By Jimmy Rouse Rouse- Bubba Raceway Park Media
RaceCar Engineering Late Models highlighted the night while the Hobby Stocks, Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks, Mini Stocks, and Gladiators raced to gain points in tight battles at the front. Of course, the track owner himself got in on the action before all was said and done.
As the case has been all season when they’re around, the Hobby Stocks were up first. Down the backstraight on the 1st lap David Bange slapped the wall, Brett Barrett climbed the fence, and Mark Maresca did the barrel roll, ending the sequence. Maresca was okay, but very disappointed after the roll. After the clean-up they tried the start again, but Kevin Durden hit the wall right where the other 3 did and he paid the price with the full twirl on the rear-end before Mick Kulak made contact with nowhere to go. Both did get out of the car on their own power. The fuel leaked out of Durden’s fuel cell so the red flag was a little bit longer then usual. On the 3rd attempt for the actual start Donnie Reed spun his 07 and half a dozen cars had to take evasive action. The 4th time was the true charm and we went 4 before Joe Belkey spun the 12 around from 2nd place. The green came back out and allowed Biggest Mover Mike Tovet to make ground up from the deep. Lap 9 was unkind to the 2009 champion as Bubba Christian got loose after contact with Howard Osteen and Christian hit the tire and ended his night after learning he was going to the rear. The field completed another lap before Howard Osteen found his 88H climbing the fence and tumbling down the frontstretch. At this point the timer called it and the Hobby Stocks went G-W-C. An intense 2 lap battle was the reward, but Tim Powers led flag-to-flag for his 2nd win of 2011. Buck Woodhouse stayed in 2nd for the most of the night with a tough task- to hold off David Bange. Mike Tovet was 4th, and Tom Pratt came back from an early incident for a top 5. Cody Albright was careful all night and kept his green 27 out of trouble and took 6th. Joe Belkey and Donnie Reed both had spins in the race and finished 7th and 8th, respectively with Bud Chancey 9th and James Erickson rounding out the top 10.
With $500 on the line and Double Points on the mind the Mini Stocks came out for another battle. Roberto Morfin, Jr. was pulling away from the field but midway through the race his engine started to go sour. The only caution during the feature was on lap 9 for Jimbo Bird when his car stopped in turn 3. Coming through the field were the 2 drivers with multiple wins in 2011 and on lap 11 they went by Morfin who’s engine had expired. Green to the end and “Hammerdown” Shirlene Hammond took her 3rd win of 2011 followed by the other 3 time winner Ray Folwell, Jamie Burrows was 3rd, Brittany Yates lost some points after a 4th place finish, and Ryan Babcock rounded out the top 5. Jimbo Bird was 6th, Roberto Morfin, Jr. did get credited with 7th, Ray Ethridge 8th, Stephen Hahlbaugh 9th, and Buddy Pope scored 10th.
Larry Anderson brought out the first caution for the Late Models after a flat tire left him stranded on lap 4. The restart gave Rich Pratt a smell of the lead and he drove to it for a few laps. The lap 7 caution for Tim Zackery’s spin bunched the field up again with a lot of experience in the top 5. The green came out, but in turn 1 Bubba found himself facing the wrong direction and brought out the yellow. The field got a few more laps in and Adam Bedenbaugh got back around Pratt on lap 8. Chris Fontaine, Phillip Cobb, Tim Zackery, Kenny Monahan, and Bryan Bernhardt all spun on lap 9 and some contact left some of those involved with work to be done on their race cars. Bubba’s 14 machine had an ignition failure and lap 12 was all it would see. The green waved again, but on lap 14 “IceMan” Austin Kirkpatrick went straight into the turn 4 wall but only made slight contact. The final 11 laps were green and with 5 to go it was time for the points leader to show the field what his 21 has. Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. took a win on his birthday with Adam Bedenbaugh in 2nd. JO Nobles had the 18JO hooked up and he drove it to 3rd while Donnie Chappell drove his 58 to 4th and Dillon Wood rounded out the top 5 after starting in the rear. Brandon Cameron was 6th with Rich Pratt 7th, Christian Augspurger a very quiet 8th, and Bryan Bernhardt and Tim Zackery both drove back up for 9th and 10th, respectively. On the frontstretch after the race Bubba drew a lucky fan’s name out of the bucket and they got his winnings for the night.
The Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks had a very rare week off and were ready to go. Jonathan Appleby took the lead before Brandon Tillander, who had let his huge pet rat out of the 73 when he spun in his Heat, brought out the caution with the right fornt tire nearly gone. After the restart David Miller, Jr. took the Pearson throwback 21 to the lead and held it until after the restart for Tim Mathieu’s stop on the clay. Cookie Cantley and Glenn Baum spun in turn 2 after Chad Scranton had taken the lead when Miller parked for the night. The next lap saw Chris Shea take the lead and his brother Brian had a tire go down and brought out the yellow. The final yellow of this sequence was for Chad Scranton who lost the left rear tire and went home on the hook. On lap 14 “The Canuck” Tim Mathieu spun and Mickey Jackson stopped and the yellow waved. Time expired and the G-W-C was used. The 2 lap battle gave the field another shot, but Chris Shea had his 76 hooked up and he took his 2nd career win at Bubba Raceway Park. Harold Erickson kept the 66 up front all night with Biggest Mover Luke Sadler in 3rd. Jason Blackmer and John Thorpe rounded out the top 5. Gordon Cade had an uneventful night in 6th, James Sullivan had a great run with 7th, Jonathan Appleby held on for 8th, Mark Trexler did a great job to get the 34 into 9th, and “Mr. Consistency” Jonathan Gillette had another 10th place finish after the problems he endured throughout the day.
