James Dellea from Port Charlotte dominated the Cowboy CCadillacclass last year at the Punta Gorda Speedway. Towards the end of the season Dellea decided to swap rides with Stuart Vandevender who was running the Sportsman class with not as much luck. Dellea and Vandevender put their finishing touches on the new rides and off they went racing, Vandevender started right off where Dellea ended in the trucks and that was the winners circle week after week. Dellea had some adjusting to do to the new Street Stock and it paid off sat night as he came home the winner in a very competitive class that is heating up. Dellea put his
son James Dellea III in a 4 cylinder last year and after improving his talent behind the wheel every week, held off some strong front runners to make his first trip to the winners circle.
The night started with the T.Q. Midgets for 25 laps that saw young eighteen year old Chris Gimmler dominate the class. Gimmler was challenged by Steven Meier and Geoff Styner and Rob Kohler, till five to go when Kohler tangled with second place
and broke a shock which retired him for the night. Gimmler came home in first, Jamie Barnum second and Jay Stutz was third.
Mini Stock saw the 32 machine of Dean Butrum of Venice back at the track after a few years of Road Warrior racing in the nicely painted up car. When you have a sponsor like Marks Painting on board you have a nicely painted car to show off in the winners circle. Mike Karrivan of Myakka City came home in second after he collided with the back stretch wall in the heat and busting two tires and rims and Shane Yoder of Sarasota came in third.
Dwarf cars saw Andy Pryor of Naples run away with the win and Don borrowed the 33 machine of Roger Richmond for a second place finish while John Bailey of Sarasota came in third.
Perfect Pest Control Pro 4 class came out for twenty five laps and saw the 77 of James Dellea III of Port Charlotte, that friends call “Doogie” jump out to an early lead. Doogie had to stay on the gas as the pressure was on him and his back bumper at times from the past winners who have been dominating the class. Young Dellea broke the winning streaks of Paul Richards Jr who came in second and Ryan Collver who settled for third. What a great race by all the drivers who ran with just one caution and another new driver Brittany Wells held her own being her first time ever in a race car to finish the race.
Open Wheel Modifieds had a low count but made up for it in racing action, after watching the heat race where the fans saw a lot of rubbin is racin going on they new the feature was going to be exciting. Wayne Morris had troubles in the heat race and finished last after some contact then did some adjusting to take his place on the pole to start the inverted field race. Bobby Mobley started outside Morris and picked up where they left off in the heat battling for the first spot. L.B. “Watch this” Skaggs out of N. Ft. Myers watched for four laps in third till he put the move on both drivers and took over the lead. Steve Arnold
out of Cape Coral got caught twice for tagging the car in front of him and sent to the rear but was back up to second to challenge Skaggs for the lead. The finish would be Skaggs, Arnold, Mobley third and Zack Rudd fourth.
The new class that’s made up of the old Super Stocks and some Sportsman that are now called Street Stock is really heating up as some new drivers came back and some old drivers converted their cars and what a race they put on for the fans. Port
Charlotte driver James Dellea was still overwhelmed with pride from his son’s victory sat on the pole for the feature while Bobby Fischer from Naples outside. Dellea jumped to the lead and returning driver Ryan Pancoast of N. Ft. Myers was back to bring some competition to the mix as he challenged Dellea for the lead running in second. Pancoast gave a few bumps to Dellea’s bumper then tried the outside while Andy Allen of Naples was in the mix working his was up to third. Side by side, bumper to bumper then the caution came out on lap sixteen when Logan Leonard spun last years champion Jimmy Meiser and that
tightened the field back up and put Pancoast outside of Dellea for the restart. Close tight racing while Pancoast gave it his all to get by Dellea trying for a win his first night back and white flag is out and it’s still Dellea on the board in first and Pancoast second while Fischer and Allen are fighting for third. Turn three, this is it, going into four, Pancoast dives down inside,
gives a little tap to Dellea and Dellea spins left, Pancoast crosses the line first. Pancoast would get called for spinning the leader and that would turn the win back over to Dellea who had another celebration in the winners circle. Bobby Fischer was second and Andy Allen third, while last race winner and points lead Randy Sober watched from the stands as he blew up his motor in hot laps.
