Jim Rouse, BRP Media (9-29-12) Ocala, FL – Night Of A Thousands was a huge success for our Twisted Tea Top Gun Sprint Cars, Scorpion Racing Products Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, 1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks, and Rent-N-Roll Gladiators.
Hobby Stocks would start the night off right as “Ragin” Rodney Wright would lead lap 1 from outside pole. Wright had Tim Powers and Trevor Gamble breathing down his neck so there was no riding at any point. Up front after 4 cautions it was still Wright, Powers, and Gamble! Tim Powers stole the lead on the next restart and Gamble would jump up to 2nd spot while Wright saw a good night go bad. Just a few laps later Hunter Gustafson would spin out of turn 4 and Trey Cameron made slight contact to bring out another caution flag. The top 3 was now Powers, Gamble, and Wright. Trey Cameron would spin and Mark Maresca would tap him before Jonathan Appleby, Matt Kramer, Larry Isgette, Glenn Baum, Joseph Forsyth, Hunter Gustafson, and Don Woosley all made late contact which would bring out a red flag. Maresca would pit while Cameron, Woosley, Isgette, Baum, Forsyth, and Kramer would have to retire. All drivers were okay after the massive 9-car pile-up. Green-White-Checkered would give Gamble and Wright another shot but there was no stopping Tim Powers as he cruised to his 5th win of 2012. Gamble and Wright would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively, as Mike Stalnaker and Kyle Maynard completed the top 5.
Scorpion Racing Products Modifieds would roll 2nd with “The Gunslinger” Garret Stewart the leader from pole position. The first 12 laps were green before Gary Sexton spun and collected Kent Corbin and Buzzie Reutimann. No damage was done to Reutimann’s car and the other 2 had minimal damage at most. Up front Garret Stewart was still leading Kyle Bronson and Rich Pratt. On lap 17 as they came to lap Charlie O’Neill “The Gunslinger” had to take evasive action to miss the #75C and it actually gained Stewart ground! On lap 22 Gary Sexton spun just as Bronson overtook Stewart for the lead. Just as it happened the #2S let go leaving the team-mate Dalton Lanich and Jeff Mathews to chase “The Killer.” Mathews would actually bring the yellow out with just 1 to go when he spun out of turn 4. Rich Pratt would inherit a podium spot with a 1-lap fight ensuing. He led just 4 laps but it’s #11 for Kyle Bronson. Dalton Lanich would take a strong 2nd on a night that could’ve been for Chris Williams Motorsports. Rich Pratt rebounded to finish 3rd while Kent Corbin and Buzzie Reutimann showed the youth that they should never be counted out.
Twisted Tea Top Gun Sprint Cars ran their warm-up for the Florida State Sprint Car Championship which will run in just 2 weeks. Danny Martin, Jr. made a bold pass of Kerry Gilbert stick to lead lap 1 from his outside pole starting spot. Scott “Hollywood” Kreuger was very slow as he learned his way around the Top Gun Sprint Car but he adhered to every blue flag given to him. “Flyin” Ryan Partin would bring out caution #1 on lap 7 after a spin out of turn 2. Martin would lead Robbie Smith and Kerry Gilbert. With just 3 laps left Keith Butler would bring the yellow lights back on as he stopped on the apron in turn 3. Martin still led but Robbie Smith and Matt Kurtz would get to take their shots at him. Matt Kurtz would lead the last ½ lap as he took a big win, his 4th, of 2012 over “The Hammer.” Robbie Smith would finish a strong 3rd with Shane Kreidler 4th and Colin Cabre a very strong 5th before he heads off to the NASCAR Drive For Diversity Program.
1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks would go 14-laps for $1000 and a full moon was above the track. On lap 5 rookie driver Casey Feaster would spin from the back of the pack to bring out a caution while Shane Nichols, Chad Scranton, and Bubba Durbin led the way. On lap 8 Brian Mullins and Jonathan Appleby had a solid fight going on for 5th but it was spoiled when Appleby rolled the right rear tire off forcing him to pit and the caution to wave once more. Caution would fly again when James Erickson lost his right rear wheel ending his night. Under caution Brian Mullins would pit with a flat tire- all even in the championship fight. On lap 10 John Thorpe would have a tire go down and he would bring the caution out. Chad Scranton took a shot at the lead and cut his right front in the process and brought a caution out when he couldn’t turn left. The finish would go 1 shot Green-White-Checkers. Shane Nichols would hold off Bubba Durbin in a fantastic finish as Durbin actually half-spun and barely beat Jason Gamble to the line. James Sullivan, III and Luke Sadler completed the top 5.
