By Jean Lynch
TAMPA, FL - "I’ve won more money, but never a more prestigious race in my life," shouted an excited Matt Boknecht as he climbed from his car on the front stretch at East Bay Raceway Park after leading Friday night’s 25-lap feature from wire to wire.
The race was the final preliminary night of the 5th Annual Ramada Inn on Tampa Bay Open Wheel Modified Winternationals worth $1,500.
“Every top Modified driver in the country is here and I can’t believe I won this in my first time racing at East Bay. I came to watch this race two years ago, but I never brought a car,” Bocknecht explained.
Ninety-five drivers from 18 states were on hand for tonight’s program. Crediting his sponsors Ellis Race Cars, HP Motors, George’s of Seymour and HMF Metal Fabrication, the Brownstown Champion four years straight, commented on his bald right rear tire but quickly added it was a great race for his team.
Nationally, Boknecht ranked 20th in the UMP standings, but the top runner tonight had his hands full in a feature that gave his competition several chances to take his win away with five cautions and one red flag being displayed. The bottom groove was his preferred line from the start and the 26-car field went single-file behind him after the first yellow for a car leaking fluid on the track on lap three.
John Whittington, who started second and ran there the entire race, put plenty of pressure on the leader in the final seven laps and he got his nose under Boknecht in turn one on lap 23, only to have the door shut by the time the two were in turn two.
Meanwhile, third place runner Dan Hamstra -- the current points leader going into Saturday’s 75-lapper -- was playing the waiting game as his car “locked down” to the track and he was on the bumper of Whittington. However, he was reluctant to try the outside and settled for third at the finish.
Tenth place starter, Jason Fitzgerald came up to rank fourth ahead of Dave Hess Jr. Rounding out the top ten it was National UMP Champion, Ricky Arms, then another high ranking UMP driver, Chad Kinder (up from 17th) to seventh, Kelly Shryock, Randy Hall and Jason Lakey.
Heat winners were Hess, Denny Swartz, Arms, Brady Short, Boknecht, Whittington, Hamstra, Rob Fuqua, Richard Hedrick and Fitzgerald. The Goodson Farms Strawberry Dash went to Scott Sugg. In the first B-Main Rick Conoyer of St. Peters, Missouri was involved in the front-stretch accident when another car pinched him into the front wall at the flag stand and he was hit by another car in the right rear corner and spun around. He was transported to Tampa General Hospital for observation.
RESULTS
Qualifying: 1. 44H Dave Hess Jr. – 17.470 seconds; 2. 21S Denny Swartz – 17.501; 3. 18G Brent Glastetter – 17.712; 4. 36X Brady Short – 17.747; 5. 22B Matt Boknecht – 17.790; 6. 5W John Whittington – 17.815; 7. 23H Dan Hamstra – 17.853; 8. 3F Rob Fuqua – 17.860; 9. 0X Richard Hedrick – 17.880; 10. 03H Ricky Hensley – 17.890; 11. J16 Jason Lakey – 17.900; 12. 22T Bill Thomas – 17.942; 13. 11E Ed Roley – 17.965; 14. 29 Jeff LaBaube – 17.966; 15. S8 Chris Stotts – 17.969; 16. 3L Jeff Leka – 17.977; 17. 22S Chad Kinder – 18.006; 18. 