IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

November 7, 2004 FSCR O'Reilly USCS 360 Fall Brawl A Big Hit With Race Fans Greg Leonard Wows the Field, and the Crowd By Bill Green "From Behind The MIC!" Tampa, FL (Nov. 6th, 2004) Race fans can be a fickle group at times. Sometimes they'll sit through a rain shower to see an important race, other times they'll stay home to watch the NASCAR encroachment on the local Saturday Night tracks program. But tonight, they were out in force to see the stars of the O'Reilly USCS 360 Florida Fall Brawl at East Bay Raceway Park. Hoping for the local upset of the big stars of the USCS traveling series, the fans were not disapointed tonight. After the three regular East Bay classes had done battle, the USCS pilots brought their cars out for an autograph session. The fans really enjoyed this opportunity to get up close to the drivers and only wished it could have been longer. But, the O'Reilly's USCS Florida Fall Brawl A-Main was at hand and it was back to work for the drivers. Earlier the Air-Flow Research Power Dash, fans saw Danny Martin, Jr. continue his dominance of the traveling series at his home track by out distancing Kenny Adams in second, Johnny Gilbertson third, Terry Gray fourth and Paulie Milum fifth. But that was only bragging rights and a little cash. The main event would be the talk of the racing community for weeks to come and it was to be the last race for the USCS series in 2004, adding to the importance of the event. Heat races for the USCS cars saw Greg Leonard win Heat-1 and Doug Day win Heat-2. After which it was decided that all 25 cars signed in for tonight's final run in 2004 for the O'Reilly series would get to start in the A-Main. The O'Reilly USCS Feature event was absolutely one of the fastest events ever run for a thirty-five lap feature at East Bay Raceway Park. The time on the watch on my arm said, 9 minutes and 28 seconds. Green flag to checkered flag, no yellows or stops of any kind. Only the top-5 were on the lead lap. The win by Greg Leonard was his second on the night. The celebration in Victory Lane started before the car came to a stop. 'Stick'is not one to hold back his emotions, in fact he may have invented the 'Stick Dance'� as he bounced in full safety gear, helmet on, hands raised over his head, in Victory Lane. The smile could be seen through the head sock, but the sound in his voice was genuine. "I have to Thank Tom Winegardner and the people that believed in me enough to give me this chance"Leonard stated. "This feels so great to win at my home track… on MY track, against some of the best business. I couldn't let anyone beat me here at home.� I'm sure the entire team will be celebrating for a while." The rest of the story on this night would be the work of all the leaders through lapped traffic. With only five cars on the lead lap, but 17 cars still running at the end, everybody worked hard at staying out of trouble, while running as fast as they could. Second would go to the other standout young gun of the weekend as Danny Martin, Jr. managed to hang on to second after battling Kenny Adams and Terry Gray early, at one point, they even went 3 wide off turn-4 down the length of the front stretch. The three of them were three-wide, wheel-to-wheel, Gray on the bottom, Martin on the top and Adams sandwiched in between. Amazing, simply amazing. Adams would settle for third, with Greg Wilson taking fourth over Terry Gray's fifth at the end. The sixth finisher was 'Superman'� Sport Allen and for his effort, coming