TAMPA, FL……1/31/10……Rodney Wing of Meridian, Mississippi broke the string of no repeat winners in the 11^th Annual Open Wheel Modified Winternationals Championship race, that was run as a make-up race on Sunday afternoon after the $5,000-to-win 75-lap finale originally set for Saturday night was rained out at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Florida.

This opening act of East Bay’s 34^th Anniversary season of their showcase month of Winternational events will be hard to top, as 63 different Open Wheel Modifieds showed four different winners in preliminary nights before Wing, the defending 09 champion repeated. (more…)

Tampa, FL…..1/29/10……”We struggled all week and finally had everything come together tonight,” said a beaming Don O’Neal who became the fourth different winner in as many nights of  the 11^th Annual Open Wheel Modified Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park, Friday night.  His $l,500 first-place check marks the last of the preliminary nights leading up to Saturday’s championship night paying $5,000 to win.

 The O’Neal story this week has been all bad luck.  Plagued with engine issues, he failed to make the A-Main on Tuesday, finishing 14^th in the B-Main.  On Wednesday, he missed qualifying through his heat and then B-Main by just one spot.  Thursday night after making the cut in his heat, he was unable to start the feature because of a trailing arm problem.  (more…)

TAMPA, FL……1/28/10…..Instead of coming from 19^th starting position up to second as he did the night before, Rodney Wing started on pole and dominated the field of 24 cars to win $1,500 in night three of East Bay Raceway Park’s 11^th Annual Open Wheel Modified Winternationals Thursday night at Tampa, Florida.

“I guess you could say, it’s been a great year for me,” the Meridian, Mississippi driver and track owner of Whynot Motorsports Park said.  “The RPM Workshop nominated me as one of the country’s eight Regional Promoters of the Year, Red Clay magazine named Whynot the Track-of-the-Year and the NeSmith series named me Promoter of the Year.” (more…)

Jeff Mathews showed everybody his winning ways at his home track, Tuesday night in Tampa, Florida by coming from outside second row starting position to lead all 25 laps for a $1,000 prize in the kick-off race of the 11^th Annual Open Wheel Modified portion of East Bay Raceway Park’s 34^th Annual Winternationals.

“I run here all year and I knew not to come off the bottom,” explained Mathews, the Modified and Late Model ’09 East Bay track champion.  Also, winning the Modified Championship at Ocala, the Dover FL driver used his own Shaw chassis, powered by Robert Delgado engines, to build a three-second lead over Dave Hess, Jr. when the first yellow came out on lap 11 for mechanical problems on Shane Sabraski’s No. 7A J-Car. (more…)

By Larry Jewett

The 2009 season came to a close at East Bay Raceway Park with six divisions giving the fans a full night of entertainment.

The action started with the Gagel’s Open Wheel Modifieds. John Bradley scored the daily double with a win in his heat and a victory in the feature. Bradley took the lead from the beginning and made the field chase him to the flag. Shane Burrows, Roger Crouse, Jeff Mathews and Brian Hollifield rounded out the top five. Mathews was the track champion.

The Outlaw 4 points were still in contention as the class entered its final night of action. Point leader Stephen Hohlbaugh and Cecil Martin were winners. The heat win for Hohlbaugh cinched the title, but there was still a matter of the 15-lap feature. That main was captured by Brian Danforth, who scored his fifth feature of the year. Danforth took the lead from Dan Chambers, who finished second, ahead of Matt Haynes, Amanda Rogers and Michael Gulvin. (more…)