IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

September 19, 2004 FSCR East Bay Returns To Racing Action With Seven Feature Program by Bill Green Tampa, FL (Sep. 18th, 2004) East Bay Raceway Park returned to the business of Saturday Night racing with all 7 classes running for points in action. Some of the 360 sprint car pilots had not seen the East Bay clay for almost 3 months. But, all 7 classes triumphantly returned to racing in the added laps feature only program. It was in the driver's meeting that track President ask if anyone would object to the feature only show included 5 bonus laps for all but the 360 sprint car field. When no objections were voiced, the laps were added. The first bit of action took place in warm-ups as the Limited Sprint #44A of Mike Steinruck contacted the turn one wall and tumbled to a stop. Mike was OK, but will be alittle sore tomorrow. The only other flip of the night came in the 360 Sprint feature when points leader Brian Maddox would flip in turn-2, but it appeared that something broke on the car as it made a quick right turn to contact the wall. Brian was OK also and returned later in the Limited Sprint. The first feature on the track would be the Limited Late Models. They would be one of the classes with the extra laps added, so the extended 20-lap feature was won by Timmy Bronson, coming from the 17th starting position. Second would go to 11th starter J. R. Prather, Jr. Third went to 22nd starter Dave Roberts, 17th starting Richard Kessinger taking fourth and Paul Sampson moving from 6th to 5th for the top-five finish. Street Stocks rolled out next for 20-laps and the fans would once again see several starters outside the top-ten coming to the front. First would go to "The Phantom 309" of Danny Paris, from his 12th starting spot. Second saw Wayne Hayes move up from 8th, while Paul Gibbs made the big move of the night from 27th starting spot to third. Fourth went to 19th starter Don Gansner, with Joseph Jones salvaging fifth from a fourth place start. Open Wheel Modifieds sponsored by Gagle's Used Auto Parts showed that a front runner could go on to win a feature tonight, as Rusty Dixon out lasted "Prime Time" Bobby Dixon, his dad, for the win. Third would go to David Schmauss, with Bill Howard moving from 18th to fourth and Roger Crouse getting a top-5 in his new ride. 360 Sprints came into the night having not run at East Bay for some two full months due to weather conditions. The "Malabar Missile" Kenny Adams and the "Hammer" Danny Martin,Jr. would put on a show as Kenny would take the early lead only to have Danny Martin clear traffic some 12 car lengths back in second and reel him in to challenge for the lead on the final circuit. Adams held on for the win and told the crowd, "It's great to be back at East Bay. Danny (Danny Martin, Jr.) and I have been traveling with the USCS series and he's starting to get tough on these short tracks." Kenny also added that it was good to see the stands full after all the troubles of the past few weeks. While Martin settled for second, third went to new points leader Daryl Smith, fourth would see fan favorite "Crazy" Joe Melnick cross the stripe ahead of longtime runner Bob Auld in fifth. Late Models would go 30-laps in the extended program and saw one of the top-5 Late Model races of the season as Bobby Alexander, Sr. would lead most of the second half of the event, only to have "The Master" Donnie Tanner pick his pocket in turn two on the final lap. Tanner used his patient never say die style to hound Alexander into a bobble in turn two and that was all The Master needed for the win. Bobby settled for second, third went to Jeff Mathews, third to K. D. Kelly and getting his best finish of the season, Frank Erskine, Jr. raced to fifth after starting outside pole. Mini Stock action was wild, hot and heavy. But, when the racing finally finished, first would go to Ryan Mitchell, Jim Courson remain in second, Rich Livernois took third, fourth went to Greg Pae and Willard Daily held on to fifth. Limited