Tampa, FL — The 10th Annual Open Wheel Modified Winternationals kicked off Thursday night as part of East Bay Raceway Park’s 33rd Anniversary season, with a field of 69 cars from 20 states and Canada.
Many had been here before, however, it was a first-timer from Whynott MS who stood in victory lane after a late race pass with four laps who earned the $1,500 winner’s prize.
Rodney Wing, a track owner himself, told victory lane announcer Chris Stepan that he appreciated a racey track and after starting ninth he came up to second by the half-way mark of the 25-lap feature. He followed leader, Rich Michael, Jr. until his opportunity to get a run in the high groove coming off turn four to take the lead on lap 22.
“We brought two cars and the one we ran in the support race last night was our ‘corner car’ and tonight’s car is our ‘straightaway car’”, explained the winner. Both chassis are from House of Hook in Wynott and are owned by “Corky” Garrett out of Jackson MS. Sponsors on the car include Marble Enterprises, Franklin Paving and Tony Barker Racing Engines.
While some crew members remain at home, the ones on the road for this win in Florida are William, “Hollywood” and Mike Vaughn. They made minor changes on the car after the heat and changed tires.
Second place went to Michael who had started on the pole, but watched outside starter, Jeff Mathews lead the first two laps. Once Michael settled in to a comfort zone, he made an inside move in turn four to lead down the front stretch on lap three. He kept his No. 17x in front despite seven yellow flags scattered through the mid-part of the race.
“After we totaled one car last night, we were happy with our performance tonight,” said the New York driver, “I think I was better in turns one and two, but we will get the rest of the track figured out for tomorrow.” He thanked Chet Tobias from Simpson Products for his support.
Third place finisher, Eddie Martin drove his SPR Race Carmade in Amarillo TX forward the entire race after starting 11th. His money moves on Rob Fuqua and Jeff Mathews were made on the outside in the last five laps. The No. 51X is owned by Alan Sharpensten and sponsored by J&R Restaurant. The car is powered by an engine built by Tim’s Automotive and the crew includes Chad and Jeff.
Mathews held on for fourth ahead of Stormy Scott who finished fifth. Rounding out the top ten it was Fuqua, Scott Drake, Kevin Weaver, Gary Cook, Jr. and Jared Landers. Weaver had started eighth and was up to third on lap 18 when a miscue diverted him through the infield and he re-entered the field in seventh place. The yellow came out a lap later, but he had already been scored in seventh.
The eight heat winners were Mathews, Weaver, Shane Burrows, Andy Gorden, Kent Arment, Scott, Michael and defending OWM Champion Louie Krushansky. A re-draw among the winners awarded the front row to Michael and Mathews.
The first C-Main advanced Mike Harrison, David McDonald, Dale Kelley and Randle Sweeney to the back of the first B-Main. Buzzie Reutimann had damaged his car in his heat race and treated fans to his impressive driving style in the second C-Main, coming from the back to win it. He was followed by Tim Hancock, Dakotah Stephens and Kevin Gummere.
The first B-Main sent Jaret Landers, Scott Drake, Gary Cook, Jr. and Brady Short to the A-Main, while Gary Elcher, Stanley Donahoo, Matt Aber and Wayne Hammond moved up from the second B-Main.
A lengthy repair time was required when Jamie Burrows rode the front stretch wall in the seventh heat, knocking down three posts and fence in number one turn.
Night two of three for the Open Wheel Modifieds continues Friday with hot laps at 5:00PM and race time is 7:00PM.
