EAST MANATEE – Saturday night dozens of costumed kids were treated to autographs and free candy by the racers at the Full Throttle Speedway.  After the kids got their Halloween treats, and four kids bicycles were given away. the adults were treated to another night of exciting race action.

The evening began with Randy Johnson of Bradenton taking the 6-lap Pro 4 heat race by outracing Jessica Ostorovskis of St. Petersburg and Ronald Robinson of Bradenton.

In the 8-lap Champ Karts heat, Doug Schmidt grabbed the checkered flag while Ed Brillante finished second and Jason McGonnell finished in third.

In the first of two 6-lap heats in the Legends division, Mike Verhaagh led from start to finish to beat out second place finisher, Kyle Capobianco and third place finisher, Robby Lyons. The second heat race saw Joey Azzata lead all the way ahead of Keith Sankula and Joey Langis. (more…)

In auto racing, they like to say that it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. At the Full Throttle Speedway Saturday night, it was a case of where you restart that decided where you finish. Bill Vandeveder of North Fort Myers led for the first 30 laps of the Street Stock 35 lap featured race before a restart enabled J.R. Welding of Sarasota to seize the lead and take the checkered flag.  “I knew the restart was going to kill me,” Vandeveder said. “My tires were five months old and I couldn’t get a grip.” In spite of numerous caution flags, assorted spinouts and falling sheet metal and steel from various race cars, Vandeveder maintained his narrow lead. Almost as remarkable as Vandeveder’s gritty performance was a third place finish by Bobby Fisher of Naples. On the 18^th lap, Fisher tapped out for causing Vandeveder to spin out on the straightaway. That moved Fisher to the back of the pack. In 17 laps, Fisher skillfully moved from last place to third. Twenty one cars came to do battle and after all the smoke cleared and the checkers were flying, thirteen cars crossed the finish line. Some of the cars were clearly not in the same shape as they arrived in with fenders, hoods and a lot of missing sheet metal missing but the drivers put on a great battle to the end for the fans. There was an autograph session for the Street Stock drivers before their featured event, that had many fans and lots of kids down on the track, up close and personal to meet and greet them. (more…)

BRADENTON – A hard rain brought an abrupt end to the racing action at the Full Throttle Speedway Saturdaynight. Still, the sudden showers failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the fans and drivers. All of the preliminary races and two of the nine scheduled feature races were completed before the change in the weather forced the cancellation of the remaining race action.

Prior to the prelims, Michael Atwell of Naples turned in the fastest qualifying time for the feature events. Atwell circled the 3/8ths of a mile track in an impressive 16.151 seconds in the Sportsman category. Atwell also had the second fastest time when he completed his second lap in 16.221 seconds.

Before the rains came, four 6-lap preliminary races were completed. A fast paced Dwarf Car race had John Bailey of Sarasota taking the checkered flag ahead of Larry Hubbard III of Sarasota and Roger Richmond of Port Charlotte. (more…)