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July, 2, 1999 by John Matthews Chesser First Again At Mesa Park
The rains held off long enough Friday night in Fellsmere for Eddie Chesser
to drive "The Outlaw" to his third straight Mesa Park victory in the
Budweiser Friday Night Championship Points Series. With over 45 swamp
buggies in seven classes, a race protest, new class records, a ceremonial
swim, and fireworks, a fun time was had by all. 99.7 FM, Panther Country
Radio from Vero Beach was also on hand providing the announcers for the
night's events.
The Jeep class final looked like it would be a battle between Rick Johnson
in "Secret Weapon" and Thomas Blanton in "Catfish II." Johnson beat Blanton
in their heat race, setting a new class record. Blanton bounced back in the
semi finals to beat Johnson and lower the class record with a time of
2:09.80. Neither driver would take the checkers though as Mike Denney
steered "Double Trouble" to his second Friday night victory of the 1999
season finishing ahead of Blanton and Johnson. Denney advanced to the
Junior Show with the class win in hand. Heat wins went to "Double Trouble",
"Spider's Dream", "Secret Weapon", and "Spit Fire". "Double Trouble" and
"Catfish II" captured semi final wins.
The Air Cooled class winner was decided right off the starting line. Ray
Wells Jr. had a slow start in "Tar Buggy" clearing a path for John Parks in
"Sidewinder" to take the win and move on to the Junior Show. Parks' time of
1:54.61 was also a new track record.
Ray Thornton driving "Cold Duck" made a late race pass of "Old Duck" driven
by Tony Hamm to capture top honors in the Four Cylinder Class with a time of
1:28.54. Hamm was a close second. Tricia Turner in "Lady Bug" did not
finish.
Thorton faced off against the Air Cooled Class winner John Parks and Jeep
Class winner Mike Denney in the Junior Show. "Cold Duck" smoked the field
with a time of 1:04.63, a new Four Cylinder Class record.
Joel Darby Jr's "Gator Flea" was the only surviving V6 Class machine of the
night, taking class honors. In the heat race, he defeated Pete Weeks in "L
Mean Yo" as Weeks was unable to finish despite leading the first half of the
race. Darby Jr then ran a time of 1:02.92 in the finals against Donnie
Cooper in "Tractor Traction" who broke on the starting line.
The V8 Stock class provided the most excitement of the night with twelve
buggies on hand. In the last semi final of the night, Phil Macias in "Scrap
Iron" rolled his buggy over in turn 4. This handed a spot in the finals to
Bobby Weeks in "Last Call" where he would face Macias again in his other
buggy "Re-Psycho". Macias won the race with a time of 53.60. However,
Weeks filed a protest after the race because of an incident in turn 3. The
judges ruled Macias cut in front of Weeks and moved Macias back to second,
giving Weeks the V8 stock class victory.
The V6/V8 class runoff pitted Weeks against Darby Jr. Weeks was too much as
he won with a time of 53.24, the fastest time of the night for a V8 Stock
machine. This gave Weeks a ticket to the Best of Show at the end of the
night for one "Last Call".
Pro Modified action was close and fast. Leonard Chesser in "Dat's Da One"
squeaked out a victory against "Poppa Bear" driven by Rocky Graham to
advance to the class final's against former World Champion Brian Langford in
"Rubber Duck". "Dat's Da One" and "Rubber Duck" battled side by side for
the whole race. The crowd was cheering as Chesser held the outside line off
turn 4. Langford on the inside line had to scrub off too much speed which
allowed Chesser to sail under the checkers, a little less than a buggy
length ahead of Langford. Chesser's time of 47.89, 75.17 MPH, is a new
track record!
Entering into Friday night, Eddie Chesser was the man to beat. The reigning
World Champion won both January events at Mesa Park with his 4WD Modified
buggy "The Outlaw". He opened the night by capturing class honors with a
victory over "Viper" driven by Larry West. In the 4WD/Pro Mod runoff, he
faced his uncle Leonard Chesser in "Dat's Da One". Eddie's buggy is not as
fast as a Pro Mod buggy, but he normally gets a big jump at the starting
line allowing him to pull into the lead. Tonight, Leonard had the edge
rounding turn four on the first lap and appeared to be on his way to victory
when "Dat's Da One" broke a right rear wheel. Eddie "The Outlaw" cruised to
the checkers and into the Best of Show Final.
The Best of Show race was all "The Outlaw". Bobby Weeks' "Last Call" simply
did not have enough power to keep up with Chesser who won with a time of
53.13. After a brief trophy presentation, Chesser took the traditional
monster hole swim with the swamp queen “Miss American Dream” Sandy Jolly
from Palm Bay.
The night ended with a fireworks display set to the tune of the 1812
Overture. The crowd cheered and stomped at the end as the announcing team
from Panther Country signed off.