69 Scott Sugg – 18.019; 19. 121 Caley Emerson – 18.021; 20. 22F Jason Fitzgerald – 18.031; 21. 33S Kelly Shryock – 18.055; 22. 71D Bill Davis – 18.061; 23. 4X Rick Arms – 18.067; 24. 71 Stephen King – 18.082; 25. 20 Jimmy Owens – 18.087; 26. 1M Julie McDermid – 18.095; 27. 18MC David McWilliams – 18.132; 28. 91 Craig Thatcher – 18.143; 29. 77X Mike Wedeistadt – 18.149; 30. 555 Ryan Rufer – 18.156; 31. 707 Corey Conley – 18.160; 32. 1K Ken Riddle – 18.187; 33. 0H Lee Hobbs – 18.240; 34. 64 Alan Arnold – 18.247; 35. 10H Randy Hall – 18.252; 36. H6 Paul Wilmoth – 18.264; 37. 83C Brian Taft – 18.284; 38. 2 Devin Dixon – 18.325; 39. B12 Kevin Weaver – 18.353; 40. 23 Tim Barrett – 18.357; 41. R1 Dan Wheeler – 18.357; 42. 12M Jason Miller – 18.360; 43. 21JR Joey Jensen – 18.392; 44. 33M Jeff Matthews – 18.404; 45. 12T Jesse Cramer – 18.418; 46. 4 Jason Lowe – 18.428; 47. 1P Bob Pohlman Jr. – 18.433; 48. 6V Vic Vandergrift – 18.433; 49. 01K Don Kiger – 18.434; 50. 32B Robbie Burris – 18.448; 51. 11W Wess Weinman – 18.454; 52. 21C Chris Brown – 18.456; 53. 4S Thomas Sigler – 18.526; 54. 032 Phillip Cobb – 18.552; 55. 14C Rick Conoyer – 18.553; 56. 79D John Demoss – 18.555; 57. 17S Scott Duval – 18.562; 58. 03 Brad Rohloff – 18.566; 59. 12A Tom Moore – 18.597; 60. 00S Stanley Donahoo – 18.599; 61. 25 Charles Patrick – 18.604; 62. 3 Bill Howard – 18.622; 63. 2B Mike Null – 18.632; 64. 2* Don Gumke – 18.639; 65. 4DX Jason Nordhougen – 18.651; 66. 18EX Greg Edwards – 18.653; 67. P28 Aaron Perritt – 18.730; 68. 105 David Schmauss – 18.759; 69. 15 Roger Crouse – 18.764; 70. 11C Adam Colley – 18.780; 71. 33L Richard Logan – 18.783; 72. S1 Toby Sims – 18.819; 73. 28A Bill Arnold – 18.823; 74. 15W Ralph Withem – 18.829; 75. 11B Jason Ball – 18.839; 76. 00G Greg Reutimann – 18.850; 77. 19 Joe Fowler – 18.868; 78. 47C Carlton Jackson – 18.934; 79. 12K Ken Myracle – 18.969; 80. 14 Gary Barrow – 19.005; 81. 6M Terry McClintock – 19.084; 82. R3 Rick Martin – 19.102; 83. CV7 Chris Veech – 19.175; 84. 01B John Bradley – 19.176; 85. 44 Joe Turner – 19.228; 86. 00 Buzzie Reutimann – 19.239; 87. 88 Tom Webster – 19.260; 88. 35 Dennis Barton – 19.337; 89. 13 Kevyn Terry – 19.374; 90. 26 Chris Butler – 19.400; 91. 3X David Boemer – 19.417; 92. 96 Tommy Schnader – 19.626; 93. 17JE JE Stalder – 22.904; 94. A Dave Groves – NT; 95. 97 Dusty Dixon – NT.
1st Heat - 1)Dave Hess Jr. 2)Jason Lakey 3)Kelly Shryock 4)Wess Weinman 5)Charles Patrick 6)Terry McClintock 7)Corey Conley 8)Richard Logan 9)Dan Wheeler 10)David Boemer.
2nd Heat - 1)Denny Swartz 2)Bill Davis 3)Bill Thomas 4)Ken Riddle 5)Chris Brown 6)Bill Howard 7)Jason Miller 8)Toby Sims 9)Rick Martin 10)Tommy Schnader.
3rd Heat – 1)Rick Arms 2)Brent Glastetter 3)Lee Hobbs 4)Joey Jensen 5)Ed Roley 6)Mike Null 7)Chris Veech 8)Thomas Sigler 9)Bill Arnold 10)JE Stalder.
4th Heat – 1)Brady Short 2)Jeff Matthews 3)Dave Groves 4)Jeff LaBaube 5)Don Gumke 6)John Bradley 7)Stephen King 8)Alan Arnold 9)Phillip Cobb 10)Ralph Withem.
5th Heat – 1)Matt Boknecht 2)Jimmy Owens 3)Randy Hall 4)Jesse Cramer 5)Rick Conoyer 6)Chris Stotts 7)Jason Nordhougen 8)Jason Ball 9)Joe Turner 10)Rusty Dixon DNS.
