IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

February 11, 2009 East Bay Raceway Park - 410 Sprints - Race Results TAMPA, FL…..2/10/09…….”We haven’t had much luck at East Bay in the past, so I told my crew to put a set-up on the car….and I would just drive it,” Wayne Johnson told track announcer Larry Jewett in victory circle after holding off Greg Hodnett and Daryn Pittman for most of the 25-lap feature to claim his first-ever win at East Bay Raceway Park Tuesday night. The opening night of the 33rd Annual 410 Sprint Winternationals paid $3,000 to win and Johnson used his reliable Maxim chassis that won a preliminary night feature at last year’s Knoxville Nationals to get the job done here. The car set up and Charlie Fisher engine proved so close to perfect that he made no changes after his heat. Carrying primary sponsorship from Bral Restoration, Deberg Concrete and T-n-T Golf Carts, the No. 14AJ of Johnson started the feature outside young Western Pennsylvania driver, Danny Holtgraver in his brand new J&J No. D4. Terry McCarl in the Big Game Tree Maxim No. 24 and Daryn Pittman in his new ride for Pete Postupack, a Maxim No. 25X made up the second row. Row three held Mark Smith in the Mach 1 Brian Scandle No 7M inside Greg Hodnett’s new JEI No. 22 owned by J&S Transportation. It was the outside row of Johnson, Pittman and Hodnett that took off immediately and caught up to the back of the field by lap five. With racing all around the 1/3 clay oval, the front three held the spotlight with Hodnett pressuring Pittman and finally claiming second spot on lap 10. With 11 laps in the books, fourth running Holtgraver was closing in on the top three, but brushed the outside backstretch wall and couldn’t get away, ending up flipping several times in that high groove. He came to rest at the start of turn three. He was able to climb out of his car which suffered severe damage and was out for the night. Following the red flag, Hodnett showed the inside groove to Johnson who had been running the top of the track at both ends. That’s all it took for Johnson’s crew men, Jeremy and Curt, to signal him to move to the bottom in turn four. A yellow came out on lap 22 for Greg Leonard who got high in turn two and tipped over on his side. With a clear track in front of him, Johnson was able to put two car-lengths between himself and Hodnett, who held the same advantage over Pittman. Mark Smith and McCarl rounded out the top five. The top ten ranking had Danny Smith, Aaron Ott, Greg Wilson, Lance Dewease and Jeff Bland, while fast-timer Freddie Rahmer who had to start 16th after failing to qualify through his heat, came up to 11th. Bronson Maeschen, Bland and Danny Smith were heat winners of the 22 cars on hand. The 360 East Bay Sprints, in a support role, ran a 20-lap non-stop feature that was won by Gene Lasker who was runner-up in ’08 points here. Coming from third starting spot Lasker chased Paulie Milum for 10 laps before making an inside move in turn one to lead down the back stretch. In victory lane, Lasker standing by his U.S Army #01 Car, saluted the U.S. Army with his right hand, while holding the checkered flag high in his left hand. Milum held on for second ahead of Tim George, Rocky Sullivan and Guy Bos in the top five. Rounding out the top 10 it was Shawn Murray, Kurt Taylor, Tony Agin, Alexis Beagle and Andy Kelley. Racing for the 410 Sprints continues on Wednesday with the support division being Open Wheel Modifieds. Gates open at 5:00PM and racing is at 7:00PM. Jean Lynch for East Bay Raceway Park STATS – 410 SPRINTS - EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK – TUESDAY, 2/10/09 1. 51 Fred Rahmer – 12.490; 2. 22 Greg Hodnett – 12.557; 3. 7M Mark Smith – 12.609; 4. 25X Daryn Pittman – 12.712; 5. 24 Terry McCarl – 12.766; 6. 14AJ Wayne Johnson – 12.801; 7. D4 Danny Holtgraver – 12.927; 8. 30C Lance Dewease – 12.939; 9. 25 Aaron Ott – 12.989; 10. W20 Greg Wilson – 13.071; 11. 02 Gene Lasker – 13.094; 12. 4 Danny Smith – 13.145; 13. 0 Glenn Styres – 13.159; 14. 21S Jeff Bland – 13.198; 15. 55 Chad Layton – 13.314; 16. 96 Bronson Maeschen – 13.469; 17. 4B Tom Busch – 13.774; 18. 1B Brian Maddox – 13.844; 19. 3 Greg Leonard – 14.433; 20. 18 Keith Butler – 14.600; 21. 2B Frank Beck – 14.880; 22. 6X Mark Cole – N/T 1ST Heat – 1)Bronson Maeschen 2)Glenn Styres 3)Danny Holtgraver 4)Greg Wilson 5)Daryn Pittman 6)Fred Rahmer 7)Greg Leonard 8)Mark Cole DNS 2nd Heat – 1)Jeff Bland 2)Greg Hodnett 3)Tom Busch 4)Lance Dewease 5)Terry McCarl 6)18 Keith Butler 7)Gene Lasker 3Rd Heat – 1)Danny Smith 2)Chad Layton 3)Wayne Johnson 4)Mark Smith 5)Aaron Ott 6)Frank Beck 7)Brian Maddox A – Main (25 Laps) – 1)Wayne Johnson 2)Greg Hodnett 3)Daryn Pittman 4)Mark Smith 5)Terry McCarl 6)Danny Smith 7)Aaron Ott 8)Greg Wilson 9)Lance Dewease 10)Jeff Bland 11)Fred Rahmer 12)Bronson Maeschen 13)Chad Layton 14)Glenn Styres 15)Tom Busch 16)Keith Butler 17)Greg Leonard 18)Frank Beck 19)Danny Holtgraver 20)Brian Maddox 21)Gene Lasker DNS 22)Mark Cole DNS 360 EAST BAY SPRINTS 1st Heat – 1)Tim George 2)Paulie Milum 3)Shawn Murray 4)Tony Agin 5)Kurt Taylor 6)Alexis Beagle 2nd Heat – 1)Gene Lasker 2)Guy Box 3)Rocky Sullivan 4)Andy Kelley 5)Troy Knowles 6)Rich Alexander DNS A – Main (25 Laps) – 1)Gene Lasker 2)Paulie Milum 3)Tim George 4)Rocky Sullivan 5)Guy Bos 6)Shawn Murray 7)Kurt Taylor 8)Tony Agin 9)Alexis Beagle 10)Andy Kelley 11)Troy Knowles 12)Rich Alexander DNS Have an opinion on this story? 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