Tampa, Fla - With the first 50 laps of the big $10,000-to-win 100 lap finale showing nine lead changes among four drivers, there was not way for fans to pre- dict the outcome of the 4th Annual Ramada Inn on Tampa Bay Open Wheel Modified race at East Bay Raceway Park Saturday night.
After the mandatory fuel stop, the second portion of the race belonged to Jimmy Owens out of Newport, TN who became the fourth different winner. "It's a struggle for me, but the track was great and racey," he revealed to track announcer Bill Green in victory lane. Further explaining how he lost the lead on several occasions during the first 50 laps, "My car is bad on take offs and that got me shook up and I plum messed up."
"I kept watching the track all night. I even skipped hot laps because I kenw I'd change something and screw my car up," he confessed as he held the big $10,000 check high over his head. His total earnings for the night grew to $11,500 when Ramada Inn representatives, Doug Green and Gwen Thurman added an extra $1,000 because he produced his room receipt from their hotel and with proof of his fuel purchases, the Sunoco $500 bonus was added also.
Owens, who also won a qualifying night feature worth $1,500, wanted to take this opportunity to thank his crew chief, Chris Fox and his sponsors, Red Line Oil, Real Wheels, Bilstein Shocks, Performance Chassis and Hovis engines.
The program consisted of all feature events lined up by points from the two previous qualifying nights. This put high-point man Shane Cottle on the pole, but he lost the front spot to outside pole man Corey Conley by the first lap. Cottle regained his composure and led laps two through twelve. Fourth starting Owens led laps 13 through 24, before Cottle took charge again on lap 25. By lap 32, Mike Marlar had come all the way up from 21st again, only to swap with Marlar again on lap 49. Owens was determined to lead at the 50 lap mandatory fuel break and he did. From that point on, Owens led every lap to the checkered flag.
Yellow flags were not a problem and only came out on lap five for Timmy Barrett who was backwards on the back- stretch, lap 11 for Ron Jones who lost power, lap 22 for a spin by Barrett and again on lap 24 for Kevin Weaver stopped outside turn two. Bill Howard spun inside turn two on lap 39 then Conley lost power in turn two on lap 77 before the final yellow on lap 98 for Howard in turn three, setting up a two-lap dash to the finish. Joel Cryderman tried to seize the opportunity and pressured Owens on the white flag lap, but Owens was up to the challenge and made no mistakes.
Weaver worked his way to third spot at the end, ahead of Bob Pohlman, Jr. and John Hobson. Marler, Mike Wedelstadt, Mark Iverson, Cottle and Craig Christiansen rounded out the top ten.
David Steele and Scott Peterson moved up from the E-Main, while Joey Jensen and Rick Strickler advanced from the D-Main. The C-Main sent Jeff Matthews and Brent Glastetter to the back of the B-Main, then the four cars to advance from the B-Main were Mariar, Cryderman, Pohlman and Timmy Barrett.
The Goodson Farms Strawberry Dash was won by Rick White. The Street Stock winner was Don Gananer and Dorsey Strickland won the Mini Stock Main.
Ramada Inn on Tampa Bay Open Wheel Modified Winter- nationals Race Results from Saturday night, January 25, 2003
E-Main - 10 laps - 1)David Steele 2)Scott Petersen 3) John Bardley 4)Robbie Simpson 5)Wess Winman 6)Darrel George 7)D.J. Braddock 8)Larry Yanero, Jr. - dns
D-Main - 12 laps - 1)Joey Jensen 2)Rick Strickler 3) Ricky White 4)Mike Conn 5)Jason Zdroik 6)Scott Owens 7)Matt Goulden 8)Trey Allen 9)Michael Bodendorfer 10) Russell Childress 11)Scott Petersen 12)Joey Fowler 13)Mike Null, Jr. 14)Rich Gilbert 15)David Steele 16) Ronnie Hargrave 17)Richard Narden 18)Jason Ball 19) Dennis Barton 20)Terry McClintock 21)Jim Szekacs 22) Reese Dalton
C-Main - 15 laps - 1)Jeff Matthews 2)Brent Glastetter 3)Gary Archambault 4)Joey Jensen 5)Arron Peritt 6) Craig Thatcher 7)Jason Lakey 8)Kenny Johnson 9)Mike Potosky 10)Rick Strickler 11)Bill Davis 12)Rick Conoyer 13)Nick Gough 14)Jeff Taylor 15)Ken Riddle 16)Jeff Bodendorfer 17)Rick Day 18)Christopher Cummins 19) Vic Vandergrif 20)Bobby Carter 21)Bruce Watkins 22) Robby Perkins-dns
B-Main - 20 laps - 1)Mike Marlar 2)Joel Cryderman 3)Bob Pohlman, Jr. 4)Timmy Barrett 5)David McWilliams 6)Tim Isom 7)Jess Hartman 8)Tim Hill II 9)Lee Hobbs 10)Julie McDermid 11)Brent Sutton 12)Garrett Durrett 13)Brad Roloff 14)Don Kiger 15)Jeff Leka 16)Brent Trimble 17) Brent Glastetter 18)Paul Wilmouth, Jr. 19)Jeff Matthews 20)Scott Weber 21)J.P. Karpowicz 22)Rich Logan, Jr.
Strawberry Dash - 1)Rick White 2)Arron Peritt 3)Paul Wilmouth 4)Timmy Parrett 5)Rick Day 6)Jeff Mathews 7) J.P. Karpowicz 8)Jeff Bordendorfer
A-Main - 100 laps $10,000 to WIN - 1)Jimmy Owens 2) Joel Cryderman 3)Kevin Weaver 4)Bob Pohlman, Jr. 5) John Hobson 6)Mike Marlar 7)Mike Wedelstadt 8)Mark Iverson 9)Shane Cottle 10)Craig Christiansen 11) Denny Schwartz 12)Joey Jensen 13)Tommy Kroll 14)Todd Neiheiser 15)Brady Short 16)Bill Howard 17)Randy Hall 18)Timmy Barrett 19)Rob Fuqua 20)Randie Sweeney 21) Dan Hamstra 22)Kyle Logue 23)Corey Conley 24)Ryan Bowman 25)Bruce Watkins 26)Ron Jones
Street Stock Main - 1)Don Gansner 2)Mac Kersey 3)Jody Robbins 4)Tim Spencer 5)Henry Ploff 6)David Riner 7) Charlie Wiberg 8)Paul Gibbs 9)D.J. Sanders 10)Steven Johnson 11)Jack Rowland 12)Paul Day 13)Ron Pope 14) Jim Greenwood 15)Christina Cameron
Mini Stock Main - 1)Dorsey Strickland 2)Scotty Williams 3)Arnold Perkins 4)Steve Metzmer 5)Steve Wright 6)John Tyson 7)Robert Douglass 8)Jason Cannon
