Wayne Jefferson celebrates with son and crew after a very impressive performance Sunday.
"Just for the heck of it" is the reason Wayne Jefferson started last in the Gulf Coast Modified Series 50 lap season opener at DeSoto Super Speedway Sunday afternoon.
Nineteen Modifieds took to the 3/8 mile track for their first test of the season. Lee Collins, series champion the last two seasons, grabbed the lead right out of the gate from his outside pole position and set the place in the early going easily keeping Sean McLaughlin and John Sarppraicone Jr. at bay. By the time the second of four caution flags waved at lap fifteen, Sarppraicone was in second and was taking dead aim at the #89, and Jefferson had passed 13 cars and was sitting in fifth.
On the subsequent restart Sarppriacone was all over Collins and coming off turn four on the outside, he and Collins made contact. In what was a breath taking moment for fans, the sideways Sappracicone somehow managed to keep the car off the front straight wall, slide the car down to bottom and regain control, only losing two spots.
Within two laps Jefferson had jumped into second place, the caution flew for the #08, who it appeared had his motor let go. On the restart Jefferson blew by Collins, at the half-way mark Jefferson and Sarppraicone were 1-2 and pulling away from the field. By lap 40 Sarppraicone must have known the chase was over as Jefferson completed the move to a new time zone, having driven past 18 cars and won going away. Collins finished third.
FINAL FINISHING ORDER: 1 1 Wayne Jefferson Pinellas Park, FL. 2 88 M John Sappraicone JR. R Myakka City, FL. 3 89 M Lee Collins Immokalee, FL. 4 99 M Sean McLaughlin Port Charlotte, FL 5 98 M Robbie Cooper Bronson, FL. 6 12 Eric Rudd Naples, FL. 7 61 Chet Senokossoff St. Petersburg, FL. 8 4 Bobby Baldwin Oldsmar, FL. 9 6 Dwayne Dempsey St. Petersburg, FL. 10 01 M Curtis Neumann R Inverness, FL. 11 11 M Mark Nelson R St. Petersburg, FL. 12 9 M Danny Partelo St. Petersburg, FL. 13 32 M Alan McCafferty Clermont, FL. 14 8 M Chris Escott St. Petersburg, FL. 15 83 M Andrew Alderman Pinellas Park, FL. 16 2 M John E. Rogers Naples, FL. 17 35 Robby McAuliffe Pinellas Park, FL. 18 08 M David Davis R Floral City, FL. 19 75 Bruce Riggio Englewood, FL.
GULF COAST MODIFIEDS POINTS RACE: 103 Sean McLaughlin #99 98 Robbie Cooper #98 93 Mark Nelson #11 84 Lee Collins #89 76 John Sappraicone, Jr. #88 R 70 John E. Rogers #2 66 David Davis #08 63 Danny Partelo #9 58 Curtis Neumann #01 54 Chris Escott #8 50 Andrew Alderman #63 47 Alan McCafferty #32m
