It was a great night of racing at Punta Gorda Speedway and the good weather made a difference with packed grand stands. The main features of the night was the Q Auto & Injury Attorney twin 35 lap features that did not disappoint the fans with great racing action. Q Auto & Injury Attorney sponsors were on hand to give away backpacks full of school supplies and $100.00 cash to some of the many kids that were lined up for the drawings.
The field was set for the first Open Wheel feature were Shawn Harper in the 00 from Lake Wales Fl. set fast time with a 15.377 but would start inside second row. Steve Arnold of Cape Coral was on the pole and jumped out to the lead and led until the first caution came out on lap 22. Something flew off the 99 car of Sean McLaughlin which brought out the first caution and as they were lined back up ready to go green, you could hear something not right with the 19 of Arnold. The green was out and coming out of turn four, the leader, Steve Arnold shut the car down and coasted down the front that brought the yellow back out and would retire Arnold to the pits for the night with mechanical problems. Doug Moff moved up to first on the restart of the race and the 98 of Wayne Morris and got around Shawn Harper for second. Lap 24 Harper was putting the move on Morris for second and the outcome was a cation, that saw Harper being sent to the rear and an ill handling race car. Doug Moff went on to win the feature with Wayne Morris holding on to second with hard charging Jeremy Gertsner third, Harper would barley finish the race.
Fab 4 came out for their feature and saw the 61 of Paul Richards Jr. of Naples make it two in a row trips to victory lane. Aaron Hardgrove of Lehigh brought the 98 car in for second and Duane Vandevender of Cape Coral had a strong run to finish up in third.
T.Q. Midgets saw the 30 of Mike Belusar lead 24 of the 25 lap feature chase by second place finisher Jamie Barnum and third went to the 23 of Steven Maier.
Champ Karts remind you of Taledaga were good bump drafting can get you to the front or keep you in the lead. Leading all twenty five laps was the 57 of Brian Scherrer who was paired up with the 13 of Romay Venta for second and third went to the 25 of Pierce Aiken.
The “always entertaining” Cowboy Cadillacs were up next were James Dellea jumped out to the lead and led while the battle was going on behind him. Returning driver Ray Jayne was back in the 35 truck and in hot pursuit through the field when the only caution came out on lap fifteen with Jayne being sent to the rear for trying to take over third. Dellea of Port Charlotte would go on to win the feature with Robert Willms second, Jeff Deeble third and Ray Jayne would finish fourth.
Road Warriors had fifteen cars take the green and the Thundering Heard put on a great show. Points leader Richard Nelson took over the lead on lap two and never looked back. A fan favorite Randy Kile broke in the heat race and it looked as if he was not going to keep his third place standings in the points chase, by not making the feature. The brotherhood among racers is sometimes a strong bond, when Phil Morrison went home and brought back his race car for Randy to run the feature to stay in the points chase. Kile had to start in the rear with a back up car and as Nelson led the race he was challenged by Jason Miller who finished second. Randy Kile would pick off drivers one by one to finish the race in the third spot and thanked Phil for the ride.
Pro 4 class was a little low in car count due to the last lap crash last week but saw a strong run by the 04 of Ryan Collver. In the caution free race Ryan Collver led all 25 laps to bring it to the winners circle in first place followed by Cody Allen and Dan Collver third.
Open Wheels second 35 lap feature was the last race of the night, the 19 of Arnold was out and was the crew of Shawn Harper able to fix what was broke in the 1st feature. With the field inverted from the first feature that put the 11 of Jimmy Wilkens III of Fort Pierce on the pole and Shawn Harper outside for the start of the race. Shawn Harper jumped out to the lead and what a job they did on that car in between the races, as he ran strong for all 35 laps in the first spot. Points leader and winner of the first race Doug Moff had to start in the rear with the inversion and got caught for the bringing out the first caution on lap nine. Returning after a few months off to rebuild a new car after a bad wreck was Port Charlotte’s Sean McLaughlin who tried to chased down Harper and came up short to finish in second. Doug Moff of Ft Myers would make his way up through the field to bring it home in third, Eric Rudd of Naples fourth and Jeremy Gerstner rounded out the top five. It wasn’t the Birthday present James Wilkens Jr was hoping for as he turned 70 “years young” Saturday, but still finished sixth in the number 76 modified car.
Next week Sept 24- Sportsman return for 50 laps, Pro 4, Fab 4, Super Stock, Road Warriors, Cowboy Cadillac, Fan Participation Races
See you at the Races.
Visit the web site for any new updates and information at www.puntagordaspeeway.com