| Sumansky Wins Strange 100 Lap Late Model Show | By Claude Lewis
The first Limited Late Model 100-lapper of the season at Charlotte County Speedway had plenty of strange twists and turns.
Some drivers had bad luck. Others had no luck at all. And then there was Joe Sumasky, who could do no wrong in taking the checkered in Saturday night's race and taking home $2,000. Sumasky did have some hairy moments in the early going, but from lap 39 on, no one could touch the SAR Motorsports No. 12 Monte Carlo.
"It was awesome," said the 30-year-old Sumasky, who hails from Lehigh Acres. "The new pavement did us good. The car was great. I was getting good restarts."
Sumasky charged hard from the get-go, challenging polesitter Randy Fox for the lead over the first 25 laps. Sumasky caught a break when Fox got trapped behind lapped traffic and had to slam on the brakes. Both Sumasky and Wayne Morris were able to pass Fox.
On lap 27, Morris got around Sumasky and looked to check out. Morris had reason to feel that he could, considering his No. 56 car had set a limited late lap record (14.77 seconds) in Friday night's qualifying.
"I had a fast car," said Morris, who has won his share at CCS in the past. "It was a rocket." On lap 32, there was another incident with lapped traffic, bringing Morris and Sumasky together briefly on the backstretch. Morris got the worst of it, as his No. 56 cut a tire and had it's tow knocked out. Sumasky sped away, never to be seriously threatened again.
It turned into a battle for second with Fox, Wayne Morris, Glenn Morris, Bobby Beauchemin and Billy BigleyBilly Bigley in the hunt. Glenn Morris was running second just past the halfway mark when he was turned around by Bigley, who was driving the No. 95 car for Richie Anderson.
Wayne Morris could no longer contend with studs gone on his right front. Fox had a right rear brake caliper go on lap 98, spinning him into the wall in turn four. That left Beauchemin with second and Bigley with third.
Bigley agreed to sub for Anderson, who broke his left shoulder in a snowmobile accident. "Lapped cars were a real problem tonight," Fox said. "They didn't seem to move over."
Sumasky, who last won a 100-lapper a year ago at DeSoto, said he plans to run for points at Charlotte this year plus some Lakeland races.
There were four other divisions that raced Saturday night at the Punta Gorda 3/8-mile oval.
Punta Gorda's Kay Jackson captured the 35-lap sportsman feature.
He passed Phil Johnson on lap 5 and sped away from the pack.
Jackson had to survive a late scare from Jerry Bryant, who pulled alongside Jackson's No. 91 car on lap 33. Bryant spun himself out going for the lead coming out of four. Jackson dedicated the victory to his mother Ada, who recently passed away.
Jeremy Goddard, who set a new track record of 16.185 in qualifying, finished second. Johnson took third.
Danny Caylor passed Eric Smith on lap 6 and checked out for an easy win in the 25-lap super stock feature.
Smith finished second, holding off Brian Richardson. Richardson's car was disqualified in post-race technical inspection. That moved Doug Spencer of Cape Coral up to third.
Chris Oncken of Fort Myers won his second straight road warrior feature. Second in the 25-lapper was Jesse Gargus. Oncken passed Gargus for the lead on lap 12. Shane Leonard took third.
In thunder trucks, John Garrett learned that sometimes it just isn't your night even though everything appears to be perfect. With three laps to go, Garrett had the lead in the 25-lap feature. He led the entire race. Suddenly, coming out of four two lapped cars got into each other and left Garrett no where to go. He brushed the inside wall and cut a tire.
Garrett's misery turned out to be Mike Bialecki's glory, as the Port Charlotte driver won his first feature ever, just edging out hard-charging Cheryl Weaver. Dan Van Acker was third.
This coming Saturday, the winged sprints of the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association highlight racing action at Charlotte County Speedway. Saturday the 222nd of March the Florida Pro Series brings the first Super Late Model show of the year to the 3/8 mile speedway.
Late Model
1. 12 Joe Sumansky
2. 74 Bobby Beauchemin
3. 95 Billy Bigley, Jr.
4. 107 Glenn Morris
5. 62 Buzz Martin
6. 23 Corey Collum
7. 36 Al Fradette
8. 88 Randy Fox
9. 56 Wayne Morris
10. 24 Dennis Williams
11. 28 David Meyers
12. 29 Mike Hovis
13. 19 Steve Arnold
DNS 127 Karo Vaughan
Sportsman
1. 91 Kay Jackson
2. 40 Jeremy Goddard
3. 39 Phillip Johnson
4. 20 George Ellsworth
5. 31 Scott Barnes
6. 19d Dale Dean III
7. 9 Jerry Bryant
8. 0 Dick Robinson
9. 71 L.B. Skaggs
10. 76 Joe Reese
11. 22 Danny Yates
12. 38 Ralph Goddard
13. 74 John Garrett
14. 13 Brian Ferguson
15. 73 Scott McDaniel
16. 36 Steve Leonard
DNS 77 Johnny Allen
Best Coast Insurance Super Stock
1. 7 Danny Caylor
2. 10 Eric Smith
3. 11 Doug Spitzer
4. 91 Ander Jackson
5. 2 David Fischer
6. 56 Walt Korkiner
7. 4 Craig Simmons
8. 31x Elbert Butts
9. 8 George Tanner
10. 83 John Hanuschik
DNS 0 Clete Trimmer
DNS 33 Mike Loney
DNS 10r Mark Regner
Disqualified for carburators - 23 Brian Richardson
91x John Plakiotis
Road Warrior
1. 61 Chris Oncken
2. 1 Jesse Gargus
3. 18 Shane Leonard
4. 30 Chris Huntoon
5. 19 Brandon Anderson
6. 40 Don Justice
7. 11 Robert Hendry
8. 31 Willard Hedden
9. 88 Larry Rudd
10. 7 Jonathan Abraham
11. 17 Fred Wilson
12. 5 Bob Waltz
13. 09 Doug Raastad
14. 23 Jeff Rumbold
15. 54 Ken Heckert
16. 92 Johnny Allen
Thunder Truck
1. 8 Mike Bialecki
2. 37 Cheryl Weaver
3. 33 Don VanAcker
4. 93 Shawn Wade
5. 56 Bob Charette
6. 14 Randy Layman
7. 44 Raymond Tucker
8. 13 Jay Bryant
9. 7 Bryan Maine
10. 22 John Garrett
11. 00 Ronnie Grimes
12. 24 Justin Bryant
Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board!
<news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!
|
