IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

August 8, 2004 FSCR Sprint Cars At New Smyrna; David Steele Tops Field By Curtis Whalin David Steele raced to his second victory of the 2004 TBARA winged sprint cars series at New Smyrna Speedway on Saturday night. There were 22 cars at the track to provide the fans with three 8-lap heat races and a 25-lap feature event. Bo Hartley in the 3X and J.J. Dutton in the 6F formed the starting front row for the first heat race. The 3X made the better start and took an early lead. By lap 5 he was being chased hard by Wayne Reutimann Sr in the 99 machine. Two laps of close driving later, the 99 took the lead to win the heat race with the 3X in finishing in second place. Pole sitter for the start of heat two was Richard Waddell, with Ray Bragg in the 66 alongside. Ray took the lead at the start of the race and kept it to win the heat with fourth place starter Sport Allen in the 96 car coming in second. As the cars were pushed out for the third heat, the 51 of Mark Gimmler would not fire and he did not make the heat race. The 1 car driven by Steven Bradley fired, but something on the car broke and both his rear brake pads broke loose and landed on the track. The TBARA officials stopped his car and he was pushed off the track. The remaining cars lined up with Bobby Rose in the 56 on the pole and Wendy Mathis in the 80 car starting in second place. Wendy got the better start and took the lead. The 56 car pulled in on lap 2, and Wendy went on to win the heat and David Slawiak finished second. All 22 cars made it onto the track for the feature race. During the pre-race warm up laps, the engine blew on the 56 of Bobby Rose coming out of turn 2. The oil was cleaned up off the track and the cars lined up for the start of the race. After the 4 wide parade lap, the TBARA salute to the fans, the 3X of Bo Hartley lined up in pole position with Wendy Mathis alongside in the second place starting slot. The first start was untidy and so the cars lined back up. The second start was good and the 3X took the first race lead. Steven Bradley retired the 1 to the infield on lap 2 and he was followed by the 51 of Mark Gimmler on lap 4. The 66 of Ray Bragg got a flat rear tire on lap 13, bringing out the caution flag. By the time the field was correctly lined back up, Ray was able to change the tire and got back on the track, rejoining at the back of the field. While the caution was out, Shane Miller retired the 33 with an apparently overheating engine. The race got back to green and with the field now bunched together the race of the lead was very intense. There were 2 laps of close battling between Bo Hartley in the 3X, current race leader, and David Steele in the 91 in second place. David looked high and low on the track trying to get around the 3X and after 3 hard fought laps he finally made the pass to take the lead on lap 17. On lap 19, Skeeter Faulconer retired the 6 car into the pits and was followed one lap later by Randy Woodall in the 5W. When the race ended, David Steele took the win by several car lengths in the 91 car, with Wayne Reutimann Sr in the 99 car coming in second. It was a third place finish for early race leader Bo Hartley in the 3X. Sport Allen in the 96 took fourth and points leader going into the race Dude Teate finished out the top 5. The next currently scheduled TBARA race is at Ocala Speedway on September 25, but keep a watch on the club's website at www.TBARA.com for news of any additional races that may get scheduled during this time. HEAT 1 1) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr 2) 3X Bo Hartley 3) 68 Dude Teate 4) 29 Gary Gimmler 5) 7 John Gilbert Jr 6) 33C John Sambor 7) 6F J. J. Dutton 8) 33 Lee Cipray (DNS) HEAT 2 1) 66 Ray Bragg 2) 96 Sport Allen 3) 91 David Steele 4) 22 Doug Heveron 5) 118 Troy DeCaire 6) 47 Richard Waddell 7) 6 Skeeter Faulconer HEAT 3 1) 80 Wendy Mathis 2) 79 David Slawiak 3) 19 Keith Butler 4) 5W Randy Woodall 5) 56 Bobby Rose 6) 1 Steven Bradley (DNS) 7) 51 Mark Gimmler (DNS) FEATURE 1) 91 David Steele; 2) 99 Wayne Reutimann Sr; 3) 3X Bo Hartley; 4) 96 Sport Allen; 5) 68 Dude Teate; 6) 22 Doug Heveron; 7) 79 David Slawiak; 8) 29 Gary Gimmler; 9) 19 Keith Butler; 10) 66 Ray Bragg; 11) 7 John Gilbert Jr; 12) 80 Wendy Mathis; 13) 118 Troy DeCaire; 14) 33c John Sambor; 15) 6F J.J. Dutton; 16) 47 Richard Waddell; 17) 5W Randy Woodall; 18) 6 Skeeter Faulconer; 19) 33 Shane Miller; 20) 51 Mark Gimmler; 21) 1 Steven Bradley; 22) 56 Bobby Rose Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!