March 24, 2012 – Tampa, Fl – Mother Nature looked like she was going to be the big winner tonight before the races got underway as clouds were in full force around the speedway.
The first feature of the night went to the Outlaw Fours. Nick Hebrank and Shirlene Hammond won their heat races. On the front row for the feature was Billy Howard and Stephen Hohlbaugh. When the green flag waved, it was Howard and Hohlbaugh side by side into turn one. But on lap one it was Brandon Yates bringing out the first caution. Hohlbaugh led the field under the restart with Howard right on his back bumper. On lap six, Shirlene Hammond took the lead.
Howard took over the second spot on lap eight trying to chase down the leader. But as Hammond tried to make her way around a lapped car in turn four she spun the car handing the lead over to Howard. Hohlbaugh moved into second with Jesse Brown in third.
On lap twelve Nick Hebrank spun bunching the field back up with just three laps to go. When the final green flag waved, it was Howard picking up the win with Hohlbaugh second, Brown third and Hammond had made her way back up to fourth after going to the rear on lap eight. Kyle Worden rounded out the top five.
Next up were the Late Models. Doug Watson, Josh Peacock and Shan Smith were the heat. For the feature, Shan Smith filling in for Al Larson and Josh Peacock made up the front row. On the original start Peacock had a great start leading the field into one, but several cars tangled in turn two taking them out of contention.
So a restart was in order with the field being realigned. That put Peacock and Doug Watson on the front row for the restart. Again Peacock got a great start with Watson behind him, cars once again tangled this time in turn one bring out the red as the turn was blocked.
So, a third attempt was in order and Peacock again led the way with Watson right behind him. For six laps, Watson continued to knock on the door and finally made the pass out of turn four getting by Peacock and taking the lead. On lap eight, Travis Varnadore made his move and went by Peacock taking over the second spot. Caution came out on lap ten when Bobby Clark spun in turn four bringing the field right back to Watson after he had begun to stretch out his lead over Varnadore.
On the restart, Watson showed the way into turn one and began to pull away from the field, but on lap sixteen, Kyle Mussleman spun bringing out the caution once more. When the final green waved, Watson was pulling away again. He stretched his lead out from Varnadore and the rest of the field.
Watson took the checkered flag with Varnadore, Peacock, Roger Crouse and Hayden Campbell rounding out the top five. Watson said in Victory Lane that he first of all had to thank Keith Hooker for his continued support and devoted work while he went out and messed around. He also wanted to thank Jurnigan Equipment who came out tonight along with Brandon Clearing.
Next up were the East Bay Sprints. Tony Agin and Billy Boyd, Jr won their heat races early on and when it was feature time, they also made up the front row. It took several restarts for the field to get under way, but on the third time, it was Boyd, Jr. leading Agin and the rest of the field into turn one.
The first caution came out on lap five as Bob Auld came to rest in turn four backing his car into the wall. On the restart, Boyd again led the way. Agin continued to get up near Boyd but was unable to make the pass.
On lap six, Kurt Taylor had some problems and hit the front stretch wall and rolled the car bringing out the red. Kurt was ok, but the car was unable to continue. When the green flag waved, Boyd, Jr. continued to lead the way, but with just several laps to go after another caution came out, Boyd’s car started to miss fire. Boyd was able to hold onto the win with Agin second, Stephen Darvalics, Jimmy Ballew and Kerry Gilbert rounding out the top five.
The last feature of the night went to the Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers. Richard Humfeld, Raymond Vann and John Moore all won heat races earlier on. So for the feature, it was Vann and Humfeld making up the front row. On the start of the race it was Vann and Humfeld side by side, but on lap one, it was Vann showing the way. On lap three, Bubba Puyear spun in turn four bringing out the first caution.
On the restart, the top three cars, Vann, Humfeld and John Moore all started to pull away. But caution came out for debris on the track. On the restart, it started to mist with just five laps to go. With mother nature coming down even more, the race ended early with Vann picking up the win. Moore finished second with Humfeld, Donn R. Quinn and Kayla Jones rounding out the top five.
ASA Racing continues next week with the Limited Late Models, Gagel’s Open Wheel Modifieds, Street Stocks, Dirt Daubers and the Old Time Modifieds. For further information, log on to www.eastbayracewaypark.com for call 813-677-7223 for more information.