By Jimmy Rouse- Bubba Raceway Park Media
Once again the Central Florida rains hit Bubba Raceway Park on a Saturday, but at 4:30 the call was made that the show would go on. The crew worked diligently and racing eventually got under way as the fans waited patiently for some of the best racing in Florida. With UMP Open-Wheel Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks for $500 and double points, Mini Stocks, and Gladiators all running, the car count once agaion exceeded 100. Of course, adding to the excitement was the early flyover by Bubba himself.
The Hobby Stocks were called upon first and put on an exciting show with passing all over. Going into turn 3 on the first lap, Mike Tovet and Buck Woodhouse found themselves facing the wrong direction, forcing Flagman Larry Bowden to put a complete restart out. The field went 4 laps before Tovet slowed in turn 1 with an unknown problem. Howard Osteen’s 88 slowed at pit-in at the scheduled half-way point and the caution was out once more. On the restart, Robert Sirmons ran out of power and stopped in turn 4, and Matt Shea, with nowhere to go, hit the 94 and spun, ending Shea’s night. Sirmons would continue. It would be another 2 laps until the next caution was out, this for Sirmons who was slow due to a flat tire. The timer expired and the Hobby Stocks were shortened by 5 laps. Kevin Durden started outside pole and had led every lap, but in turns 3 and 4 as the leaders came to the white flag, Tim Powers powered by as Ed Hill made contact with both, Durden receiving the worst of it. Powers took the win and the early season points lead, with Billy Carlbert, Jr. a strong 2nd, Eric Moon put the 07 in 3rd position, Kevin Durden in 4th after dominating the event, and Buck Woodhouse made an impressive comeback for 5th.
The Mini Stock feature was a great chase for the lead that Nick Hebrank held. The only caution came out for Cody Kinsey’s spin on the backstretch in which the 11 came trapped by the mud. The likes of Shirlene Hammond, Ray Folwell, and Roberto Morfin, Jr. were given the task of chasing Hebrank, but he held his 9H at the point until the end. Shirlene Hammond had a career night with a heat win earlier to add with her runner-up finish, Ray Folwell built on his points lead with a 3rd place finish, Stephen Hahlbaugh would settle for 4th, and “TacoSon” Roberto Morfin, Jr. rounded out the top 5. However, after a teardown in tech, everyone moved up 1 spot as Hebrank was illegal. Shirlene Hammond took career win #1, Folwell moved up to 2nd, Hahlbaugh up on to the podium, “TacoSon” a strong 4th, and Brittany Yates put the 53 in the top 5.
Feature #3 was the UMP Open-Wheel Modifieds with 25 scheduled laps. Down the backstretch on lap 1, Kyle Bronson and Larry Mott found themselves out of line and facing a different direction. The complete restart went 1 completed before Jim Smith had a problem down the backstretch and found the wall. On lap 5, Larry Mott spun where he had earlier as Garret Stewart, Jim Passino, and Ronald Soltis made contact and traded sheet metal. At the same time, Scott Kurtzner found himself trapped in the dirt at the bottom of the course. Lap 12 saw Kevin Bryant spin in turn 4 forcing a yellow flag. As the race progressed, Steve Whitener took the lead from pole sitter Jason Davis. After 4 laps, under a cution for Scott Kurtzner, the Mathews Motorsports cars pulled to the pit entrance for new helmets with fresh tear-offs. Twice on lap 19 debris was found on the clay. Ronald Soltis set up a Green/White- Checkered that cut the feature down by 3 laps. Whitener held on to the win as Jeff Mathews held on to the points lead with 2nd, Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. finished 3rd, Jason Davis a strong and much needed 4th, and Donnie Hall rounded out the top 5.
The Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks were given extra motivation with $500 on the line and double points. Lap 2 was the first caution as Richard Calmes spun the 4C and Jason Blackmer stalled, ending his night. Another lap went in the books and John Thorpe made contact with Tim Mathieu, both going to the rear with Mathieu spinning to the back. The lap 4 caution was thrown for debris. Chris Shea had a flat on lap 8 which slowed his 76 significantally and the yellow was brought out once more. Todd Roberts found himself in the mud at the bottom of the turn, ending his night at what would be 2 laps early. Gordon Cade and Jeff Baer made contact setting up the Green/White- Checkered. Chad Scranton won his 2nd of 2011 with team-mate Brian Mullins in 3rd. Luke Sadler had some new paint and put it in 2nd, Jonathan Appleby quietly drove to 4th, and Brian Shea rounded out the top 5.