6th Heat – 1)John Whittington 2)Julie McDermid 3)Jeff Leka 4)Jason Lowe 5)Paul Wilmoth 6)Buzzie Reutimann 7)John Demoss 8)Greg Reutimann 9)Greg Edwards.
7th Heat – 1)Dan Hamstra 2)Chad Kinder 3)David McWilliams 4)Bob Pohlman Jr. 5)Aaron Perritt 6)Scott Duval 7)Joe Fowler 8)Brian Taft 9)Tom Webster.
8th Heat – 1)Rob Fuqua 2)Brad Rohloff 3)Craig Thatcher 4)David Schmauss 5)Scott Sugg 6)Carlton Jackson 7)Dennis Barton 8)Devin Dixon 9)Vic Vandergrift.
9th Heat – 1)Richard Hedrick 2)Caley Emerson 3)Kevin Weaver 4)Roger Crouse 5)Ken Myracle 6)Mike Wedeistadt 7)Don Kiger 8)Tom Moore 9)Kevyn Terry.
10th Heat – 1)Jason Fitzgerald 2)Ricky Hensley 3)Ryan Rufer 4)Adam Colley 5)Gary Borrow 6)Stanley Donahoo 7)Robbie Burris 8)Chris Butler 9)Tim Barrett.
1st C–Main – 1)Corey Conley 2)Chris Veech 3)Jason Miller 4)Jason Nordhougen 5)Joe Turner 6)Toby Sims 7)Thomas Sigler 8)Alan Arnold 9)Dan Wheeler 10)JE Stalder 11)Richard Logan 12)Rick Martin 13)Jason Ball 14)David Boemer 15)Stephen King DNS 16)Phillip Cobb 17)Tommy Schnader 18)Ralph Withem 19)Rusty Dixon.
2nd C–Main – 1)Joe Fowler 2)Greg Reutimann 3)Bill Arnold 4)John Demoss 5)Brian Taft 6)Tom Webster 7)Chris Butler 8)Vic Vandergrift 9)Greg Edwards 10)Kevyn Terry 11)Robbie Burris 12)Tom Moore 13)Dennis Barton DNS 14)Don Kiger 15)Devin Dixon 16)Tim Barrett.
1st B–Main – 1)Randy Hall 2)Lee Hobbs 3)Kelly Shryock 4)Ken Riddle 5)Joey Jensen 6)Chris Stotts 7)Don Gumke 8)Chris Brown 9)Wess Weinman 10)Charles Patrick 11)Bill Howard 12)Terry McClintock 13)Bill Thomas 14)Jeff LaBaube 15)Mike Null 16)Corey Conley 17)John Bradley 18)Dave Groves 19)Rick Conoyer 20)Ed Roley 21)Jesse Cramer 22)Chris Veech.
2nd B–Main – 1)Jeff Leka 2)Kevin Weaver 3)Craig Thatcher 4)Ryan Ruter 5)Roger Crouse 6)Buzzie Reutimann 7)David Schmauss 8)Joe Fowler 9)Stanley Donahoo 10)Ken Myracle 11)Adam Colley 12)Mike Wedeistadt 13)Aaron Perritt 14)Greg Reutimann 15)Jason Lowe 16)Carlton Jackson 17)Bob Pohlman Jr. 18)Paul Wilmoth 19)Scott Duval 20)David McWilliams 21)Scott Sugg 22)Gary Barrow.
Goodson Farms Strawberry Dash – 1)Scott Sugg 2)Joe Turner 3)Paul Wilmoth 4)Chris Brown 5)Ken Riddle 6)Terry McClintock 7)Chris Butler 8)Tom Moore 9)Jason Miller 10)Ken Myracle.
A–Main (25 laps) – 1)Matt Boknecht 2)John Whittington 3)Dan Hamstra 4)Jason Fitzgerald 5)Dave Hess Jr. 6)Rick Arms 7)Chad Kinder 8)Kelly Shryock 9)Randy Hall 10)Jason Lakey 11)Craig Thatcher 12)Jeff Leka 13)Lee Hobbs 14)Brady Short 15)Brad Rohloff 16)Jeff Matthew 17)Richard Hedrick 18)Denny Swartz 19)Julie McDermid 20)Kevin Weaver 21)Bill Davis 22)Rob Fuqua 23)Ricky Hensley 24)Brent Glastetter 25)Jimmy Owens 26)Caley Emerson.
