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Gary Gimmler Grabs the Checkered Flags Sprints Victory
By : Melanie Beckner
Punta Gorda, FL...It was a busy night of racing at the Charlotte County Motorsports Park this past Saturday night with ten divisons of racing including the return of the Checkered Flag Sprint cars.
Four of the classes ran heat races with Dwarf cars coming out first for two heat races. Mike Belusar was the polesitter for the first heat race for the Dwarf cars and led the entire six lap heat race. Andy Pryor was second with Larry Hubbard Jr finishing in third. Larry Hubbard III took the victory in the second heat with Roger Richmond and John Bailey completing the top three spots.
Fred Durfee sat on the pole position for the only heat race for the TQ Midgets. Durfee took the lead at the start of the race. Mike Belusar was the only car to challenge Fred Durfee for the lead and did successfully passed Durfee on lap four. Mike Belusar won the six lap heat race with Ted Durfee in second place and Jack Duffy in third.
The first heat race for the Outlaw Modified saw Tom Meyer take the lead at the start of the eight lap heat race and the victory. Rob Bean came across the line in second and Kevin Campbell third. Allen Gregory led the first two laps of the second heat race for the Outlaw Modifieds. The only caution came out on lap two when Rick Mills and Antonio Gonzales made contact with one another in turn two. On the restart Billy Campbell passed Allen Gregory for the lead and went on to win his heat race. Allen Gregory came in second and Jennifer Rudd was third.
The Checkered Flag Sprints were the last class to run heat races. Ric Voisey was the polesitter for the first sight lap heat race, however it was Gary Gimmler who put his car up front when the green flag waved. Gimmler led from the start to the finish of the heat. Keith Butler, in his back up car finished second with Dustin Henderson coming in the third spot. For the final heat race Amanda Ferguson sat on the pole and put her Sprint car up front of the field, despite having a mirror full of Mark Gimmler, Ferguson went on to claim the heat win. Mark Gimmler had to settle for second while Scott Adema came in third.
Bandolero's were the first feature race of the evening with Reese Chase leading the field around to the start of the twelve lap race. Chase led the first lap, however Shawn Hooven would take over the lead from Chase the following lap. On lap six Shawn Hooven fell off pace and left the battling for the lead over to Devin McLeod and Mark Hooven. The two would swap the lead back and forth until the end of the race with Devin McLeod edging out Mark Hooven for the win with Reese Chase finishing in third.
Mike Belusar sat on the pole for the twenty five lap Dwarf car feature. Belusar immediatly put his car up front when the green flag waved. On the third lap Bo Bass hit the backstretch wall and went spinning into turn three. Tom Pryor and Sammy Mancuso spun their cars around to avoid hitting Bass car who was stopped at the bottom of turn three.
The next caution came out five laps later on lap eight for the spinning car of Larry Hubbard Jr in turn one. On the restart Hubbard spun his car around again in turn four, bring out the caution again. On the second restart Mike Belusar, the leader fell off pace just as the race restarted. Andy Pryor who was running second, had nowhere to go when Belusar fell off the pace except into the back of his car and collecting Larry Hubbard III. The accident ended both Belusar and Pryors evening, however Larry Hubbard III was able to continue and was handed the lead.
The final caution came out on lap seventeen, just as Roger Wolfe got a good run on Larry Hubbard III for the lead. The caution had come out for Tom Pryor's spinning car in turn four. On the restart Roger Wolfe was all over the back bumper of Larry Hubbard III car, however Wolfe was never able to pass Hubbard III for the lead. Larry Hubbard III took home the win with Roger Wolfe finishing in second and Larry Hubbard Jr in third.
Legend cars were out next for their twenty five lap feature race. Mitch Verhaagh put his car out front at the start of the race, that would be the only lap that Verhaagh would lead before Devin McLeod would take over the top spot. Fast Qualifier Darin Coker took the lead from McLeod two laps later. Josh Williams stormed through the field and passed Darin Coker by the eighth lap. Just after Williams took over the lead the first caution came out when Zach Napleon looped his car around in turn four.
On lap seventeen Gary McFall, who was driving a Legends car for the first time was battling for position with Conrad Molter and spun his car around on the frontstretch. The final caution would wave on lap eighteen for Doug Hall spinning around in turn four. Josh Williams cruised to another victory with Devin McLeod and Darin Coker completing the top three positions.
The TQ Midgets were back on the track for their caution free twenty five lap feature. Fred Durfee sat on the pole and quickly jumped to the lead at the start of the race. Fred Durfee led the entire race and went on to take the victory. Jack DUffy was second while Mike Belusar finished in the third position.
