Four First Time Winners on the Season Crowned at East Bay

By:  Jason Loughren

06/12/2010

The list of winners got a little longer after Saturday night racing action at East Bay Raceway Park. For the second time in three weeks, there were four new winners crowned.

The first came in the Precision Kia of Wesley Chapel Street Stocks as Clarence Pratt went wire to wire to claim his win. Clarence, twin brother of point leader Thomas Pratt, has had to endure the short end of the sibling rivalry, but gained bragging rights for the week. “One more lap and they would have had me. It was breaking up,” he said in victory lane. The “they” was four-time feature winner Donnie Reed who came home second. Eric Moon claimed third with Thomas Pratt and John Clark rounding out the top five. Moon, Buck Woodhouse and Reed won their heats.

The second new name is actually new only in 2010 as the driver returned to a spot where he had been many times before. “Superman” Sport Allen got back behind the wheel of an East Bay Sprint and charged to victory in his first regular season appearance. Allen had moved to second, then inherited the lead when Gene Lasker climbed the turn three wall, coming to rest in the frontstretch with badly damaged suspension. The incident also relegated point leader Tim George, who was in the top five, to a tail restart. Allen was followed by Travis Bliemeister, making his first start in more than two years. Third went to George, followed by Tony Agin and Clint Reynolds. Danny Jones (weight) and Kerry Gilbert (carburetor) lost top five finishes at the tech shed. Heats were won by George, Agin and Allen.

Josh Peacock secured his fourth win of the season, making a late race pass on Travis Varnadore. Peacock made countless attempts to secure the lead, but each was wiped out by a caution flag. He finally sealed the deal on the 22^nd lap of the 25-lap main. David Schmauss slipped past Varnadore for second. Ted Erskine and John Koller claimed fourth and fifth, respectively. Varandore and Peacock had heat wins.

For the Limited Late Models, a new name stepped to claim the win. Daniel Woody, who dabbled in the Late Model class, made a strong move to take the lead from point leader J.R. Prather Jr. in the late stages and claim his first Limited Late Model win. Prather padded his point lead with a second place finish with Forrest Gough, John Bradley and Dan Darnell finishing in the front half. Gough was the winner of the only preliminary.

Raymond Vann admitted to playing hooky last week from action in the motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers. “I took a week off to go fishing,” he said as he caught the big one Saturday night with the 15-lap feature win. Vann had to hold off a charging Johnnie Alexander. Matthew Odell made a late race charge for third. Richard Humfeld ran in the top five for the entire race, claiming fourth. Jeff Porter rounded out the top five in the 30-car field. Patrick Tabb Jr., Alexander and Elliott Morgan won heats. The feature race was delayed for 30 minutes after Morgan hit the backstretch wall and required the assistance of track safety crews.

Brett Phillips locked up the first win in Dirt Dauber action with Kendall Phillips along for the ride.

ASA Sanctioned racing returns to East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, June 19^th, 2010 with the Racecar Engineering Late Models, Gagel’s Open Wheel Modifieds, Precision Kia of Wesley Chapel Street Stocks, and Outlaw 4s. It’s also Golden Gate Speedway Alumni Night. For more information, go to www.eastbayracewaypark.com or call the track office.