The Cowboy Cadillacs was the last race of the night and saw young John Pummell Jr. start on the pole and jump out to the lead. Jeff Deeble of Port Charlotte ran up along Pummell on the outside trying to take over first while Stuart Vandevender had to ride around in third with nowhere to pace as the two ran side by side. Lap seven Pummell must of forgot the fast truck of Vandevender was on his bumper when he took Deeble high in turn four and that made Deeble check up from hitting the outside wall and gave way to Vandevender who flew by Pummell for the first place spot. While Vandevender checked out on the field, Deeble caught back up to Pummell and was again on the outside giving it his all to race to the front, side by side they ran, lap after lap. Pummell still being scored in second while Deeble taking the outside groove, that seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. The finish would be Stuart Vandevender in first with John Pummell Jr second and Jeff Deeble with a hard fought third place finish.
March 17th you do not want to miss the Limited Sportsman for 50 laps along with the Pro Trucks for 50 laps, Rookie Trucks, Road Warriors, Perfect Pest Control Pro 4 and the return of the Legend cars and Bandoleros
front gates open at 4:00pm on race nights
Stay tuned for upcoming events such as March 24 th for the First annual ROCKIN COUNTRY BASH at the speedway
March 31 st race #3 of the Goodyear Late Models for 100 laps
April 7 th RACIN TO END HUNGAR & TBARA Sprints Cars
Please visit puntagordaspeedway.com for more info or
Or find us on Facebook under Punta Gorda Speedway.
941-575-7223 Punta Gorda Speedway is located at 8655 Piper Road in Punta Gorda
Exit 161 Jones Loop
PUNTA
GORDA SPEEDWAY RESULTS
3/10/12
Open Wheel Modified
1. 71 L. B. Skaggs N. Ft. Myers
2. 19 Steve Arnold Cape Coral
3. 29x Bobby Mobley Auburndal
4. 29 Zack Rudd N. Ft. Myers
5. 98 Wayne Morris Mulbury
Street Stock
1. 77 James Dellea Port Charlotte
2. 2 Bobby Fischer Naples
3. 33 Andy Allen Naples
4. 88 Jim Meiser Lehigh
5. 57x Jim Brenner
6. 57 Logan Leonard Cape Coral
7. 98 A. J. Mott
8. 47 Ryan Pancoast N. Ft. Myers
9. 85 Randy Sober Punta Gorda DNS
Mini Stock
1. 32 Dean Butrum Venice
2. 29 Mike Kerrivan Myakka City
3. 8 Shane Yoder Sarasota
Pro 4
1. 77 James Dellea III Port Charlotte
2. 61 Paul Richards Jr. Naples
3. 04 Ryan Collver Ft. Myers
4. 00 Dan Collver N. Ft. Myers
5. 91 Jessica Ostrovskis St. Pete
6. 9 Mark Skinner Punta Gorda
7. 7 Blaine Baer Port Charlotte
8. 21 Brittany Wells N. Ft. Myers
9. 9x James Daring
10. 87 Syler Null Fort Myers
Cowboy Cadillac
1. 36 Stuart Vandevender Cape Coral
2. 86 John Pummell Jr. Arcadia
3. 8 Jeff Deeble Port Charlotte
4. 88 Brad Wegert Port Charlotte
5. 33 Bobby Mobley D.N.S.
Dwarfs
1. 4 Andy Pryor Bonita Springs
2. 33 Don ?
3. 17 John Bailey Sarasota
4. 2 Tom Pryor Bonita Springs
5. 82 Mike Belusar Punta Gorda D.N.S.
T.Q. Midgets
1. 51 Chris Gimmler Palm Beach Gardens
2. 7 Jamie Barnam Brooks ville
3. 6 Jay Stutz Riverview
4. 2 Geoff Styner Cape Coral
5. 14 John Ciolino Cape Coral
6. 23 Steve Maer Port St. Lucy
7. 30 Rob Kohler Naples
8.58 Stu Chamberlain Pine Island