by Bret Emrick
Nine months and 30 races after starting the 2000 racing season the Renegade STARS Racing Series championship will be decided at the same place where the campaign started, East Bay Raceway in Tampa (Gibsonton),FL. Entering the $160,000 "Fall Nationals" at the semi-banked 1/3rd mile current point leader Chub Frank of Sugar Grove,PA clings to a 380 point margin over 1989 and 1990 STARS champion Mike Balzano of Parkersburg,WV.

The three-day event with a three-day purse in excess of $160,000 will start Thursday (11/9) with a 50 lap feature event paying $5,000 to win and $500 to start the main event. Friday's (11/10) action will be headlined by a 75 lap feature paying $10,000 to win and $800 to take the green flag. The "Fall Nationals" week-end will conclude Saturday (11/11) with a whopping $30,000 to the winner and $1,200 to start the 100 lap feature. Saturday's event with a total purse in excess of $90,000 is believed to be the largest one-day show pay-off in dirt Late Model racing history.

The Renegade STARS Racing Series has sanctioned events at East Bay Raceway 18 previous times with 13 different drivers capturing victories. Heading up the winners list is 1996, 1997 and 1998 STARS champion Steve Francis with three previous wins. Davey Johnson, the 1993 and 1994 STARS titleist, has taken two wins at East Bay Raceway as has Billy Moyer and perennial East Bay Raceway standout Keith Nosbisch. Drivers with one triumph each include Mike Balzano, Gary Stuhler, Rick Aukland, Steve Shaver, Booper Bare, Jimmy Mars as well as Wendell Wallace, Dan Schlieper and Ray Cook. Wallace, Schlieper and Cook grabbed their STARS triumphs in February of this year during the "Late Model Winternationals".

Pit gates will open all three days at 3:00 pm with spectator gates opening at 5:00 pm. Warm-ups are slated to begin at 6:00 pm with CARRERA "Challenge the Clock" Time Trials at 6:30 pm and racing to follow. A complete program of BORLA PERFORMANCE INDUSTRIES Heat Races, MASTERSBILT RACE CARS "B" Mains and the ISKY RACING CAMS Dash will precede the main event each night. Adult general admission tickets are $20.00 Thursday, $30.00 Friday and $35.00 Saturday. Children 11 years of age and under are half-price. Pit admission is $25.00 Thursday, $35.00 Friday and $40.00 Saturday.

Frank and Balzano have been the show, points wise, for the Ohio based dirt Late Model sanctioning organization throughout the 2000 campaign. After completing the "Late Model Winternationals" at East Bay Raceway in February, Balzano and Frank found themselves second and third respectively in the points chase. Balzano then reeled off three straight wins once the series returned north propelling the driver of the Eddie's Auto Parts/Ault Swimming Pools/Rocket Chassis/Russell Baker Racing Engines No. E1 Balzano Racing Enterprises Chevrolet Monte Carlo into the points lead at the end of April while Frank pushed himself into the second spot only 60 points behind Balzano.

One more victory for Balzano in the month of May and consistent finishes by Frank saw Balzano's point lead whittled down to only 50 points. By the beginning of July, Frank, driving the Biscotti's Restaurant and Winery/Corry Lazer Technology/Draime Racing Engines/Rocket Chassis No. 1* Chub Frank Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo, found himself 110 points behind Balzano. When the month of July was finished Balzano had recorded two more victories opening up a 160 point advantage on Frank.

Frank started off the month of August capturing his first victory of the season then recorded a second place finish and two third place finishes in the next three races while Balzano scored a second, a third and an eighteenth place finish in those same races. Balzano's eighteenth place finish at Challenger (PA) Raceway opened the door for Frank who assumed the point lead by 50 points. Frank captured one more victory in August and as the month closed Frank now enjoyed a 100 point lead over Balzano.

Balzano reeled off a victory to start off the month of September while Frank finished second in that event at Raceway (OH) 7 pulling Balzano to within 80 points of Frank. Two days later at Portsmouth (OH) Raceway Park Frank scored the win and coupled with Balzano's ninth place finish Frank's lead was now out to it's largest margin of the year, 170 points. The next four races saw Frank with two fifth's, a fourth and a tenth place finish compared to Balzano's third, fourth, sixth and eighteenth place finishes giving Frank a 240 point margin over Balzano.

Balzano then suffered an injury, a severely broken ring finger of his left hand in a non-sanctioned event October 21, which hindered his efforts to chase down Frank when the series entered it's final "northern" race of the season at Florence (KY) Speedway October 27 & 28. Frank wound up second in that event while Balzano, basically racing one-handed for 50 miles, placed sixteenth pushing Frank's lead out to it's current 380 point margin entering the season closing "Fall Nationals".

Balzano will (did) undergo surgery Wednesday, November 1 to repair the broken finger but his "never give up" attitude will find Balzano at East Bay Raceway trying his best to win the championship and keep his streak of never missing a STARS sanctioned event since the end of the 1988 season alive.

Not only will the points championship be decided at the "Fall Nationals" but sixth through tenth place in points are seperated by a scant 230 points. And 2000 Renegade STARS Racing Series "Rookie of the Year" Steve Casebolt Jr. of Richmond,IN needs to make the "Fall Nationals" feature field every night to break into the tenth place position in points.

East Bay Raceway is located south of Tampa,FL on I-75 to exit 48 then two miles west, then 1.2 miles north on U.S. Route 41, then right 1.3 miles on Old U.S. Route 41, then right on Burts Rd. For further information phone East Bay Raceway at (813)677-7223, (813) 677-2632 or toll free (877) 457-5611. Persons can also visit the East Bay Raceway web site at www.eastbayraceway.com.

Bret Emrick

East Bay also welcomes back SPEEDO THE CLOWN this week. He and STARS racers will be on the KARNAC.com RACIN'TALK RADIO show this Wednesday.

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