IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 2, 2004 FSCR Out Side the Front Row seemed To Be the Place to Start at East Bay Saturday by Bill Green Tampa, FL. (May 1st, 2004) Open Wheel Modifieds were set to run two features, having to make up the lost Friday Night feature of last week and the fans did not even know what a show that first feature would be. Also, a quick note for East Bay fans, Hoosier tire guru Gene Slaughter will be featured in Monday’s “Hometown Hero” segment on local news channel, Bay News 9. So watch for Gene at 53 minutes past the hour starting at 5:53 AM and running throughout the day, May 3rd. Congratulations Gene Slaughter! Now back to the first Open Wheeled Modified feature. Pole sitter David Schmauss could only hold on for third, while watching the 5th and 13th starting cars of Greg Reutimann and Jeff Mathews battle side-by-side for the final few laps for the win. Reutimann held the lead early as Mathews worked his magic to get to the front. They would really put on a side-by-side, slide show as Mathews took the lead with 5-laps to go. Reutimann fought back under Mathews and the race was on. Jeff held Greg off for the win, but the crowd rewarded both drivers with a standing ovation. Schmauss took third, with “Prime Time” Bobby Dixon fourth and John Bradley fifth. Limited sprints have a missing feature to make up next week, but tonight’s feature winner came from the outside of row 1, as Tim Holston battled no power steering for most of the race to take the win. Second went to the “Mopar Missile” Frank Beck, III, third was Donnie Maxwell, Larry Brazil, Jr. took fourth and “Big” Tim George celebrated his 21st Anniversary with a fifth place finish. Mini-Stocks saw Scotty William celebrate his Tampa Tribune feature article due out Tuesday, by cruising to feature event win number 6 on the year. Second would go to Jimmy Waldrop, while Jim Courson took third, Chad Rose came from 11th to fourth and Greg Pae brought the “Purple People Eater” to fifth. Open Wheeled Modified feature number two still had some excitement. Schmauss lost a drive shaft, Reutimann was unable to mount the big charge the crowd was looking for, but the result up front was the same, as Jeff Mathews made a clean sweep on the night winning both features. Second would go to “Prime Time” Bobby Dixon, third was John Bradley, fourth finisher was pole sitter Rusty Dixon and Jeff Conyers got fifth. Late Models started 15 cars for their 25-lap feature and by the end it was the “Mayor of Muddville” Roger Crouse, locked in a battle with Keith Nosbisch for the win. But, that was only after Vince Muzzin took off and left the field behind for 17 laps in the lead only to spin all alone in turn-2. So, it was Keith Nosbisch using the low line to edge under Roger Crouse as they took the white flag. But, a turn 1 bobble by Keith would give Roger the win. Nosbisch took second, “The Master” Donnie Tanner came on to third, David Schmauss salvaged a fourth place finish and Marshall Austin made it to fifth from 13th starting spot. Limited Late Models go 15-laps with Terry Bronson taking the win from his outside front row starting spot. David Simpson got to second place, Forest Gough took third, Richard Kessinger made a great run from 18th to fourth and J. R. Prather, Jr. got the final top-5 spot. Street Stocks took to the track with 20 cars ready for action. Ten cars would be on the lead lap at the end and it would be the “Phantom-309” of Danny Paris going to Victory Lane from the outside pole. Followed by Richard Peathingy second, Thomas White third, Steve Burch fourth and Daniel Lewis fifth. Don’t forget Sunday afternoon Go-Karts on May 2nd at 3PM to make up for Friday’s rainout and next week’s Saturday Night show will include the Mini-Stock Friday April 23rd Make-up Feature, plus 360 Winged Sprints are back in action with our weekly classes. Get Tuesday’s Tampa Tribune and watch Bay News 9 on Monday morning for specials on East Bay Raceway Park celebrities. Autographs anyone? We’ll See You At The Races! Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!