TAMPA, FL - "I’ve won more money, but never a more prestigious race in my life," shouted an excited Matt Boknecht as he climbed from his car on the front stretch at East Bay Raceway Park after leading Friday night’s 25-lap feature from wire to wire.
The race was the final preliminary night of the 5th Annual Ramada Inn on Tampa Bay Open Wheel Modified Winternationals worth $1,500.
“Every top Modified driver in the country is here and I can’t believe I won this in my first time racing at East Bay. I came to watch this race two years ago, but I never brought a car,” Bocknecht explained.
Ninety-five drivers from 18 states were on hand for tonight’s program. Crediting his sponsors Ellis Race Cars, HP Motors, George’s of Seymour and HMF Metal Fabrication, the Brownstown Champion four years straight, commented on his bald right rear tire but quickly added it was a great race for his team.
Nationally, Boknecht ranked 20th in the UMP standings, but the top runner tonight had his hands full in a feature that gave his competition several chances to take his win away with five cautions and one red flag being displayed. The bottom groove was his preferred line from the start and the 26-car field went single-file behind him after the first yellow for a car leaking fluid on the track on lap three.
John Whittington, who started second and ran there the entire race, put plenty of pressure on the leader in the final seven laps and he got his nose under Boknecht in turn one on lap 23, only to have the door shut by the time the two were in turn two.
Meanwhile, third place runner Dan Hamstra -- the current points leader going into Saturday’s 75-lapper -- was playing the waiting game as his car “locked down” to the track and he was on the bumper of Whittington. However, he was reluctant to try the outside and settled for third at the finish.
Tenth place starter, Jason Fitzgerald came up to rank fourth ahead of Dave Hess Jr. Rounding out the top ten it was National UMP Champion, Ricky Arms, then another high ranking UMP driver, Chad Kinder (up from 17th) to seventh, Kelly Shryock, Randy Hall and Jason Lakey.
Heat winners were Hess, Denny Swartz, Arms, Brady Short, Boknecht, Whittington, Hamstra, Rob Fuqua, Richard Hedrick and Fitzgerald. The Goodson Farms Strawberry Dash went to Scott Sugg. In the first B-Main Rick Conoyer of St. Peters, Missouri was involved in the front-stretch accident when another car pinched him into the front wall at the flag stand and he was hit by another car in the right rear corner and spun around. He was transported to Tampa General Hospital for observation.
RESULTS
