May 21, 2011 –The Top Gun Sprints presented by boomtrux.com made their first visit of the 2011 racing season, bringing 23 cars for the 25-lap main.

Two-time series feature winner Danny Martin took the lead from the outside pole and set about to make the rest of the field give chase. Martin, who also holds the series point lead, was able to capitalize on his knowledge of the race track and mastery of lapped traffic to secure the win.

The race got off to a shaky start when polesitter Harley Zimmerman spun approaching the green flag. Somehow, the entire field managed to get by without contact and the cars were put back in order. On the start, Martin grabbed the lead, pursued by Zimmerman. On the second lap, Zimmerman got up in the marbles in turn one and climbed the wall, tearing down catch fencing. The driver was unhurt and the track repair crew took just 20 minutes to make the repairs. Martin picked up where he left off, trying to pull away from the challenge of Steve Darvalics. As the race neared the halfway mark, Tony Agin hit the wall in turn one and flipped, bringing out a second red. The race continued without major incident. Mark Ruel Jr. started pursuing Martin and closed in with less than five laps left. The field picked through traffic and Martin cruised to the top to take the victory. Ruel’s second place was his best series finish of the year after two fourths in earlier action. Darvalics claimed third, ahead of A. J. Maddox who had a steady run for fourth. Dan Jones was scored in fifth. Martin, Darvalics and Billy Boyd Jr. were heat winners.

Chris Pacetti claimed his first East Bay win by capturing the 15-lap Florida Mini Sprint Association feature. Pacetti slipped past leader John Craddock, only to have the caution flag nullify the pass. Pacetti waited for another opportunity and it came a few laps later. Craddock settled for second. Heat winner Steve Crabtree came from deep in the pack to claim third. Justin Kolves had a strong second. Eddie Moss Jr. spun while running second, went to the tail and used the high line to rally back to fifth. Morgan Blanchard claimed a heat win.

Jeff Rodgers made it four in a row in Street Stock action. Heat race winner Buck Woodhouse, returning to action after a three-week absence, made his run for Rodgers but came up one spot short. Curtis Book, Mike Wilson and David Barwick II completed the top five. Jim Baker, who saw a strong feature run ended by a flat tire, claimed a heat win.

Defending Outlaw 4 champion Matt Haynes returned to action and showed he hadn’t forgotten anything, picking up a convincing feature win. Haynes was trailed by Eric Knight, who recorded his best finish of the season. Nick Hebrank moved into the point lead with a third place run. Heat winner Greg Pae and J.R. Baker were the rest of the top five.

Troy “Socks” Dittebrand returned to score an official victory in the motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers. Dittebrand snatched the lead away from Matthew Odell and made it count. Patrick Fiore kept Dittebrand in sight, closing in a few times over the last five laps. Matthew Odell crossed in third, ahead of Patrick Tabb and Michael Lacey. Heats were taken by Dittebrand, Fiore and Dalton Epps.

ASA sanctioned racing returns to East Bay Raceway Park on Saturday, May 28, 2011. The program will include the East Bay Sprints, Q Auto & Injury Attorney Limited Late Models, Street Stocks, Old Time Modifieds, motorstats.com 4 Cylinder Bombers and Dirt Daubers. For more information, go to www.eastbayracewaypark.com or call the track office.

In a night where a full moon should have been in order it was Jacksonville’s Dave Wansley scoring the win in a wild Open Wheel Modified feature event. Allen Brinkley captured a popular victory in Sportsman action. William Edward was declared the winner of the Street Stock feature after apperant winner John Windham was disqualified. Windham did go on to win his second straight in Box Stocks and Shane Taylor rounded out the nights racing action with his first victory of the 2011 season in Pure Stock.

The first feature of the night were the Sportsman with double points on the line. Sonny Thompson moved to the early lead from second place starting spot but by lap two Brinkley surged from the outside of row three to the lead. After a lap three caution for a spin by Spud Lockwood Jr. Brinkley would continue to fend off Thompson until motor isues would end the night for Thompson on lap eleven. Wayne O’Neal would inherit second and chase Brinkley to the finish. Kevin Davis would move around Jamie Dayhaw coming to the white flag for the third spot with Robby Stevens rounding out the top five.