The 5th and final feature was the Gladiators and they put a great race on for the fans. After 2 laps Steve Johnson and Brandon Haseleu made contact and spun right back to where they started. Reid Christensen took the lead early and gapped the field significantally. On lap 8 Richard Todd spun out of turn 4 and brought the yellow flag out again. The very next lap Frank Pelusio stopped in turn 1 and was the 3rd caution for the division. Dennis Sanderson took the car he drove in the Fan Participation race and turned it into a Gladiator. With 1 to go his night ended with some right front tire problems. Reid Christensen had some faster cars behind him, but he drove like a veteran and took that elusive 1st career win while driving Art Souther’s car. Robert Graham was 2nd, Brandon Haseleu was 3rd, Stephen Frankland put his Orlando Kia 7UK in 4th, and Jerry Taylor rounded out the top 5. Steve Johnson was 6th, Richard Todd 7th, Jaylyn Amspaugh 8th, Chuch Mathias fell through the field to 9th, and Kody Fisher rounded out the top 10.
The August Break has arrived and with those 2 weeks it will allow drivers to rebuild and refresh for One Last One For PJ Wiggins on September 3rd. For more information on the rest of the season you can check out www.bubbaracewaypark.com or you can call the Speedway hotline.
Bubba Raceway Park Results (8/13)
Late Models
1- 21 Ivedent Lloyd, Jr.
2- 26 Adam Bedenbaugh
3- 18JO JO Nobles
4- 58 Donnie Chappell
5- 1W Dillon Wood
6- 55 Brandon Cameron
7- 0 Rich Pratt
8- 35 Christian Augspurger
9- 69 Bryan Bernhardt
10- Z Tim Zackery
11- 311 Kenny Monahan
12- 10 David Crews
13- 23VP VP Pipken
14- RP1 Bud Rose
15- 71 Richard Ferry
16- 11K Austin Kirkpatrick
17- 3K Kyle VanSickle
18- 32 Phillip Cobb
19- 14 Bubba Clem
20- 84 Chris Fontaine
21- 46P Darrell Padgett
22- 51 Larry Anderson
DNS- J17 Joe Kump
Hobby Stocks
1- 44 Tim Powers
2- 55W Buck Woodhouse
3- 2 David Bange
4- 98T Mike Tovet
5- 8 Thomas Pratt
6- 27 Cody Albright
7- 12 Joe Belkey
8- 07 Donnie Reed
9- 32 Bud Chancey
10- 7E James Erickson
11- 08 William Edwards
12- 80 John Clark
13- A2Z Chuck Mchone
14- 83 Joe Boyd
15- 69 Tommy Ausburn
16- 56S Jeff Sargent
17- 88H Howard Osteen
18- 11 Billy Carlbert, Jr.
19- 04 Bubba Christian
20- 65 Joseph Brown
21- 95 Jeff Rodgers
22- 76 Davey Kinsey
23- 90 Tim Gay
24- 56 Kevin Durden
25- 2S Mick Kulak
26- 109 Brett Barrett
27- 77M Mark Maresca
DNS- 55JR Devin Walker
Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks
1- 76 Chris Shea
2- 66 Harold Erickson
3- 15 Luke Sadler
4- 39 Jason Blackmer
5- 114 John Thorpe
6- 121 Gordon Cade
7- 14S James Sullivan
8- 60 Jonathan Appleby
9- 34 Mark Trexler
10- 64 Jonathan Gillette
11- 19 Brian Shea
12- 18 Chris Watson
13- 3W Vaughn Woodall
14- 21G Jason Gamble
15- 4 Larry Smith
16- 14M Tim Mathieu
17- 86 Mickey Jackson
18- 23 Gary Champion
19- 03 Cookie Cantley
20- 9 Cody Gobles
21- 54 Glenn Baum
22- 0 Donnie Strosahl
23- 27S Chad Scranton
24- 4W Jim Bethal
25- 96 Eddie Lentz
26- 21M David Miller, Jr.
27- 74 Phil Hines
28- 73 Brandon Tillander
DNS- 12 Josh Lloyd
DNS- 118 Ron Adams
Mini Stocks
1- 22H Shirlene Hammond
2- 21X Ray Folwell
3- 41 Jamie Burrows
4- 53 Brittany Yates
5- 9 Ryan Babcock
6- 12 Jimbo Bird
7- 7M Roberto Morfin, Jr.
8- 21 Ray Ethridge
9- 75H Stephen Hahlbaugh
10- 81 Buddy Pope
11- 1K Kyle Kruse
12- 11K Kody Kinsey
13- 28 Brandon Elwood
Gladiators
1- 30 Reid Christensen
2- 126 Robert Graham
3- 3H Brandon Haseleu
4- 7UK Stephen Frankland
5- 31 Jerry Taylor
6- 81 Steve Johnson
7- 43 Richard Todd
8- 74B Jaylyn Amspaugh
9- 2M Chuck Mathias
10- 83 Kody Fisher
11- 112 Jason Brown
12- P38 Steve Cox
13- 26X Dennis Sanderson
14- 41 Donald Smith
15- 72 Frank Pelusio
DNS- 69P David Pate
DNS- 69JR Tommy Ausburn, Jr.