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Kyle Bookmiller wins the Q Auto Injury Open Wheel Modifieds feature
BY: Melanie Beckner
Punta Gorda, FL...Seven divisons raced this past Saturday night at the Charlotte COunty Motorsports Park. Three of the classes ran heat races with the Sportsman and Florida Suncoast Outlaw Street Stocks qualified, withGreg Krom Setting fast time for the Sportsman and Bobby Mobley in the Outla Street Stocks.
This was the third attempt to get the rain make up race in for the Southeast Champ Karts and they were the first to go out for heat races. Mitch Stevens sat on the pole for the first heat race and led the first lap. Phil Harp would take over the lead a few laps later and took the win in the eight lap heat.
FOr the second heat race it was Robin Pope who sat on the pole. On the start Mike Burns grabbed the lead, however Ryan Schrer and Joey Coaxum passed the lead back in forth until the last lap. Coming out of turn four on the final lap Romay Venta passed both Schrer and Coaxum to take the win in the second heat race.
Race Cars of Yesterday were next for there two, eight lap heat races with Jerry Mullins on the pole in heat race number one. Mullins led the first lap with Steve Parrish tasking over the top spot by lap two. Following the lead change the caution came out for John Paradis spinning out coming out of turn four. Steve Parrish went on to win the first heat. THe second heat ran caution free with TOm Mcdonald as the polesitter and leading the first lap. tim Brush grabbed the top spot by lap two and held on to win the second heat race.
John Rogers set the pace for the first heat race for the Q Auto Injury Open Wheel Modified eight lap heat. On the start John Rogers spun out in turn four coming to the green flag. It was determined that he was leaking fluid so Rogers was sent to the pits to fix the leak. On the restart Collin Cabre led the first lap before Kyle Bookmiller rocketed by Cabre to take over the lead. Kent McLean spun his car around in turn four on lap three and the final caution was for the spinning car of Jay Winkley in turn four with two laps to go. Kyle Bookmiller went on to take the win inb the first heat. The second heat ran cautionless with Eric Rudd on the pole and leading the entire heat race to take the win.
The Southeast Champ Karts returned to the track for the first feature race of the evening. JD Cordon was the polesitter for the twenty five lap race. Cordon jumped to the early lead with the first caution coing out on lap seven. Jason Gallini had spun out in turn three with help from Scott Stevens. On the restart Phil Harp passed JD Cordon to take over the lead. Lap eleven saw the next caution for the spinning car of Ryan Walters in turn one. Phil Harp and Kenner Brown lll raced hard for the remaining laps swapiing the lead back in forth for several laps. On the final laps both Phil Harp and Kenner Brown lll were side by side coming out of turn four for the win. Phil Harp barely edged out Brown lll to take home the victory. Kenner Brown lll had to settle for second with Tim Simmons coming in third.
Kenneth Badali sat on the pole for the twenty five lap Fab 4 feature. Kenneth Badali took the lead on the start of the race with the first caution coming out after the first lap was completed. the caution was for debris that fell off one of the cars in turn two. Nick Callen brought out the caution two laps later when he spun out in turn one. On lap fourteen Justin Rogers challenged Kenneth Badali for the lead and successfully took the lead over from Badali. In the end it was Justin Rogers that crossed the finish line first with Josh Cole in second and Kenneth Badali in third. After the race, in tech Justin Rogers was disqualifed for having the wrong tires on. This handed the win over to Josh COle and Kenneth Badali moved up to second place with David Doty coming in third.
The Race Cars of Yesterday came back out for a fifteen lap feature with Jerry Mullins leading the field to the start of the race. Jerry Mullins led the first six laps before Charles Mixon passed up Mullins for the lead on lap seven. Steve Parrish made the final pass for the lead on lap eleven and cruised to the caution free feature win. Mike LeMaster was on the pole for the twenty lap Pro 4 feature. Brandon Scott took the lead at the end of the first lap with the first caution coming out the following lap for debris. Richie Acres lost a tire in turn two that went over the fence and actually hit Eric Rudd's Open WHeel Modified that was parked in the pits.
On the restart Jeremy Perkins turned the leader, Brandon Scott into the the frontstretch wall collecting Logan Leonard and Derrick Horton. Brandon Scott's car was heavily damaged and this ended his evening. Since Jeremy Perkins was sent to the rear of the field for the contact the lead was handed over to Derrick Horton. The second restart was no good either with Crey Bigley and JR Weldon getting together in turn one and both cars went spinning. Finally the cars got going on the third restart with Derrick Horton leading the remainder of the last twelve laps to take the win. Johnny Balzarano finsihed in second and Logan Leonard was third.
It was a crashfest in the thirty five lap Q-Auto Injury Open Wheel Modifieds feature. Kyle Bookmiller led the sixteen car field to the green flag. Bookmiller took the lead on the first lap and the first caution came out after lap three was completed. Phil Morrison had gotten into the side of Scott kleiber in turn one with the contact sending Kleiber spinning. Two laps later Jay Winkley had gotten into the back of Collin Cabre in turn two with Cabre spinning out. LB Skaggs and Eric Rudd were racing each other hard when LB Skaggs spun out Eric Rudd to the top of turn two.
With ten laps remaining, Mason Love and Scott Kleiber got into a shoving match with Scott Kleiber spinning out in turn one. Two laps later Collin Cabre and John Rogers got hooked up together on the backstretch to bring out another caution.
On the restart the shoving match continued for Scott Kleiber and Mason Love with Kleiber again spinning out in turn four. On the fianl lap Jimmy Wilkens Jr spun out Phil Morrison in turn two. Kyle Bookmiller led the entire eventful race and took home the first place trophy with DOug Miller and LB Skaggs completing the top three positions.
Brian Richardson led the Sportsman to the start of what was suppose to have been, fifty lap feature. Richardson led the first lap before fast qualifier Greg Krom passed up Brian Richardson for the lead on lap two. The first caution came out on lap eighteen when Brian Richardson lost control of his car in turn two. On lap twenty six Greg Krom and Aaron Williamson were battling hard for the lead when the two made contact coming out of turn four. The contact sent Greg Krom into the frontstretch wall and collecting David Williamson, who had ended up into the side of Krom's car.
The contact sent both Williamson's and Krom into the pits to fix damage on all three of the cars. Greg Krom and Aaron Willimason were able to make it back out in time for the restart with Timmie Lowe now leading the race.
On the restart Brian Richardson nudged Gary McFall on the backstretch and sent McFall sliding side ways on the backstretch and in turn two and fianlly spinning around in turn four. On lap thiry eight Aaron Williamson came to a stop on the backstretch, Williamson had a flat tire and took his car to the pits to get it quickly changed and returned in time for the restart. The time had run out for the Sportsman class with only fourty two laps in the books the Checkered Flag waved with Timmie Lowe taking the victory. Greg Krom was second and Brian Richardson finished in the third position.
The fianl race of the evening was the thirty five lap Florida Suncoast Outlaw Street Stocks. Jeff Rogers lead the field to the start of the race and grabbed the early lead. Jeff Rogers held the top spot until lap fourteen when Bobby Mobley made his way through the field to take over the lead from Rogers. For several laps Bobby Mobley and Shane Leonard battled hard for the top position, but ultimately it was Bobby Mobley that took the win in the caution free race. Shane Leonard came in second and Jeff Rogers completed the top three spots.
