February 6, 1999 by Bret Emrick
A Thriller at East Bay Raceway Jimmy Mars of Lakeville, MN walked away from East Bay Raceway Saturday night $10,000 richer after his thrilling win in the STARS National DirtCar Racing League sanctioned "22nd Annual East Bay Winternationals" finale. Driving the LaFavre Racing Team/Parker Store/MasterSbilt No. 1M Monte Carlo, Mars had to hold off a slew of driver's over the remaining 11 laps to capture his first career STARS feature victory. Despite a slight oil leak that saw some smoke exit Mars' car over the final 50 circuits, Mars was able to hold off Steve Francis as they crossed the stripe. However, Francis was light at the scales relegating him to the back of the pack. Mike Boland was awarded second with Donnie Moran third, Bart Hartman fourth and Steve Shaver fifth. Rounding out the top ten finishers were Bill Frye, Dan Schlieper, Tim Hitt (the last car on the lead lap), then Gary Webb and Terry English. At the drop of the green flag outside pole sitter Mike Johnson jumped into the lead at the end of the first laps with Moran, Schlieper, Todd Andrews and Davey Johnson following. Moran moved to the front on lap two but before another lap could be completed a four car tangle in turn one slowed the action. Caution again on lap 11 slowed the pace but one circuit later Andrews and D. Johnson shuffled Schlieper back to fifth as M. Johnson started to slide backwards in the running order. Andrews moved to second on lap 15 with D. Johnson taking third on lap 16. By lap 20 Moran was enjoying a comfortable lead over Andrews, Mars,Hartman and Hitt. Several position changes prior to the halfway mark thrilled the record crowd on hand as Mars grabbed the lead from Moran on lap 45. At the halfway point the top ten were Mars, Moran, Andrews, Boland and Hartman trailed by Hitt, Schlieper, Frye, Francis and Keith Nosbisch. Moran was not about to give up once he had lost the lead staying right with Mars and retaking the point on lap 66 in heavy lapped traffic. However, Mars came right back regaining the top spot on lap 68. With tight racing happening all over the track the last 10 laps had everyone holding their breath with the top eight cars battling side by side for the win. Mars enjoyed a two car length lead over Moran followed by Boland, Hartman and Francis but that changed when Boland wrestled second from Moran on lap 95. Francis took second on lap 96 and took off after the leader but Mars was able to hold on for the win by less than a car length. Seventy-six drivers were on hand for the $42,000 event with Eddie Carrier Jr. setting quick time around the semi-banked 1/3rd mile at 15.312 seconds. BORLA EXHAUST heat race wins fell to Rod Conley, Hitt, Moran, Mars, Schlieper and Mike Balzano. Moran scored the ISKY RACING CAMS dash while Rodney Combs and Jason Smith scored the PRO SHOCKS "B" Mains. East Bay Raceway owner Stan Kolan and his staff, including "Speedweeks" promoter Jean Lynch and track manager Tom Hall, bent over backwards for all the race teams and the fans in attendance during STARS three-day appearance. Kolan added two cars to the feature field every night, added over $2,000 to the Dash race purse alone (paying $1,000 to the winner of the six lap event) every night, offered $1,000 to a driver who could break the track's one lap time trial mark every night and to top it all off, every driver in attendance was given a Florida state lottery ticket worth $70 million, if it was a winner, every night. As an added bonus for the 100 lap feature, Ron Nielson, owner of Raceway 7 in Conneaut,OH, added $500 to the paycheck of the driver who finished seventh. Bret Emrick Email: STARS@bright.net Finishing Order and More |
