Steele Wins First Annual Frank Riddle Memorial 50 "Big Al" Neumann Takes First DeSoto Pro Truck Win
By Rick Anges
Bradenton, Fl. A breezy night greeted fans that were on hand for the first annual Frank Riddle Memorial 50 lap TBARA Winged Sprint race. This would be the first fifty lapper for the high-powered TBARA racers in recent memory. In an interview on Real Racin’USA radio show TBARA flagman Doug “Wild Child” Dunham when asked about the event said, “ There hasn’t been a fifty lapper since I have been flagging.” And Doug has been around for a while.
Frank Riddle was a long time racer all over the state of Florida and a well-liked driver. Frank passed away earlier this year. The TBARA decided to put on this race and DeSoto was the perfect track to host it.
Twenty-nine cars signed in for the Saturday night event. Three heat races and a “B” Main led up to the Main event of the evening.
Heat race number one saw long time DeSoto competitor Gary Gimmler taking the win, second was Larry J.Brazil and third Bo Hartley.
HEAT 1 1) 29 Gary Gimmler 2) 21B Larry Brazil Jr. 3) 3X Bo Hartley 4) 91 David Steele 5) 52 Joey Aguilar 6) 5W Randy Woodall 7) 14 Mickey Kempgens 8) 5 Blaze Martin 9) 78 Shane Miller 10) 5s Stephen Sinwald
David Slawiak won heat two; second across the stripe was point’s leader Troy DeCaire and third former DeSoto Open Wheel Modified champ D.J.Hoelzle.
HEAT 2 1) 79 David Slawiak 2) 68 Troy DeCaire 3) 15 D.J. Hoelzle 4) 51 Mark Gimmler 5) 21T Johnny Gilbertson 6) 39 Charles Ladner 7) 18 Stan Butler 8) 55 Tommy Nichols 21R Rick Hockman – DNS 11X Billy Riddle – DNS
Keith Butler was the winner for heat three with the First Lady of Florida Sprint Cars Wendy Mathis second and third Dude Teate.
HEAT 3 1) 19 Keith Butler 2) 80 Wendy Mathis 3) 0 Dude Teate 4) 99 Brian Gingras 5) 41 Steve Heisler 6) 21 Jim Alvis 7) 66 Ray Bragg 8) 8 Nick Manikis 44 Bill Pettijohn – DNS
The twelve lap “B Main” took six cars to the feature race. Stan Butler was the winner in that one, Mickey Kempgens was second, third was Ray Bragg.
B-MAIN 1) 18 Stan Butler; 2) 14 Mickey Kempgens; 3) 66 Ray Bragg; 4) 55 Tommy Nichols; 5) 78 Shane Miller; 6) 5S Stephen Sinwald; 7) 8 Nick Manikis; 8) 5 Blaze Martin (DNF); 9) 21R Rick Hockman (DNS)
Frank Riddle Memorial
The fans were on their feet as the field of twenty-four cars gave them the “Four Wide Salute to the Fans”. Then fell back into the “Missing Man” formation to pay tribute to Frank Riddle.
The “Wild Child” dropped the green flag and the racing was on. You could hear the fans cheering over the high-powered sprint cars as they went two and three wide throughout the field.
Keith Butler was the class of the field as he moved out to the top spot and began lapping the back of the field early in the race. All eyes though were on “Superman” Dave Steele who was making his way up from his twelfth starting position. Early in the race Steele’s front wing was damaged and was barely hanging on changing the way the car handled. The effect of the wing did not seem to hamper the “Superman” as he made his way into the top five.
During a yellow Steele was stopped on the backstretch by the officials to check the condition of the wing and whether it would cause a safety concern. The officials determined it would not be a problem and the former USAC champ was allowed to return to his starting spot.
The red flag came out when the cars of Larry J. Brazil and Jim Alvis tangled on the backstretch with hard impact into the turn three wall. Tire marks down the wall showed how one of the cars actually left the ground. Donald Smith the backstretch flagman said “ I saw it start coming out of turn two and as I turned I saw one of the cars going over my head”. The crowd cheered as word came from the track that both drivers were ok and out of their cars.
After extended red flag for clean up the green was back out with Butler pulling away from the rest of the pack. As the laps wound down Steele was able to make his way to the second spot but just as it appeared there would be no way he could catch Butler, the leader suddenly slowed and pulled into the infield.
With a cheer from the crowd Steele took the lead and never looked back as he cruised to another exciting win. “I thought we finished second, I didn’t know the 18 car (Butler) had pulled off” said Steele in the winners circle. “Winning this race means a lot to me, I grew up watch Frank race all over the Tampa area and he was one of my Heroes”.
The Riddle family came out on to the front stretch to celebrate Steele’s victory. Frank’s son thanked the crowd, Don Rheem of the TBARA and John Sarppraicone for putting on the race and looking forward to next years event at DeSoto Super Speedway.
Brian Gingras had a solid run for the second spot, third across the stripe was Gary Gimmler, fourth went to Bo Hartley and rounding out the top five was Wendy Mathis.
