By Jimmy Rouse- Bubba Raceway Park Media
On this night, the Top Gun Sprint Cars made their debut at Bubba Raceway Park this season, the RaceCar Engineering Late Models ran 2 features, the Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks put another great show on, and the Gladiators gave the fans their money’s worth.
The Late Models went out first and Mark Whitener showed the field why he’s “The Magic Man” and the defending RaceCar Engineering Late Models champion. “The Magic Man” took the lead at the start and while the front-runners criss-crossed in lapped traffic, VP Pipken, Len Parrish, Ivedent Lloyd, Jr., Shan Smith, and Allen Larsen crumpled some sheet metal on the backstretch. All would continue. With Lloyd and Smith having to work from the back, Whitener was holding off different competition, such as Kyle Van Sickle. On lap 9 the left rear of Bobby Richardson’s #45 left the car and Richardson would end the night on the hook. A 7 lap run to the lap 16 yellow for Johnny Collins and Austin Kirkpatrick’s wreck helped Lloyd and Smith, and gave Van Sickle another chance at overtaking the 58. The Magic could not be stopped and Whitener went flag-to-flag at Bubba Raceway Park. Kyle Van Sickle took a career best 2nd, Dillon Wood gained some points on Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. with 3rd, but not many as Lloyd drove the David Clegg machine to 4th, and Christian Augspurger went to the garage area with a top 5 run.
Amsoil V-8 Thunderstock drivers went into the night with a close championship battle with the top 3 separated by just 9 points. As more than 24 cars arrived, a B Main was expected, but only 7 cars showed up for the B Main and the call was made to let all that went out race. Jeff Barrett started outside pole, but on the start lap he saw his 5W heading towards the infield. Barrett continued and was given his spot back before a tire put him in the back. On the official start it was Don Stroshal, Jr., Jason Gamble, Donnie Dobbins, and Michael Valdez going for the lead leaving a little margin for error. Valdez would soon drop out of the battle with a broken driveshaft on the backstretch. Stroshal would get the lead and doge caution after caution. On lap 2 David Crigg made heavy contact with the frontstretch wall and brought another yellow flag out. The lap 4 caution would be out for debris. Jeff Barrett spun out of turn 4 and couldn’t get rolling and brought out the yellow. A bizarre incident happened on lap 7 as 2 separate accidents occurred at the same time. Jonathan Appleby smacked the wall and couldn’t turn much in turn 1, but Brian Shea got the worst of it as tapping the wall broke a ball bearing in the front of his 19. At the same time, Jeff Barrett and Brandon Tillander had a crazy wreck as Barrett rolled the 5W after contact with the wall and landed on top of Tillander’s fuel cell, but it did it’s job and held tight. The smoke from the 73 was from a destroyed radiator. Both cars did roll to the infield, but did not continue. Mark Trexler got stuck on the backstretch wall on lap 8, setting up a 4 lap dash as the timer expired. Chad Scranton gave it a shot, but Donnie Stroshal, Jr. helped himself to another Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks victory. Scranton would finish runner-up with Donnie Dobbins in 3rd, Jason Gamble back to old form in 4th, and Vaughn Woodall held most of his points with a top 5 run.
Robbie Smith led the first 1/3 of the Top Gun Sprint Car Series feature, giving way to Tyler Godwin after 9 laps up front. Of course, during that first stretch, the driver of the 22 had a scary accident where his Sprint flipped into the fence and spun several times while on the track. However, after a careful exit, he waved as he exited the track. Godwin held the lead for 4 laps before the caution for AJ Maddox in turn 4. Danny Martin, Jr. gave Godwin a run for the money, but couldn’t get there, even after the 1 lap dash set up by Billy Boyd’s spin. Robbie Smith was 3rd, Sport Allen made it to 4th, and Matt Kurtz wound up 5th.
The 2nd feature took every lead lap finisher from feature 1, inverted them, and let them run. Therefore Johnny Collins and Tim Zackery started at the front. Collins took the lead, but Shan Smith’s engine let go and Smith made contact with Cory Howard. Collins led for a lap, but Austin Kirkpatrick took the lead as VP Pipken spun. Kirkpatrick led 2 laps before Kyle Van Sickle took the lead. Van Sickle held it for 8 laps before “The Magic Man” put the Big Frog Motorsports #58 out front and held it for good. “The Magic Man” didn’t get it easy, but he made it look that way. Kyle Van Sickle twice went across the line 1 spot behind Whitener. Ivedent Lloyd, Jr. put the David Clegg #21 in 3rd to hold the points lead, Kirkpatrick held on for 4th, and Collins rounded out the top 5.
