March 14, 2004 360 Sprints and Kenny Adams Highlight At East Bay by Bill Green Tampa, FL. - Week two of the regular racing season at East Bay Raceway Park would see the 360 Winged Sprinters on the track to begin the quest for the 2004 Championship. Returning 2003 Track Champion Johnny Gilbertson was on hand to defend his title. Also in tonights field would be past Champions; Superman Sport Allen, The Malabar Missile Kenny Adams, Red Stauffer, plus several young guns like The Hammer Danny Martin, Jr., Daisy Dukes Paulie Milum and Brandon Dover as well as Stephen Darvalics, a 17-year-old up-start Rookie in his first ever 360 Sprint event. The 360 Winged Sprints would see Heat #1 collect The Malabar Missile Kenny Adams and Michael Smith as the 4A spun on the hi-side in turn 4. Limited sprint driver Tim Holston celebrated his birthday with a Heat #1 win, as Sticks Greg Leonard wrestled an ill handling 94G to win Heat #2. The feature would be a classic training video for how to work traffic and make the leader nervous in that same traffic. Greg Leonard led 21 of the scheduled 25-lap feature. Tim Holston would set on his back bumper for 19 of those laps, but fall out with power plant problems. Meanwhile it was Kenny Adams starting dead last, after the heat race troubles that would excite the crowd. He even went to the back of the pack a second time after spinning himself out in turn 4 on lap number 3. Adams set to work on the restart of that spinout and picked off competitors until he was into third, but needed help to make up the half-track deficit on the leaders. That help came in the form of Sprint Car & Midget editor Doug Aulds #52 spinning in turn 4 on lap-14. Adams capitalized on the yellow with a run past Holston, then set sail after Leonard, but was unable to catch the #94G until lap traffic held up Sticks and Adams made a bonsai move to the bottom of turn 4 and a wheel-stand pass just before the stripe on lap 23. Leonard would make a bigger mistake after the white flag flew on lap 24 and spin to a stop in turn 4. Adams praised the crew and car owner in Victory Lane,They pulled out the back-up car and we guessed at a set up. All I had to do was pedal it through the corners and stand on it down the straights. Limited Late Models kicked off the night with Heat races. Young David Simpson won heat #1, while Timmy Bronson used a lap one low-groove move to win heat #2. The feature saw only one lap in the book when veteran Bill Howard, current points leader, would spin in turn two and collect the guy second in points, Tommy Evonosky. Also leaving the track were David Simpson and D. J. Sanders, but Simpson returned after a quick right rear tire change. Survival of the fittest came to mind as Pete Grantham spun on the restart and customized the new graphics on the #8 of Doug Decker. Timmy Bronson set sail after the third restart and never looked back, winning his first feature of 2004. Second went to a surviving J. R. Prather, Jr. and coming from the back of the pack after a visit to the pits was David Simpson for third. Fourth was Ronnie Heard, with Bruce Harvey starting dead last in 15th spot taking the fifth place finish. Mini-Stocks were up next with two heats. Heat #1 would go to Ryan Mitchell, with Scotty Williams winning heat #2. The Mini-Stock feature would see a new addition to the East Bay Raceway Park line up, as Sleepy Gomez debut a Honda Civic front-wheel Mini-Stock. The 18-car field was trimmed to 15 racers before an official lap was complete. After 3 completed laps we were down to 10-cars and two of those showed heavy damage. Winning the feature would be Jim Courson, with Scotty Williams second, Rich Livernois third, Josh Peacock fourth and Cecil Martin fifth. Late Models saw some exciting early action, as The Sheriff Roger Crouse would win Heat #1 and The Master Donnie Tanner wins Heat #2. It took 8 restarts for pole sitter David Schmauss to win a wire-to-wire feature, but he had to deal with Donnie Tanners beautiful new #88 machine the entire race. Tanner settled for second. Third went to Jack Nosbisch, Jr. after older brother Keith fell out with problems on the #02 car. Fourth would be the veteran Bobby Alexander, Sr. and Roger Crouse would battle to fifth. Street Stocks brought 25 cars to week two racing, with Steven Johnson winning Heat #1 and Jack Rowland taking Heat #2. Jack Rowland became the first two-time winner for the 2004 season with his second consecutive visit to victory lane. Second would go to Phantom 309 driver Danny Paris, third was Jody Robbins, fourth went to Tony Jackson and fifth to Steven Johnson. During a short intermission break Terry Scampton, President of the Annual Racing Family Fundraiser presented track Office Manager, Janet Knight a check for $3000 toward the East Bay Raceway Park Driver Welfare Fund and the Florida Auto Safety Team (F.A.S.T.) organization. Next week, Open Wheeled Modifieds and Limited Sprints are in action with LM, LLM, SS and MS. Come join us for some great racing action on the Clay-By-The-Bay. Well See You At The RACES! Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!