from the 20th starting spot, he received the Milk Movers INC $200 dollar highest finishing regular of the East Bay Raceway Park's 360 racers. Seventh went to Brian Maddox also one lap down. Eighth would be Tom Winegardner's, with Steven Darvalics ninth and Paulie Milum holding on to the final top-10 spot. Street Stocks brought 28 cars to green for the first of the regular points features. After 10 laps and hitting the 30 minute time limit, it was Steven Johnson in Victory Lane. Second went to Paul Davis, with Joseph Jones third, Bob Smith fourth and Michael Cherry fifth. Limited Sprints saw Greg Leonard take the win in the Clyde Poole car, leaving Mike Steinruck in second and Michael Smith in third. Fourth went to 'Big'� Tim George and Danny Jones gets another top-5 finish in fifth. Mini Stocks had a great run with Wallace Peacock paying tribute to Psalm-1, the name sake of his car ( P1) in Victory Lane. Second went to Cecil Martin, third to Chad Rose, forth to Daniel Bowman, Jr. and fifth to Scotty Williams. All in all, WOW! What a night! OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 36 AT EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK IN TAMPA, FL ON 11/6/04: POS STRT CAR # DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS 1. 7 11 Greg Leonard Tampa, FL 35 2. 1 00 Danny Martin Jr. Sarasota, FL 35 3. 2 4a Kenny Adams Malabar, FL 35 4. 5 98 Greg Wilson Benton Ridge, OH 35 5. 3 10 Terry Gray Bartlett, TN 35 6. 20 42x Sport Allen Pinellas Park, FL 34 7. 9 82 Brian Maddox Ocoee, FL 34 8. 18 11jr Tom Winegardner Jr. Pierson, FL 34 9. 13 32 Stephen Darvalics Venice, FL 34 10. 6 42 Paulie Milum Bradenton, FL 34 11. 17 56 Ryan Myers Eaton, OH 33 12. 8 2d Doug Day Winder, GA 33 13. 10 4b Bryn Gohn Malabar, FL 33 14. 14 1w Brice Wrenn Lexington, SC 33 15. 16 2 Red Stauffer Winter Park, FL 33 16. 11 6s Mike Schroeder Southwest Ranches, FL 32 17. 19 19 Jerry Jones Clermont, FL 32 18. 4 21 Johnny Gilbertson Tampa, FL 24 19. 15 71 R.J. Johnson (R) Decatur, TN 20 20. 22 5 Dave Thorman Greenville, SC 18 21. 21 6 Skeeter Faulconer Lutz, FL 9 22. 12 20 Frank Carlsson Jr. Oxford, FL 8 23. 23 3 Daryl Smith Riverview, FL DNS ENTRIES: 23 LEAD CHANGES: 2 Among Three Drivers LAP LEADERS: Martin, 1-4; Gray, 5-12; Leonard, 13-35 LAPS LED: Leonard, 23; Gray, 8; Martin, 4 HUGGINS RACE CAMS HARD CHARGER: Allen (started 20th and finished 6th) FSR PERFORMANCE AWARD: Gray WELD RACING HARD LUCK AWARD: Smith ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Johnson CAUTIONS: None AIR FLOW RESEARCH POWER DASH (6 Laps): 1. Martin; 2. Adams; 3. Gilbertson; 4. Gray; 5. Milum; 6. Wilson. HEAT RACES (10 Laps - Top 5 Finishers Transfer To Feature Race): KOOLBEANS 1ST HEAT: 1. Leonard; 2. Maddox; 3. Schroeder; 4. Darvalics; 5. Johnson (R); 6. Myers; 7. Jones; 8. Faulconer; 9. Smith. 2ND HEAT: 1. Day; 2. Gohn; 3. Carlsson; 4. Wrenn; 5. Stauffer; 6. Winegardner; 7. Allen; 8. Thorman. FINAL 2004 O'REILLY USCS NATIONAL POINTS: 1.. Terry Gray - 5196 2.. Danny Martin Jr. - 4882 3.. Kenny Adams - 4744 4.. R.J. Johnson (R) - 4366 5.. Brice Wrenn - 3518 6.. Tom Winegardner Jr. - 3146 7.. Chad Allum - 2934 8.. Red Stauffer - 2346 9.. Bryn Gohn - 1968 10.. Dave Thorman - 1938 11.. Jim Raptis - 1754 12.. Butch Pendergrass - 1742 13.. Doug Gold - 1648 14.. Bruce Cline - 1582 15.. Randy Helton - 1562 16.. Bronzie Lawson - 1504 17.. Doug Day - 1430 18.. Brian Thomas - 1388 19.. Will Ragsdale - 1380 20.. Jeremy Scott - 1206 R- Denotes 2004 O'Reilly USCS Rookie of the Year Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!