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| BIRK, BRANNON AND KESSLER FIRST TIME WINNERS AT SUNSHINE SPEEDWAY | By Thom Watson
On opening night back in March, 17 year old Michael Birk, Jr. was disqualified after he thought he had won. This night he didn’t think his engine would last as her took the lead on lap two and lead the rest of the way as he won his first feature race in the Mini-stocks. After finishing second in his heat Michael, in car #10, started third in the feature. Going into turn three on the second lap, Birk went low and passed pole sitter, #16, Glen Kelly. There was one yellow flag on lap three, and had Birk sweating, as he didn’t need the extra laps on his ailing motor. At halfway, Birk had opened a straightaway lead and shortly was lapping some of the slower cars. The race was for second place as the #55 of Tom Zimmerman and Kelly swapped places on lap 14 and they went on to finish second and third. After working all day and most of the week on the motor the crew and Michael himself weren’t sure if the engine would hold for the 20-lap feature. In victory lane were his mother, friends and his unique crew of his father and stepfather. After track announcer, Bill Green, complimented him on his patience in passing the lapped traffic, Michael said “ thank you, sir, sometimes the others don’t won’t you to pass them, but they went pretty easy on me tonight”. Did you notice that this high school junior said “thank you”? A pleasant change from most high schoolers to say the least.
Larry Brannon, #18, also got his first feature win of the season in the Street Stocks, as he had a scare when he spun in turn three on lap 17. Brannon started in the fourth position and took the lead on lap three as the #23 and # 7 cars of Butch Bassett and Jeff Haven, respectively, tangled down the backstretch and spun into the infield. Basssett was unable to continue as he went hard into the dirt berm protecting the turn three light poles. Brannon was able to lead the final 18 laps of the feature, but not without pressure from the #95 car of Rick Hartman, as he stayed close on the rear bumper of Brannon. Hartman tried the inside lane several times but could not pull off the pass. On lap 17, the #0 car of Willie Lacey was into the outside wall in turn four, Brannon checked up just as the yellow flag was thrown. Hartman got into the back of Brannon and spun him, but because the yellow was already out, the field reverted back to the prior lap, with Brannon still out front. The officials sent Hartman to the rear after a long review. Brannon went on to a two car length win, with Jeff Haven, #7, moving into the second spot and the #1 of Danny Rieger coming in third. With point’s leader, Dave Ochsenwald, not in the race, Brannon and Rieger both will move up from their fourth and second positions, respectively.
In the Open Wheel Modified class, the #28 car of 16 year old, Phillip Kessler was able to take the lead on lap one and hold on for his first feature win of the year. Kessler had built a five car length lead by lap four and stretched it to a full straightaway at the halfway point. After a yellow on lap 13, for the spin of the then third place car of Allyn Summers, #56, Kessler quickly built up his lead again. The #61 of Pat Grimes was able to finish in the second position. The battle was for third place between the #00, Pat Grimes, and #80James Houle. As Kessler was taking the checkers, Houle punted Grimes in the backstretch. Officials moved Houle to the rear and awarded Grimes third place.
Robert Crisp, in the #2 car, quickly took a two car length by lap two and went on to went the Outlaw Late Model feature. Although Crisp won easily, the rest of the field was up for grabs the whole race. The #7 of Troy Johnson and the #77 Rick Haugh were the early challengers for second and third. The #56 of Robbie Mcauliffe was into the top three mix by the half waypoint. Mcauliffe would go ahead and take the runner-up spot for the evening. Haugh was in third place on lap 15 with the #69 of Tim Henault and the #6 of Ed Kidd tight on his bumper the rest of the feature but could not pull off a pass to take over the third spot.
