by Marty Little
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – It was race time for the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association for the second time in as many nights as the winged warriors invaded the lightning fast half-mile of New Smyrna Speedway Sunday night with former series champion Bo Hartley the class of the field in the 30 lap feature.
The headliner need but one restart after Frankie Hurst smacked the wall on lap one. Pole sitter Hartley wasted no time hustling into the lead when the green waved a second time with third starting Brian Gingras in hot pursuit. This lead duo worked the high banks to perfection but Hartley began to put some distance between himself and Gingras as the laps clicked off.
From deep in the 19 car field Shane Butler was making great headway and got around Gingras at lap 22 for second spot then began his charge for Hartley. It was a case of too little too late as Butler managed to catch Hartley but ran out of laps for a challenge. At the checkers it was Hartley, Butler, Gingras, Troy DeCaire and Joey Aguilar.
Gingras and Aguilar won the heat races.
Feature finish (30 laps) – 1. Bo Hartley, 2. Shane Butler, 3. Brian Gingras, 4. Troy DeCaire, 5. Joey Aguilar, 6. Ryan Litt, 7. Dude Teate, 8. Sonny Hartley, 9. Ben Fritz, 10. Jeff Banyas, 11. Johnny Gilbertson, 12. Dakotah Stephens, 13. Jason Blonde, 14. Steve Heisler, 15. Wendy Mathis., 16. Larry Brazil Jr, 17.Ray Bragg 18. Frankie Hurst, 19. Skeeter Falconer.