IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

March 2, 2008 Sean McLaughlin Still Holding the Key To Charlotte KARNAC Staff Report The Open Wheel Modifieds roared out of the gate at Charlotte County Motorsports Park Saturday night and the tone for the race was set on lap 1. A pileup in turn 2 brought out the red flag for safety concerns and a small fire under the hood of the #12 of Eric Rudd. Jonny Newsome (#31), Troy Robinson (#0), Andrew Alderman (#83) and the #19 of Scott McDaniels were all involved. After the cleanup the open wheel slugfest got back underway, with "the Rocket" Wayne Jefferson and Sean McLaughlin in the number 99 clearly the class of the field. Jefferson took the lead from Don Skaggs early on and checked out on the field. As the race neared the half-way mark (scoreboard went out earlier) McLaughlin and Jefferson raced side by side for several laps, but McLaughlin's hold on Charlotte is strong and he went on to win, though Jefferson stayed right on him the whole way. Eight cars were running at the end. The Checkered Flag Sprint Cars were on hand as part of the open wheel night at the Punta Gorda track. This was the second race of the season for the new wingless sprint car series, featuring 15 cars this time. New York racer Jeff VanDusen took the win over Wayne Reutimann Jr and Shane Butler in a race that had its share of cautions but the fans packed into Charlotte County Motorsports Park got quite a show with some tough racing all around the track. Charlotte County Motorsports Park Finishes for 3-1-08 Open Wheel Modifies 50 laps 1) 99-Sean McLaughlin 2) 1-Wayne Jefferson 3) 03-Kyle Bookmiller 4) 2-Scott Kleiber 5) 6-Jay Winkley 6) 61-Tony Carreno 7) 2r-John Rogers 8) 0-Troy Robinson 9) 09-Don Skaggs 10) 19-Scott McDaniel 11) 83- Andrew Alderman 12) 31-Jonny Newsome 13) 12-Eric Rudd DQed 14) 71-L.B Skaggs DNS 15) 63-Phil Morrison DNS Sprints 1) 56-Jeff VanDusen 2) 00jr-Wayne Reutimann jr. 3) 8-Shane Butler 4) 18-Stan Butler 5) 29-Gary Gimmler 6) 79-David Slawiak 7) 51-Mark Aimmler 8) 00-Wayne Reutimann sr. 9) 19-Keith Butler 10) 11x-Bill Riddle 11) 10-Shawn Namor 12) 22-Scott Adema 13) 11-Billy Riddle 14) 21-Darrin Miller 15) 81-Tate Pierce Outlaw Modifies 1) 15-Doug Hopper 2) 28-Robbie Bean 3) 23-Cliff Steinmann 4) 9-John Parrish 5) 10-Robert Campbell 6) 69-Ric Voisey 7) 70-Marty Niekens 8) 04-Tom Meyer 9) 41-Raymond Jones 10) 21-Ric Mills 11) 6-Frankie Hurst 12) 83-Tom Giddings 13) 22-Mike Bean 14) 71-Colin Cabre 15) 8-Matt Delaney Road Warriors 1) 32-Dean Butram 2) 19-Greg Anderson 3) 1-Jessie Gargus 4) 77-James Dellea 5) 97-Chris Scott 6) 7-Blaine Baer 7) 39-Jerry Tetting 8) 95-Ernie Sparks 9) 29-Don Jericka 10) 16-James Buckmaster 11) 93-Jeff Firestine 12) 30x-Mike Gardner 13) 33-Ann Marie Ricardi 14) 15-Clint Snyder 15) 24-Jeff Pacheco Fast Trucks 1) 36-Ross Chastain 2) 69-Stephan Nasse 3) 71-Barry Bartlett 4) 9-Thomas Warnick 5) 11x-Billy Carlbert jr. Mod Minis 1) 29-Chris Zimmerman 2) 97-Brian Dorer 3) 1-Joe Gagen 4) 17x-Steve Wheeler 5) 54-Ricky Bullard Jr. 6) 45-Mike Kerrivan 7) 17-Kevin Wood Thunder Trucks 1) 14-Randy Kile 2) 9-Robert St. John 3) 43-Richard Dupont 4) 34-Curt Mays 5) 2-Lance Sober Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!