BRONSON, Fla. - The TBARA made its first appearance of the season at Bronson Motor Speedway Saturday night for race number 8 of the 2003 season. 19 cars made the trip to Bronson, but when the 18 car of Shane Butler blew a motor in the practice laps, the field was reduced to 18 cars. There were three heat laps of 8 laps each. The 96 car driven by Joey Aguilar won the first heat. The 56 car driven by Bobby Rose started the second heat in pole position, and on lap 4 was challenged for the lead by Keith Butler in the 19. The cars made contact which ended with the 19 car spinning up against the wall, the 56 remained running, and the 51 and 29 cars, driven by the Gimmler brothers Mark and Gary, respectively, spun and stalled in order to avoid running into the 19 car. The red flag was thrown whilst the 19 car was removed from the track and taken to the pits to be repaired so that it could run in the feature race. The 56 went on to win the heat. Heat three saw the 33c car of John Sambor on the pole and in the lead for the first three laps, after which he was passed by Wayne Reutinmann Jr. in the 00 car who won the heat.
The 56 car of Bobby Rose took the pole for the start of the feature race. As the cars came around turn 4 and fired up for the start of the race, the 56 and the 33C got together, the 33C bounced off the wall and both cars slid back down the track, collecting the 29 of Gary Gimmler along the way, and narrowly avoiding the rest of field that was coming up behind them. The red flag was brought out whilst the 56, 33C and 29 were taken out by a wrecker. During this time, Keith Butler in the 19 car pulled into the pits to make some adjustments to his car, and rejoined the track before the restart. Doug Heveron in the 22 car was also pushed back the pits with a flat tire and he also got back to the track before the restart. The 96 car driven by Joey Aguilar was also pushed to the pits but did not make it back out for the restart. All cars that made visits to the pits whilst the red flag was out had to start from the back of the field when the full restart was made. So, with first and second place starting cars both out of the race and several cars sent to the back for working on the cars after the race had started, it was a slightly different looking line up when the full restart got underway, with Bo Hartley in the 3X on the pole. On lap 5, a crash occurred on the back straight-away involving at least the 51, 78, 68 and 22 cars, which were all piled up together with the 22 car on it's side. The race was red flagged for the second time whilst the 22, 51 and 68 were removed from the track. The 78 was able to rejoin the race. The race recommenced at lap 5 with Bo Hartley in the 3X still in the lead, a position that he retained until his retirement from the race on lap 8 with some kind of water leak or problem. The number 8 car also retired on the same lap. This left the 00 of Wayne Reutimann Jr., last night's winner in Orlando, in first position. On lap 18, the 66 car driven by Ray Bragg made contact with Wayne Reutimann Sr. in the 99 car, causing the 66 to spin, and to be pushed off under the caution flag and go to the back of the field. On the restarted lap 18, the 66 car again made contact with another car, this time the 78 car of Tim Sharrone, at turn 1, ending the race for both cars and causing a yellow flag caution period while the cars were towed to the infield. The remaining 7 cars finished the race without further incident, with Wayne Reutimann Jr. in the 00 car taking his second consecutive win with the TBARA winged sprint cars. The next scheduled TBARA race will be at Auburndale Motor Speedway on April 26.
HEAT 1
1) 96 Joey Aguilar 2) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr 3) 66 Ray Bragg 4) 68 Dude Teate 5) 6 Skeeter Faulconer 6) 8 Nick Manikis
HEAT 2 1) 56 Bobby Rose 2) 51 Mark Gimmler 3) 29 Gary Gimmler 4) 3X Bo Hartley 5) 3 Richard Burnett 6) 19 Keith Butler
HEAT 3 1) 00 Wayne Reutimann Jr. 2) 22 Doug Heveron 3) 33c John Sambor 4) 2 Scott Adema 5) 6F Bill Pettijohn 6) 78 Tim Sharrone
FEATURE
1) 00 Wayne Reutimann Jr.; 2) 2 Scott Adema; 3) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr; 4) 19 Keith Butler; 5) 6 Skeeter Faulconer; 6) 6F Bill Pettijohn; 7) 3 Richard Burnett; 8) 78 TimSharrone DNF; 9) 66 Ray Bragg DNF; 10) 3X Bo Hartley DNF; 11) 8 Nick Manikis DNF; 12) 51 Mark Gimmler DNF; 13) 68 Dude Teate DNF; 14) 22 Doug Heveron DNF; 15) 56 Bobby Rose DNF; 16) 33c John Sambor DNF; 17) 96 Joey Aguilar DNF; 18) 29 Gary Gimmler DNF
