Mother nature tried to put a stop to the action at the Charlotte County Speedway Saturday night.
The #8 car sat on the pole of the Lee's Auto Detail & Transmission Pure Stocks 25 lap feature with George Tanner of Cape Coral at the wheel, but it was #91X, John Plakiotis of Port Charlotte who had the top spot when the green flag dropped. Plakiotis went on to take the win, but not unchallenged. Elbert Butts of Nocatee, in the #31X car tried hard to take the lead from Plakiotis every chance he got, ending up in second place.
#18J, Ray Jayne of Punta Gorda and #6, Kevin Utter of Ft. Myers raced hard and put on a good show for five or six laps before getting together in turn 3 on lap 12 bringing out the yellow flag. By lap 14 it was Utter and Tanner swapping a little paint. With a caution on lap 22, the scene was set for some real up close and personal racing for the last three laps of the race. Utter took third but was later disqualified in tech for illegal springs. #99, Mark Collins of Cape Coral took the official third place position.
After a short rain delay before the qualifying laps, the Budweiser Open Wheel Modifieds 6-Pack #1 50 lap feature got underway with #34, Wayne Jefferson of Pinellas Park on the pole.
Jefferson was quick to put plenty of space between him and the rest of the pack after a couple of spins and bumps and a restart, staying out of trouble to secure his win. #15, Bill Davis of Wauchula, spun on lap 18 sending up a cloud of smoke after a good battle in the middle of the pack, and lap 26 saw a blown engine in the #12 car, driven by Kevin Williams of Port Charlotte, borrowed car from Eric Rudd of Naples. The blown engine caused a small fire in Williams' car but he managed to get out with no problems. The all-volunteer broom crew went to work cleaning up the aftermath. James Wilkins, Jr. of Palm City took second place in the #5 car, while #72D, James DuBose of Arcadia came in third.
Qualifying for the OWM 6-pack #1: Fastest time went to #15 Bill Davis of Wauchula. (15.675 seconds). The half way leader was #34 Wayne Jefferson of Pinellas Park. Hard Charger, #99 Jeff Underwood of Plantation.
#51, Richie Anderson of North Ft. Myers had the pole for the Circle One Limited Late Models 6Pack #2 100-lap feature. But before they could complete the second lap, a little contact from some hard racing in turn four caused a lot of body damage on a few of the cars. They were all able to continue. Anderson held the lead for 75 laps before having to pit, putting #34's Jeff Dufresne of Ft. Myers in the top spot. Randy Fox from Lehigh Acres raced hard trying to put his #4 car out in front of Dufresne. With only four laps to go the pair spun while trying to avoid a lapped car. On the restart, Dufresne and Fox got their spots back. In the end, Dufresne took first, holding off Fox in second while #29 Mike Hovis of North Ft. Myers took third.
Qualifying for the LLM 6-pack #2: Fastest time, (15.418 seconds) #7 Rusty Hillman of North Ft. Myers. Half Way, #51 Richie Anderson of North Ft. Myers. Hard Charger, #65 Jeremy Meier of Pine Island.
The racers really put on a show in the Hendry's Mango Maniacs Cowboy Cadillacs 20-lap feature. #91, Hugh Alexander of Punta Gorda sat on the pole, but there was someone in the back of the pack determined to take that spot. Cheryl Weaver from Port Charlotte drove the #37 truck hard to move up for a challenge. There's just something extra fun watching these trucks race, and to have such a serious battle over first place lap after lap, bumper to bumper, this particular race was a real 'edge of your seat' one. Alexander held the lead until the very last lap when Weaver got up beside him. Weaver took the win by about half a fender. Alexander took second, with #24, Justin Bryant of Arcadia in third.
Both the #37 of Cheryl Weaver & the #91 of Hugh Alexander were Disqualified when they protested each other in Tech. #37 had rods too long & #91 had a Stroker Engine. Which moved the #24 of Justin Bryant to first, with #46 Buck Wilson in second & the #16 of Wally Smith into third.