The final feature of the night was the Gladiators. On lap 1, Jason Brown slowed and Robert Graham had nowhere to go but the back of the brand new #112. Both were okay, but the cars weren’t as fortunate. David Anthony spun on lap 4 and would have some work to do if he wanted a ‘money finish’ on the night. Lap 12 saw the S&S Roofing Cars of Larry Langston and Steve Cox almost collide as Langston had lost his wheel. Langston’s wheel was long gone as it bounced over the backstretch fence. The third Green/White-Checkered of the night wasn’t enough for Steve Cox to make it 5-0 in 2011, but Scott Sullivan doesn’t mind. Sullivan was 1st with Cox 2nd, Reid Christensen 3rd, David Anthony drove back to 4th, and Jerry Taylor was last of the ‘money cars’ in 5th.
Bubba Raceway Park is in action July 16th with the Top Gun Sprint Car Series in race 1 of 6 in their Bubba Raceway Park season, the Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks return, Young Gun Sprints, Double Feature- 2 races where 2 wins means 100 points!- for the Late Models, and Gladiators. For more information you can check out the Speedway website, www.bubbaracewaypark.com, or call the Speedway hotline.
Bubba Raceway Park Results (7/9)
UMP Open-Wheel Modifieds
1- 8 Steve Whitener
2- 33 Jeff Mathews
3- 333 Ivedent Lloyd, Jr.
4- 145 Jason Davis
5- 31 Donnie Hall
6- 56 Dave Barber
7- 3 Josh Sanford
8- 34 Jim Passino
9- 10 Scott Mooers
10- 54 Kevin Bryant
11- Z06 Larry Mott
12- 61 Ronald Soltis
13- 78 Rich Pratt
14- 2H Cory Hupp
15- 1K Scott Kurtzner
16- 60 Chris Northrup
17- 75 Jamie Carter
18- 40B Kyle Bronson
19- 7S Ronnie Chance
20- 67 Garret Stewart
21- 0 Richard Dickinson
22- 1S Paul Sizemore
23- 40C Jim Smith
DNS- 44 Tim Powers
Hobby Stocks
1- 44 Tim Powers
2- 11 Billy Carlbert, Jr.
3- 07 Eric Moon
4- 56 Kevin Durden
5- 55W Buck Woodhouse
6- 95 Jeffery Rodgers
7- 88 Howard Osteen
8- 08 William Edwards
9- 83 Joe Boyd
10- 69 Tommy Ausburn
11- 94 Robert Sirmons
12- 1H Ed Hill
13- 96 Matt Shea
14- 04 Bubba Christian
15- 81 Donald Woosley
16- 98T Michael Tovet
17- 26 Brian Jerrels
18- 77M Mark Maresca
19- 7 Chad Scranton
Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks
1- 27S Chad Scranton
2- 15 Luke Sadler
3- 28 Brian Mullins
4- 60 Jonathan Appleby
5- 19 Brian Shea
6- 27W Ray Wheeler
7- 15V Michael Valdez
8- 64 Jonathan Gillette
9- 18 Chris Watson
10- 5W Jeff Barrett
11- 0 Jason Tovet
12- 54 Glenn Baum
13- 4C Richard Calmes, Jr.
14- 31 Sky Sanford
15- 4W Jim Bethel, Jr.
16- 121C Gordon Cade
17- 3 Jeff Baer
18- 114 John Thorpe
19- 76 Chris Shea
20- 44 Todd Roberts
21- 14M Tim Mathieu
22- 33 Donnie Dobbins
23- 73 Brandon Tillander
24- 21 Willard Driggers
25- 14C Bryan Cox
26- 27F Danny Fletcher
27- 39 Jason Blackmer
Mini Stocks
1- 22H Shirlene Hammond
2- 21X Ray Folwell
3- 75H Stephen Hahlbaugh
4- 7M Roberto Morfin, Jr.
5- 53 Brittany Yates
6- 81 David Pope
7- 21 Ray Ethridge
8- 29 Chris Zimmermann
9- 9 Ryan Babcock
10- 11D Dean Kinsey
11- 28 Brandon Elwood
12- 74 William Killinger, Jr.
13- 13 Robert Vigh
14- 11K Cody Kinsey
15- 10 David Pollen
DNS- 41 Robbie Storer
DNS- 48M Kyle Kruse
DNQ (tech)- 9H Nick Hebrank
Gladiators
1- 28 Scott Sullivan
2- P38 Steve Cox
3- 30 Reid Christensen
4- 4 David Anthony
5- 10T Jerry Taylor
6- 43 Richard Todd
7- 81 Steven Johnson
8- 7UK Stephen Frankland
9- 10G Chase Gustafson
10- 83 Kody Fisher
11- 49 Larry Langston
12- 72 Frank Pelusio
13- 3 Brandon Haseleu
14- 0 Gene Hunley
15- 69 Scott Gruber
16- 126 Robert Graham
17- 112 Jason Brown
DNS- 41 Will Dunnavant