Two in a Row for Gainey in Southern Sportsman at Colubmia
By Rick Warren
The Southern Sportsman Series made the trek to North Florida Saturday for 50 laps of Short Track excitement at the fast ½ mile of Columbia Motorsports Park. 25 racers signed in for days action, but only 24 made the start, as Michael Baker had a close encounter of the worst kind with the turn 1 wall during practice, severely damaging his racecar.
Of the 24 racers attempting to qualify, 9 of the top 10 timed in below the 19 second mark. Steve Gainey set the fast time in the Fred’s Garage entry, with a lap of 18.526 seconds. Just a tic behind was the R&B Doors entry of Arthur Conquest with a time of 18.564 seconds. Richard Elkins Jr., Ronnie Heard, and Joey Catarelli rounded out the top 5 qualifiers. After the top qualifiers cleared tech, Gainey pulled a 5 for the starting inversion, and the line up was set.
As the field rolled onto the speedway for the start, Joey Catarelli had the pole position, with Ronnie Heard on the outside. Row two was Elkins and Conquest, followed by Gainey, Aaron Williamson, Jeff Prescott, Derrik Heath, Daniel McClain, and Tommy Conquest Jr, in the top ten starting spots. As the field took the green flag, Catarelli jumped to the lead, with Heard, Conquest and Elkins right on his bumper. As the leaders all dropped into single file to get sorted out, the field from mid pack on back continued to run two and three wide, jockeying for position. On lap 3, Conquest drove under Heard to grab second spot, and began to hunt the leader.
Lap 4 sees Kyle Alford break an axle and spin in turn 4 bringing out the caution. After a quick clean up, the field was reset for the start, with Catarelli out front for the double file restart, followed by Conquest, Heard, Elkins, Gainey, Williamson, Craig Cuzzone, Chris Peludat, T. Conquest, and Bart Weatherford in the top 10. The race restarted, but only stayed green for 4 laps, as the racer of Michael Carr had mechanical issues, and got into the turn 2 wall. The chain reaction behind Carr saw several racers damaged trying to avoid the crash. Roger Welch, Gordon Cade, Cuzzone, and Fiene all had to go the pit area to make repairs. The car of Carr was towed to the pit area with substantial damage.
The race restarted with Catarelli leading, followed by Conquest, Elkins, Heard, Williamson and Gainey. Gainey’s racer started to get better as the race progressed, and the 79x started to move thru the field. Meanwhile, Conquest drives by Catarelli for the lead as they encounter lapped traffic, with Gainey following thru the hole to grab second. At the halfway mark, Conquest, Gainey and Catarrelli were beginning to open a gap from the rest of the field, as the battle for the lead really began to heat up.
Gainey finally got the line he was looking for, and was able to work under Conquest for the lead, with Catarelli right on his bumper to claim second place. Elkins was quickly gaining on the lead pack, and was soon racing Conquest for third position.
The laps were winding down, but the action was still hot, right until the end. Gainey was able to drive to his second Southern Sportsman Win in a row, with Joey Catarelli running a very strong second in his Rookie year with the series.
Final Results. 4/21/2007. Columbia Motorsports Park Southern Sportsman Series 50 Laps.
1. #79X Steve Gainey Bradenton, FL 2. #15 Joey Catarelli Pinellas Park, FL. 3. #78 Arthur Conquest Bronson, Fl. 4. #55 Richard Elkins Jr. Auburndale, Fl. 5. #1 Bart Weatherford Lakeland, Fl. 6. #00 Ron Heard Seffner, FL. 7. #72 Tommy Conquest Jr. Bronson, FL. 8. #97 Craig Cuzzone Lakeland, Fl. 9. #12R Rikk McMehan Hudson, Fl. 10. #36 Chad Cushing Largo, Fl. 11. #13 Aaron Williamson Mulberry, FL. 12. #21C Chris Peludat New Smyrna, FL. 13. #9 Wes Filyaw Brooksville, Fl. 14. #73 Mark Peterson Sarasota, Fl. 15. #2 Derrik Heath Parkland, Fl. 16. #21 Daniel McClain Auburndale, Fl. 17. #19 T.C. McElyea Dania Beach, Fl. 18. #77 Bradley Fiene Lake City, Fl. 19. #07 Jeff Prescott Wellborn, Fl. 20 #98 Roger Welch St. Pete, Fl. 21. #41 Michael Carr Palm Bay, Fl. 22. #26 Derek Slade Clermont, Fl. 23. #121 Gordon Cade Ocala, Fl. 24. #51 Kyle Alford Haines City, Fl. DNS #02 Michael Baker Inglis, Fl.
