PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (March 15) - Steve Gainey of Bradenton captured Saturday nights 35-lap feature for open wheel modifieds at Charlotte County Speedway. It was the first race of the new season for the modifieds at the Punta Gorda paved oval.
"I came to test the waters, said Gainey, who has won several track championships at DeSoto Speedway. Im impressed. I'll be racing here instead of DeSoto this year."
Gainey, a 47-year-old who has been racing for 25 years, survived a caution-filled race to take the checkered ahead of another DeSoto Speedway racer Wayne Jefferson. Bart Corlieto of Cape Coral finished a distant third.
The Tampa Bay Area Racing Association winged sprints made their first appearance of 2003 at the Punta Gorda 3/8-mile oval.
Doug Heveron of Jensen Beach once again proved that Charlotte County Speedway is his favorite track, as he took checkers in the 25-lap feature.
It was the first win of the season for Heveron, a former NASCAR Cup driver who also won his only race of 2002 at CCS. Joey Aguilar took second while Dude Teate finished third in the 20-car field.
In dwarf cars, 57-year-old Stan Hope of Fort Myers was the winner ahead of Todd Hart of Coconut Creek. It was the dwarf cars second race of the season.
Pro challenge cars also raced. Howard Brennan of Delray Beach held off hard-charging Rod Sanders. Kyle Nicholas, a 14-year-old out of Naples, took third.
Three regular divisions also ran Saturday night.
In thunder trucks, Gus Coorssen of Bradenton was the fastest in the 25-lap feature, but his No. 10 truck was disqualified in technical inspection for heads. That left Justin Bryant of Arcadia the winner. John Garrett of North Fort Myers moved from third to second. The previous weeks winner Mike Bialecki of Port Charlotte was third. Defending champ Cheryl Weaver went into the wall on lap 7 and was not a factor.
In the road warrior 25-lapper, Phil Oncken of Fort Myers won for the third straight week. Bob Waltz ofCape Coral led up to lap 20, when he was turned sideways. He hung on for second. Chris Huntoon of Englewood worked hard for third.
The super stock 25-lapper saw Danny Caylor hold off a late charge from Elbert Butts of Arcadia. Walt Korkiner of Cape Coral took third.
Pro Challenge 1. 56 Howard Brennan 2. 1 3. 2 Kyle Nicholas 4. 12 5. 5 6. 10 Tim Hart 7. 25 Mike Laga 8. 8 9. 31 Kenny Curly 10. 4
Dwarf Cars (Mod Lites) 1. 8 Stan Hope 2. 07 3. 2 Phil Krathoff 4. 22 5. 82 Mike Bulser 6. 5 George Landis 7. 20 8. 3 Doug Parlamento 9. 07FL James Biglin 10. 71 Eric Powell 11. 15 12. 72 John Sproul 13. 0 14. 00 (DNS)
TBARA Sprints 1. 22 Doug Heveron 2. 96 Joey Aguilar 3. 68 Dude Teate 4. 18 Shane Butler 5. 3x Bo Hartley 6. 56 Bobby Rose 7. 29 Gary Gimmler 8. 2 Scott Adema 9. 88 Allen Sport 10. 19 Keith Butler 11. 33c John Sambor 12. 5w Randy Woodall 13. 51 Mark Gimmler 14. 15 Murrah Hall 15. 6 Skeeter Faulconer 16. 47 Richard Waddel 17. 6F Bill Pettijohn 18. 80 Wendy Mathis 19. 61 Scott Steffy 20. 32 Sonny Hartley
Open Wheel Modified 1. 1 Steve Gainey 2. 1j Wayne Jefferson 3. 19 Bart Corleito 4. 71 L. B. Skaggs 5. 98 Johnny Allen 6. 18 Sean LeMaster 7. 80 Chris Dean 8. 31 Kurt Riley 9. 12 Eric Rudd 10. 22 Caleb Rashar 11. 63 Phil Morrison 12. 93 Steve Duerr 13. 55 Dan Atwell 14. 2 Kevin Brickley
Road Warrior 1. 61 Chris Oncken 2. 5 Bob Waltz 3. 30 Chris Huntoon 4. 19 Brandon Anderson 5. 31 Willard Hedden 6. 40 Don Justice 7. 18 Shane Leonard 8. 11 Robert Hendry 9. 1 Jesse Gargus 10. 09 Doug Raastad 11. 17 Fred Wilson 12. 92 Richard Dupont
Thunder Trucks 1. 24 Justin Bryant 2. 22 John Garrett 3. 8 Mike Bialecki 4. 56 Bob Charette 5. 44 Raymond Tucker 6. 00 Ronnie Grimes 7. 13 Jay Bryant 8. 14 Randy Layman 9. 37 Cheryl Weaver 10. 16 Wally Smith 11. 9 Ray Scott 12. 7 (DNS) Bob Maine 13. 10 Guss Coorssen (disqualified)
Road Warrior 1. 61 Chris Oncken 2. 5 Bob Waltz 3. 30 Chris Huntoon 4. 19 Brandon Anderson 5. 31 Willard Hedden 6. 40 Don Justice 7. 18 Shane Leonard 8. 11 Robert Hendry 9. 7 Jonathan Abraham 10. 09 Doug Raastad 11. 17 Fred Wilson 12. 92 Richard Dupont
Best Coast Insurance Super Stocks 1. 7 Danny Caylor 2. 31x Elbert Butts 3. 56 Walt Korkiner 4. 13 Randy Miller 5. 23 Brian Richardson 6. 11 Doug Spitzer 7. 10 Eric Smith 8. 8 George Tanner 9. 4w Wayne Wilson 10. 04 Chuck Stevens 11. 14 Ricky Gill 12. 33 Mike Loney 13. 83 John Hanuschik
