November 16, 2004 Dude Teete Captures TBARA Winged Sprint Title By Curtis Whalin Dude Teate is the 2004 TBARA Series Champion The TBARA ended their 2004 race season where they started it at Citrus County Speedway in Inverness. There were 29 cars at the track to take part in the last race of the season by taking part in the 3 8-lap heat races and the 25-lap feature event. The first heat of the evening saw the 51 of Mark Gimmler on the pole alongside Lee Cipray in the 33. The 6 car driven by Skeeter Faulconer pulled in after the hot laps and before the start of the race. On lap 1 of the heat race, the 66 of Ray Bragg took the lead from his fourth place starting position. The 33 retired to the infield on lap 4 while Ray Bragg went on to win the heat with Wayne Reutimann Jr in the 00 taking second place. Tommy Nicols in the 03 car had the pole position for the start of the second heat with John Sambor on the 33C starting in second place. The 3Y driven by Sonny Hartley retired to the infield before the start of the race with a rear end problem on the car. The 3X took the lead at the start of the race after starting in third place and he went on to win the race with Doug Heveron in the 22 car coming in second. The third heat race saw Richard Waddell in the 47 car on the pole and Jim Alvis in the 21 in second place for the start. The 18 car driven by Shane Butler took the race lead on the first lap after starting in fourth position. Ben Fritz retired the 0 car to the infield on lap 3. At the end of lap 6 coming out of turn 4, the 21 got loose and made contact with the 29. The 21 hit the wall on the front straightaway, and the 19 car driven by Keith Butler drove over the rear wheel of the 29 car whilst trying to avoid the 21 car. The 21 car was towed off the track and retired from the nights racing program, the 19 car was towed to the pits to be repaired in time for the feature race and the 29 car escaped unhurt. The race got back underway and the 79 car driven by David Slawiak passed the race leader. A racing incident then occurred between the 79 car driven by David Slawiak and the 18 driven by Shane Butler which resulted in both cars being disqualified from the night's racing. The race got back underway for a second time, with the 29 car of Gary Gimmler now in the race lead. The last 2 laps passed without further incident and the 29 won the heat with the 96 driven by Sport Allen in second place. There were 24 cars scheduled to start the feature race. The number 6 car driven by Skeeter Faulconer failed to make the start of the race after suffering a rear end problem with the car, leaving 23 cars in the feature race line up. The field was headed up by Richard Waddell in his 47 car on the pole and John Sambor in the 33C in second place. The cars performed their celebrated 4 abreast salute to near capacity crowd, followed by a missing man formation lap in honor of Doug Craig, a former TBARA racer who died in a plane crash earlier in the week. The 33C took the lead at the start of the race, but was passed by points leader Dude Teate in the 68 car as they crossed the line for the end of lap 1. Ben Fritz retied the 0 car to the infield on race lap 5 and was followed one lap later by the 6F driven by Warren Baughn. On lap 7 Bobby Gordon retied the 29X to the infield and was joined by Matt Mercer in his 10 car on lap 18. Also on lap 18, the caution flag was put out to being in the 03 driven by Tommy Nicols after it started smoking. The cars got back into race order and the track got back to green with Dude Teate in the 68 still in the race lead. On lap 21, the 51 driven by Mark Gimmler spun in turn 4 throwing dirt clear up the track and bringing out another caution while they cleaned off the track. The 8 car driven by Nick Manikis retired to the infield during the caution. Once the track was cleaned off and the cars were lined up in order the race got back underway. On lap 22, the 3X driven by Bo Hartley got loose in turn 2 and made contact with the 29 driven by Gary Gimmler, breaking the front steering arm of the 29 car. The 29 car started to slowly slide down from the top of the track and was T-boned at the bottom of the track by the 47 car driven by Richard Waddell, who had no room to get around the stricken 29. The 5W driven by Randy Woodall ended up sideways facing the back wall of the track when he spun to avoid the other 2 cars. The red flag was bought out while all the drivers and cars were checked out. All of the drivers appeared to be OK, although Richard Waddell was later taken by ambulance to the local hospital to be checked for concussion or any other injuries. Tests are ongoing at the time of writing, but the results received do far are good. Once all of the cars had been cleared off the track, the remaining cars got back to racing, Dude Teate still in the race lead. A close couple of laps ensued, and on lap 24, Doug Heveron in the 22 car passed the race leader and took the win. Dude Teate finished in second place in the 68 car, David Steele finished in third place in the 91 car. In fourth place was Wayne Reutimann Sr in the 99 and his son Wayne Reutimann Jr finished in fifth place in the 00. The results from tonights racing mean that for the second consecutive year, Dude Teate is the TBARA driver's championship winner. Wayne Reutimann Sr takes second place in the drivers championship, Doug Heveron is in third, Keith Butler if fourth and Gary Gimmler takes fifth place. Doug Hevron is the final feature winner The TBARA would like to thank all of its racers for providing a great racing season. The TBARA would also like to thank its fans, some of which travel for many miles to come and see the show. Thanks to everyone for a great season and we hope that you will come out and see us next year when we open our season during speed weeks in February. Keep checking the website for the 2005 race schedule. TBARA Citrus County Speedway, November 13, 2004 HEAT 1 1) 66 Ray Bragg 2) 00 Wayne Reutimann Jr 3) 91 David Steele 4) 68 Dude Teate 5) 51 Mark Gimmler 6) 8 Nick Manikis 7) 5W Randy Woodall 8) 29X Bobby Gordon 9) 33 Lee Cipray 10) 6 Skeeter Faulconer (DNS) HEAT 2 1) 3X Bo Hartley 2) 22 Doug Heveron 3) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr 4) 33C John Sambor 5) 118 Troy DeCaire 6) 10 Matt Mercer 7) 7 John Gilbert Jr 8) 03 Tommy Nicols 9) 3Y Sonny Hartley (DNS) HEAT 3 1) 29 Gary Gimmler 2) 96 Sport Allen 3) 47 Richard Waddell 4) 6F Warren Baughn 5) 21 Jim Alvis 6) 19 Keith Butler 7) 0 Ben Fritz (DNS) 8) 18 Shane Butler (DQ) 9) 79 David Slawiak (DQ) FEATURE 1) 22 Doug Heveron; 2) 68 Dude Teate; 3) 91 David Steele; 4) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr; 5) 00 Wayne Reutimann Jr; 6) 19 Keith Butler; 7) 3X Bo Hartley; 8) 66 Ray Bragg; 9) 96 Sport Allen; 10) 118 Troy DeCaire; 11) 51 Mark Gimmler; 12) 33C John Sambor; 13) 7 John Gilbert Jr; 14) 33 Lee Cipray; 15) 5W Randy Woodall (DNF); 16) 29 Gary Gimmler (DNF); 17) 47 Richard Waddell (DNF); 18) 8 Nick Manikis (DNF); 19) 03 Tommy Nicols (DNF); 20) 10 Matt Mercer (DNF); 21) 29X Bobby Gordon (DNF); 22) 6F Warren Baughn (DNF); 23) 0 Ben Fritz (DNF); 24) 6 Skeeter Faulconer (DNS) Have an opinion on this story? 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