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LB Skaggs wins Open Wheel Modified 50, Shane Leonard Ends the Night in Flames After Winning Outlaw Street Stock 50
By : Melanie Beckner
Punta Gorda, FL... It was a hot and sticky night in Charlotte County this past Saturday night. Their were eight divisions racing and the evening started out with heat races for both the Cars of Yesterday and DAARA.
The Cars of Yesterday were the first to run the first of two heat races and John Paradis was on the pole for the first eight lap heat. Clay Frey led the first two laps before Charles Mixon and Gerry Mullins would pass Frey. Gerry Mullins went on to win the heat race with Charles Mison finishing second and Clay Frey finished third. Bill Sandige sat on the pole for the second heat race for the Cars of Yesterday. Once the green flag waved Tim Brush came from the rear of the field to take the lead on the first lap and lead the entire heat race. Steve Teasdale came in second and Bill Sandige finished in the third spot.
The DAARA cars ran three diffrent heat raced with the Midget car coming out first for their eight lap heat race with Bill Wendt sitting on the pole. Jerry Paquin jumped to the front on the start of the race with Josh Rynd leading the following lap. However Jerry Paquin would take over the lead on lap five and won the first eight lap heat with Josh Rynd finishing second and Myron Cost in third. Rock Reigle led the second heat to the green with Frank Lenhardt taking the lead once the green flag dropped and led the entire eight lap race, however Pat McNear did not make it an easy win for Lenhardt and finishing in second with Rock Reigel coming in third. The Sprints were the last heat race for the DAARA cars with Roy Campbell and Jack Sapp passing the lead back and forth for the entire race. At the end of the race it was Jack Sapp taking the win over Roy Campbell.
The first feature race of the evening was the Fab 4's going at it for twenty five laps with Jarrett Reynold leading the field. On the start Ashton Scott got into Brent Drake's car in turn two and both cars went spinning and collected Janine Elwell. The incident ended Brent Drake's evening, but the Ashton Scott and Janine Ellwell were able to continue. Jarrett Reynold took the lead once the race got restarted, he led until Kyle Rice got around Reynold's on lap five. On lap ten Randall LeMaster got around Kyle Rice for the lead. The first race caution came out for the spinning cars of Jarrett Reynold and Thomas Willis when the two cars got together in turn one. Two laps later Brandon Scott got into the leader Randall LeMaster in turn four which sent both cars spinning.
LeMaster was given back the lead while Scott was summons the back of the field. On the restart Aston Scott drove into the side of Tony Shore which sent Shore spinning into the top of turn two. Ashton Scott was disqualified for rough driving. With the cars coming to the Checkers in turn four Brandon Scott got into Jeremy Perkisn that sent both cars spinning and collecting Thomas Willis. Randall LeMaster went on for the victory with Tony Shore and David Doty completing the top three positions.
John Paradis sat on the pole for the fifteen lap Cars of Yesterday feature. Charles Mixon put his car out front at the drop of the green flag. The first caution came out for Eric Hill spinning his car out in turn one. On the restart Charles Mixon was still out front before Bill Sandige caught up to him and passed Mixon on lap seven to take over the lead. The last caution came out again for the spinning car of Eric Hill in turn four. Bill Sandife went on to capture the victory with Tim Brush coming in the second spot and Steve Teasdale finishing in third.
The DAARA cars were next for three diffrent feature events. The first to come out for ten laps were the Midget cars with Myron Cost taking the victory and Jerry Paquin and Bill Wendt completing the top three sports. In the second feature it was the Modified and V-8 stocks turn with former Charlotte COunty Motorsports Park driver Pat McNear winnning over Frank Lenhardt and Cory Lane. The final ten lap feature for the DAARA cars had Jack Sapp and Roy Campbell battling it out in the Antique Sprint cars. Roy Campbell took the win with Jack Sapp settling for the second position.
John Pummel Jr sat on the pole for the caution free Mini Stock twenty five lap race. Eugene Davidson took the lead at the start of the race with the fast car driver by Jesse Dutilly coming from the back of the field quickly. By lap five Dutilly was on Davidson back bumper and the two would race side by side for the lead for four laps before Dultilly was able to clear Davidson. Jesse Dutilly took home another victory with Eugene Davison and Robert Carter coming across the line second and third. However after the race both Eugene Davidson and Robert Carter getting disqualified in tech. This then handed over second to Ashlee Willimson and third to Joshua Carbone.
Eric Rudd set the fast time in qualifing for the Open Wheel Modified with a lap time of 15.990 and started in the eighth starting position with Scott McDaniel on the pole. LB Skaggs took his car out front immediately. The first caution came out on lap eleven for Tommy Schnader and Phil Morrison making contact with one another in turn two with both cars spinning out. The polesitter Scott McDaniel was running in second when his car hit the backstretch wall on lap sixteen with his car going in the air briefly following the contact.
On the restart Danny Brown, Mike Loney and Scott McDaniel went three wide and made contact with one another and sent Mike Loney spinning. On the second restart Tommy Schnader and Phil Morrison got together again in turn four. the contact sent Phil Morrison spinning into turn four.
Under the race caution when Morrison got his car restarted Tommy Scnader intentionally drove into the side of Phil Morrison's car. Tommy Schnader was disqualfied after the contact for unsportman like conduct. LB Skaggs led all fifty laps of the race to take home the victory with Eric Rudd finishing in second and Kyle Bookmiller in third.
Pro 4's were ready to got at it for twenty five laps with Mike LeMaster setting the pace. Shane Moore got into Jason Perkins in turn three at the start of the race and sent Perkins spinning. On the restart Mike LeMaster put his car out in the front of the field. Shane Moore brought out the next caution when he hit the wall between turns three and four. John Pummel Jr challenged Lemaster for the lead on lap six and successfully passed LeMaster the following lap. Blaine Baer got spun around by Derrick Horton on lap nine in turn three.
On the restart Blaine Baer, Derrick Horton and Jason Perkins went three wide and none of them backed off and Jason Perkins went spining into turn one. The final caution came out for Blaine Baer when he failed to acknowledge the black flag for dragging parts on his car. Under the caution for some reason Blaine Baer drove into the back of Mike Lemaster's car. Due to his unsportsman like conduct Blaine Baer was disqualified from the race. John Pummel Jr took the win and Derrick Horton and Mike LeMaster completed the top three positions.
Tom Pryor was the polesitter for the twenty five lap Thunder Trucks feature race. Tom Pryor took the lead at the start of the race. The only caution to come out was for Terry Price spinning out in the backstretch from contact with Lance Sober and himself in two. On the restart Ray Jayne took over the lead from Tom Pryor and went on to win the race. Tom Pryor settled for second and Lance Sober finished in third.
The last race of the evening was the fifty lap Florida Suncoast Outlaw Street Stock with Richard McClough leading the field to the start of the race. Richard McClough led the first lap before Shane "Smokey" Leonard passed him for the top spot the following lap. On lap eleven the caution came out to check on Mike Wilson's car to see if it was leaking fluid and which it was deemed that he was and was sent to the pits.
Wilson got the leak fixed in time to rejoin the race before the green flag came back out again. Mike Wilson got into the back of Jim Meiser in turn four on lap fifteen which sent Meiser spinning. Wilson's car had started leaking fluid again and was sent back into the pits and Wilson never made it back out.
The final caution came out on lap twenty nine when a rotor broke off the rightfront of Jim Meiser's car, ending Meiser's evening. Shane Leonard captured the win and when he pulled into the victory circle his car had bursted into flames. The safety crew was able to get the fire out quickly. Danny Daniels Jr took home second and Bobby Fischer came in third.