Qualifying: 1. 44H Dave Hess Jr. – 17.470 seconds; 2. 21S Denny Swartz – 17.501; 3. 18G Brent Glastetter – 17.712; 4. 36X Brady Short – 17.747; 5. 22B Matt Boknecht – 17.790; 6. 5W John Whittington – 17.815; 7. 23H Dan Hamstra – 17.853; 8. 3F Rob Fuqua – 17.860; 9. 0X Richard Hedrick – 17.880; 10. 03H Ricky Hensley – 17.890; 11. J16 Jason Lakey – 17.900; 12. 22T Bill Thomas – 17.942; 13. 11E Ed Roley – 17.965; 14. 29 Jeff LaBaube – 17.966; 15. S8 Chris Stotts – 17.969; 16. 3L Jeff Leka – 17.977; 17. 22S Chad Kinder – 18.006; 18. 69 Scott Sugg – 18.019; 19. 121 Caley Emerson – 18.021; 20. 22F Jason Fitzgerald – 18.031; 21. 33S Kelly Shryock – 18.055; 22. 71D Bill Davis – 18.061; 23. 4X Rick Arms – 18.067; 24. 71 Stephen King – 18.082; 25. 20 Jimmy Owens – 18.087; 26. 1M Julie McDermid – 18.095; 27. 18MC David McWilliams – 18.132; 28. 91 Craig Thatcher – 18.143; 29. 77X Mike Wedeistadt – 18.149; 30. 555 Ryan Rufer – 18.156; 31. 707 Corey Conley – 18.160; 32. 1K Ken Riddle – 18.187; 33. 0H Lee Hobbs – 18.240; 34. 64 Alan Arnold – 18.247; 35. 10H Randy Hall – 18.252; 36. H6 Paul Wilmoth – 18.264; 37. 83C Brian Taft – 18.284; 38. 2 Devin Dixon – 18.325; 39. B12 Kevin Weaver – 18.353; 40. 23 Tim Barrett – 18.357; 41. R1 Dan Wheeler – 18.357; 42. 12M Jason Miller – 18.360; 43. 21JR Joey Jensen – 18.392; 44. 33M Jeff Matthews – 18.404; 45. 12T Jesse Cramer – 18.418; 46. 4 Jason Lowe – 18.428; 47. 1P Bob Pohlman Jr. – 18.433; 48. 6V Vic Vandergrift – 18.433; 49. 01K Don Kiger – 18.434; 50. 32B Robbie Burris – 18.448; 51. 11W Wess Weinman – 18.454; 52. 21C Chris Brown – 18.456; 53. 4S Thomas Sigler – 18.526; 54. 032 Phillip Cobb – 18.552; 55. 14C Rick Conoyer – 18.553; 56. 79D John Demoss – 18.555; 57. 17S Scott Duval – 18.562; 58. 03 Brad Rohloff – 18.566; 59. 12A Tom Moore – 18.597; 60. 00S Stanley Donahoo – 18.599; 61. 25 Charles Patrick – 18.604; 62. 3 Bill Howard – 18.622; 63. 2B Mike Null – 18.632; 64. 2* Don Gumke – 18.639; 65. 4DX Jason Nordhougen – 18.651; 66. 18EX Greg Edwards – 18.653; 67. P28 Aaron Perritt – 18.730; 68. 105 David Schmauss – 18.759; 69. 15 Roger Crouse – 18.764; 70. 11C Adam Colley – 18.780; 71. 33L Richard Logan – 18.783; 72. S1 Toby Sims – 18.819; 73. 28A Bill Arnold – 18.823; 74. 15W Ralph Withem – 18.829; 75. 11B Jason Ball – 18.839; 76. 00G Greg Reutimann – 18.850; 77. 19 Joe Fowler – 18.868; 78. 47C Carlton Jackson – 18.934; 79. 12K Ken Myracle – 18.969; 80. 14 Gary Barrow – 19.005; 81. 6M Terry McClintock – 19.084; 82. R3 Rick Martin – 19.102; 83. CV7 Chris Veech – 19.175; 84. 01B John Bradley – 19.176; 85. 44 Joe Turner – 19.228; 86. 00 Buzzie Reutimann – 19.239; 87. 88 Tom Webster – 19.260; 88. 35 Dennis Barton – 19.337; 89. 13 Kevyn Terry – 19.374; 90. 26 Chris Butler – 19.400; 91. 3X David Boemer – 19.417; 92. 96 Tommy Schnader – 19.626; 93. 17JE JE Stalder – 22.904; 94. A Dave Groves – NT; 95. 97 Dusty Dixon – NT.
1st Heat - 1)Dave Hess Jr. 2)Jason Lakey 3)Kelly Shryock 4)Wess Weinman 5)Charles Patrick 6)Terry McClintock 7)Corey Conley 8)Richard Logan 9)Dan Wheeler 10)David Boemer.
2nd Heat - 1)Denny Swartz 2)Bill Davis 3)Bill Thomas 4)Ken Riddle 5)Chris Brown 6)Bill Howard 7)Jason Miller 8)Toby Sims 9)Rick Martin 10)Tommy Schnader.
3rd Heat – 1)Rick Arms 2)Brent Glastetter 3)Lee Hobbs 4)Joey Jensen 5)Ed Roley 6)Mike Null 7)Chris Veech 8)Thomas Sigler 9)Bill Arnold 10)JE Stalder.
4th Heat – 1)Brady Short 2)Jeff Matthews 3)Dave Groves 4)Jeff LaBaube 5)Don Gumke 6)John Bradley 7)Stephen King 8)Alan Arnold 9)Phillip Cobb 10)Ralph Withem.