Sprints finished the night off with the Mopar ride of Frank Beck III in Victory Lane ahead of Paulie Milum second, Brian Maddox returned to action after the 360 Sprint crash for third, Donnie Maxwell brought the Ford to fourth and Time Holston held on the final top-5 of the night. East Bay Raceway Park wants to Thank the drivers, car owners and fans for their support through this rough and very wet summer. They also want to remind everyone that the 2004 season will run an extra weekend as they bring the Open Wheel Modifieds in from around the country for the season ending Cool Down 50 worth $5000 to the winner. For more information on that race and the USCS 360 Fall Brawl Nov. 5th and 6th, call East Bay's office at 813-677-RACE (7223). We'll See You At The RACES! ************************************************************ EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK FULL FIELD FINISH FOR SEP 18TH, 2004 Limited Late Models - 20Laps 1. 24-Timmy Bronson 2. 007-J.R.Prather, Jr. 3. 1-Dave Roberts 4. 67-Richard Kessinger 5. 93-Paul Sampson 6. 124-Dennis Williams 7. 23-Robert Douglas 8. 25-Jason Bronson 9. 27-Bruce Harvey 10. 104-John Combs 11. 73-Jeremy Simpson 12. 29-William Hampton 13. 89-David Barwick 14. 48-BillHoward 15. 8-Doug Decker 16. 66-Ricky Land 17. 75-Tommy Kelley 18. 23D-David Simpson 20. 38-Brian Reighard 21. 101 John Clay Kemper 22. 22-Cheryl Cockran Street Stocks - 20Laps 1. 309-Danny Paris 2. 83-Wayne Hays 3. 2-Paul Gibbs 4. 15-Don Gansner 5. 4-Joseph Jones 6. 45-Micheal Cherry 7. 55-Buck Woodhouse 8. 270-Raymond Lindsey 9. 0-Matt Bozeman 10. 05-Steve Burch 11. 64-Austin Sanders 12. 3-Dave Floyd 13. 82-Steve Metzmier 14. 02-Tim Spencer 15. 43-Tony Jackson 16. 59-Charlie Wiberg 17. 49-Doug Johnson 18. 77-Austin Keehan 19. 84-unknown 20. 124-Kevin Silvia 21. 007II-Peter Kearney 22. 711-Christy Kidder 23. 23-Roger Faivre 24. 71-Eric Pet'y 25. 68-Mike Wilson 26. 00B-Kyle Bronson 27. 03-Mac Kersey 28. 51-Loren Bailey 29. 53-Ken Shaffer Open Wheeled Modified - 20-Laps 1. 97-Rusty Dixon 2. 205-Bobby Dixon 3. 105-David Schmauss 4. 3-Bill Howard 5. 71X-Roger Crouse 6. 31-Brian Hollifield 7. 4-Billy Boyd, Jr. 8. 27-Ike Walker 9. 49-Randy Shields, Jr. 10. 01B-John Bradley 11. 3B-Billy Boyd, Sr. 12. 3X-David Boerner 13. B12-Bruce Watkins 14. 007-Brian Dalton 15. 2D-Devin Dixon 16. 11B-Jamie Burrows 17. 09JR-Charlie Paris, Sr. 18. 86-Buddy Wisham 19. 00-Greg Reutimann 20. 33-Jeff Mathews 21. 47-Jeff Conyers 22. 8M-Matt Miller 23. 99-Russell Boyd 24. 007Jr-J.R.Prather, Jr. 25. 53-Ken Shaffer 26. 33C-Dusty Cates 27. 2B-Robert Bohager 28. R3-Rick Martin 29. 45-Bob Peterson 360 Sprints - 25Laps 1. 4A-Kenny Adams 2. 00-Danny Martin, Jr. 3. 3-Daryl Smith 4. 8M-Joe Melnick 5. 83-Bob Auld 6. 50-Rick Byerly 7. 3X-Ray Bolin 8. 33-Neil LaRose 9. 42-Paulie milum 10. 82-Brian Maddox 11. 32-Stephen Darvalics Late Models - 30Laps 1. 88-Donnie Tanner 2. 15-Bobby Alexander, Sr. 3. 33-Jeff Mathews 4. 00-K.D.Kelly 5. 5-Frank Erskine, Jr. 6. 87-John Norris 7. 55-Al Larson 8. 8-Bobby Alexander, Jr 9. 105-David Schmauss 10. 16-Trevor Merrell 11. 120-Tom Megginson 12. 32-Roger Crouse 13. 007-Sport Allen 14. 70C-Billy Childs (DNS) Mini Stocks - 20Laps 1. 5K-Ryan Mitchell 2. 73-Jim Courson 3. 71-Rich Livernois 4. 65-Greg Pae 5. 24W-Willard Dailey 6. 31-Michael Gulvin 7. 5C-Kenny Baggerly 8. 16-Derek Nagle 9. 15-Cecil Martin 10. 3-Daniel Bowman 11. 17-Mark Nagle 12. P1-Wallace Peacock 13. 06-Kris Douglas 14. 222-Robert Surgoine 15. 51X-Dorsey Strickland 16. 2-Josh Peacock 17. 8M-Steve Miller 18. 7Jr-Chad Rose 19. 6-Adam Weeks 20. 9-Joie Preece 21. 63-Scotty Williams (DQ) 22. 46-Brian DeBore (DNS) Limited Sprints - 20Laps 1. 2-Frank Beck III 2. 42-Paulie Milum 3. 82-Brian Maddox 4. 5-Donnie Maxwell 5. 30-Tim Holston 6. 1Star-Tim George 7. 3-Travis Bliemeister 8. 99-Danny Jones 9. 21S-James Surrency 10. 29-Steve Mueller 11. 85-Greg Leonard 12. 21-Larry Brazil 13. 30R-Joe Wengard 14. 27-Michael Smith 15. 8-Rich Alexander 16. 44A-Mike Steinruck (DNS) Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!