by Marty Little
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – Multi time TBARA champion Dude Teate rebounded from a nasty heat race accident and won Saturday night’s 30 lap BioBased.US TBARA sprint car event at New Smyrna Speedway.
Dakotah Stephens and Bryan Riddle brought the 16 car field to the green flag but it was third starting Troy DeCaire who quickly jumped into the lead and set the pace around the half-mile oval. Meanwhile back in 12th spot Teate was taking things easy after lengthy repairs following impact with the wall in a heat race incident.
DeCaire, who has been racing in the Midwest this summer, began to stretch his margin but Teate’s car was somewhat comfortable and he began to work his way through the field.
A yellow flag on lap 11 for a broken shock on Bryan Riddle’s mount regrouped everyone and put Teate within striking distance of leader DeCaire. The green waved one lap later and the battle was on. Teate’s hastily repaired mount was up to the task as he ran down DeCaire’s purple racer and took the lead on lap 14. Once in front Teate never looked back and stretched out his margin over DeCaire to register his first victory of the season.
DeCaire never gave up and finished second ahead of pole sitter Stephens, Mickey Kempgens and Sonny Hartley. Heat race winners were Larry J. Brazil and DeCaire.
The TBARA ground pounders next head to the Gulf Coast for a doubleheader at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola and Mobile International Speedway in Irvington, Ala. on August 27 and 28.
Feature finish (30 laps) – 1. Dude Teate, 2. Troy DeCaire, 3. Dakotah Stephens, 4. Mickey Kempgens, 5. Sonny Hartley, 6. Bo Hartley, 7. Johnny Gilbertson, 8. Larry J. Brazil, 9. Ben Fritz, 10.Bobby Rose, 11.Dan Statter, 12. Shane Butler, 13. Bryan Riddle, 14. Larry Brazil, 15. Frankie Hurst, 16. Skeeter Faulconer.