Double points were also on the line for the Open Wheel Modifieds with Dave Barber and David Crews Jr. entering the night tied for first in the point standings. With both drivers capturing second place finishes in their respective heat races the stage was set for the feature. As the green was displayed for the feature polesitter Ronnie Chance drifted up the track working his way through turns one and two and opened the door for Barber to take the early lead. The first of many cautions would fly on lap two for a spin by James Edgley in turn two. On the restart Ronnie Chance would try and make a move to retake the lead from Barber in turn three that resulted in both cars spinning and Chance sent to the tail for his involvement in the caution. On the next restart Crews would take his shot at Barber but could not make the pass and settled back into second when the caution would reappear on lap three for a back stretch spin by Edgley. Lap seven would see Crews going for a solo spin to bring out another spin. One lap later John Gamble and Edgley would make contact at the end of the front stretch to bring out another caution. With failed attempts at getting the race restarted the Mods were brought into the infield for a cooling off period while the Street Stocks were called onto track to run their feature. When the Modifieds were brought back out to finish their feature they still had problems getting in a decent restart and race leader Barber was penalized two positions handing the lead to Paul Sizemore Jr. On lap nine patience and a well handling car would propel Wansley to the lead as he worked his way underneath Sizemore in turn two. With two laps to go David Crews and Ronnie Chance would make contact first on the backstretch and then in turn one with the result being both cars pointed in the wrong direction and tempers flaring. Chance exited his car to show his frustration with Crews and both cars were sent to the infield. Finally the race came down to the end with Dave Wansley picking up a popular win over Scott Kurtner and Josh Sanford.

The Street Stock feature started with John Windham taking the lead from the pole. As the race progressed Randy Moody would work his way to second and apply heavy pressure to Windham but Moody could not make the pass to take the lead. A late race bobble by Moody would allow William Edward and Heath Walker to move up and this would prove to be a key moment as Windham’s car would fail post race tech moving Edward to first and Walker to second with Moody being credited with third.

Point leader Bryar Zimmerman would grab the early lead in the Box stock main event but by lap four John Windham would move from his eighth starting spot to take the lead. Brian Scott would bring out the caution on lap five. On lap nine Scott and Amber Willis would tangle and Willis made contact with the front stretch guard rail. On the final lap Cory Crews and Daryl Larson would be involved in an incident that would see Crews placed at the rear of the field for his role in the tangle. Windham would go on to take the checkers over Kevin Underwood and Bryar Zimmerman.

In the night cap twenty Pure Stocks would take the green with Shane Taylor taking the early lead over Chris Shea and Joe Trowell. Frank Ziesmer would bring out the first caution on lap two as he was off the pace on the back stretch. While Taylor and Trowell would set the pace up front the action behind the top two was starting to heat up. On lap seven Nevin Gainey, Jerry Fortner and Andy Olson would battle three wide down the front stretch but as they ran out of room heading into turn one Fortner would spin bringing out the caution. When the green flag waved for the restart Taylor, Trowell and Gainey would stage a three car battle for the lead but on lap nine the caution would come out for Andy Olson. The closing laps would see Taylor fighting off Trowell and Gainey to take down the win.
Join us next week as the Florida Mini Sprint Association returns along with Late Models, Sportsman, Limited Modifieds and Pure Stocks. For more info go to www.northfloridaspeedway.com or call 386-754-8800.
Official Results May 7th 2011

Sportsman
1. Allen Brinkley #19
2. Wayne O’Neal #0
3. Kevin Davis #86
4. Jamie Dayhaw #21
5. Robby Stevens #12
6. Brandon Catto #59
7. Kevin Mills #01
8. Kevin Bayless #07b
9. Jody Turner #1
10. Shawn Creech #07c
11. Sonny Thompson #75
12. Spud Lockwood Jr. #32jr
13. Dave Ponton #10x

Open Wheel Modifieds
1. Dave Wansley #28w
2. Scott Kurtner #1k
3. Josh Sanford #3
4. Dave Barber #56
5. Brian Scott #14
6. James Edgley #95
7. John Gamble #97
8. Johnny Mullner #28
9. Paul Sizemore #19 DQ
10. David Crews #10 DQ
11. Ronnie Chance #7s DQ
12. Cody Garner #47 DNS
13. Chris Northrup #60 DNS

Street Stock
1. William Edward #08
2. Heath Walker #nine
3. Randy Moody #13
4. Marty Smith #18
5. Devin Walker #55jr
6. Tim Harrell #29
7. Bobby Rivers #15 DNS
8. John Windham #65 DQ

Box Stock
1. John Windham #65
2. Kevin Underwood #5
3. Bryar Zimmerman #ooz
4. Bobby Denard #7L
5. Daryl Larson #15d
6. Cory Crews #21
7. Dylan Hurston #26
8. Brian Scott #14
9. Jacob Lockwood #4
10. Amber Willis #12
11. Steven Werthrington #311

Pure Stock
1. Shane Taylor #82
2. Joe Trowell #02
3. Nevin Gainey #57
4. Timmy Roach #44
5. Rick Reed #66
6. Brent Zimmerman #OOZ
7. William Martin #01
8. John Roberts #1x
9. Richard Reed #91
10. Jerry Fortner #F16
11. Chris Rowe #23
12. Andy Olson #13
13. Veronica Clark #17
14. Anthony Lignore #01x
15. Chris Shea #76
16. Charles Strickland #28
17. Danielle Creech #07
18. Doran Cheney #98c
19. James Trowell #58
20. Frank Ziesmer #31