Luke Thomas wins on final night of the Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park for the 38th Annual Winternationals.
Photo Credit: Mike Horne
TAMPA, FL – It was the final night of the 38th Annual Winternationals featuring the 360 Sprints and the Florida Mini Sprint Association. Over 30 cars were on hand for the Mini Sprints and over 50 cars for the 360 Sprints.
The night kicked off with four heats for the Mini Sprints with Sammy LaMothe of Yardville, NJ, Tyler Devault of Delron, NJ, Austin Rice of Venice, FL and Alex Bright of Collegeville, PA all winning their preliminary heats.
Next were the six heat races for the 360 Sprints with Jason Sides, Danny Smith, Terry McCarl, Lou Kennedy, Greg Hodnett and Thomas Kennedy all winning their preliminary heats and advancing to the $10,000 A-Main 40 Lap 13th Annual Ronald Laney Memorial.
Next up was the B-Main for the Mini Sprints with Tyler Walton of Mifflintown, Pa with Chad Sandt, David Hall, John Crowder and Brett Micholski rounding out the top five.
After the top eight in points had their hot lap sessions, the Mini Sprints would line up for the 25 Lap A-Main with Thursday’s winner Luke Thomas and Tyler Devault making up the front row. The green waved and it was Thomas taking off and leading the first three laps until the first caution came out as Danny Sams, Jr. spun in turn one. Thomas was leading with Devault, Sammy LaMothe, Kameron Morral and Trevor Baker your top five.
The green would wave once again but it was on lap six as Nicholas Snyder and Austin Rice got hooked together and stopped in turn two. Thomas, Devault and LaMothe remained in the top three, but it was Baker moving to fourth while Travis Senter had moved into the fifth position.
On the next restart Thomas would open up his lead and started to hit lapped traffic by lap eleven with Devault weaving thru traffic trying to catch Thomas. The third caution would come out as Robbie Smith slowed in turn one. Thomas and Devault remained up front while Senter had made his way up to third with Tyler Walton and Alex Bright now in the top five.
The final caution would come out with just two laps remaining with Sams, Jr spinning in turn four. On the final restart Thomas now had Senter chasing him down for the final three laps but was not able to get by Thomas as he took the checkered flag and became the 2014 Winternationals Champion for the Mini Sprints.
After Thomas got out of his car he climbed on the back of the car and waved the checkered flag with such enthusiasm. Thomas stated in Victory Lane he couldn’t thank his car owner Rich Glausser enough for letting him drive for him this year. He also thanked the Management at the track for putting on a phenomenal show and event and such a terrific track this year. He also wanted to thank his girlfriend Kelsey for letting him come down and do what he loves to do. His parent’s also made it last night and tonight after just getting of a cruise. He thanked his sponsors Scott Spar Racing Engines, Hyper Chassis, and 2 Pug Design.
Rounding out the top ten were Travis Senter, Tyler Walton, Alex Bright, Tyler Walton, Sammy LaMothe, Kameron Morral, Jim Young and Megan Allen.
East Bay Raceway Park’s 2014 Season kicks off on Saturday March 1st with the Late Models, Limited Late Models, Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Street Stocks, V8 Warriors and the Motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers all in action. Grandstands will open at 5:00 pm with the hot laps to begin around 6:00 pm and the ACTION to get underway around 6:30 pm. For further information you can log on to our website at www.eastbayracewaypark.com or call 813-677-7223.