IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 16, 2007 RAYMOND ROGERS PROVES HE KNOWS EAST BAY BY WINNING MODIFIED NIGHT TWO By Jean Lynch TAMPA, FL……Raymond Rogers is the defending track champion at East Bay Raceway Park and had an opportunity to match his best stuff against the toughest competition he has ever faced Thursday night in night two of the 8th Annual Open Wheel Modified Winternationals. He was up to the challenge of 96 other competitors and came home a proud winner of the 25-lap feature and $1,500 in prize money. After a strong run the previous night using the top of the track, he did an about-face and switched to the bottom tonight. “I was tempted to try the top, but I never saw any one up there. They were all just ‘turtle racing’ around the bottom. On the yellows, I would go up to the top to cool my tires, but once we went green, I felt I could get a good drive off the bottom so that’s what I used to take the lead,” commented the happy winner. Driving a Loose Gruff chassis powered by a Kline engine specially prepared by Bo Hammond, father of car owner Wayne Hammond, Rogers had started eighth and was up to fourth by lap five. Multi-car pile ups occurred on the start of the A-Main, involving nearly half the field, and by the time the green flag waved and the race was officially underway, Charles Patrick led the first 18 laps despite six yellow flags that kept the competition close. Perry Brown had a strong run early and ran second to the half-way mark, but was eliminated on lap 14 when Rogers and Kevin Weaver were hounding him on the backstretch and contact was made. Rogers made his winning move following a lap 18 yellow and from that point on, despite one more yellow to put Weaver on his bumper, Rogers pulled away to win by six car lengths at the checkered. In victory lane, he was quick to credit his sponsors Brandon Ford, All Florida Real Estate, Gene Slaughter’s Coyote Tires & Wheels, Bilstein shocks and Afco Springs. His crew includes Justin Meeks, Dallas Conner and Kyle Phelps. He also mentioned his family support came from his father Jerry and mother April, who is fighting cancer for the second time, his two sons Raymond, Jr. and Logan and his newest offspring, Kaden who will be born on Monday. Despite trying to pass Rogers high and low, Weaver had to settle for second ahead of Patrick, Rob Fuqua and Shane Cottle. Rounding out the top ten it was Corey Conley, Jeff Leka, Ray Guss, Jr, Mark Whitener and William Harrison. Dave Groves and Frank Marshall advanced to the back of the first B-Main from the first C-Main while Wayne Hammond and Perry Burk moved into the second B-Main. Shane Cottle and Trevor Merrell tagged the back of the A-Main inside row and Jeff Leka and Brady Short made up the back outside row after advancing from their B-Mains. Thanks, Jean Lynch for East Bay Raceway Park STATS – OPEN WHEELMODIFIEDS - EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK – THURSDAY, 2/15/07 Qualifying Results: 1. 2 Devin Dixon – 17.023; 2. 00 Stan Donahoo – 17.316; 3. B12 Kevin Weaver – 17.323; 4. 61M Shawn Peterson – 17.326; 5. 98 Shon Flanary – 17.372; 6. 3L Jeff Leka – 17.393; 7. 119 Todd Gilpin – 17.404; 8. 707 Corey Conley – 17.409; 9. T3 Dave Groves – 17.423; 10. 36 Brady Short – 17.448; 11. 21A Nicholas Allen – 17.488; 12. M1 Brandon Morrow – 17.509; 13. 48H Wayne Hammond – 17.582; 14. 2C Dave Cain – 17.615; 15. 32 Roger Crouse - 17.627; 16. 20 Mark Whitener – 17.632; 17. 3F Rob Fuqua – 17.695; 18. 83B Perry Brown – 17.707; 19. 47 Tyler Ivey – 17.722; 20. 10C Chad Ogle – 17.732; 21. 48 Raymond Rogers – 17.733; 22. 41G Matt Goulden – 17.738; 23. T16 Trevor Merrell – 17.793; 24. 16 Justin Carlson – 17.810; 25. 13 Junior Nolan – 17.812; 26. 12M Ken Myracle – 17.826; 27. X Jesse Snyder – 17.837; 28. 