Thanks, Jean Lynch for East Bay Raceway Park
STATS – OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS – EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK – THURSDAY, 2/12/09
Qualifying Results:
1. 128 Ray Guss, Jr. – 16.810; 2. 36 Brady Short – 16.910; 3. 40 Wayne Hammond – 16.922; 4. 46 Brandon Short – 16.954; 5. 51 Rodney Wing – 16.964; 6. 777 Jared Landers – 17.030; 7. 64 Austin Sanders – 17.035; 8. 64X Gary Cook, Jr. – 17.044; 9. 33 Jeff Mathews – 17.094; 10. 182 Randle Sweeney – 17.119; 11. 01 Shane Burrows – 17.122; 12. 112 Steven Lance, Jr. – 17.135; 13. 24H Mike Harrison – 17.152; 14. 83B Perry Brown – 17.179; 15. B12 – Kevin Weaver – 17.184; 16. 51X Eddie Martin – 17.195; 17. 3F Rob Fuqua – 17.206; 18. 74 Mark Noble – 17.214; 19. 27 John Bradley – 17.223; 20. 6B Dave Baldwin – 17.224; 21. 34 Ben Stephens – 17.227; 22. 23L Louie Krushansky – 17.228; 23. 71A Ryan Aho – 17.231; 24. 0 Les Duellman – 17.235; 25. 00B Buzzie Reutimann – 17.250; 26. 4 Stormy Scott – 17.267; 27. 11B Jamie Burrows – 17.272; 28. 0H Tim Hancock – 17.317; 29. 17X Richard Michael, Jr. – 17.331; 30. 2X Grant Junghans – 17.362; 31. 7R Kent Robinson – 17.372; 32. 44X Darrell Nelson – 17.377; 33. 72 Todd Neiheiser – 17.379; 34. 6L Joey Back – 17.412; 35. 9 Kent Arment – 17.419; 36. 1 Tommie Seets, Jr. – 17.425; 37. 12H Mike Hanson – 17.456; 38. 83 Joe Waba – 17.468; 39. 07P Tim Peterson – 17.515; 40. 13 Ryan Engels – 17.521; 41. 63 Scotty Williams – 17.522; 42. 20X Steve Hughes – 17.525; 43. 00 Stanley Donahoo – 17.539; 44. 21 Andy Gordon – 17.543; 45. 222 Gary Eicher – 17.544; 46. 11 Kelly Devall – 17.596; 47. 41G Matt Goulden – 17.600; 48. 115 Roger Crouse – 17.601; 49. 12 Joe Carr – 17.669; 50. 73 Jeremy Simpson – 17.671; 51. N59 Chad Evans – 17.686; 52. 96G Curt Gelling – 17.695; 53. 15T Erick Thiesse – 17.697; 54. 2B Devin Dixon – 17.704; 55. 39 Kevin Gummere – 17.776; 56. 99 Corey Partin – 17.780; 57. 12D Scott Drake – 17.818; 58. 70 Matt Aber – 17.852; 59. 26 Bobby Gierke – 17.876; 60. 3 Alex Boerner – 17.877; 61. K12 Scotty Kincaid – 17.911; 62. 31 Brian Hollifield – 17.981; 63. 4B Billy Boyd, Jr – 17.983; 64. 79 Dakotah Stephens – 18.072; 65. 07 Jeff Thomas – 18.179; 66. 52X David McDonald – 18.211; 67. 96 Dennis Haven – 18.228; 68. 18X Chase Junghans – 18.266; 69. 15 Rich Robinson – 18.354; 70. 19 Thomas Sigler – 18.373; 71. 21T Aaron Turnbull – 18.451; 72. 10T Tyson Turnbull – 18.525; 73. 141 Mike Sullivan – 18.839; 74. 88 Darrell George – 18.849; 75. 23T Terry Haven – 18.862; 76. 77 Cory Mann – 23.719; 77. c00L Chris Littrell – 48.826; 78. 22 Dale Kelley – N/T; 79. 8 Wesley Summers – N/T
1st Heat – 1)Jeff Mathews 2)Rodney Wing 3)Jared Landers 4)Darrell Nelson 5)Devin Dixon 6)Brandon Short 7)Mike Harrison 8)Dale Kelley 9)Darrell George 10)Dennis Haven
2nd Heat – 1)Kevin Weaver 2)Rob Fuqua 3)Gary Cook, Jr. 4)Steven Lance, Jr. 5)Les Duellman 6)Ben Stephens 7)Joe Waba 8)Rich Robinson 9)Chase Junghans 10)Buzzie Reutimann
3rd Heat – 1)Shane Burrows 2)Eddie Martin 3)Brady Short 4)Todd Neiheiser 5)Ryan Aho 6)Joe Carr 7)David McDonald 8)Terry Haven 9)Thomas Sigler 10)Randle Sweeney
4th Heat – 1)Andy Gordon 2)Kelly Devall 3)Steve Hughes 4)Scott Drake 5)Scotty Williams 6)Jeff Thomas 7)Chad Evans 8)Mike Sullivan 9)Bobby Gierke 10)Chris Littrell
5th Heat – 1)Kent Arment 2)Grant Junghans 3)Gary Eicher 4)Austin Sanders 5)Aaron Turnbul 6)Erick Thiesse 7)Billy Boyd, Jr. 8)Kevin Gummere 9)Mark Noble 10)Scotty Kincaid
6th Heat – 1)Stormy Scott 2)Ray Guss, Jr. 3)John Bradley 4)Wayne Hammond 5)Ryan Engels 6)Jeremy Simpson 7)Tyson Turnbul 8)Tim Hancock 9)Mike Hanson 10)Tommie Seets, Jr.
