IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

September 7, 2008 Rudd tops Modifieds at CCMP By Linda Jericka Ronnie Heard took the modified feature Saturday night After two weeks off of racing due to rain, Charlotte County Motorsports Park’s pits were full with drivers ready to get back to racing and with ten classes to get in before the 11:30 curfew, features started right after the parade lap. Sportsman came out for their fifty lap feature that was nothing like the “caution free” last three races were the leader ran away with the show. The 25 car driven by L.J. Grimm and the 100 of Ron Heard both out of Seffner really put on a show for the fans and were determined not to let Steve Gainey make it four in a row. Grimm who seemed to have the fastest car was out in first place with a big lead as Heard was battling Gainey for the second spot when Grimm had a tire go down on lap 27 and had to pit giving the lead to Gainey . Gainey’s car seemed to be sliding up in the turns and Heard took advantage and took the lead on lap 32 with Grimm picking cars off one at a time till he passed even Gainey with ten laps to go. Ronnie Heard held on for the first place finish with L.J. Grimm coming in second and Steve Gainey would have to settle for third, Mad Maxx Bennett fourth and Ryan Pancoast fourth. One of the fans favorite class the Road Warriors also had a 25 lap Battle to the end race that started on the first lap when the top five cars tried to all get the lead coming out of turn two and it was the 38 of Gary McFall that crossed the line on the first lap for the lead which is were he stayed for the rest of the race. When all the smoke settled and Greg Roeback dropped the checker flag it was Chris Onken who came in second and Don Jericka third. The Pro 4 class came out first for there twenty five laps with sixteen ready to race drivers and for some, two weeks off was two long as the racing was fast and furious and with so many cautions there 30 min race was cut to 15 laps. After all was sorted out and the checkered flag dropped it was the 85 car of David Amelotte in his new car that finished first and Wally Smith who had to pit early due to a flat tire battled back for that second spot with Brandon Reichart coming in third. Bandoleros and Legends had a big night of racing with twenty legends coming from all over for a thirty five lap special touring series race with fast qualifying records being broke by the 5 car of Kory Abbott who also won the feature with home town favorite Josh Williams right behind him for second and the twenty one of Devin McLeod third. Thunder Trucks came out on the track and the fans were treated to Billy Bigley jr giving it a try driving the 63 truck of James Wright and after starting in the rear was way out in front on lap two and checked out for the win with Randy Kile having to battle hard for that second spot with Tom Pryor who ended up third. --Advertisement-- Open wheel Modifieds had a 50 lap feature with fifteen cars taking the green and with the top cars trying to go into turn two, it left the 2 car of Scott klieber turned, with no were to go the 77 of Brian Rogers slammed into the 2 retiring Kliber for the night and when the crew of the 77 came out onto the track Rogers was Dqed for the night. Lee Collins seemed to have a fast car as he was holding off hard charging Eric Rudd till the 89 went high on lap 14 and Rudd made his move to the inside taking the 99 of Sean Mclaughlin with him which left Collins to have to settle into the third running spot. The caution came out on lap 16 for the new kid on the block to Open wheel driving Grahm McCorvey who had been successfully driving a Fastruck for years. Collins decided to go to the pits for some adjusting which ended up putting him a lap down. McLaughlin who was right on the bumper of Rudd made contact with the back stretch wall and had to take the 99 to the pits which moved Wayne Jefferson up to second. That's where he would finish behind Eric Rudd of Naples and Ralph Bowman out of Seminole driving the 2B came in third Tony Carreno driving the 61 out of Lutz fourth and Vernon Hart who made the move from Fastrucks with McCorvey finished in 8th. Fab 4 saw Jimmy Wilkers back to take his third win in the class which will move him up to the