Brandon Kolz had the pole for the twenty five lap Junior's Trim Shop Road Warrior feature. On the start of the race a ball of smoke came out of Jerry Teeting's car and immediatly brought out the first yellow flag. On the restart of the race Brandon Kolz put his car out in front of the field.
On lap two Jon Prescott pun his car out in turn two. On the restart the leader, Brandon Kolz got sideways in turn one and Jeff Firestine, who was running in the second spot had nowhere to go except into the side of Kolz's car sending Kolz spinning into turn one. Bryan Boxell made contact with Kolz after his car came to a stop and everyone was given back their spots.
The next caution came out for Corey Scott who went spinning into turn four, while Bryan Boxell spun his car around in turn two. Brandon Kolz was still leading the race on lap eighteen when he lost control of his car on the frontstretch which sent him spinning and handed the lead over to Jeff Firestine. On the restart Chris Loney blew out a tire and got into the side of Jeff Pacheco's and pieces of Pacheco's car scattered on the frontstretch bringing out another caution.
On the second restart Terry Price drove into the side Stuart VanDevender's car and both Price and VanDevender went spinning coming out of turn tow. Jeff Pacheco had nowhere to go and hit Terry Price's car. This ended both Terry Price and Jeff Pacheco's evening. Jeff Firestine went on to claim another victory with Stuart VanDevender coming in second with Chris Scott in third.
Outlaw Modified returned to the track for their thirty five lap race. Billy Campbell took the lead once the race started. Rick Mills brought out the first caution when he looped his car around in turn four. Craig Sherar got into the back of Zack Rudd's car on lap fifteen, which sent Rudd spinning into the bottom of turn two. The final caution waved for Allen Gregory on lap Thirty two with him spinning out coming out of turn two. Billy Campbell led all thirty five laps to capture the win with Kevin Campbell finishing in second and Rob Bean claiming the third spot.
Geoff Styner led the fourteen car field around for the thirty lap Checkered Flag Sprints feature event. On the start of the race a couple of cars got together going into turn two and Gary Gimmler made contact with one of the cars that sent him spinning to the top of the turn two wall. Gimmler was able to keep his car off the wall and no other cars made contact with him. On the restart of the race Brian Maddox jumped to the lead and led the first eleven laps. Gary Gimmler put his car out front on lap tweleve and led the remainder of the the race to claim the victory. Keith Butler was second with Scott Adema in the third position.
The Pro 4 class had Dylan Bigley leading the field to the start of the race with Dyaln Bigley jumping out front. Bigley had a big lead over the field when the first caution came out of lap six when John Pummel Jr got into back of Blaine Baer's car in turn one and collected Derrick Horton, who had nowhere to go and hit Baer's car. All cars were able to continue.
On lap seventeen Corey Bigley had gotten a flat tire and spun his car out in turn four. On the restart of the race Dyaln Bigley, who was still in the lead fell off pace due to motor issues and the caution had to come right back out due to oil being on the track. Kevin Underwood was given the lead when Bigley fell off pace and went on to win the race. John Pummel Jr came from the back of the pack to finish in second with Jason Perkins coming in third.
Steve Darvalics sat on the pole for the Fastruck fifty lap feature. On the start of the race Chris Huntoon, Ricky Partridge and Mark Gill went three wide going into turn three. The three trucks got together and the contact sent Ricky Partridge spinning. This resulted into a complete restart of the race. Steve Darvalics led the first lap of the race before Mike Smith got arond Darvalics for the lead.
On lap five Steve Darvalic's was challenging Smith for the lead when Darvolics got into Smith's truck coming out of turn two. The contact resulted into a multi-car wreck that included Mike Smith, points leader Josh Williams, Ricky Partridge and Ross Chastain. Sean Bass was handed the lead since the wreck ended the evening for Mike Smith and Steve Darvalics was sent to the back of the field for the restart of the race.
On lap thirty six a brake roter fell off of Ross Chastain's truck bringing out another caution. On the restart ROss Chastin had gotten loose in front of Tyler Laing, Laing was not able to react in time and got into the back of Chastain that sent him spinning coming out of turn two. Chastain was sent to the rear of the field while Tyler Laing was given his spot back since Chastain was already loose before Laing even touched him.
Andrew Gipson brought out the final caution when he went spinning into turn one, that also had Michael Wear spinning his truck around to avoid hitting Gipson's truck. The fianl pass for the lead occured on lap fourty five when Tyler Laing took over the lead from Sean Bass. Tyler Laing took the victory with Sean Bass taking home the second place trophy and TJ Duke came in third.
The final race of the evening was the twenty five lap Fab 4 race with Carolyn Malinowski on the pole position. The entire race went caution free with Brandon Scott leading the entire race and capturing his second victory this season. Scott's sister Ashton Scott came in third and Jeremy Perkins in the third spot.