7th Heat – 1)Richard Michael, Jr. 2)Perry Brown 3)Stanley Donahoo 4)Joey Back 5)Dave Baldwin 6)Kent Robinson 7)Dakotah Stephens 8)Corey Partin 9)Cory Mann 10)Jamie Burrows
8th Heat – 1)Louie Krushansky 2)Curt Gelling 3)Matt Aber 4)Matt Goulden 5)Brian Hollifield 6)Tim Peterson 7)Wesley Summers 8)Alex Boerner 9)Roger Crouse
1st C – Main (Top 4 go to back of 1st B) – 1)Mike Harrison 2)David McDonald 3)Dale Kelley 4)Randle Sweeney 5)Bobby Gierke 6)Rich Robinson 7)Terry Haven 8)Mike Sullivan 9)Chris Littrell 10)Darrell George 11)Dennis Haven 12)Chase Junghans 13)Thomas Sigler 14)Joe Waba DNS
2nd C – Main (Top 4 go to back of 2nd B) – 1)Buzzie Reutimann 2)Tim Hancock 3)Dakotah Stephens 4)Kevin Gummere 5)Chad Evans 6)Alex Boerner 7)Corey Partin 8)Billy Boyd, Jr. 9)Cory Mann 10)Mark Noble 11)Tommie Seets, Jr. 12)Tyson Turnbul 13)Wesley Summers 14)Scotty Kincaid 15)Mike Hanson DNS 16)Roger Crouse DNS 17)Jamie Burrows DNS
1st B – Main (Top 4 go to back of A inside row) – 1)Jared Landers 2)Scott Drake 3)Gary Cook, Jr. 4)Brady Short 5)Steven Lance, Jr. 6)Scotty Williams 7)Brandon Short 8)Steve Hughes 9)Mike Harrison 10)Devin Dixon 11)Dale Kelley 12)David McDonald 13)Les Duellman 14)Ben Stephens 15)Jeff Thomas 16)Joe Carr 17)Darrell Nelson 18)Randle Sweeney 19)Ryan Aho 20)Todd Neiheiser
2nd B – Main (Top 4 go to back of A outside row) – 1)Gary Eicher 2)Stanley Donahoo 3)Matt Aber 4)Wayne Hammond 5)Buzzie Reutimann 6)Matt Goulden 7)Austin Sanders 8)Joey Back 9)Dave Baldwin 10)Erick Thiesse 11)Aaron Turnbul 12)John Bradley 13)Kevin Gummere 14)Dakotah Stephens 15)Tim Peterson 16)Ryan Engels 17)Brian Hollifield 18)Jeremy Simpson 19)Kent Robinson 20)Tim Hancock
A – Main (25 Laps) – 1)Rodney Wing 2)Richard Michael, Jr. 3)Eddie Martin 4)Jeff Mathews 5)Stormy Scott 6)Rob Fuqua 7)Scott Drake 8)Kevin Weaver 9)Gary Cook, Jr. 10)Jared Landers 11)Ray Guss, Jr. 12)Stanley Donahoo 13)Curt Gelling 14)Gary Eicher 15)Brady Short 16)Louie Krushansky 17)Kent Arment 18)Kelly Devall 19)Matt Aber 20)Perry Brown 21)Andy Gorden 22)Shane Burrows 23)Wayne Hammond 24)Grant Junghans
