East Bay Sees Clear Skies After Tropical Storm Henri Passes
by Bill Green “From Behind The MIC
Tropical Storm Henri sure looked to be ready to ruin another Saturday Night of racing at East Bay Raceway Park. But finally, Mother Nature had mercy on the local racing community and clear skies greeted fans and racers all day Saturday.
First on the track would be the Hill’s Dirt Pits, Pioneer Tire & Auto, Buzbee Aquatic’s Mini-Stocks. Heat wins would go to Chad Rose and Josh Peacock. The feature event would go to Chad Rose for the first clean sweep of the night, with Brian DeBore second, Ryan Mitchell third, Scotty Williams forth and pole sitter Greg Pae would hold on for fifth.
Next we would see the usual large contingent of Open Wheeled Modifieds taking on the clay-by-the-bay, with Jim Passino and “Primetime” Bobby Dixon taking heat wins. The feature event would see clean sweep number two on the night, as asphalt specialist Jim Passino would take his first ever Feature Event Win. And, with 7 of the top-10 in points not finishing the race, the points were really up for grabs. Jerry White finished second, with John Bradley third, Mike Rudder forth and Greg Edwards came from 18th to the final top-5 spot.
Street Stocks rolled out third with 19 cars ready for action. Heats went to Jason Bronson and Eric Johnson. Looked like they were on their way to $20 extra for the green to checkered run with no yellows, but on lap 9 the 33 of Lonnie Smith would spin in turn 2 to thwart the effort. Taking the win would be Danny Paris, with Jason Bronson second, Eric Johnson third, Rob Hall forth and Bruce Harvey fifth.
Late Models would get a special treat tonight as the normally exciting 1-800-A$K-GARY DA$H-4-CA$H would be rolled into the feature event for the 1-800-A$K-GARY Feature Event, paying the top 6 cars a little extra cash for the evenings efforts. Heat wins went to the veteran Donnie Tanner and Roger Crouse. Bobby Alexander, Sr. would use the outside pole to take an early lead, but veteran driver Donnie Tanner showed his poise and concentration as he reeled in the leader and used the outside cushion to take the lead from Alexander. So “The Master” Donnie Tanner takes lifetime win number 600 plus, with Bobby Alexander, Sr. second, Devon Dixon third, K. D. Kelly forth and David Schmauss fifth.
Limited Late Models would see a good field of cars show for tonight’s racing and heats would go to Forest Gough and William Hampton. Victory Lane would see Timmy Gay over come the heat winners for the win, but was DQ’d in tech for no muffler, giving the win to Ricky Land. Hampton jumped to second, Terry Bronson to third, Roger Crouse to forth and gave Timmy Bronson the fifth place finish.
Limited Sprints continue some good racing, but with cars counts often in single digits, they are going to find it hard to be a regular race class at East Bay Raceway Park in 2004. The single heat of all 8 cars would see Tim Holston take the win. Feature would be survival of the fittest, with Tim Holston taking the second clean sweep of the night with the heat and feature win. Second would go to Tim George, third to Travis Blimister, forth to James Surrency and fifth to Dave Retzlaff.
Next week it’s Winged 360 Sprints and the regular classes for Saturday Night, with G0-Kart Racing under-the-lights on Friday. Thanks to all the racers and race fans of East Bay Raceway Park from the owners and officials of the track.
