IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

November 1, 2004 FSCR Halloween Racing includes Kids Trick-or-Treating and Old Time Sprint Cars By Bill Green Tampa, FL (Oct. 30th, 2004) Tonight’s big winners at East Bay Raceway Park were the kids. East Bay’s junior race fans enjoyed a night of games and goodies, plus several of the East Bay racecar sponsors gave 100’s of toys for the night’s festivities. One of those being Michael Cherry’s racing family giving the lions share of the give-a-ways, plus Dean’s Sheet Metal making a big splash with a great Boob-Box give-a-way. Old Time Sprinters brought 12 of the antique specialty cars to the track. Some of Florida’s best from the early years of gulf coast racing took to the track. Drivers like: Vince Capelle, Jay Yahnke, Randy Alverez, Sammy Morrow, Jack Sapp and Roy Campbell lined up for the green. In the exhibition feature it was Randy Alverez from Tampa taking the #9 to the outside of race leader Vince Capelle out of Sarasota for the win. The fans seem to be looking forward to seeing these racers again and we hope soon. Mini Stocks saw Daniel Bowman, Jr. win heat-1, with heat-2 going to Kris Douglas. The feature was competitive with several incidents early, with Steve Miller loosing a wheel and taking Joie Preece with him on lap-7. Last week’s winner Josh Peathingy took the early lead and never looked back. In Victory Lane for the second time in as many weeks Josh thanked his sponsors , his buddy Troy and his wife. Second went to Cecil Martin, with Jim Courson third, Danny Bowman, Jr. settles for fourth and Rich Livernois gets another top-5 in fifth. Limited Late Models got in the action early with Jeremy Simpson’s UFO Chassis taking heat-1 and Terry Bronson getting the heat-2 win. Bronson continued the good run on the night as he took the early lead in the feature. Forest Gough and John Combs got together and brought out caution number with 1-lap in the book. Gough rejoined on the lead lap, but in 17th spot. Steve Black of Speed Pros continued his hard luck month in the #1 as he ground to a stop on the turn one wall, still on a lap-1 restart. Lap #1 got longer as Doug Decker got caught in someone else’s half spin on restart #2. Then Decker’s hood and fender damage obstructed his view on the restart and lap-2 was in the books, but back under yellow. They got to lap-4 before Rich Kessinger lost the air in his right rear while battling for a top-5 spot. The restart on lap-4 would see the field stay single file, lap-6 was rough on J. R. Prather and Terry Bronson as they battled for position. Lap-8 saw William Hampton loose the drive shaft of the #29. Then on that restart Forest Gough would loose the right front access fender causing a caution for debris. Final lap saw Bruce Harvey go from second to out of the top-5 as Timmy Gay won the race, Jeremy Simpson second, Forest Gough back to third, Shane Koperda fourth and “Mr. October” J.R. Prather, Jr. got another top-5 finishing fifth. The 360 Sprints entered tonight knowing they only had two full race programs left, on the 2004 chase for the Championship, to gain those valuable points. Heat-1 went to “Crazy” Joe Melnick in the #59 of Michael Smith, while Steven Darvalics took the heat-2 win. Melnick’s luck did not hold up as the #59 shed yet another tire in lap-3, the left front exited the car and Melnick retired the car. Neil Larose took this one wire-to-wire. The ex-powerboat racer enjoyed his first visit to victory lane. Second went to Bob Auld, Paulie Milum came to third from 9th, while Darryl Smith finished fourth , with Greg Leonard taking fifth in a Winegardner 11 machine. Late Models brought 22 cars to the track in preparation for the final few weeks of points racing. Heats went to Bobby Alexander, Jr. in the Erskine Racing #8 took the heat-1 win and heat-2 went to Phillip Cobb. The Late Model feature was a battle-royal with “The Fox” Bobby Alexander, Sr. showing the fans he’s still got the touch, with a bold move past leader Marshall Austin on lap-16 as Austin worked lapped traffic. That was after Jamie Burrows turned the #007B upside down on the front stretch. Burrows was fine, but the car will need to see the auto-chiropractor. Alexander, Sr. took the Victory and praised the track grooming for a great racing service. “The Gunslinger” Jeff Choquette came from 10th to second to challenge Alexander, while K.D. Kelly “The Sheriff” used a great move to bolt from 5th to third on the final lap. Fourth went to the pole sitter Marshall Austin and David Schmauss would bring the #105 from 11th to fifth. Street Stocks filled the track for the feature, but in heat action, it was Paul Gibbs winning heat-1 and Steven Johnson taking heat-2. The 15-lap feature saw Tim Powers come from 10th to lead the final circuits for his first visit to Victory Lane. Paul Gibbs held on for second after challenging the leader for the last 5-laps. Third would go to Jody Robbins, with Steven Johnson fourth and Mac Kersey in the final top-5 spot of the night. Next week it’s the “FLORIDA FALL BRAWL” as the winged 360 Sprints of the USCS series visit East Bay Raceway Park for two night’s of full throttle racing November 5th & 6th . 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!