Wayne Morris of Mulberry drove a methodical race to claim the feature win in the Southern Comfort Pools Limited Late Models 50-lap feature event at DeSoto Speedway Saturday night.

"I was pretty patient," Morris said. "The 17 (Jason Crossley) was driving hard and doing a real good job. I just felt he was driving a little too hard. I lost brakes and Joe Boyd got around me for a while, but he went out and I got second back. Sometimes, I think I'm a little too patient but it paid off this time."

Sonny Hughes of Bradenton set fast time for the event with a 15.22 second (83 mph) lap time. Crossley pulled the pole position and led through 45 laps of the race, while more than six caution flags shuffled the field behind him.

Morris started second, Kevin Ingram was third, Jeff Wogoman fourth, and Teddy Nelson fifth. When Boyd lost his motor after working his way up from tenth place, Wogoman took over third behind Morris. Coming out of turn 4, Crossley hit a spot of water and got loose, sliding sideways to the track before correcting. Morris and Wogoman took advantage of the slip, went under the skidding Crossley and took over the top two spots.

Wogoman, from Ft. Myers, took second place while driving with a rib broken from an earlier jet ski incident. "The doctor said there's nothing to do for it but tape it and run," Wogoman said. "It was painful. And I got in trouble early in the race with lap cars, but I just rode it out. I'm learning patience."

Jason Crossley of West Palm Beach was not unhappy with his third place in the action-packed race. "I got a little low coming out of the corner, hit a puddle near the infield and got a little squirrelly," said Crossley, in his second year of driving the Limited Late Models. "I am kind of disappointed but I'm happy we ran as good as we did. We're new in this series. It's only our fifth race, but I think we can run with anyone."

DeSoto Speedway had a full pit with 160 total cars for the eight feature events. The Southern Comfort Pools Limited Late Models had 18 cars and the Q Auto Attorneys sponsored DSP Truck lined up 30 trucks to take the green flag.

Todd Bontrager of Sarasota took a solid lick but kept on ticking to the checkered flag in the DSP Truck race. Bontrager passed Paul Grenewicz to take the lead moments before Leonard McCue of Bradenton spun between turns three and four on lap 22. Bontrager went into a skid to avoid a collision, but Grenewicz was unable to avoid Bontrager. The collision sent McCue to the rear of the field, Grenewicz to the pits and an undamaged Bontrager to the winner's circle.

Danny Foster of Sarasota moved up to take second place with Shawn Icely of Bradenton claiming the third spot. "He hit me hard in the door," Bontrager said. "It's too bad. Paul had a good truck tonight and if it hadn't been for traffic I don't know if I'd passed him. I thought my tires would be flat but I came out smelling like a rose."

Steve Gainey of Bradenton grabbed the win in the Selective HR Solutions Sportsman feature event after a blazing race against Lonny Miller of Bradenton who placed second and Brian Teeters of Palmetto who grabbed third place. "It looked to me like a hole opened up and I went for it," Gainey said. "I was glad of it I needed this win. The car's running good. Fred (Fred's Garage) has got the motor running good. I think we're going to deal with them now."

Bruce Sherwood of Bradenton claimed his first win of the season in Express Personnel Service Street Stock feature event. "Last week's rain break was helpful," Sherwood said. "We'd kept slinging belts off the motor and we didn't have any brakes. I thought we'd had that monkey on our backs forever. But it's finally off. It's about time to have some luck." Jamie Cassidy of Sarasota placed second and Dan Hall of Sarasota took third.

Jimmy Walker of West Palm Beach won the Callaghan Tire Legends feature event. Rod Sanders of LeBelle took second place and Sammy Whited of Ormand Beach placed third.

Mike Mitrisin of Brooksville took the checkered flag in the Manatee Lumber Modified Minis feature event. "The flames are on fire," Mitrisin said, referring to the flames painted on the side of his car. "This is three in a row, and none came easy." Randy Koon of Lakeland placed second and Shane Cook of Dade City took third.

Young Jesse Dutilly of Bradenton took the checkered flag in the Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Stock Minis feature event. Tony Elrod, Jr. of Kathleen placed second. Tommy Huffstutler of Bradenton took third place.

Gary Gimmler of Palm Beach Gardens roared to the finish line in the DeSoto Speedway TQ Midgets feature event while driving Ralph Wheeler's #15. Gimmler edged out his high-powered brother Mark Gimmler of Palm Beach Gardens for the win. Jack Duggy of Sarasota took third place. "It was a very good night," Gimmler said. "This is a good car. I don't think we'll give Ralph ideas for the next race; we already knew it was an excellent car."

-Ken Willis-

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