Sprint car points leader Dave Retzlaff brings home the win

With rain all around and bolts of lightning off in the distance, Desoto was able to get the full night of racing action in without a drop of rain. Not sure what Mother Nature had in store for the night, The Sprints cars were the only class to run heats. Shane Butler of Bushnell won the first heat and Sport Allen out of Pinellas Park won the second heat.

LKQ Pick Your Parts Pure Stock was the first feature of the night that saw pole sitter Duane Best jump to the lead with son Kyle right on his bumper for most of the race. Returning back to action, was the 51 of Scott McKay of Bradenton who was putting pressure on the 63 till he finally made the pass on lap seventeen and had his sights on the three of Duane Best. Side by side, racing down the front stretch, fans on their feet, McKay on the outside made the charge past Best with five to go. Billy Carlbert of Palmetto was able to past Best with one to go to bring home a second place finish while Duane settled for third.

The Desoto Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Pro Trucks were on the card for twin twenty five lap features rolled out next with fast qualifier Steve Darvalics starting outside Becca Monopoli to start the race. Darvalics jumped to the lead and clearly had the fastest truck while Monopoli ran second holding off a hard charging Chad Chastain. The first caution came out with three to go for something that flew out of one of the trucks and under the leader’s truck which ended his night. Racing resumed with Darvalics in the pits which turned the lead over to Monopoli and a pass from Bradentons Danny Anderson to get by Chastain for second but ran out of time to beat Monopoli to the line. Monopoli was first, Anderson second Chastain Third, Jeff Guilbault of North Port and Tommy Kelly of Myakka rounded out the top five.

Mod Minis saw the seventy seven of Lee Davis of Lakeland, lead all twenty five laps with Myakka’s Darrin Ellis in hot pursuit in second but came up short to finish second while Jerrold Thompson of Sarasota finished third.

Take Aim Gun Range Street Stocks came out for their thirty lap feature that saw Tyler Lau in a fast hot rod that ran all thirty laps in the lead. While Lau ran by himself in first, Bobby Mobley and Mike Kerrivan were battling back and forth for that second spot while James Nanney had his site on that spot. Nanney battled with Mobley and took over second with ten laps to go. When the checkers flew it would be Tyler Lau, James Nanney, Bobby Mobley, Mike Kerrivan and Billy Carlbert would round out the top five.

After a short intermission the Ground Pounding Winged Sprint cars were pushed out for forty laps. The green flag dropped and before they could get one lap in the books, Mathew Hall and Troy Thompson made contact. Thompson’s night was ended when he lost a spring and Hall had to take up the rear on the restart. Current points leader, Dave Retzlaff of Brookesville took the lead on the restart and never looked back. With no other cautions, it was a battle between Shane Butler and Sport Allen as they weaved in and out of lap traffic for second. Allen made his way around butler and had his sight on Retzlaff when Five laps to go was shown and something went wrong with Allen’s car as he pulled off into the infield. When the checkers came out it was Dave Retzlaff in first, Shane Butler, Johnny Gilbertson, Matthew Hall and Rex Hollinger in fifth.

Desoto Q Auto & Injury Attorneys Pro trucks would come out for their second twenty five lap feature. Tommy Caveney would lead the first five laps until Bobby Mobley who was running in several different classes got by and led four laps. Chad Chastain would battle Mobley to take over the lead on lap eight and was putting some distance on the field. Five to go a caution came out for the twenty six of Brian Hillyer and that tightened the field back up with five to go. Chastain got the lead over Monopoli who then was being pressured by Anderson for the second spot. Anderson got by Monopoli for second but didn’t have enough to take the lead from Chastain who finished first. Monopoli would finish third, Jeff Guilbault another fourth place and Bobby Mobley fifth. Chastain got to celebrate with all the folks from the Florida Watermelon Association who were at the speedway handing out watermelons supplied by Melon One and Kelli, the Florida Watermelon Queen.

Last feature of the night were the exciting Pro Figure 8’s 1st was #45 Bobby Gordan , #94 Rodney Tower, #11 Justin Amspung

Next week May 23^rd the Turner Tree and Landscape Super Late Models, Take Aim gun range Street Stocks, LKQ Pick your part auto parts Pure Stocks, Bombers and Mini Stocks