Mark Whitner Wins Back To Back Scott Thompson Memorials Picking Up A Big Payday of $4,000 At East Bay Raceway Park

First feature of the night was the V8 Warriors. Winning their heats were Don Foligno and Jeff Weaver.  When the green flag waved for the feature it was pole sitter Derek Gray taking the early lead. The first caution came out as Jeff Firestein spun in turn two. After the restart Gray was followed by Jeff Weaver into turn one with Foligno right on his back bumper. On lap six it was Gray and Weaver side by side at the line until the next lap when Weaver took over the top spot. The final caution came out as Tim Stoffel spun in turn two. With the final restart on lap eleven Weaver had Reyes right on his back bumper hoping Weaver would make the mistake and pick up the win. When the checkered waved it was Weaver picking up the win the Marco Reyes, Kevin Cassaday, Jessica Robbins and Bill Whitney rounding out the top five.

Next up was the Late Model Consolation race as the top four would advance to the A-Main. Wallace Peacock and Tommy Prince made up the front row. Steve Miller took the early lead until lap six when Adam Boyd spun in turn one with Jeff Mathews avoiding him in the sixth position trying to advance. Only one other caution came out as Steve Miller picked up the win with Mavrick Varnadore, Mark Haase and Jeff Mathews all advancing to the A-Main. Top five out of the four heats automatically advanced to the A-Main.

Next up were the Limited Late Models as Father and Son Scotty Williams and Jesse Brown won their heat races. For the feature it was Brown on the pole with Todd Ford on the outside front row. When the green waved Brown took over the top spot until a caution came out as Keven Devrieze spun in turn two. On the restart Brown had points leader Dale Pope and Kyle Worden on his bumper until Worden spun in turn four collecting four other cars. So on lap two it would be a single file restart as the Limited Late Models had not run since May 18^th due to all the rainouts in June and July. Two other cautions came out but it was the second caution as Randy Shields spun in turn two almost collecting the leaders as he pulled out onto the race track right in front of them. When the checkered waved it was Jesse Brown picking up his very first Limited Late Model Feature Win. “I was a little nervous with Pope racing me hard” Brown stated in Victory Lane. “This is my dad’s old car and we just put a new body on it” Brown also stated. Rounding out the top five were Dale Pope, Ricky Land who picked up bonus money courtesy of All Steel Building & Components for third place.  Rich Livernois, Sr. and Rick Martin finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Next were the Florida Old Time Mods as Dan Darnell picked up the Feature Win. Dan said in Victory Lane that we come out here to race for fun and put on a show for the fans. Rounding out the top five were David Kelly, Jamie Franklin, Mark Steve and Tom McDonald.

Next it was time for the Scott Thompson Memorial 50 Lap Feature paying $3,800 sponsored by Airgas with Selective Environmental Services, Inc. putting up and extra $200 for the winner making it $4,000 to the winner. Winning their heats were Kyle Bronson, Mark Whitner, Rich Pratt and Keith Nosbisch. Previous winners of the Scott Thompson Memorial were Keith Nosbisch who won in 2007 and 2009. Rich Pratt won in 2008, Doug Horton in 2010, Travis Varnadore in 2011 and Mark Whitner in 2012. For the feature it was Keith Nosbisch and Rich Pratt making up the front row. Young Levi of the Thompson family gave the command for the drivers to start their engines. On the start it was Wayne Hammond getting spun in turn four and would make it a complete restart. Then on the next attempt six cars including Hammond, David Schmauss, Doug Watson, Shan Smith, Devin Dixon and Kyle Mussleman all would spin in turn two. All would be able to continue with Dixon going to the pits and was able to make it out before the start but would have to start at the tail end of the field. On the third try it was Nosbisch leading the way for the first five laps and then started to come upon lapped traffic. The first caution came out on lap nine when Shan Smith spun in turn three right in front of Nosbisch with Keith making contact with Smith but with no damage. On the restart Nosbisch would continue to lead as Whitner tried to use the high side to his advantage and try to reel in Nosbisch. Caution would then come out for Hammond spinning in turn two on lap thirteen. Nosbisch again had Whitner on his back bumper with Kyle Bronson and Doug Horton in tow. After the green waved it was Horton on the move as he made it by Bronson and Whitner and moved up to second spot. On lap twenty two as Nosbisch was trying to get around lapped cars and had one right in front of him and had to put on the brakes allowing Horton to take over the lead heading into turn one with Whitner hanging on to second and Nosbisch back to third. At the half way point caution came out as Steven Mathis, Jr. and Doug Watson spun in turn four.  So on the restart it was Whitner leading with Nosbisch back up to second and Horton falling back to third. The race would continue on with all three drivers making their way thru the field passing lapped cars until the caution came out on lap forty-four as Kyle Musselman spun in front of the leaders almost collecting Whitner. When the checkered waved it was the “Magic Man” from Middleburg, FL Mark Whitner winning back to back Scott Thompson Memorials. “I knew Scott and we raced together so this means a great deal to me for me to be able to win this back to back” Whitner stated in Victory Lane. “It takes a team effort to win this race and to make it here in Victory Lane. I have to thank Mark Rey for making the right call on the tires because if it was me I would have guessed wrong” Mark also said. He thanked all of his sponsors including Dave’s Towing and B&B Produce. Rounding out the top five were Doug Horton, Kyle Bronson, Keith Nosbisch and Devin Dixon. Dave Schmauss, Travis Varnadore and Steven Mathis, Jr. also picked up bonus pay courtesy of Selective Environmental Services, Inc. for their seventh, ninth and eleventh place finishes with and extra $100 each.

