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| STREET STOCK POINT LEADERS HAVE RUN INTO TROUBLE AT SUNSHINE SPEEDWAY | by Thom Watson
PINELLAS PARK, FLORIDA: Mark Cooper took the lead late in the Street Stock feature after the top three leaders spun out. On lap 12, early leader, #24, David Cleary blew an engine and sprayed oil in turn three and as he spun, the second place car of Rick Hartman, #95 and the third place of Jeff Haven, #7, couldn’t avoid the oil and went for a spin too. Hartman kept the lead since he was the only one still running of the top three and they reverted back to the previous lap scoring, but quickly surrendered the lead to eventual winner, Cooper, who took the lead on lap 14. Point’s leader, Harold “the duck” Ashley had early trouble after taking a spin in turn on lap three, then stalled a lap later. He was two laps down and out of contention. Cleary, who was second in points also lost ground in the points chase. The #98 of Roger Welch, who was third in points, managed to finish in the runner-up spot and should move up. Last weeks winner, #22, Mike Hill finished third.
In the Enduro feature, the #58 of Ashley Larson captured her fourth win of the season. After starting 13th in the 15-car field Larsen steadily moved through the field. By lap four, she was in the top three. Two laps later she was in second and two laps after that she went inside of leader, #81 Michael Crooks to take the lead on the backstretch. As they came around turn four, they touch, Crooks goes high in the turn and after hitting the wall, comes down and sends Larson spinning. Larson kept the lead and after the restart, lengthened her lead to six car lengths at the end, as she was not threatened again.
Open Wheel Modified point’s leader, #80, James Houle collected his eighth top five finish of the season as he finished in fifth place. Chico Alberto, in the #33 car, took the lead at the mid-point and never looked back. On lap nine, in turn one, Alberto went to the inside of leader #51, Mike Hinegardner in turn one and finally took the lead for good by the time they came out of turn four. Alberto finished a car length in front of Hinegardner.
The MiniStock feature saw four lead changes with Dennis Valdez; #40 taking his second win of the year. Tom Zimmerman, in the #55, started second and took the lead on the first lap. Tina Reiner, #14, started on the point and took the lead on lap two and was able to hold onto it until Zimmerman managed to get back by her on lap 10. Meanwhile, Valdez was moving to the front. On lap 12 he went to the inside of Mike Birk, Jr. to take over third. On lap 17, Zimmerman blew an engine in turn three with Valdez able to take over the lead. On the restart, Valdez was able to hold off Reiner who finished second and the #72 of Dan Smith. At press time, there was a protest lodged and the order is unofficial at this time.
Robert Crisp, #2, started on the pole and led wire-to-wire in the Outlaw Late Model feature. He was the clear leader and not threatened until lap 17 when the second place car of Scott Holley, #1, tapped him and both went spinning. Crisp kept the lead, while Holley was sent to the rear. The second place car of #6, Ed Kidd had the #112 of Corky Craver on his tail since lap 11 but held him off. On lap 19 the #27 of Pete Coon got around Craver and managed to wind up third. Craver was ordered to the tech shed, refused to go and was disqualified.
The Figure 8 race also had a wire-to-wire leader as the #3 of Cliff Rousseau started on the point and at times had a seven-car length lead. The first half was fairly routine, but on lap 13 the #7 of Wayne Calkins and the #40 of Mark Thomas tangled just past the X and Calkins went head first, hard into the front stretch wall. Calkins was able to unbuckle himself and walk away, shaken but ok. The race was on for second place with the #17 of Bobby “Zeebo” Moctezuma able to hold off the #21 of J.R. Meyer who rode him hard for the last seven laps, but could never make the pass. Meyer held onto third place, but had the same heat on his rear bumper as the “Master” Art Calkins was breathing just as hard on him, as Meyer was on Moctezuma.
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