IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 15, 2007 Weaver is Strong at the end for the East Bay Open Wheel Modified Show By Jean Lynch TAMPA, FL…..It took four lead changes to have “part-time” Modified racer Kevin Weaver emerge as the winner of $1,500 on opening night for the 8th Annual Open Wheel Modified Winternationals Wednesday night at East Bay Raceway Park. With 103 drivers on hand from 15 states plus Canada, Weaver was the first to admit to track announcer Chris Stepan, “I don’t run with these guys enough to know them or recognize their cars. I was just trying to pass cars….when I came up on Raymond Rogers, I thought he was a lapped car. But, when I challenged him and he challenged me back, I figured it out real quick that he was the leader!” The winning move came in turn three on lap 23, when Rogers got a little high and out of shape. Weaver drove under him to go on and build a six-car length lead at the finish over Matt Goulden who also took advantage of Rogers’ miscue to collect second place with Rogers dropping to third at the checkered flag after 25 laps. “We came with the same set-up as last year and tires were the only thing we changed all night,” the soft-spoken Weaver revealed. With only 15 races on his Bob Pierce chassis that he took as a trade-in on a late model, the car handled like a dream. “The track had a low, high and middle groove tonight and I could run anywhere and for the first time, my daughter Paige was here to see me race.” Usually running his Late Model, Weaver is behind the wheel of his No. B-12 Modified only about seven times a year. Tonight it was powered by a Hixon engine, using Bilstein Shocks and Hoosier tires. His sponsors this year include Jimmy John’s Gormet Sandwiches and Rigsby Homes helped with the fuel bill. Mason Fisher and Josh Beebe made up the winner’s crew. The ten heat winners were subjected to a redraw for starting positions in the A-Main and Weaver came up on the short end of that – drawing a number 10 pill. Junior Nolan and Jamie Burrows made up the front row with Rogers and Goulden in row two. It was Nolan who led the first two laps through three early cautions. Goulden took command on lap three and rode the inside groove, but Rogers was right with him and finally used an outside move in turn four to lead lap nine. By lap 15, Rogers had a three second lead over the field. As the laps ticked off, Rogers went higher and actually bounced off the wall several times and finally got sideways enough in turn three for Weaver to blast by on the inside with three laps to go. Behind the Weaver, Goulden and Rogers trio, it was Jeff Mathews and Todd Gilpin in the top five. Rounding out the top ten, it was Roger Crouse, Wayne Hammond, Dane Groves, Jason Jamison and Shane Cottle. With the track in excellent condition for afternoon time trials, a total of four cars were under Dan Hamstra’s track record of 17.021 set back on February 11, 2001 with Corey Conley coming off as the new track record holder with a 16.725. Ten heats were run, locking in the top two for the A-Main. Conley dropped a drive shaft on the front stretch in his heat sending him in search of a starting spot through the C-Main. Tony Roland and Conley advanced from the first C-Main whileTyler Ivey and Brandon Carlson moved up from the second C-Main. The first B-Main advanced Mark Dotson and Steve Arpin, while Wayne Hammond and Scott Weber earning their way into the A-Main from the second B-Main. Thanks, Jean Lynch for East Bay Raceway Park STATS – OPEN WHEELMODIFIEDS - EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK – WEDNESDAY, 2/14/07 Qualifying Results: 1. 