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Amanda Ferguson takes first victory in the Checkered Flag Sprints at CCMP
By: Melanie Beckner
Punta Gorda, FL...It was a nice day of weather to enjoy some great racing at the Charlotte County Motorsports Park this past Saturday night. During the autograph session with the Checkered Flag Sprint drivers it was announced the the School Bus Figure 8 would return to CCMP for next season with the first race occuring on Halloween night.
Eight diffrent divisons raced with the Bandolero's being the first feature race of the evening. Noah Cornman led the field to the start of the twelve lap race and Mark Hooven took the lead once the green flag waved. The Hooven brothers battled each other hard for several laps for the top spot before the caution came out on lap eight.
Derek Sobel and Reese Chase got together going into turn two and both cars spun. Meanwhile, as the leaders were getting the caution the second place car of Shawn Hooven spun his car out on the frontstretch. Mark Hooven continued with the lead on the restart and went on to take the victory with his brother Shawn Hooven finishing in second and Ryan Shattuck took home the third position.
Janene Elwell was the polesitter for the twenty five lap Fab 4 feature. On the start Thimas Willis got loose and spun his car out in turn four drawing a complete restart. The restart was good and Elwell grabbed the early lead.
Lap six saw the next caution for contact between Kenneth Badali and Nick Callin and both cars took off spinning into the top of turn three and this begun a cycle of cautions.
On the restart Nick Callin, Paul Richards and David Goss went three wide going into turn one and contact was made between the three cars and Paul Richards was sent spinning. Under caution Paul Richards decided to show David Goss his displeasure with him and hit Goss's car and Richards was disqualified for unsportsman like conduct.
On the second restart Thomas Willis spun his car around again, this time in turn one. Since the class could not get it's act together they were summons to the pits until the end of the evening. Later on in the evening when the cars took the the restart of lap six, the leader Janene Elwell's car would not start and had to go to a back-up car, so that handed the lead over to Nick Callin.
Kenneth Badali took challenged Callin for the lead on the restart of the race and sucessfully took over the lead on lap eight. The final caution came out on lap twenty three when Janene Elwell slammed head first onto the turn four wall. Thankfully Elwell was ok but it did end her race.
Kenneth Badali went on to take his second victory with Nick Callin in second and Thomas Willis finishing third. After post race inspection third place finisher Thomas Willis was disqualified along with fourth place finsher Robert Conant, so Janene Elwell who origianlly finished in fifth was award the third place finish.
The Race Cars of Yesterday returned to CCMP and the fans got a glance of what the cars use to look like back in the early days of racing. Charlie Tura sat on the pole for there cautiom free fifteen lap feature. Even though the entire feature ran caution free there was plenty of side by side and swapping the lead several times. Rick Botts, ultimately took the win with Charlie Mixon in second and Dave Ridder took the third spot.
Josh Williams had fast time in qualifying for the Legend cars earlier in the day with a time of 17.037 and the field was inverted for the twenty five lap feature, putting Seth Adams on the pole. On the start Zack Napoleon spun his car around on the backstretch drawing the caution before the first lap was complete.
On the restart Seth Adams led the first lap, until Mike Zazio passed Adams up for the spot by lap two and then the caution waved for Zack Napoleon who had spun out in turn one. Ted Filies brought out the caution the following lap when he spun his car around in turn two. On the restart Josh Williams challenged Mike Fazio for the first position and made the pass by the end of the lap. Devin McLeod, who was sitting in the second position and is currently the points leaders, fell off the pace and took his car to the pits.
The final caution was brought out on lap twenty two for the spinning car of Gerald Campbell. Josh Williams took home another win with Mark Hooven in second and Mike Fazio took the third position.
The Checkered Flag Sprint cars took the the track next with Geoff Styner on the pole for there thirty lap feature. On the start the only girl in the field took the lead. Michael Tharpe brought out the first caution when he looped his car around in turn four. Jimmy Alvis and Brian Maddox got together going into turn two, with both cars spinning on lap twenty four. Amanda Ferguson held on to the lead for the entire race and went on to claim her first feature win in the series. Keith Butler took home the second place finish and Gary Gimmler was third.
It is never a boring race when the Juniors Trim Shop Road Warriors take to the track. Billy Benoit had the pole for the twenty five lap feture. Billy's brother Codey Benoit took the lead once the green flag waved.
The first caution would not come out until lap fourteen when Jon Prescott spun out in turn four. On the restart Codey Benoit still held the lead with Chris Loney and Clete Trimmer making there way through the field to challenge Benoit for the lead.
By lap twenty Chris Loney passed Benoit for the lead and after the pass was complete, Codey Boit got into the back of Loney's car coming out of turn two and sent Loney spinning. Chris Loney was handed back the top spot, while Benoit was sent to the rear of the field.
On the restart Clete Trimmer was door handle to door handle for the lead with Chris Loney and Trimmer took over the position the following lap before Trimmer was sent spinning. Going into turn two Chris Loney had gotten into the side of Clete Trimmer and the contact was enought to send Trimmer spinning. This time Loney was ordered to the end of the field and the lead was handed over to Clete Trimmer. Clete Trimmer held on to the lead for the remainder of the race and took the victory with Jeff Firestine and Billy Benoit completing the top three positions.
Troy Robinson was the polesitter for the thirty five lap, Q-Auto Injury Open Wheel Modified feature. Scott McDaniel drew the caution before the first lap was completed when he went spinning on the backstretch which resulted in a complete restart. The restart was no good either with Troy Robinson and Doug Moff making contact with one another going into turn one that sent Moff spinning.
Under the caution Dpug Moff ran into the back of Troy Robinson on the backstretch and Moff was disqualified for the evening for unsportsman like conduct.
On the second restart Danny Brown got into the rear of Doug Miller's car in turn four sending Miller spinning. Finally the third restart was good with Tommy Schnader taking the lead. After the completion of the first lap Danny Brown bounced off the backstretch wall and spun out going into turn three and drew the caution.
The final caution came out on lap fifteen when Kent McLean spun out coming out of turn two. Tommy Schnader led until lap twenty seven when Scott McDaniel took over the position and went on to take the win with Kyle Bookmiller in second and Tony Carreno finishing in the third spot.
The Pro 4's were scheduled to be the last race of the evening with Shane Moore leading the class to the start of the twenty five lap feature. Jeremy Perkins would lead the first lap before Shane Moore would take over the position the following lap. The entire twenty five laps were ran caution free and by lap fourteen Jason Perkins and John Pummel Jr made there way through the field and were on Moore's back bumper. By lap sixteen both Perkins and Pummel Jr made there way around Moore for the lead and the two battle side by side for the remainder of the race for the win. Coming to the checkereds it was John Pummel Jr who edged out Jason Perkins for the win, Perkins had to settle for second with Shane Moore coming in third.