Racing action resumes at Mesa Park on Sunday, July 4 with the second race in
the Coca Cola Championship Points Series. The show starts at 1pm. The
Swamp Buggies conclude their season on September 3, 4 and 5. Mesa Park will
host Monster Trucks July 30 - Aug 1. Mesa Park is located on County Road
512 in Fellsmere, FL, one mile west of Interstate 95. Call (888) MESA-TIX
or visit www.mesapark.com for ticket information.
-John Matthews
Budweiser Championship Points Championship Series
Friday, July 2, 1999
First Round of Heat Races:
Jeeps Heat Race #1
1. Double Trouble 2:22.43
2. Rain Man 2:23.56
3. Junk Yard Dog 2:30.59
4. Road Kill
5. Gator Rebel
6. Daddy’s Lil Deamon
Jeep Class Heat Race #2
1. Spiders Dream 2:29.84
2. Outta Control 2:30.65
3. Jessup Grown 2:32.10
4. Full Grown
5. Totally Confused DNF
Jeep Class Heat Race #3
1. Secret Weapon 2:15.02
2. Catfish II 2:15.87
3. It’s a Gas
4. Power Play
5. Unnecessary Evil
Jeep Class Heat Race #4
1 Spit Fire 2:34.61
2 GI Joe 2:35.86
3 Stink Foot
4 Imagine That
5 Radical Rabbit
6 Mean & Nasty
V8 Stock Class Heat Race #1
1. Last Call 53.81
2. Plum Crazy 1:07.38
V8 Stock Class Heat Race #2
1. Rampage 1:04.01
2. Tuner Loose 1:09.3
V8 Stock Class Heat Race #3
1. Scrap Iron 55.26
2. Fatal Attraction 1:00.26
V8 Stock Class Heat Race #4
1. Under Construction 1:11.63
2. Some Kind of Wonderful DNF
V8 Stock Class Heat Race #5
1. Re-Psycho 54.62
2. Next Generation 1:00.45
V8 Stock Class Heat Race #6
1. Lane’s Choice 1:15.09
2. Tractor Action DNS
V6 Class Class Heat 1
1. Gator Flea 1:05.58
2. L Mean Yo DNF
Pro Modified Heat #1
1. Dat’s Da One 49.51
2. Poppa Bear 50.50
*********************************
Class Semi’s
Jeeps Class Semi #1
1. Double Trouble 2:19.66
2. Outta Control 2:22.35
3. Jessup Grown 2:24.28
4. Spider’s Dream
5. Rainman DNF
6. Junk Yard Dog DNS
Jeep Semi #2
1. Catfish II 2:09.80
2. Secret Weapon 2:12.20
3. It’s a Gas
4. Spit Fire
5. GI Joe
6. Stink Foot
V8 Stock Class Semi #1
1. Last Call 54:05
2. Rampage 1:14.09
V8 Stock Class Semi #2
1. Scrap Iron 1:00.06
2. Under Construction DNS
V8 Stock Class Semi #3
1. RePsycho 56.03
2. Lane’s Choice 1:16.99
Jeep Semi #2
1. Catfish II 2:09.80 (New Class Racord!)
2. Secret Weapon 2:12.20
3. It’s a Gas
4. Spit Fire
5. GI Joe
6. Stink Foot
V8 Stock Class Semi Runoff
1. Last Call 1:01.62
2. Scrap Iron DNF
***********************************
Class Finals:
Jeep Class Final
1. Double Trouble 2:21.20
2. Catfish II 2:21.80
3. Secret Weapon 2:27.38
4. Outta Control 2:30.62
5. It’s a Gas 2:37.82
6. Jessup Grown
Air Cooled Class Final
1. Sidewinder 1:54.61 (New Class Record!)
2. Tar Buggy 2:17.91
Four Cylinder Class Final
1. Cold Duck 1:28.54
2. Old Duck 1:31.23
3. Lady Bug DNF
V8 Stock Class Final
1. Last Call 56.63
2. RePsycho 53.60 (Unintentional foul. Moved to second.)
V6 Class Final
1. Gator Flea 1:02.92
2. Tractor Traction DNF
Pro Mod Final
1. That’s The One 47.89 (New Class and Track Record!!)
2. Rubber Duck 48.51
4WD Modified Class Final
1. Outlaw 51.45
2. Viper DNF
***********************************
V6/V8 Runoff
1. Last Call 53.24
2. Gator Flea 1:04.81
Pro Mod/4WD Runoff
1. The Outlaw 1:32.41
2. Dat’s Da One DNF (broke right rear wheel)
************************************
Junior Show
1. Cold Duck 1:04.63 (New 4Cylinder Class Record!)
2. Sidewinder 1:56.73
3. Double Trouble 2:19.97
Best of Show
1. The Outlaw - Eddie Chesser 53.13
2. Last Call - Bobby Weeks 1:18.86
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