The fan favorite Figure 8 feature had lots of action, even before the first lap was complete. On the first lap the #17 of Bobby Moctezuma and the #59 of Jack Boswell, Jr. got together and in turn four and a complete restart was needed. On the restart, the same two cars got together again with Moctezuma losing a wheel, but this time they did manage to get a whole lap in. On the restart, the #40 of Mark Thomas spins the #89 of Ron Davis and Davis also lost his wheel. With Davis being out so early and being the point’s leader the standings are sure to be jumbled. On lap eight the #15 of Joey Catarelli spun by himself at the “X” but the caution didn’t come out. On lap 15 the #11 of Art Caulkins and the #69 of Tim Henault were racing side by side and bumped each other hard. This caused the pack to slow and Catarelli came through and plowed into Heanault. Heanult, in keeping with the spirit of the race, also lost a wheel. Calkins was able to avoid the mess and he and Donnie Thomas, #31, were setting the pace and would finish first and second. Calkins was able to pull within a half a car length at the checkers but didn’t have enough to pass Thomas. Meanwhile the #28 of Shane Grigsby was steadily moving up form his 12th starting position and would pass the #21 of J.R. Meyer to take over third place.
In the Enduros, out of the field of 12, half were female drivers. Once again the first lap was not completed before the #69, Bobbie Mathis and the #9 got together in turn 1. The #58 of Ashley Larson took over the lead on lap two and won going away. Mathis, the only other person besides Larson to win an Enduro feature finished second. Only the ladies have managed to win in this division. Why is that?
20 LAP OPEN WHEEL MODIFIED FEATURE:
#28 PHILLIP KESSLER ( FIRST MODIFIED FEATURE WIN)
#61 JAY ZOLCIAK
#13 MIKE LEACOCK
# 3 TONY MEEHAN
#51 MIKE HINEGARDNER
#76 DOUG CATALANO
#55 HERMAN BRAME
#56 ALLYN SUMMERS
#00 PAT GRIMES
#80 JIMMY HOULE
HEAT WIN #1: #51 MIKE HINEGARDNER
HEAT WIN #2: # 3 TONY MEEHAN
20 LAP MINI STOCK FEATURE:
#10 MIKE BIRK, JR. (FIRST MINI STOCK FEATURE WIN)
#55 TOM ZIMMERMAN
#16 GLENN KELLEY
#40 DENNIS VALDEZ
#65 JOEY CATARELLI
#70 MARTY NEIKENS
#32 TROY MEREDITH
#22 MACKY MONGOLD
#11 MARY MONGOLD
# 8 TIM HARMAN
FIRST HEAT WIN: #72 DANNY SMITH
SECOND HEAT WIN: #65 JOEY CATARELLI
20 LAP OUTLAW LATE MODEL FEATURE:
# 2 ROBERT CRISP
#56 ROBBY MCAULIFFE
#77 RICK HAUGH
#69 TIM HENAULT
# 6 ED KIDD
# 1 SCOTT HOLLY
# 7 TROY JOHNSON
#76 JIM ALTOBELLI
#85 JIMMY BILLERA
#30 STEVE O'LONE
HEAT WIN: #77 RICK HAUGH
20 LAP FIGURE 8 FEATURE:
#31 DONNIE THOMAS
#11 ART CALKINS
#28 SHANE GRIGSBY
# 3 CLIFF ROUSSEAU
#04 RON VELLER
#21 J.R. MEYER
# 7 WAYNE CALKINS
#15 JOEY CATARELLI
#40 MARK THOMAS
#59 JACK BOSWELL
20 LAP STREET STOCK FEATURE:
#18 LARRY BRANNON
# 7 JEFF HAVEN
# 1 DANNY RIEGER
# 75 CRAIG ROBINSON
#12 JAY COLEMAN
#22 MIKE HILL
#24 DAVID CLEARY
#27 HAROLD ASHLEY
#19 ANGIE GRANT
#77 BRIAN ROGERS
15 LAP ENDURO FEATURE:
#58 ASHLEY LARSON
#69 MELANIE HENAULT
#88 BOBBI MATTHEWS
#98 RANDY SPICER
#99 ALLEN SCHAFER
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