Alex Boerner was fourth with Michael Golden fifth. Twenty cars took the green for the 15 lap Limited Late Model Feature. Bruce Harvey led the first lap before giving way to Forest Gough who rode home for the win. Gough, laughingly, credited his win to the brand new racing shoes he bought from Donnie Tanner at Tanner's Speed Shop. He was also proud to get the win for family that was visiting from Virginia. David Simpson came home second with Tommy Evonosky, third; Harvey, fourth; and Jeff Mathews, fifth. It was a great night for Street Stock competitor, Michael Cherry, and the youngsters on hand. Cherry, noted for having a heart that is bigger than he is, donated two bicycles that were given away at intermisssion. One of the bikes was for a girl the other for a boy. Cherry not only a fan favorite, but also popular with his fellow drivers had come close several times to getting a feature win, but always was denied. This night the long awaited win became reality as Cherry got the feature win. It was an unbelievable victory lane scene with many youngsters and Street Stock drivers converging to congratulate Cherry. Wayne Hayes brought the newly reskinned #83 in for second. Eric Johnson was a strong third. Cam Canova overcame much adversity to come back for fourth. Mac Kersey at the wheel of the "Tijuana Taxi" #270 took fifth. The Four Cylinder Bomber class continues to grow, but the story never seems to change as far as the winner goes. D.B. Hogwiller made it five wins in a row and seven out of the last eight as he took down the feature win. Landy Font; Arnold Perkins, Jr.; Kristie Ivey and J.R. Prather, Sr completed the top five Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!