By John Berti
Karnac.com Staff

Gibsonton, FL -January 31, 2009- Jesse Hockett of Warsaw, Missouri flawlessly drove the East Bay Raceway Park dirt oval to take down the win in the 8th Annual Ron Laney Memorial 40 lapper for the American Sprint Car Rebel Series 360 sprint cars.

Once in victory lane Hockett jumped out of his car and climbed up onto the wing to celebrate his first ever “Clay by the Bay” and American Sprint Car Series Rebel Region win to the jubilation of the crowd. He was presented with “the big check” in the amount of $10,000 by track owners Al Varnadore and Todd Hutto. He received a bonus check for $2,500 from Marcus Laney, father of Ron Laney. Ron's dog, Checkers, also took part in the presentation. C&B Mushrooms contributed $500 to bring the winner’s total to $13,000.

During the post race interview Hockett explained, "Everything is new, from the ground up. The car was great, I don't think I turned the steering wheel more than two inches over those last eight laps."

Gary Wright and Friday night winner, Danny Martin, Jr., brought the field around for the initial green to start the race. Wright got the jump on Martin, Jr., to take the lead but was only able to hold on to it for one lap as Tampa's Gene Lasker shot by him for the number one spot on the second lap.

Hockett, who started four rows back on the starters grid at the wheel of the VKCC Motorsports/Tom Buch No. 13 was quickly moving up in a car that was handling like a dream. He seemed to be able to put the car anywhere he wanted and it would stick. On lap #9 he shot to the bottom of the track under Lasker off turn two to power his way into the lead. Once in command he was virtually untouchable pulling away from the field on every restart.

Jason Sides made the race interesting with a late race charge which saw him finish inthe runnerup spot. Lasker won the battle for third over Martin, Jr. with Tony Bruce, Jr. completing the top five.

ASCS Rebel Region Eighth Annual Ronald Laney Memorial Results from East Bay Raceway Park's 33rd Annual Winter Nationals:

A total of 42 cars were signed into the pits.

Locked in from Friday Night's Feature: 00m-Danny Martin, Jr., 9x-Gary Wright, 02-Gene Lasker, 18T-Tony Bruce, Jr. Top two finishers in heats and the top five from the two B Mains transferred to the feature to make up the 24 car starting field.

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 9jr-Derek Hagar, 2. 13-Jesse Hockett, 3. 79-Dakotah Stephens, 4. 88J-R.J. Johnson, 5. 3-Greg Leonard, 6. 94-Danny Wood, 7. 88x-Shane Kreidler, 8. 15-Keith Butler, 9. 21a-Amanda Ferguson. DNS: 21T-T.J. Luedke.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 29g-Gavin Thomas, 2. 99-Danny Jones, 3. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 4. 25-Michael Parent, 5. 0-Glenn Styres, 6. 6w-Brad Wickham, 7. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 8. 2T-Todd Fayard, 9. 121-Aubrey Black, 10. 15s-Rocky Sullivan.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 19T-Matt Tiffany, 2. 29-Travis Rilat, 3. 26s-Marshall Skinner, 4. 67-Brian Thomas, 5. 3x-Brian Maddox, 6. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 7. 2b-Frank Beck III, 8. 92-Matt Kurtz. DNS: 4c-Tyler Godwin.

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 10-Terry Gray, 2. 45-Bryan Grove, 3. 7s-Jason Sides, 4. 93-Bob Schaeffer, 5. 6b-Brock Mayes, 6. 00r-Wayne Reutimann, Jr., 7. 3c-Cale Conley, 8. 28FM-Steve Poirier, 9. 6s-Mike Schroeder.

First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 26s-Marshall Skinner, 2. 3x-Brian Maddox, 3. 3-Greg Leonard, 4. 6b-Brock Mayes, 5. 3c-Cale Conley, 6. 93-Bob Schaeffer, 7. 00r-Wayne Reutimann, Jr., 8. 0-Glenn Styres, 9. 88x-Shane Kreidler, 10. 15-Keith Butler, 11. 15s-Rocky Sullivan, 12. 2T-Todd Fayard, 13. 28FM-Steve Poirier. DNS: 21T-T.J. Luedke.

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 2. 79-Dakotah Stephens, 3. 94-Danny Wood, 4. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 5. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 6. 67-Brian Thomas, 7. 6s-Mike Schroeder, 8. 2b-Frank Beck III, 9. 92-Matt Kurtz, 10. 21a-Amanda Ferguson, 11. 6w-Brad Wickham, 12. 88J-R.J. Johnson. DNS: 121-Aubrey Black, 4c-Tyler Godwin.

“A” Feature (40 Laps): 1. 13-Jesse Hockett, 2. 7s-Jason Sides, 3. 02-Gene Lasker, 4. 00m-Danny Martin, Jr., 5. 18T-Tony Bruce, Jr., 6. 6b-Brock Mayes, 7. 94-Danny Wood, 8. 26s-Marshall Skinner, 9. 3c-Cale Conley, 10. 19t-Matt Tiffany, 11. 9jr-Derek Hagar, 12. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 13. 3x-Brian Maddox, 14. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 15. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 16. 99-Danny Jones, 17. 79-Dakotah Stephens, 18. 9x-Gary Wright, 19. 29g-Gavin Thomas, 20. 3-Greg Leonard, 21. 29-Travis Rilat, 22. 10-Terry Gray, 23. 45-Bryan Grove, 24. 25-Michael Parent.

ASCS Rebel Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Danny Martin, Jr. 146, 2. Gene Lasker 144, 3. Jason Sides 142, 4. Tony Bruce, Jr. 141, 5. Brock Mayes 133, 6. Cale Conley 132, 7. (tie) Lou Kennedy, Jr. and Jesse Hockett 131, 9. (tie) Marshall Skinner and Gary Wright 130.

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