By Jimmy Rouse- Bubba Raceway Park Media
With 5 divisions on tap and some hungry drivers we knew that it was going to be good racing as it always is with the UMP Open-Wheel Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks, Gladiators, and Florida Mini Sprints Association.
The Hobby Stocks went out first, but not before the violent backstretch barrel roll for the driver of the #28. Jeff Miller had stepped out for the night. Making the accident even worse was when Bill Gardner was hard on the brakes and was trapped into running into the #28. Both drivers walked from the carnage to the pitlane, but the cars were not as fortunate. However, Joe Boyd was starting from pole with Joe Belkey to his outside. Ken Hall spun on lap 1 and Billy Carlbert, Jr. took a big hit in the points when he made unfortunate contact with Hall. On the restart it was time for Bud Chancey to go around. James Erickson and Chuck McHone made contact on lap 3 with Erickson getting the worst of it. This yellow gave us a chance to see Joe Belkey start in the lead. It would be 12 laps in which Boyd dropped and Tim Powers constantly attacked the 12 of Belkey. The run would end when Howard Osteen lost his engine. Lap 19 was a debris caution for a driveshaft on the backstretch that would set up a final shootout between Belkey and Powers. At the line it would be Belkey taking the win and the $750 payday with Powers extending the points lead, especially with Double Points, from 2nd, Donnie Reed again finished 3rd, Chuck McHone was 4th, and Kevin Durden rounded out the top 5. However, Reed was later disqualified moving Buck Woodhouse into 5th, and put the Biggest Movers, Lasoski Racing’s Devin Walker and James Erickson, 6th and 7th, respectively.
The highly competitive Florida Mini Sprints Association are unpredictable, but the dominant driver could’ve been expected there. Chris Pacetti took the 16 for a spin in turn 4 bringing out the yellow on lap 6. Meanwhile Jesse Teed, in his 1st race at Bubba Raceway Park in 2011, was coming in a hurry. David Pleaugh broke something in the left rear of his 711 and when he slowed it caught Justin Kolves and Brian Penrose by surprise. Penrose continued, Kolves and Pleaugh would go no further. The final 11 laps were green, 8 being led by the 7 of Jesse Teed, the Biggest Mover and race winner. Eddie Moss would again go home 2nd, Dirk Miller was 3rd, Steve Crabtree in 4th, and Andy Detton moved into 5th on the final lap.
UMP Open-Wheel Modifieds action has been intense at Bubba Raceway Park in 2011 and nothing less was expected on this night. Paul Sizemore took his 1S for a spin in turn 4 on lap 2 for the 1st yellow of the night. Cory Hupp and Bruce Harvey each took a turn spinning in turn 1 on the restart. Jason Davis was quickly displaced as leader by Jeff Mathews on lap 3, but Devin Dixon got going and took the lead on lap 9. Mathews would begin to fall down the order. David Wansley had a flat tire on lap 14 and he was right in front of Devin Dixon and was enough for Larry Bowden to throw the yellow flag. Dixon would again try to pull away, but was reigned back in with 4 to go for Michael Flick’s spin. Dixon wouldn’t be denied and took the win with “Racin” Jason Davis in 2nd, Biggest Mover was 3rd place finisher Kyle Bronson, Dave Barber was very quiet from the time he entered to the time he left, and Jeff Mathews gained some small points over his driver Ivedent Lloyd, Jr.
As always the Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks were the first, this time being the ones to have a race deemed a “wet race” as it would be called in open-wheel racing. William Martin and Ryan Lasik were the first victims of the rain as they spun in turn 1 on lap 1. The restart saw 2 competitive drivers, Woodall Racing’s Vaughn Woodall and EBD Racing’s Eddie Lentz, go for spins in the rain. After that incident, the race was halted until the drops stopped. Lap 7 saw pole sitter Jonathan Appleby take the lead back from John Thorpe. Brian Cox and Michael Valdez both spun on the frontstretch and the yellow waved once more. Appleby pulled off with a flat tire leaving Thorpe with the lead and Chad Scranton in 2nd. Scranton, happy that the rains had left, went around Thorpe and was leading when Donnie Dobbins flipped his brand new Miller Lite #33. Dobbins was okay after, but said the car was not. He was proud to say the rollcage did it’s job during the accident. Points leader Jason Gamble lost power steering on lap 14 and dropped in the order on lap 14. Gamble would have 6 laps and 14 cars to pass. With Gamble down the order, Vaughn Woodall would’ve left with the points lead, but his 3W ended up in the turn 1 grass and brought a caution out with 3 to go. Another accident on lap 19 resulted in John Thorpe’s driver side door being caved in when Tim Mathieu made the wrong choice to get around Thorpe. Both were okay, but Thorpe’s family said he had been complaining about his left leg hurting. Brian Shea barely qualified for the feature, but was running 2nd with 1 to go. Chad Scranton made his moves in the dry and took the win, his 3rd of the year. Gamble’s team owner Eddie Tillander said the rain brought the Pondbird in him out and 2nd was the result. Brian Shea was the Biggest Mover gaining 21 spots from his starting position of 24th. Veronica Clark kept her 17 clean all night and left with a 4th place finish. Jeff Baer took a heat win and a top 5 in the feature.
