IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

March 27, 2005 FSCR New Faces Grace East Bay Victory Lane By Larry Jewett The road to Victory Lane is a varied one and the path is often not easy. On Saturday night at East Bay Raceway Park, two drivers found the path ended at the cherished sport. Street Stock feature winner Tim Spencer held off the challenge of Mac Kersey to claim his first win in over six years of trying. Spencer saw Kersey make a pass for the lead near the halfway mark, but that pass was nullified by a caution. Kersey kept lining up in the inside lane right behind Spencer in the Delaware double-file restart. Kersey and Spencer kept up a good battle, but Spencer would not be denied. Kersey would claim second, followed by point leader Steven Johnson. Tony Traina had his best finish of 2005 with a fourth place run and Buck Woodhouse captured fifth. Heat races were won by Bobby Miller and Wayne Hayes. Second generation speedster Rick Byerly prevailed in the Limited Sprint class to join Spencer as a first time winner. Byerly took the lead from the start and was never headed. Greg Leonard was closing fast when the checkered flag fell, but Leonard couldn't make it two in a row. Skeeter Kelley held on for third with Tim George and Larry Brazil Jr. rounding out the top five. George and Brazil Jr. started their nights with heat race victories. Limited Late Model action opened the Easter eve presentation. David Simpson and Forest Gough set the stage with heat race triumphs. In the 15-lap feature, Tim Gay vaulted from third to first in the early stages and made the rest of the field chase him down. Simpson was first to pursue before giving way to Gough, who snatched second on a restart. Simpson held on for third as polesitter Jeff Mathews claimed fourth. Robert Douglas gathered fifth on the ninth lap and held the spot at the finish. Fans were on their feet through several stages of the 25-lap Late Model contest. 14 cars took the green with opening night winner David Schmauss vaulting to the lead. K.D. Kelly was faced with holding off several charging drivers as Schmauss was never threatened. The excitement came with Kelly and Bobby Alexander sr. who engaged in a fender banging battle for second. Alexander took away the spot, but Kelly came back later to wrest it away. Kelly kept second with Alexander third. Keith Nosbisch, last week's feature winner, gathered fourth with Jack Nosbisch Jr. adding another top five. In Victory Lane, Schmauss credited Alexander with some advice on the blackening race track. Keith Nosbisch and Roger Crouse won the preliminaries. Ryan Mitchell scored his third feature win in four starts by coming home in front of the 16 Outlaw 4 division cars at the start. Early race leader Steve Miller kept the field at bay until mechanical problems put him out on lap 7. Mitchell inherited the lead with Chad Rose and Josh Peacock in pursuit. Rose and Peacock kept each other occupied, allowing Mitchell to move away. Rose added a second place to his record with Peacock gaining third. Jeff Conyers scored another top five with his fourth place run and Kris Douglas inherited fifth. Heats were won by Peacock and Steve Miller. East Bay Raceway Park will open the month of April with racing on the Go-Kart track on Friday and six divisions of stock car racing on Saturday night. Saturday racing begins at 6:30 p.m. Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board! news@karnac.org or send a letter to the editor!