707 Corey Conley – 16.725; 2. B12 Kevin Weaver – 16.911; 3. 48 Raymond Rogers – 16.954; 4. 00A Steve Arpin – 16.957; 5. 4J Scott Weber – 17.025; 6. T3 Dave Groves – 17.056; 7. 119 Todd Gilpin – 17.126; 8. 41G Matt Goulden – 17.219; 9. 21S Denny Schwartz – 17.244; 10. 128 Billy Tuckwell – 17.249; 11. 36 Brady Short – 17.266; 12. 97 Arby Burton – 17.298; 13. 21A Nicholas Allen – 17.335; 14. 85D Mark Dotson – 17.356; 15. 78 Shane Cottle – 17.362; 16. 20 Mark Whitener – 17.375; 17. 3F Rob Fuqua – 17.380; 18. 1X “Racin” Jason Jameson – 17.383; 19. 89B Bobby Bittle – 17.389; 20. 00R Tony Roland – 17.401; 21. 112 Ray Guss, Jr. – 17.423; 22. 51 Travis Hair – 17.447; 23. 27 John Bradley – 17.487; 24. 33 Jeff Mathews – 17.489; 25. 01 Jamie Burrows – 17.517; 26. 10C Chad Ogle – 17.521; 27. 1M Julie McDermid – 17.522; 28. V2 Joey Jensen – 17.533; 29. G1 Gabe Menser – 17.537; 30. T16 Trevor Merrell – 17.540; 31. 14 Rick Conoyer – 17.550; 32. 47 Tyler Ivey – 17.556; 33. 71D Bill Davis – 17.582; 34. 2C Dave Cain – 17.595; 35. 7 Brad DeYoung – 17.646; 36. 32 Roger Crouse – 17.661; 37. 16 Justin Carlson – 17.672; 38. 20L Anthony Huber – 17.679; 39. 12M Ken Myracle – 17.680; 40. 6M Terry McClintock – 17.710; 41. 7J Josh Carroll – 17.719; 42. 3L Jeff Leka – 17.731; 43. M20 Mike Potosley – 17.759; 44. 9S Tom Seets, Sr. – 17.760; 45. 83B Perry Brown – 17.760; 46. 9 David Schmauss – 17.764; 47. 48H Wayne Hammond – 17.766; 48. 48X Kurt Allison – 17.798; 49. 28M Frank Marshall – 17.798; 50. 1K Ken Riddle – 17.808; 51. 185 Ron Miller – 17.820; 52. 225 Jesse Bitterling – 17.892; 53. 25 Charles Patrick – 17.831; 54. H0 Lee Hobbs – 17.892; 55. 61M Shawn Peterson – 17.898; 56. M1 Brandon Morrow – 17.898; 57. 8 Brandon Carlson – 17.907; 58. 34 Jeff Ochs – 17.943; 59. 13 Junior Nolan – 17.946; 60. X Jesse Snyder – 17.964; 61. 27X Joe Pendergrass – 18.007; 62. 00 Stan Donahoo – 18.015; 63. 7A Asa Hovis – 18.028; 64. 1* Nick Nelson – 18.042; 65. N2 Mike Null – 18.063; 66. 31 Brian Hollifield – 18.107; 67. 8M Matt Miller – 18.167; 68. 23M Marty Hiser – 18.199; 69. 27N Nate Bregenzer – 18.226; 70. 2* Corey Seckerson – 18.275; 71. 4S Thomas Sigler – 18.285; 72. 8S Steven Miller – 18.303; 73. 911 Perry Burk – 18.317; 74. D3 Matt Dillon – 18.323; 75. 111 Rich Gilbert – 18.411; 76. 26 Chris Butler – 18.417; 77. 47H Terry Hayes – 18.428; 78. 19 Bill Howard – 18.432; 79. 52 Williams Harrison – 18.467; 80. J16 Jason Lakey – 18.472; 81. 110K Phillip Sturm – 18.484; 82. 44 Bob Johnston – 18.492; 83. 46 Tim Rivers – 18.554; 84. 96 Dennis Haven – 18.562; 85. R3 Rick Martin – 18.579; 86. 76 Dana R. Wellington – 18.595; 87. 15 Mike Lewis – 18.615; 88. 64 Austin Sanders – 18.700; 89. 22 Ron Burgess – 18.706; 90. 89T Tony Molnar – 18.735; 91. 3X David Boerner – 18.749; 92. 58L Scott Carlson – 18.848; 93. 88 Darrell George – 18.850; 94. 10K Steve Hardy – 18.915; 95. 7R Kent Robinson – 19.018; 96. 11 Charles Phillips – 19.129; 97. 53 Tex Erskine – 19.163; 98. 98 Shon Flanary – N/T; 99. 2 Devin Dixon – N/T; 100. 23 Terry Haven – N/T; 101. 1P Leonard Pierce – N/T; 102. 79 Dakotah Stephens – N/T; 103. 