By Jimmy Rouse- Bubba Raceway Park Media<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0trapped 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\u00a0with Powers extending the points lead, especially with Double Points,\u00a0from 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0the 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.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0take 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,\u00a0went 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.<\/p>\n
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,\u00a0as 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\u00a0in 4th and Brandon Haseleu in 5th. Frankland and Haseleu were the Biggest Movers.\u00a0Please know that this division needs cars to survive the season so bring those 4-cylinder cars out to Bubba Raceway Park!<\/p>\n