Bradenton, Fl. The Magic 4 class was the brainchild of track owner John Sarppraicone. The class is for kids 12-17 years old and there are several ways the kids must prove themselves not only on the racetrack but also in the classroom. One of those is keeping up grades in school. Each child must produce his report card to John and he determines weather they will be able to race. Several parents have said their child magically brought grades up just so they could race!
“I wanted to get the kids involved in racing and the sportsmanship involved in it,” said Sarppraicone. The class has become one of the most popular at the Speedway not only because of the uniqueness of the youthful drivers but the heated competition on the track.
This week LaJoie, who had two wins under her belt already, would have to start from the back of the twelve-car field. With the feature race only being fifteen laps the young racer sporting the familiar Black “3” car had her handsful.
Alex Patton would lead the majority of the early part of the race but LaJoie was slicing and dicing her way through the field. Lap after lap she came closer and closer to the lead pack.
Patton began to have to really fight the wheel late in the race and LaJoie made the pass for the lead to the cheers of the fans. LaJoie would go on to take her third win of the season, Patton would hold for a solid second place run, Austin Craig made the charge up into the third spot, fourth was Bill Leake with Tyler Andries in fifth.
“My Dad (Jeff Dufresne) told me I only had fifteen laps and pass on car a lap but I think I passed two a couple of times” said Chelsea.
Results Pos Driver 1 CHELSEA LAJOIE 2 ALEX PATTEN 3 AUSTIN CRAIG 4 BILL LEAKE 5 TYLER ANDRIES 6 ALBERT NAIL 7 JESSICA OSTROVSKIS 8 AUSTIN CAVEY 9 BILL "BO" OSBOURNE JR 10 DARIN MORONEY 11 ANDREW PRATT 12 TOM BRADY
Manatee Lumber Pure Stocks James Crawford Jr. had all but given up during practice. But a lot of help from a lot of people in the pits turned that around as Crawford lead every lap as he dominated the twenty-five lap feature. “This car was junk when we got here I want to thank everyone who helped me out” said Crawford.
“Rocket Red” Keith Thorbin dedicated his second place run to his father Richie “Pops” Thorbin who passed away last season. Coming up June the 2nd will be the second annual Richie “Pops” Thorbin Memorial Pure Stock 50 lapper. There is already a reported $2500 purse put together for this race. Jimmie Best won the first race last season.
John Brown finished in the third spot, fourth across the stripe was Duane “the Scott” Campbell came from the eleventh starting spot and rounding out the top five was points Duane Campbell.
Manatee Lumber Bombers Pos Driver Car # 1 MICHAEL CROOKS 33 2 CLIFF MITCHELL 17 3 RICK GERMONY 8 4 SCOTT DAWLEY 74 5 PETE BARR 81
Mod-Minis Pos Driver Car # 1 DUSTY ROBINSON 38 2 GLENN KELLEY 16 3 MIKE MARGOTTA 36 4 RICK PARTRIDGE 0 5 ROB HERMANCE 69
Q-Auto and Injury OWM Pos Driver Car # 1 JOHN SARPPRAICONE JR 88 2 SEAN MCLAUGHLIN 99 3 MARK NELSON 11 4 JOSEPH SMITH 35 5 JOHN SHIELDS 37
International Contractors Street Stocks Pos Driver Car # 1 CASEY HALL 11 2 JOEY BARNES 19 3 DENNIS WILSON 42 4 JAMIE CASSIDY 72 5 CHARLES “Chuckie” RAMSEY