Mr. Bud Street Stock Championship Requires B-Main Action
by Bill Green “From Behind The MIC!”
Tampa, FL (Oct. 11th, 2003) The Mr. Bud Championship is a prized position in every one of the 7 classes at East Bay Raceway Park. Tonight’s Street Stock Mr. Bud Championship would be a big one, as 32 cars signed in for the 26 starting positions. Twenty cars would make it to the 20-lap feature on their qualifying time and 6 from the B-Main.
On a slick, but fast track, it would fall to 7 different drivers to set new track records in one single qualifying session. As the track records fell one after another, it would be the 25 of Jason Bronson winding up one top of the scoreboard with a 22.620 lap on the 1/3-mile clay oval. B-Main action would see Jody Robbins, Mark Alderman, David Strickland, Tim Hunt, Glen Hodges and Tim Spencer make the Mr. Bud Feature, in that order.
After two-lap qualifying, a B-Main and the dreaded pill draw, it would be Paul Gibbs leading them to the green flag as the lucky pole sitter. After 7 cautions and even more restarts, it would be new track record holder Jason Bronson in the Mr. Bud Championship Victory Lane. Second would go to Eric Johnson in the tech-shed, as Rob Hall’s #7 would have a muffler violation. That brought Paul Gibbs to third, Austin “Young Colonel” Sanders fourth and brought David Strickland from 23rd starting spot, all the way to a top-5 finish.
Mini-Stocks saw only 15 entries through the pit-gate, but they would all battle hard for another feature win. Scott Howard would survive close calls with lap traffic to take the win. Greg Pae would take second, third went to Jim Coursen and fourth was Wallace Peacock, with pole sitter Rich Livernois settling for fifth.
Late Models saw Phillip Cobb use his outside row one starting spot to rocket to a feature win. Marred by yellows, the late models would have their first time-shortened feature of the season as the checkered flag flew on lap 12. Second would go to pole sitter Jack Nosbisch, Jr., with “The Master” Donnie Tanner finishing third, Bill Howard fourth and David Schmauss fifth.
Winged 360 Sprints warmed up for the coming Fall Brawl with 20 of the winged rockets taking the green. The Goodson Farms entries would out class most of the field early, but “The Hammer” Danny Martin, Jr. would remind every fan and driver that you never give up. Martin would catch third place finisher Johnny Gilbertson in lapped traffic and feel that second was going to be all he could get out of this one. But, with only 3-laps left to go, “The Malabar Missile” Kenny Adams would make one of the few mistakes the past Champion has ever made, as he was lapping the field. Misjudging the entry of turn-3, Adams would send himself into the infield and return to the racing surface in turn 4. Meanwhile Danny Martin, Jr. would still be “Hammer” down and take the lead and victory. Adams settled for second, Gibertson third, “Crazy Joe” Melnick took forth and Paulie “Daisy Dukes” Milum hung on for fifth.
Limited Late Models rebounded from a time-shortened event last week, to an action-packed feature tonight. Leading the charge was Roger Crouse finishing first on the track, but tech inspection found a muffler problem. So the win would go to Mike Rudder, with Jeff Mathews second, J. R. Prather, Jr. third, the Bronson brothers would finish 4th and 5th with Terry getting the better of Timmy in the family duel.
Next week we have a schedule change at East Bay Raceway Park, as the wings return to the tops of our Limited Sprints and a week later the Old Time Sprints & Vintage Stock Cars replace the 360 Sprints on the program, allowing for their participation in the USCS Florida Fall Brawl. Go-Karts return to the 1/5-mile interior oval on October 17th and 24th.
