April 27, 2004 Hinegardner Tops Big Field Of Gulfcoast Modifieds By Rick Warren The Open Wheel Modifieds of the Corteco/Gulfcoast Series rolled into action Saturday night, at Sunshine Speedway in St. Pete Fl. Mike Hinegardner The second in this 8 race series brought out 34 entries to try and qualify for the starting field. After a busy afternoon of tech inspections and practice time on the track, it was time to take a shot at the clocks for qualifications. The fastest 16 qualifiers would be locked in to the starting lineup, while the rest would have to race their way into the feature event. The winner of the fast qualifier award, and the cash prize was the #57 of Timmy Moore, with a fast lap of 13.88 seconds. Second was Dan Partelo, followed by Lee Collins, Herman Brame and Rob Partello. After the top 16 went over the scales one more time, the inversion pills were drawn. Timmy Moore, as fast qualifier, pulled a 9 from the hat, and then the top 9 redrew pills for starting position. After the redraw, the pole position went to Mike Hinegardner, with Sport Allen joining him on the front row. The Second row would consist of Herman Brame and Chris Escott, winner of the last races hard charger award. The 12 lap C Main qualifier lined up with Michael Coleman Jr and John Godwin on the front row followed by L.B. Skaggs and Jack Arnold III. At the end of the run, it was Skaggs, Godwin, Jimmy Wagner, Arnold, Matthew Fetterhoff, and Howard Skaggs transferring to the B Main. The B Main, started 12 cars, with the top 8 finishers transferring to the 50 lap feature. John Anderson and Corky Craver filled the front row, followed by Ralph Bowman and Steve Perez. Lap 5 saw the cars of Kevin Durden and J.R. Wade make contact in turn 4, causing both to spin, and also involved the 71x of Skaggs and the 17 of Wagner. Durden's car was forced to pit with damage to the steering. The race was red flagged, as the car of Skaggs was sitting on the hood of Wagners racer, and unable to move. After the track was cleared and the race restarted, Anderson went on to take the win, followed by Craver, Bowman, Godwin, LB Skaggs, Fetterhoff, Arnold, and Wade. With the addition of the 3 provisional starting positions, 1 for each participating track, the field was set. The provisionals were awarded to Durden , from Bronson, Kevin Brickley, from Charlotte County, and Tommy Bower, from Sunshine. With the starting field set, and driver introductions finished, it was time to go racing for 50 laps of Open Wheel Modified action. When the green flag waved to start the race, Hinegardner took the lead, with Herman Brame right behind. Sport Allen was hung on the outside and running hard, trying to find a way into line. The race saw a lot of tight racing, with some rubbing and bumping mixed in for good measure. The race stayed green for the first 24 laps, when caution was brought out for the cars of Wade and Godwin, spinning in turn 4. On the restart, the 51 of Bower spun off turn 2, and the race was restarted again. Once the race reached the halfway point, things really started heating up. Caution was displayed once again, as the cars of Sport Allen, Chris Escott, and Timmy Moore were involved in an incident in turn 2. The cars of Allen and Moore were placed at the end of the lead lap for the restart, and Moore, after conferring with track officials, chose to retire from the race, in protest of the decision. The race restarted cleanly, and stayed green until lap 32, when Kevin Brickley spun in turn 3. The race restarted with Hinegardner still holding the upper hand, followed by Brame, Rob Partello, Dan Partello, Dwayne Dempsey, Lee Collins, Escott, Robert Crisp, John Anderson and Ralph Bowman. As the race went on, lapped traffic started to come into play. Herman Brame, running second, got caught behind a lapped car, and lost several positions before clearing traffic. Another minor incident brought out the caution flag on lap 42, and on the restart, it became an 8 lap dash for the win, with Hinegardner leading the way. Much action in these last few laps, several position changes among the top 10, and a big Win for Mike Hinegardner, followed by Rob Partelo, Dwayne Dempsey, Danny Partelo, and Lee Collins. The top ten was rounded out by Chris Escott, Herman Brame, Robert Crisp, Kevin Durden and John Anderson. Durden was Awarded the cash prize for Hard Charger, by coming from the 25 spot in the field to finish ninth. In the Winners Circle, Hinegardner and his crew were elated with the win, considering the fact that last week the car was severely damaged in a crash, and had to have part of the frame replaced. A lot of hard work paid off for the ACCXX Communication entry. In Post Race inspection, it was determined that the engine of second place finisher Rob Partelo did not conform to the specified rules, and the 93 car was Disqualified. Next race is at Charlotte County Speedway on May 8th. Final Results Corteco Gaskets / Gulfcoast Modifieds Race #2 Sunshine Speedway April 24, 2004 1. #1h Mike Hinegardner 2. # 6 Dwayne Dempsey 3. # 9 Dan Partelo 4. #89 Lee Collins 5. # 8 Chris Escott 6. #55 Herman Brame 7. #20 Robert Crisp 8. #56x Kevin Durden 9. #1x John Anderson 10. #80 James Houle 11. # 2 Ralph Bowman 12. # 4 Bobby Baldwin 13. #88 Chris Robbins 14. # 5 James Glover 15. #51 Tommy Bower 16. #56 Sport Allen 17. #23 Butch Bassett 18. #22 John Godwin 19. #84 Jack Arnold III 20. #71x L.B. Skaggs 21. #71 Matthew Fetterhoff 22. #2b Kevin Brickley 23. #112 Corky Craver 24. #57 Timmy Moore 25. #34 Teddy Nelson 26. #29 J.R. Wade Fast Qualifier Timmy Moore Hard Charger Kevin Durden Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! <news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!