89 Mike Spatola, III – N/T 1st Heat – 1)Matt Goulden 2)Jason Jamison 3)John Bradley 4)Gabe Menser 5)Kurt Allison 6)Marty Hiser 7)Dan R. Wellington 8)Darrell George 9)Travis Hair 10)Perry Burk 2nd Heat – 1)Todd Gilpin 2)Ray Guss, Jr. 3)Mark Dotson 4)Steve Arpin 5)Bobby Bittle 6)Anthony Huber 7)Tony Roland 8)Kent Robinson 9)Bob Johnston 10)Corey Conley 3rd Heat – 1)Jeff Mathews 2)Denny Schwartz 3)Trevor Merrell 4)Billy Tuckwell 5)Shon Flanary 6)Ken Myracle 7)Asa Hovis 8)Terry McClintock 9)Dennis Haven 10)David Schmauss 11)Devin Dixon DNS 4th Heat – 1)Kevin Weaver 2)Mark Whitener 3)Brady Short 4)Arby Burton 5)Justin Carlson 6)Lee Hobbs 7)Austin Sanders 8)Nate Bregenzer 9)Ron Burgess 10)Corey Seckerson 5th Heat – 1)Dave Groves 2)Brad DeYoung 3)Bill Howard 4)Jesse Bitterling 5)Chad Ogle 6)Terry Haven 7)Tim Rivers 8)Jeff Ochs 9)Steve Hardy 10)Rick Conoyer 6th Heat – 1)Raymond Rogers 2)Jeff Leka 3)Scott Weber 4)Wayne Hammond 5)Bill Davis 6)Scott Carlson 7)Brandon Carlson 8)Rich Gilbert 9)Matt Dillon 10)Leonard Pierce DNS 7th Heat – 1)Roger Crouse 2)Dave Cain 3)Rob Fuqua 4)Mike Potosley 5)Ken Riddle 6)Mike Lewis 7)Tony Molnar 8)Charles Phillips 9)Tom Seets, Sr. 10)Dakota Stephens DNS 11)Mike Spatola III DNS 8th Heat – 1)Jamie Burrows 2)Shane Cottle 3)Nicholas Allen 4)Julie McDermid 5)David Boerner 6)Perry Brown 7)Joe Pendergrass 8)Brian Hollifield 9)Tyler Ivey 10)Jesse Snyder 9th Heat – 1)Junior Nolan 2)Shawn Peterson 3)Nick Nelson 4)Matt Miller 5)Steven Miller 6)Phillip Sturm 7)Terry Hayes 8)Josh Carrol 9)Tex Erskine 10)Mike Null 10th Heat – 1)Joey Jensen 2)Stan Donahoo 3)Brandon Morrow 4)Frank Marshall 5)Thomas Sigler 6)William Harrison 7)Rick Martin 8)Chris Butler 9)Jason Lakey 10)Charles Patrick 11)Ron Miller 1st C – Main (Top 2 go to back of 1st B) – 1)Tony Roland 2)Corey Conley 3)Kent Robinson 4)Austin Sanders 5)Darrell George 6)Perry Burk 7)Nate Bregenzer 8)Jeff Ochs 9)Bob Johnston 10)Asa Hovis 11)Dana R. Wellington 12)Devin Dixon 13)Tim Rivers 14)Terry McClintock 15)Travis Hair 16)David Schmauss 17)Corey Seckerson 18)Dennis Haven DNS 19)Ron Burgess DNS 20)Steve Hardy DNS 21)Rick Conoyer DNS 2nd C – Main (Top 2 go to back of 2nd B) – 1)Tyler Ivey 2)Brandon Carlson 3)Tony Molnar 4)Brian Hollifield 5)Matt Dillon 6)Terry Hayes 7)Ron Miller 8)Rich Gilbert 9)Charles Phillips 10)Tex Erskine 11)Jesse Snyder 12)Joe Pendergrass 13)Rick Martin DNS 14)Josh Carrol DNS 15)Chris Butler DNS 16)Tom Seets, Sr. DNS 17)Jason Lakey DNS 18)Mike Null DNS 19)Charles Patrick DNS 20)Leonard Pierce DNS 21)Dakota Stephens DNS 22)Mike Spatola, III DNS 1st B – Main (Top 2 go to back of A inside row) – 1)Mark Dotson 2)Steve Arpin 3)Billy Tuckwell 4)Brady Short 5)Justin Carlson 6)Trevor Merrell 7)Gabe Menser 8)Jesse Bitterling 9)Shon Flanary 10)Arby Burton 11)Bill Howard 12)Chad Ogle 13)Lee Hobbs 14)Kurt Allison 15)Marty Hiser 16)Terry Haven 17)Tony Roland 18)Ken Myracle 19)John Bradley 20)Bobby Bittle 21)Anthony Huber 22)Corey Conley 2nd B – Main (Top 2 go to back of A outside row) – 1)Wayne Hammond 2)Scott Weber 3)Nicholas Allen 4)Rob Fuqua 5)Brandon Morrow 6)Julie McDermid 7)Nick Nelson 8)Frank Marshall 9)Ken Riddle 10)Mike Potosley 11)Mike Lewis 12)Bill Davis 13)Perry Brown 14)Tyler Ivey 15)Thomas Sigler 16)David Boerner 17)William Harrison 18)Brandon Carlson 19)Matt Miller 20)Steven Miller 21)Scott Carlson 22)Phillip Sturm A – Main (25 Laps) – 1)Kevin Weaver 2)Matt Goulden 3)Raymond Rogers 4)Jeff Mathews 5)Todd Gilpin 6)Roger Crouse 7)Wayne Hammond 8)Dave Groves 9)Jason Jamison 10)Shane Cottle 11)Junior Nolan 12)Steve Arpin 13)Jeff Leka 14)Ray Guss, Jr. 15)Stan Donahoo 16)Denny Schwartz 17)Scott Weber 18)Shawn Peterson 19)Brad DeYoung 20)Dave Cain 21)Mark Whitener 22)Joey Jensen 23)Jamie Burrows 24)Mark Dotson Have an opinion on this story? 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