The final event of the night was the Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers. Winning their heats were Brett Calonge and John Moore. Starting on the front row were Jeremey Douglas and Richard Humfeld. Humfeld led the first four laps until Patrick Fiore, Sr. blew a motor and caught on fire and pulled to the infield bringing out the caution. On the restart Humfeld had Jimmy Baker and Raymond Vann trying to chase him down. Humfeld and Vann were side by side by at the line on lap six until Vann broke ending his night and hopes to make it three in a row. The last caution came out for debris in turn four as Humfeld went on to win the feature. Rounding out the top five were Jimmy Baker, Kayla Jones, Robert Purcell and Don R. Quinn.

ASA racing continues next weekend as the Eagle Jet Top Gun Sprints return. Along with them will be the Gagel’s Open Wheel Modifieds, Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Street Stocks, Outlaw Fours and the Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers. For further information, log on to www.eastbayracewaypark.com for call 813-677-7223 for more information.

V8 Warriors 15 Lap Feature

1. 26 Jeff Weaver

2. 93 Marco Reyes

3. 80 Kevin Cassaday

4. 09 Jessica Robbins

5. 15 Bill Whitney

6. 98 Don Foligno

7. 28 Brett Phillips

8. 93F Jeff Firestein

9. 08 Tim Stoffel

10. 51 Ron Smith

11. 3Z William Suggs

12. 89 Derek Gray

13. 4 George Christensen

14. 11 Henry Wiley

Late Model 12 Lap Consi – Top Four Advancing

1. 8S Steve Miller

2. 14 Mavrick Varnadore

3. 57M Mark Haase

4. 33 Jeff Mathews

5. 87 John Norris

6. 2 Paul Gibbs

7. P1 Wallace Peacock

8. 985 Henry Burnside

9. 6 Adam Boyd

10. 3 Billy Boyd, Jr. (DNS)

Limited Late Models 15 Lap Feature

1. 7JR Jesse Brown

2. 88 Dale Pope

3. 66 Ricky Lan

4. 71 Rich Livernois, Sr.

5. X Rick Martin

6. 49 Randy Shields

7. 29 Stephen Hohlbaugh

8. 51W Kyle Worden

9. 22 Todd Ford

10. 99 Keven Devrieze

11. 45 Roger Crouse (DNS)

12. 27 Scotty Williams (DNS)

13. 75R Jason Russell (DNS)

14. 73 Jeremy Simpson (DNS)

Florida Old Time Modifieds 12 Lap Feature

1. 111 Dan Darnell

2. 46 David Kelly

3. 1 Jamie Franklin

4. 24 Mark Steve

5. 22B Tom McDonald

6. 11 Robert Campbell

7. 03 Gary Riccio

8. 47 Roger Herbach (DNS)

9. 22S. Zach Amundsen (DNS)

10. 40 Rich Svenson (DNS)

Scott Thompson Memorial 50 Laps

1. 58 Mark Whitner

2. 11 Doug Horton

3. 40 Kyle Bronson

4. 02 Keith Nosbisch

5. 95 Devin Dixon

6. 32 Phillip Cobb

7. 105 David Schmuass

8. 0 Rich Pratt

9. 41 Travis Varnadore

10. 07 Doug Watson

11. 95JR Steven Mathis, Jr.

12. 21P Josh Peacock

13. 40B Wayne Hammond

14. 8S Steve Miller

15. 8M Matt Miller

16. 46M Kyle Musselman

17. 33 Jeff Mathews

18. 11x Austin Kirkpatrick

19. 38 Shan Smith

20. 15 Roger Crouse

21. 54 Dalton Myers

22. 2X Tommy Prince

23. 14 Mavrick Varnadore

24. 57M Mark Haase

Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers 15 Lap Feature

1. 04X Richard Humfeld

2. 69X Jimmy Baker

3. 4 Kayla Jones

4. 119 Robert Purcell

5. 33 Don R. Quinn

6. 22 George Handy

7. L13 Jeremey Douglas

8. 09X Brett Calonge

9. 14B Bailey Purcell

10. 71 Jimmy Yankovich

11. 1V Raymond Vann

12. 23 Gary Lucas

13. 66 John Moore

14. 88x Patrick Fiore, Sr.

15. 911 Robert Kissam

16. 13 William Burnside

17. 0 Darrell Taylor (DNS)