112 Ray Guss, Jr. – 17.838; 29. 128 Billy Tuckwell – 17.842; 30. 27 John Bradley – 17.857; 31. 78 Shane Cottle – 17.861; 32. 00A Steve Arpin – 17.867; 33. 1* Nick Nelson – 17.889; 34. M20 Mike Potoskey – 17.914; 35. 225 Jesse Bitterling – 17.939; 36. 7 Brad DeYound – 17.940; 37. G1 Gabe Menser – 17.946; 38. 48X Kurt Allison – 17.947; 39. V2 Joey Jensen – 17.955; 40. 97 Arby Burton – 17.968; 41. 25 Charles Patrick – 17.979; 42. 4J Scott Weber – 17.984; 43. 1K Ken Riddle – 17.999; 44. 14 Rick Conoyer – 18.005; 45. 51 Travis Hair – 18.008; 46. 3X David Boerner – 18.011; 47. 1M Julie McDermid – 18.015; 48. 8S Steven Miller – 18.031; 49. 01 Jamie Burrows – 18.051; 50. 8M Matt Miller – 18.060; 51. D3 Matt Dillon – 18.088; 52. 7R Kent Robinson – 18.099; 53. 1X “Racin” Jason Jameson – 18.107; 54. 23M Marty Hiser – 18.126; 55. 31 Brian Hollifield – 18.152; 56. J16 Jason Lakey – 18.201; 57. 27X Joe Pendergrass – 18.214; 58. 33 Jeff Mathews – 18.216; 59. 71D Bill Davis – 18.227; 60. 7J Bobby Bittle – 18.228; 61. 911 Perry Burk – 18.232; 62. 47H Terry Hayes – 18.266; 63. 20L Anthony Huber – 18.269; 64. 9 David Schmauss – 18.280; 65. 15 Mike Lewis – 18.307; 66. 52 William Harrison – 18.330; 67. 21S Denny Schwartz – 18.333; 68. 2* Corey Seckerson – 18.358; 69. 89T Tony Molnar – 18.361; 70. 19 Bill Howard – 18.387; 71. 27N Nate Bregenzer – 18.417; 72. 89 Mike Spatola, III – 18.431; 73. 28M Frank Marshall – 18.434; 74. 8 Brandon Carlson – 18.440; 75. 79 Dakotah Stephens – 18.459; 76. 34 Jeff Ochs – 18.459; 77. 96 Dennis Haven – 18.546; 78. 44 Bob Johnston – 18.562; 79. 23 Terry Haven – 18.606; 80. 26 Chris Butler – 18.680; 81. 64 Austin Sanders – 18.774; 82. 21W Dano Ostrander – 18.777; 83. 46 Tim Rivers – 18.795; 84. 110K Phillip Sturm – 18.813; 85. 111 Eric Bruce – 18.848; 86. 7A Asa Hovis – 18.972; 87. 76 Dana R. Wellington – 18.980; 88. 58L Scott Carlson – 19.105; 89. 88 Darrell George – 19.147; 90. 4S Thomas Sigler – 19.200; 91. 181 Aaron Ogle – 19.304; 92. 22 Ron Burgess – 19.719; 93. 53 Tex Erskine – 20.338; 94. 10K Steve Hardy – 21.035; 95. 185 Ron Miller – N/T; 96. 85D Mark Dotson – N/T; 97. 03 Rick Hensley – N/T 1st Heat – 1)Shon Flanary 2)Tyler Ivey 3)John Bradley 4)Denny Schwartz 5)Dave Cain 6)Kurt Allison 7)Tony Molnar 8)Aaron Ogle 9)Tim Rivers 10)Chris Butler 2nd Heat – 1)Rob Fuqua 2)Brandon Morrow 3)Shane Cottle 4)Mike Spatola, III 5)Matt Miller 6)Matt Dillon 7)Frank Marshall 8)Todd Gilpin 9)Dave Groves 10)Brian Hollifield 3rd Heat – 1)Roger Crouse 2)Devin Dixon 3)Shawn Peterson 4)Mike Potoskey 5)Corey Seckerson 6)Jason Lakey 7)Scott Carlson 8)Chad Ogle 9)Arby Burton 10)Dakota Stephens DNS 4th Heat – 1)Perry Brown 2)Corey Conley 3)Trevor Merrell 4)Jesse Bitterling 5)Thomas Sigler 6)Ken Myracle 7)Jeff Ochs 8)Terry Hayes 9)Stan Donahoo 10)Justin Carlson 5th Heat – 1)Joey Jensen 2)Mark Whitener 3)Jeff Mathews 4)David Boerner 5)Julie McDermid 6)Nick Nelson 7)Dano Ostrander 8)Scott Weber 9)Ron Burgess 10)Jesse Snyder 6th Heat – 1)Raymond Rogers 2)Kevin Weaver 3)Jeff Leka 4)Travis Hair 5)Junior Nolan 6)Nicholas Allen 7)Nate Bregenzer 8)Rick Conoyer 9)Steve Hardy 10)Gabe Menser 7th Heat – 1)William Harrison 2)Bill Davis 3)Austin Sanders 4)Brandon Carlson 5)Bobby Bittle 6)Dana R. Wellington 7)Dennis Haven 8)Wayne Hammond 9)Tex Erskine 8th Heat – 1)Billy Tuckwell 2)Jamie Burrows 3)Brad DeYoung 4)Jason Jamison 5)Joe Pendergrass 6)Anthony Huber 7)Perry Burk 8)Ron Miller 9)Darrell George 9th Heat – 1)Charles Patrick 2)Steve Arpin 3)Brady Short 4)Kent Robinson 5)Eric Bruce 6)Asa Hovis 7)Mike Lewis 8)Mark Dotson DNS 9)Rick Hensley DNS 10th Heat – 1)Ray Guss, Jr. 2)Steven Miller 3)Marty Hiser 4)Ken Riddle 5)Matt Goulden 6)David Schmauss 7)Bill Howard 8)Phillip Sturm 9)Bob Johnston 10)Terry Haven 11)JJ Patterson Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!