The Gladiators started out with Reid Christensen leading. The lap 8 caution came out for Chase Gustafson’s spin and the contact with . On lap 10 it was Robert Graham and Reid Christensen, running 1-2 at the time, making massive contact and Graham’s 126 flipped over and half-landed on a tire. Christensen spun and Jerry Taylor made slight contact at a snail’s pace as he had nowhere to turn. Steve Cox, as he said, took the lucky spot and won his 5th of 2011, Richard Todd was again the runner-up, Stephen Frankland put himself on the bottom of the podium with a career run, Steven Johnson put the S&S 49 in 4th, and Reid Christensen came back for 5th.
Next week at Bubba Raceway Park the UMP Open-Wheel Modifieds return alongside Double Points for the Hobby Stocks with $750 to win, Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks, Gladiators, and the Florida Mini Sprints Association. For more information you can check out www.bubbaracewaypark.com or call the Speedway hotline.
Bubba Raceway Park Results (7/16)
RaceCar Engineering Late Models (Feature 1)
1- 58 Mark Whitener
2- 3K Kyle Van Sickle
3- 1W Dillon Wood
4- 21 Ivedent Lloyd, Jr.
5- 35 Christian Augspurger
6- 18JO JO Nobles
7- 311 Kenny Monahan
8- 33 Gene Ross
9- 11K Austin Kirkpatrick
10- Z Tim Zackery
11- 5C Johnny Collins
12- 55 Paul Sizemore
13- 1* John Koller
14- 0 Rich Pratt
15- 84 Chris Fontaine
16- 38 Roger Crouse
17- 23VP VP Pipken
18- 99W Shan Smith
19- J17 Joe Kump
20- 45 Bobby Richardson
21- 72P Len Parrish
22- 4 Allen Larsen
23- 4H Cory Howard
24- 71 Bo Allen
RaceCar Engineering Late Models (Feature 2)
1- 58 Mark Whitener
2- 3K Kyle Van Sickle
3- 21 Ivedent Lloyd, Jr.
4- 11K Austin Kirkpatrick
5- 5C Johnny Collins
6- 1W Dillon Wood
7- 18JO JO Nobles
8- 311 Kenny Monahan
9- 33 Gene Ross
10- 71 Bo Allen
11- Z Tim Zackery
12- 0 Rich Pratt
13- 38 Roger Crouse
14- 84 Chris Fontaine
15- 35 Christian Augspurger
16- 1* John Koller
17- 33M Jeff Mathews
18- 72P Len Parrish
19- 4 Allen Larsen
20- 55 Paul Sizemore
21- 23VP VP Pipken
22- 99W Shan Smith
23- 4H Cory Howard
24- J17 Joe Kump
Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks
1- 11 Don Stroshal, Jr.
2- 27S Chad Scranton
3- 33 Donnie Dobbins
4- 21 Jason Gamble
5- 3W Vaughn Woodall
6- 114 John Thorpe
7- 64 Jonathan Gillette
8- 14M Tim Mathieu
9- 18 Chris Watson
10- 121 Gordon Cade
11- 60 Jonathan Appleby
12- 27F Danny Fletcher
13- 34 Mark Trexler
14- 4W James Bethal, Jr.
15- 3 Jeff Baer
16- 09B Glenn Baum
17- 19 Brian Shea
18- 54 Joe Boyd
19- 12 James Leconte
20- 73 Brandon Tillander
21- 5W Jeff Barrett
22- 141 Aaron Marlin
23- 21R Robert Goodwin
24- 42C David Crigg
25- 15V Michael Valdez
26- 09 William Edwards
Gladiators
1- P38 Steve Cox
2- 43 Richard Todd
3- 7UK Stephen Frankland
4- 49 Steven Johnson
5- 30 Reid Christensen
6- 10 Jerry Taylor
7- 69G Scott Gruber
8- 126 Robert Graham
9- 69P David Pate
10- 10G Chase Gustafson
11- 8 Johnny Alexander
12- 13 Larry Swift
13- 3H Brandon Haseleu
Top Gun Sprint Car Series (Unavailable)