Five Drivers Take First Feature Wins of the Season at East Bay
By Jason Loughren
Race fans at East Bay Raceway Park filled the stands for what would be another great nice of racing action. With around 100 cars signed in to race, 5 first time winners for the season would visit victory lane before the night was finished.
The Street Stock class was the first group of cars to take the track. Bob Smith started on the pole and led laps early on in the race. Point leader Charlie Paris, Jr. suffered technical problems on Lap 4 ending his night early. Smith was unable to hold off the challenge from Buck Skinner who took the lead after a Lap 5 restart. Skinner held of Smith for his first feature win of the season. Jimmy Rowland finished 3rd. Donnie Reed and David Strickland rounded out the top 5. Strickland and Smith won the heat races.
In the Limited Late Model Class Rich Kessinger took the lead early in the race and never looked back. If he had he would have seen the hard charging cars of Roger Crouse and JR Prather, Jr. having a battle for the second position as they raced side by side while the laps were winding down. Crouse finished 2nd and Prather, Jr. was 3rd. Jason Pope and Tim Gay completed the top 5. Kessinger and Prather, Jr. took the heat races.
The Outlaw 4’s provided race fans with one of the wildest finishes of the season. Michael Gulvin started on the front row in the 2nd position and was out in front of the field during the early laps. Shane Burrows and Alex Boerner racing for 2nd place for the first 10 laps made contact bringing out the caution flag on lap 10 which sent both of them to the back of field. Cecil Martin moved into the 2nd spot but cut a tire down racing Gulvin for the lead. As the laps were winding down Boerner and Burrows moved back to the front of the field. Austin Gillman was in the lead with only a few laps to go. As the field took the white flag Burrows and Boerner were charging for the lead Boerner drove hard into turn three challenging for the lead and made contact with Austin Gillman creating a multi car crash. The melee allowed Travis Varnadore to take the lead and the win. Mavrick Varnadoe finished 2nd. Burrows came home in 3rd. Gulvin and Gillman rounded out the top 5. Boerner was disqualified for rough driving. Gulvin and Varnadore won the heat races.
Nineteen Open Wheeled Modifieds were at the rack for their 15-lap feature race. Bobby Dixon and Dale Kelly had a two-car battle for the lead for many of the early laps. Dixon was looked like he had the car to beat until mechanical problems ended his night. Kelly took the lead and held off Jamie Burrows for the win. Jeff Mathews finished 3rd. Roger Crouse and Scotty Williams completed the top 5. Steve Miller and Mathews won the heat races.
In the 4 Cylinder Bomber class Paul Huffstutler won his first ever feature race. Huffstutler started in the 21st position and worked his way through the field to take the win. Frank Miller finshed 2nd. Robert Kissam led early and came home 3rd. DB Hogwaller came from the back of the field to finish 4th. Pole sitter Howie Woods finished 5th. Woods, Kissam and Hogwaller won the heat races.
East Bay Raceway Park resumes ASA-sanctioned racing Saturday 5/30/07 at 6:30pm with a full slate of racing action. Late Models, Limited Late Models, Street Stocks, Outlaw 4’s and Limited Sprints will all be in action.
For more information visit www.eastbayracewaypark.com.