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The TBARA brings their show back to the “High-Banks” October 27th.
1) 91 David Steele; 2) 99 Brian Gingras; 3) 29 Gary Gimmler; 4) 3X Bo Hartley; 5); 80 Wendy Mathis; 6) 0 Dude Teate; 7) 68 Troy DeCaire; 8) 51 Mark Gimmler; 9) 66 Ray Bragg; 10) 18 Stan Butler; 11) 15 D.J. Hoelzle; 12) 5W Randy Woodall; 13) 41 Steve Heisler; 14) 14 Mickey Kemgens; 15) 55 Tommy Nichols; 16) 39 Charles Ladner; 17) 19 Keith Butler; 18) 21B Larry J Brazil Jr (DNF); 19) 21 Jim Alvis (DNF); 20) 21T Johnny Gilbertson (DNF); 21) 52 Joey Aguilar (DNF); 22) 79 David Slawiak (DNF); 23) 78 Shane Miller (DNF); 24) 5s Stephen Sinwald (DNF)
DeSoto Pro Trucks
“Big Al” Neumann has run at DeSoto for many years in several classes but this night he dominated a good field of trucks leading green to checkers to take his first win in the fifty lap DeSoto Pro Truck feature.
Second went to Brent Huber but the story of the night was Travis Roland. Travis had his problems in the previous Truck race, was Dqed and had to start from the rear of the field. Two flat tires sent him into the pits twice forcing him to go back to rear for the green. He raced hard back to the front and took a well-deserved third spot. Fourth went to Gary Foxworth and fifth Stephen Nasse.
Pos Driver Car # 1 AL NEUMANN 4 2 BRENT HUBER 64 3 TRAVIS ROLAND 01 4 GARY FOXWORTH 25 5 STEPHEN NASSE 69 6 CHARLIE MONTGOMERY 12 7 MAXX BENNETT 1X 8 BILL MANFULL 48 9 GARY DEEMER 18 10 DANNY ANDERSON 50 11 NICK KING 3 12 JIM REPPI SR 57 13 WILLIAM CARLBERT JR 11X 14 PAT MAHONEY-M-TKS 84 15 KYLE MUSSELMAN O7 16 ANDREW GIPSON 64X 17 TATE LINDSAY 1
Manatee Lumber Bombers
BOMBERS - BOMB 20L Pos Driver Car # 1 RICK GERMONY 8 2 SCOTT DAWLEY 74 3 TERRY COLLINS 98X 4 JOHN STEWART 02 5 MICHAEL CROOKS 33 6 STEVE ELDER 42 7 JEFF TAYLOR 70 8 MARK BOXELL 88 9 SHANE YODER 1Y 10 CLIFF MITCHELL 17 11 JEFF FIRESTINE-M-TKS 93 12 MARK FIELDS 77 13 JERRY TETTING 39 14 LOU RUSSELL 3 15 KEN SMITH 11 16 JEROME WATLAND 31
Manatee Lumber Pure Stocks
Pos Driver Car # 1 DAVID DAVIS 6X 2 DARRIN ELLIS 71 3 ALLEN BRAGG 89 4 TYLER LAU 1 5 ROBERT CRISP 38 6 RANDY JOHNSON 73 7 BLAIR PONTIOUS 39 8 JAMES CRAWFORD JR 34 9 TROY MEREDITH 75 10 GEORGE BARTIMAC 21X 11 ANTHONY EASTON 90 12 MARK PICKLESIMER 07 13 SCOTT MCKAY 35X 14 TROY THIEM 18 International Contractors Street Stocks
Pos Driver Car # 1 DENNIS WILSON 42 2 JOEY BARNES 19 3 WAYNE DOVE 18 4 CASEY HALL 11 5 CHARLES "CHUCKY" RAMSEY 99 6 ALEX ABBOTT 17 7 SHAWN MULLET 29 8 GREGORY KROM 35 9 DEREK LUCAS 88 10 GUS COORSSEN 74X 11 JAMES NANNEY 6 12 DAVE BLANCHARD 50
Q Auto and Injury Attorneys Open Wheel Modifieds
Pos Driver Car # 1 WAYNE JEFFERSON 1 2 RALPH BOWMAN 2 3 TIMMY MOORE 57 4 MARK NELSON 11 5 RICHARD SHEPHERD 30 6 SAMMY COGHILL 22 7 BRUCE RIGGIO 75 8 BARRY CARLSON 3
Mod-Minis
Pos Driver Car # 1 CHRIS ZIMMERMAN 29 2 GLENN KELLEY 16 3 THOMAS ZIMMERMAN 29X 4 STEPHANIE MELLO 9X 5 RICK PARTRIDGE 0 6 BRAD STEGER 65
Rick Anges DeSoto Super Speedway Announcer/Media Co-Host Real Racin' USA "Racing Talk Radio the way it's meant to be....." Tuesday Nights 7-9 pm Only on the Real Racin'USA Internet Networks www.realracinusa.com