The Shirley's Bookkeeping Rebel Road Warriors 20-lap feature saw #77, Dennis Hale of Punta Gorda sitting on the pole. After a couple of false starts, and a dramatic spin on the backstretch, #55, Conrad Molter of Naples took the lead on the restart. #3, driven by John Boyd of Cape Coral lost a wheel in turns 3 and 4, bringing out the yellow flag and Prompt Towing for a ride back to the pits. Molter held on to first place for the win, followed by #9S Taz Sidock of Cape Coral in second, and #88, Wayne Wilson of Ft. Myers in third. The #9S was Disqualified for not going thru Tech. Which moved the #88 to Second & the #61 of Chris Oncken of Ft. Myers into third.
#1, John Trotta of Cape Coral started on the pole of the Big Wheels Mini Stock 20-lap feature. Trotta took a commanding lead, but all the while, #56, Brian Richardson of North Ft. Myers was steadily making his way up from the back of the pack. By the time Richardson caught up to Trotta, they had a full straightaway lead on the rest. First place wasn't the only battle going on though. #16's Chase Goodson of West Palm Beach, #5's Glenn Travis of North Ft. Myers, and #94's Keith Risinger of Ft. Myers were battling it out for the fourth/fifth place position. Richardson took the win followed by Trotta in second, and #2, Roger Garrett of North Ft. Myers in third.
A big Thank You and a welcome back to Crystal Carmean from Lehigh Senior High School for starting the night by playing the National Anthem on her flute.
Unfortunately the rain shortened night wouldn't let us get any heat races in but we still had a good evening of stockcar racing.
Everyone have a safe week and we will see you here again next week for more short track racing excitement. Thank You!!
Race Results from 4-7-2001
Budweiser Open Wheel Modifieds 6-Pk # 1 34 Wayne Jefferson 5 James Wilkins, Jr. 72D James DuBose 93 Steve Duerr 25 Scott Kleiber 99 Jeff Underwood 80 Chris Dean 55 Dan Atwell 3 Harold Cannon 15 Bill Davis 31 Kurt Riley 76 Hank Peters 185 Tony Barreca 12/6 Kevin Williams Drove Car 12 which Belongs to Eric Rudd 9 Dan Partelo 69 Nick Bogaert
Circle One Limited Late Models 6-Pk # 2 34 Jeff Dufresne 4 Randy Fox 29 Mike Hovis 43 Glenn Morris 28 Bob Root 67 James DuBose 65 Jeremy Meier 81 Chuck Sweet 62 Buzz Martin 36 Al Fradette 59 John Garrett 11 Bill Bryant 51 Richie Anderson 0 Charlie Bible 1 John Jackson 64 Chris Libak 7 Rusty Hillman
Hendry’s Mango Maniacs Cowboy Cadillacs 24 Justin Bryant 46 Buck Wilson 16 Wally Smith 33 Don Van Acker 44 Raymond Tucker, Jr. 2 Gene Pack, Jr. 08 Eddie Allen 37 Cheryl Weaver was Disqualified for Rods being to long after being Protested by Wayne Alexander 91 Hugh Alexander was Disqualified for Stroker Engine after being Protested by Dave & Cheryl Weaver
Big Wheels Mini Stocks 56 Brian Richardson 1 John Trotta 2 Roger Garrett 94 Keith Risinger 16 Chase Goodson 5 Glenn Travis 17 Mike Johns 6 Marshall Parr, Sr. 7 Hank Fielder 31 Harlan Wilson
Shirley’s Bookkeeping Rebel Road Warriors 55 Conrad Molter 88 Wayne Wilson 61 Chris Oncken 27 Lee Price 42X Trey Almand 77 Dennis Hale 3 John Boyer 47 Joe Lippincott 74 Chuck Stevens 9S Taz Sidock Disqualified for not going thru Tech
Lee’s Auto Detail & Transmission Pure Stocks 91X John Plakiotis 31X Elbert Butts 99 Mark Collins 49 Christine Gibson 21 Jeff Padilla, Jr. 10 Eric Smith 87 Eric Schank 8 George Tanner 38 Joe Reese 71 Scott Moran 18 Ray Jayne 11 Doug Spitzer 19 Greg Anderson 39 Fred Kight 28 Hugh Hackney 6 Kevin Utter Disqualified in Tech for Springs