In a Gladiators division that needs cars to survive past this coming week-end, it was an S&S kind of night. The final wreck of the night at Bubba Raceway Park was memorable as Larry Langston drove turn 4 over his head, literally, as he flipped the 49. Langston was okay, but he left Steve Cox with no wingmen as Steve Johnson also pulled off course. Steve Cox went past Reid Christensen for the lead on lap 6 and never looked back. Cox took his 6th win in 7 starts in 2011 with Reid Christensen a career best 2nd which puts away the bad memories from the past weeks. Casey ” call me Black Lightning” Feaster was 3rd in his return to the 3/8 mile with British Bulldog Stephen Frankland in 4th and Brandon Haseleu in 5th. Frankland and Haseleu were the Biggest Movers. Please know that this division needs cars to survive the season so bring those 4-cylinder cars out to Bubba Raceway Park!
Next week is RaceCar Engineering Late Models action, Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks for $500, Mini Stocks, and Gladiators are still pending. For more information you can call the Speedway hotline or visit www.bubbaracewaypark.com.
Bubba Raceway Park Results (7/23)
UMP Open-Wheel Modifieds
1- 2 Devin Dixon
2- 145 Jason Davis
3- 40B Kyle Bronson
4- 56 Dave Barber
5- 33 Jeff Mathews
6- 333 Ivedent Lloyd, Jr.
7- 54 Larry Burkins
8- 34 Jim Passino
9- 67 Garret Stewart
10- 7S Ronnie Chance
11- 31 Donnie Hall
12- 1S Paul Sizemore
13- 75 Jimmy Carter
14- 33F Michael Flick
15- 1K Scott Kurtzner
16- 2H Cory Hupp
17- 28 David Wansley
18- 8W Steve Whitener
19- 10 Scott Mooers
20- Z06 Larry Mott
21- 27B Bruce Harvey
22- 66M Dale Murray
Hobby Stocks
1- 12 Joe Belkey
2- 44 Tim Powers
3- A2Z Chuck McHone
4- 56D Kevin Durden
5- 55W Buck Woodhouse
6- 55JR Devin Walker
7- 7E James Erickson
8- 77M Mark Maresca
9- 18 Eric Moon
10- 04 Bubba Christian
11- 81 Donald Woosley
12- 83 Joe Boyd
13- 69 Tommy Ausburn
14- 27 Cody Albright
15- 2J unlisted driver
16- 88 Howard Osteen
17- 1 Randy Clark
18- 26 Brian Jerrels
19- 2 David Bange
20- 36 Grady Christian
21- 22 Chris Barnhart
22- 32 Bud Chancey
23- 11 Billy Carlbert, Jr.
24- 56S Jeffrey Sargent
25- 03 Ken Hall
DQ- 07 Donnie Reed
Amsoil V-8 Thunderstocks
1- 27S Chad Scranton
2- 21 Jason Gamble
3- 19 Brian Shea
4- 17C Veronica Clark
5- 3 Jeff Baer
6- 54 Glenn Baum
7- 3W Vaughn Woodall
8- 121 Gordon Cade
9- 18 Chris Watson
10- 60 Jonathan Appleby
11- 64 Jonathan Gillette
12- 14M Tim Mathieu
13- 114 John Thorpe
14- 06 Willaim Martin
15- 15V Michael Valdez
16- 26 Brian Mullins
17- 66 Harold Erickson
18- 76 Chris Shea
19- 33 Donnie Dobbins
20- 96Z Eddie Lentz
21- 14C Brian Cox
22- 32 Jim Shaw
23- 14S James Sullivan
24- 15S Luke Sadler
25- 17L Ryan Lasik
Gladiators
1- P38 Steve Cox
2- 30 Reid Christensen
3- 20 Casey Feaster
4- 7UK Stephen Frankland
5- 3H Brandon Haseleu
6- 57 Jerry Taylor
7- 198 unlisted driver
8- 43 Richard Todd
9- 2M Chuck Mathias
10- 74B Jaylyn Amspaugh
11- 49 Larry Langston
12- 81 Steve Johnson
13- 77K Matt Kramer
14- 69 David Pate
DNS- 126 Robert Graham
Florida Mini Sprints Association (Unavailable)