The finale for the night was our Rent-N-Roll Gladiators who did not disappoint. Action heated up quickly as Steve Johnson would lead from pole position but on lap 2 a title contender, Jordan McMillon, fell out of the race when the right front broke on his #68 machine. On the restart Johnson’s right front went down which would allow Billy Holmes to take the lead as the field circulated under yellow. On lap 4 a scary crash occurred when Brian Thorpe’s steering locked up and sent him into the turn 1 wall. Thorpe hurt his ankle but did climb out of the car under his own power. As the field took half-way Reid Christensen, fighting for the lead, broke the right front off of his #21 ending a solid run. A Green-White-Checkered would end the race and Billy Holmes held them off. Tony LaPorta would finish 2nd with Brandon Haseleu, Steve Johnson, and Nick Zackery the top 5. However, in tech, Haseleu was disqualified for an issue with the VIN numbers of his #3. That would move Johnson up to 3rd, Zackery to a career-best 4th, and Christensen would finish 5th.
Next week we enter Month 8 of our 9 Month Points Season with the Scorpion Racing Products Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, 1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks, Rent-N-Roll Gladiators all coming back out and the Barfield Law Group Mini Stocks rejoining them for a 5-class spectacle.
Bubba Raceway Park Results (9/29)
Twisted Tea Top Gun Sprint Cars
1- 92 Matt Kurtz
2- 82 Danny Martin, Jr.
3- 6S Robbie Smith
4- 88K Shane Kreidler
5- 12 Colin Cabre
6- 24 Stephen Darvalics
7- 38 Tony Agin
8- 55 Kerry Gilbert
9- 22 Shawn Murray
10- 14 Ryan Partin
11- 8 Rich Alexander
12- 0L Brandon Lineberger
13- 5 Tim Grubaugh
14- 9 JR Steele
15- 83 Mark Ruel, Jr.
16- G6 Brandon Grubaugh
17- 19 Keith Butler
18- 21F Scott Kreuger
19- 16 Skeeter Faulconer
20- 61 Frankie Hurst
DNS- 3A AJ Maddox
Scorpion Racing Products Open-Wheel Modifieds
1- 40B Kyle Bronson
2- 2L Dalton Lanich
3- 78 Rich Pratt
4- 77 Kent Corbin
5- 00 Buzzie Reutimann
6- 34 Chuck Gustafson, Jr.
7- Z06 Larry Mott
8- 33 Jeff Mathews
9- 41X Gary Sexton
10- 75C Charlie O’Neill
11- 2S Garret Stewart
12- 122 Ron Burgess
Hobby Stocks
1- 44 Tim Powers
2- 12 Trevor Gamble
3- 99 Rodney Wright
4- 9 Mike Stalnaker
5- 19 Kyle Maynard
6- 94 Robert Sirmons
7- 388 Walt Kahrs
8- 15 Hunter Gustafson
9- 77M Mark Maresca
10- 82 Kyle Morse
11- 69A Jonathan Appleby
12- 13 William Gillam
13- 81 Don Woosley
14- 77 Matt Kramer
15- 2 Larry Isgette
16- 17F Joseph Forsyth
17- 23 Glenn Baum
18- 89 Trey Cameron, III
19- 4C Richard Calmes, Jr.
20- 05 Alan Lane
21- 28 Brandon Elwood
DNS- 83 Joe Boyd
1-800-ASK GARY Thunder Stocks
1- 65 Shane Nichols
2- 12 Bubba Durbin
3- 73 Jason Gamble
4- 14 James Sullivan, III
5- 66 Harold Erickson
6- 69A Jonathan Appleby
7- 15 Luke Sadler
8- 27 Chad Scranton
9- 114 John Thorpe
10- 28 Brian Mullins
11- 3W Eddie Woodall
12- 20 Eric Davis
13- 2W Casey Feaster
14- 13 William Gillam
15- 28E Brandon Elwood
16- 17 Eddie Kilbury, Jr.
17- 16 James Erickson
18- 6 Tony Campbell
19- 9 Jeff Stalnaker, Jr.
20- 6H Ronnie Harrell
DNS- 21 Brandon Tillander (Driver Switch With Jason Gamble)
Rent-N-Roll Gladiators
1- 26 Billy Holmes
2- 3T Tony LaPorta
3- 81 Steve Johnson
4- 1 Nick Zackery
5- 21 Reid Christensen
6- 01 Brian Thorpe
7- 68 Jordan McMillon
DQ- 3 Brandon Haseleu
DNS- 30 Danny Brown
DNS- 69 David Pate