Ricky Bullard Jr. Winner of the second Sportsman race.
Charlotte County Speedway usually runs Sportsman 50-lap features twice a month. This past Saturday night, they decided to split the 50 into two 25-lap features. It turned out to be a crowd pleaser all the way around.
The first 25-lapper saw a driver visit victory lane for the first time in many moons. Roger Smith of Naples was once a force in the speedways old Pure Stock division in the 90s. He broke a long drought with his win in the 51 car. Guy Sheets was second in the 17 car and defending champion James Dubose returned to action with a third in the 67 car.
The second 25-lapper came later in the night. Up-and-coming force Ricky Bullard Jr. of Arcadia started pole and kept his No. 1 car comfortably ahead of the pack. Dubose was consistent with a second-place finish. Mike Holmes placed third in the 92 car.
The four regular divisions returned to action in front of a large gathering of race fans on a wonderful late winter night. In Super Stocks, Charles Parsons passed Fred Kight on lap 17 of the 25-lapper. The rest was all Parsons.
Kight hung on for second ahead of Ryan Pancoast. Jesse Gargus got back into the spotlight in Road Warriors, as he charged his yellow No. 1 car to the front ahead of early leader Mark Skinner. Gargus took the checkered. Travis Amboyan, a 15-year-old from Port Charlotte, looked sharp in taking the 18 car to second. Ann Marie Ricardi was third.
Thunder Trucks saw the return of three-time champion Mike Bialecki. The white No. 8 toyed with the field before pulling away to victory. James Wright was second in the 6 truck and Robert Willms took third in the 18.
Kyle Wild Child Smith crossed the stripe first in the Junkyard Dogs (4-Cylinder) feature. The last two races are what the fans came to see Figure 8s. The Outlaw Figure 8s took to the track first with Gordon Brown winning the 25-lap feature.
The School Bus Figure 8s were last up. Mike Gamache started near the back, but as usual, the Stickman worked the black 05 bus through the carnage to the front. Art Calkins was second in the 14 bus.
This coming Saturday night will see the second in the 2006 Limited Late Model Series unfold at Charlotte County Speedway. The cars will go 100 laps with the winner grabbing $2,000.
4 Cylinder - Feature Pos Driver (Car) 1 Randy Kile (21) 2 Dustin Paldino (33) 3 Jim Janik (39) 4 Kyle Sedlak (33M) 5 Joshua Calvert (27) 6 Randy McWhorter (55) 7 Chris Lucas (00) 8 Wendi Davidson (03) 9 Scott Beam (9B) 10 Les Couch (33C) 11 Warren Mercer Jr. (88) 12 Shane Moore (24) 13 Mark Davis (55D) 14 Chris Libak (28) 15 Heather Janik (19) DNS 16 Warren Mercer (27M) DQ 17 Kyle Smith (51) DQ
4 Cylinder - Heat 2 Pos Driver (Car) 1 Kyle Smith (51) DQ 2 Dustin Paldino (33) 3 Jim Janik (39) 4 Warren Mercer (27M) DQ 5 Kyle Sedlak (33M) 6 Warren Mercer Jr. (88) 7 Joshua Calvert (27) 8 Randy Kile (21) 9 Wendi Davidson (03) DNS
4 Cylinder - Heat 1 Pos Driver (Car) 1 Les Couch (33C) 2 Scott Beam (9B) 3 Chris Lucas (00) 4 Randy McWhorter (55) 5 Mark Davis (55D) 6 Chris Libak (28) 7 Shane Moore (24) 8 Heather Janik (19)
Road Warriors - Feature Pos Driver (Car) 1 Jesse Gargus (1) 2 Travis Amboyan (18) 3 Ann Marie Ricardi (22) 4 Rob Breitigan (44) 5 Derrick Horton (27) 6 Donnie Ollie Jr. (09) 7 Frank McIntosh SR. (97M) 8 Mark Skinner (00S) 9 Robert Hendry (11) 10 Tim Conlon (26) 11 Allen Moyer (74) 12 Cory Scott (97) DNS 13 Darwin Houhtaling (38) DNS
Road Warriors - Heat 2 Pos Driver (Car) 1 Mark Skinner (00S) 2 Donnie Ollie Jr. (09) 3 Tim Conlon (26) 4 Allen Moyer (74) 5 Frank McIntosh SR. (97M) 6 Darwin Houhtaling (38) 7 Cory Scott (97)
Road Warriors - Heat 1 Pos Driver (Car) 1 Robert Hendry (11) 2 Ann Marie Ricardi (22) 3 Rob Breitigan (44) 4 Travis Amboyan (18) 5 Derrick Horton (27) 6 Jesse Gargus (1)
Super Stock - Feature Pos Driver (Car) 1 Charles Parsons (15) 2 Fred Kight (39) 3 Ryan Pancoast (47) 4 Robert Popkin (29) 5 Scott Steffe (25) 6 Jason Bullard (22) 7 Jeffery Padilla (21) 8 Randy Miller (13)
Super Stock - Heat Pos Driver (Car) 1 Ryan Pancoast (47) 2 Jeffery Padilla (21) 3 Fred Kight (39) 4 Robert Popkin (29) 5 Charles Parsons (15) 6 Jason Bullard (22) 7 Scott Steffe (25) 8 Randy Miller (13)
Thunder Trucks - Feature Pos Driver (Car) 1 Mike Bialecki (8) 2 James Wright (6) 3 Robert Willms (18) 4 Richard Dupont (08) 5 Robert Charette (56) 6 Donald VanAcker (33) DNS
Thunder Trucks - Heat Pos Driver (Car) 1 Richard Dupont (08) 2 James Wright (6) 3 Mike Bialecki (8) 4 Robert Charette (56) 5 Robert Willms (18) 6 Donald VanAcker (33) DNS
Ricky Bullard Jr. Winner of the second Sportsman race.