pro 4 next time out but who knows when that will be since he was in the borrowed 16 car of Walley Smith since team mate Paul Graham when driving in the wild pro 4 race had to retire the car for the night. What a battle going in this race and it looked as if Barbara Hooper out of Naples might have been able to get her first win as she was charging to the front when the 1 car driven by Brian Amans clipped Hooper coming out of two and sent him head on into the wall. The race would finish with Jimmy Wilkers first Josh Flesher second and Jeremy Perkins third. Figure 8 racing at CCMP is just a race the fans love and it is something you have to see to believe and these drivers make it worth the trip, the all day sitting in the sun just to see. When head Flagman Greg Roeback waived the checker flag Jeff Firestine was first, Randy Kile second and Wally Smith third, if you want details come out next week and find out for yourself how exciting these drivers are and what a show they put on , they will be back next week. And the last race of the night went to returning after some time off, past figure 8 boat racer champ Mike Bialecki and what a show and what an effort by Derrick Horton who gave it his best shot till he stopped running after hitting the big ditch and Bialecki had the advantage point to knock off the boat since Horton was not running. Results for 9-6 CCMP Fab 4 1. 16 Jimmy Wilkers 2. 0 Josh Flesher 3. 22 Jeremy Perkins 4. 30 Neil Hampton 5. 86 John Pummell Jr. 6. 10 Tony Shore 7. 44 Barbra Hooper 8. 1 Brian Amons 9. 05 David Doty 10. 21 Jason Perkins 11. 36 Kim Mabbitt 12. 2 Jerrett Reynolds Open Wheels 1. 12 Eric Rudd - Naples 2. 61x Wayne Jefferson - Pinellas Park 3. 2 Ralph Bowman - Seminole 4. 61 Tony Carreno - Lutz 5. 19 Scott McDaniel - Cape Coral 6. 83 Andrew Alderman 7. 31 Johnny Newsome - Tampa 8. 48 Vernon Hart Jr. - Plant City 9. 6 Jay Winkley - Naples 10. 2R John Rogers - Naples 11. 89 Leo Collins - Felda 12. 99 Sean McLaughlin - Port Charlotte 13. 18 Graham McCorvey - Gibsonton 14. 2 Scott Kleibert - Naples 15. 77 Brian Rogers - DQ 16. 20 Mike Looney - Naples - DNS Thunder Trucks 1. 63 Billy Bigley Jr. 2. 14 Randy Kyle 3. 69 Tom Pryor 4. 2 Lance Sober 5. 20 Tom Carlough 6. 6 James Wright Pro 4 1. 85 David Amelotte 2. 16 Wally Smith 3. 30 Brandon Reichart 4. 55 Mark Davis 5. 28 Dylan Bigley 6. 09 Danny Daniels 7. 15 Michael Rodriguez 8. 57 Logan Leonard 9. 20 Bill Benoit 10. 0 Chuck Flesher 11. 16x John Balzarano 12. 27 Derrick Horton 13. 36 Stuart Vandervender 14. 69 Paul Graham 15. 1 Cory Scott 16. 82 Cory Bigley Sportsman 1. 100 Ronnie Heard - Seffner 2. 25 L. J. Grimm - Seffner 3. 79x Steve Gainey - Bradenton 4. 28x Maxx Bennett - Zephyrhills 5. 47 Ryan Pancoast - Fort Myers 6. 13 Aaron Williamson - Mulberry 7. 2 Randy Sober - Punta Gorda 8. 0 Clete Trimmer - Fort Myers 9. 4 Chris Huntoon - Englewood 10. 97 Jason Stifle - Winterhaven Legends 1. 5 Kory Abbott 2. 40 Josh Williams - Port Charlotte 3. 21 Devin McLeod - Zephyrhills 4. 99 Alex Kempf - Vero Beach 5. 56 Tony Sansom - Orlando 6. 4 Tyler Smith - Clermonte 7. 19 James Rogriguez 8. 75 Chelsea Schillig - Apopka 9. 7 Mike Verhaagh - Fort Myers 10. 47 Eric Lichtenberger - Vero Beach 11. 9 Mitch Verhaagh - Fort Myers 12. 07 Dale Gleason 13. 06 Rick Wetmore 14. 44 Gary Verdier 15. 55 Conrad Moltar - Naples 16. 39 Gerald Campbell - Seabring 17. 55x Doug Hall - St. Pete Beach 18. 38 Gerald White Jr.- Davie 19. 54 Zack Harris 20. 38F Mike Fazio. - Davie DNS Road Warrriors 1. 38 Gary McFall 2. 61 Chris Onken 3. 29 Don Jericka 4. 93 Jeff Firestone 5. 24 Jeff Pacheco 6. 88 Mark Boxell 7. 95 Ernest Sparks 8. 39 Jerry Tedding 9. 97 Chris Scott 10. 23 Jeff Rumbold 11. 19 Greg Anderson DNS Bandolero 1. 4 Jake Perkins - Ocala 2. 12 Critter Saile 3. 54 Zack Harris 4. 8 D. Ponder 5. 30 Noah Cornman - Kissimee 6. 38 Cameron White Firure 8 Race 1. 93 Jeff Firestone - Venice 2. 14 Randy Kyle 3. 16 Wally Smith 4. 29 Jeff Goldfin 5. 95 Ernest Sparks 6. 88 Mark Boxwell 7. 39 Jerry Tetting - Port Charlotte 8. 20 Tom Carlough 9. 27 Derrick Horton - N. Fort Myers 10. 36 Stuart Vandevender 11. 19 Greg Anderson - Englewood - DNS Figure 8 Boat Race 1. 8 - Mike Bialecki 2. 27 Derrick Horton - N. Fort Myers 3. 9 - Lee Bates Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!