IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

March 6, 2005 FSCR David Steele Wins Again By Curtis Whalin The TBARA returned from a 2 week break to run at Charlotte County Speedway on Saturday March 5, 2005. There were 21 cars signed in for the event. J J Dutton in the 6F car had the pole for the start of the first of three heat races, with Randy Woodall in the 5W alongside in second place. The cars got pushed off and during the hot laps the 80 car driven by Wendy Mathis spun out. Once she was re-fired, the cars got lined up and the race went green. Fourth place starter Shane Butler made a tremendous start and took the lead on the first lap, going on to win the heat with David Steele in the 91 car taking second place. The second heat saw Jeff Van Deusen in the 99K on the pole alongside Gary Gimmler in the 29. The 99K took the race lead and the start. On lap 7, Doug Heveron in the 22 car who was running in second place, made a move to pass the 99K going into turn 3. The cars got together and the 22 went into the wall hard between turns 3 and 4. Doug was OK but the car was too damaged to be repaired before the feature race. Once the 22 had been cleared from the track, the last two laps of the heat were run with the 99K taking the checkered flag followed by Gary Gimmler in the 29 car. Ray Bragg in the 66 car sat on the pole for the third and final heat of the evening with Bo Hartley in the 3X sitting in second. Ray made the better start and kept the lead to win the heat, with Bo Hartley still in second place. With the 22 car out of action for the rest of the night, Doug Heveron stole a feature race ride in the number 7 car usually driven by John Gilbert Jr, When the cars took to the track for the 30 lap feature event, they lined up with J J Dutton in the 6F on the pole and Jeff Van Deusen in the 99K in the second place slot. The cars formed their 4 abreast salute to the fans parade lap and then got back into the two abreast line up for the start of the race. Jeff Van Deusen took the early race lead and led for the first 4 laps until he passed by Gary Gimmler in his number 29 car. Skeeter Faulconer retired the number 6 car to the infield on lap 4. The caution flag was brought out on lap 6 when the 3X driven by Bo Hartley started to slow down running high on the track out of turn one. Bo made it off the track at turn 2 suffering from a broken shock. While under the caution, the 99K retired to the pits. The track was checked for debris and the race got back to green. The 6F retired to the infield on lap 20 followed by the 6X driven by Frank Scimeca on lap 22. The 80 car driven by Wendy Mathis also retired on lap 22. David Steele in the 91 car took the race lead on lap 24. On lap 29, the 5W driven by Randy Woodall spun between turns 3 and 4 and was hit by the 14 car driven by Russ Fedor. The caution flag was brought out because the leaders were coming around to turn 3. The 5W kept running and the 14 car was black flagged for being 3 laps down. The race got back underway only to find a spin out by Doug Heveron on the back straightaway and an incident between the 68 car driven by David Slawiak and another car that ended with the 68 stopped at turn 2 on the very next lap. Neither the 7 nor the 68 rejoined the race. With 29 laps down and one to go, the cars took the green and white flags together to make the last race lap. The race was won by David Steele in the 91 car with Sport Allen in the 42X coming in second, Gary Gimmler in the 29 car was third, Shane Butler in the 18 car was fourth and Keith Butler in the 19 car rounded out the top 5. The next TBARA event will be at Ocala Speedway on Saturday March 12, 2005. Hope to see yall there. FEATURE 1) 91 David Steele; 2) 42X Sport Allen; 3) 29 Gary Gimmler; 4) 18 Shane Butler; 5) 19 Keith Butler; 6) 66 Ray Bragg; 7) 0 Dude Teate; 8) 42 Paulie Milum; 9) 118 Troy DeCaire; 10) 33 Lee Cipray; 11) 5W Randy Woodall; 12) 68 David Slawiak (DNF); 13) 7 Doug Heveron (DNF); 14) 14 Russ Fedor (DNF); 15) 6F J J Dutton (DNF); 16) 80 Wendy Mathis (DNF); 17) 6X Frank Scimeca (DNF); 18) 99K Jeff Van Duesen(DNF); 19) 3X Bo Hartley (DNF); 20) 6 Skeeter Faulconer (DNF) HEAT 1 1) 18 Shane Butler 2) 91 David Steele 3) 42 Paulie Milum 4) 6F J J Dutton 5) 7 John Gilbert Jr 6) 5W Randy Woodall 7) 80 Wendy Mathis HEAT 2 1) 99K Jeff Van Deusen 2) 29 Gary Gimmler 3) 118 Troy DeCaire 4) 19 Keith Butler 5) 0 Dude Teate 6) 6 Skeeter Faulconer 7) 22 Doug Heveron (DNF) HEAT 3 1) 66 Ray Bragg 2) 3X Bo Hartley 3) 42X – Sport Allen 4) 68 David Slawiak 5) 33 Lee Cipray 6) 6X Frank Scimeca 7) 14 Russ Fedor Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!