SHANE STEWART TASTES VICTORY HIS FIRST TIME ON THE EAST BAY CLAY

by Jean Lynch

Tampa, FL……1/29/04 It was a back and forth battle for the lead Thursday night in the second preliminary feature of the 6th Annual King of 360’s Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park.    In the closing laps of the 25-lap A-Main, Shane Stewart, driving the ‘MIN’ Motorsports sponsored no. 4m one-year old Maxim powered by a WesMar on Hoosier tires and Penske shocks, made a groove just inches from the outside wall work for him to hold off hard-charging Terry McCarl and capture his first win-ever at East Bay worth $1,500.

 "I owe this one to my crew, Rob and Cathy Hart, who have been with me for two years.  I’m just sorry my car owner, Scott Chillcut, couldn’t be here for this win," Stewart said after the hard-fought race.  Starting outside the front row, he grabbed the lead immediately and held on through the first yellow for a spin by Danny Martin after one lap.   Stewart had McCarl on his tail with Danny Lasoski a close third as the green waved.  Just two laps later, three cars tangled in turn one with Curtis Boyer and Johnny Gilbertson flipping and bringing out the red flag.  Neither driver was injured.

 On the lap three restart, McCarl, in the Eagle owned by wife Lori, executed a slide job on the leader in turn one and was in front as the two exited turn two.  It took Stewart a couple of laps to settle down and get his rhythm back after the pass.  In his own words, Stewart explained, "Once I settled down after Terry went by and I realized that I could stay with him, I knew I was going to be alright."
The next dozen laps were fast-paced as the McCarl no.24 sponsored by Big Game Tree Stands, Country Builders Construction and Bosma Poultry, diced through lapped traffic, using every inch of the track. Using a borrowed engine built by Mark Burch, his car also sports sponsorship from Sander Engineering and Brodix. McCarl’s low-line choice through lapped cars in turn four was his downfall as Stewart capitalized on the situation and went very high to take the lead coming to the flagstand on lap 17.  The yellow came out after that lap was in the books for a spin by Brian Maddox at the end of the front stretch. On the ensuing restart, Lasoski who was fourth behind Stewart, McCarl and Greg Leonard, tried to dive under third place Greg Leonard in turn one. Lasoski hadn’t quite cleared Leonard when he moved up the track in turn two and Leonard had no where to go except over Lasoski’s right rear wheel.  The move flipped Leonard into the outside wall.

  The entire field hugged the bottom of the track on this final restart, but once they cleared the front stretch, the cars used the entire surface.  However, Stewart made his move to  the top groove and hung there lap after lap with McCarl running the same line, but the winning margin built to 2.75 seconds at the checkered.  McCarl and Stewart were very complimentary of the 24 hour turn-around in track conditions.  "It was a great track tonight, you could race anywhere," commented the two during post-race tech inspection.

 Lasoski settled for third ahead of Gary Wright, and Jeff Shepard.  Next came Joey Saldana, Chad Kemenah (who came from the C and B to the A-Main), Jason Sides, Greg Wilson and Wayne Johnson who completed the top ten finishers.   Heat race winners were Terry Pletch, Sides, Terry Gray, Shepard, Johnny Gilbertson and Darren Long.

Kemenah, Marshall Skinner, Red Stauffer and Brad Pake transferred up to the B-Main from the C-Main.  Frank Carlsson flipped in a three-car tangle in turn one during the C-Main, but was uninjured.   McCarl, Lasoski, Danny Martin, Kemenah, Joey Saldana, Jesse Giannetto, Darren Stewart and Kelly Kinser moved from the B-Main into the A-Main.

 In the “B”, Saldana, who started on pole, was leaking fuel on a first-lap red flag for John Karklin’s crash into the turn one wall.   He went to the pits for repairs and returned in time to start last in the 22-car field and finish the 15-laps in a transfer spot.

 The 10-lap Goodson Strawberry Farms Dash was won by Sport Allen.  

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