5th Heat – 1)Matt Boknecht 2)Jimmy Owens 3)Randy Hall 4)Jesse Cramer 5)Rick Conoyer 6)Chris Stotts 7)Jason Nordhougen 8)Jason Ball 9)Joe Turner 10)Rusty Dixon DNS.
6th Heat – 1)John Whittington 2)Julie McDermid 3)Jeff Leka 4)Jason Lowe 5)Paul Wilmoth 6)Buzzie Reutimann 7)John Demoss 8)Greg Reutimann 9)Greg Edwards.
7th Heat – 1)Dan Hamstra 2)Chad Kinder 3)David McWilliams 4)Bob Pohlman Jr. 5)Aaron Perritt 6)Scott Duval 7)Joe Fowler 8)Brian Taft 9)Tom Webster.
8th Heat – 1)Rob Fuqua 2)Brad Rohloff 3)Craig Thatcher 4)David Schmauss 5)Scott Sugg 6)Carlton Jackson 7)Dennis Barton 8)Devin Dixon 9)Vic Vandergrift.
9th Heat – 1)Richard Hedrick 2)Caley Emerson 3)Kevin Weaver 4)Roger Crouse 5)Ken Myracle 6)Mike Wedeistadt 7)Don Kiger 8)Tom Moore 9)Kevyn Terry.
10th Heat – 1)Jason Fitzgerald 2)Ricky Hensley 3)Ryan Rufer 4)Adam Colley 5)Gary Borrow 6)Stanley Donahoo 7)Robbie Burris 8)Chris Butler 9)Tim Barrett.
1st C–Main – 1)Corey Conley 2)Chris Veech 3)Jason Miller 4)Jason Nordhougen 5)Joe Turner 6)Toby Sims 7)Thomas Sigler 8)Alan Arnold 9)Dan Wheeler 10)JE Stalder 11)Richard Logan 12)Rick Martin 13)Jason Ball 14)David Boemer 15)Stephen King DNS 16)Phillip Cobb 17)Tommy Schnader 18)Ralph Withem 19)Rusty Dixon.
2nd C–Main – 1)Joe Fowler 2)Greg Reutimann 3)Bill Arnold 4)John Demoss 5)Brian Taft 6)Tom Webster 7)Chris Butler 8)Vic Vandergrift 9)Greg Edwards 10)Kevyn Terry 11)Robbie Burris 12)Tom Moore 13)Dennis Barton DNS 14)Don Kiger 15)Devin Dixon 16)Tim Barrett.
1st B–Main – 1)Randy Hall 2)Lee Hobbs 3)Kelly Shryock 4)Ken Riddle 5)Joey Jensen 6)Chris Stotts 7)Don Gumke 8)Chris Brown 9)Wess Weinman 10)Charles Patrick 11)Bill Howard 12)Terry McClintock 13)Bill Thomas 14)Jeff LaBaube 15)Mike Null 16)Corey Conley 17)John Bradley 18)Dave Groves 19)Rick Conoyer 20)Ed Roley 21)Jesse Cramer 22)Chris Veech.
2nd B–Main – 1)Jeff Leka 2)Kevin Weaver 3)Craig Thatcher 4)Ryan Ruter 5)Roger Crouse 6)Buzzie Reutimann 7)David Schmauss 8)Joe Fowler 9)Stanley Donahoo 10)Ken Myracle 11)Adam Colley 12)Mike Wedeistadt 13)Aaron Perritt 14)Greg Reutimann 15)Jason Lowe 16)Carlton Jackson 17)Bob Pohlman Jr. 18)Paul Wilmoth 19)Scott Duval 20)David McWilliams 21)Scott Sugg 22)Gary Barrow.
Goodson Farms Strawberry Dash – 1)Scott Sugg 2)Joe Turner 3)Paul Wilmoth 4)Chris Brown 5)Ken Riddle 6)Terry McClintock 7)Chris Butler 8)Tom Moore 9)Jason Miller 10)Ken Myracle.
A–Main (25 laps) – 1)Matt Boknecht 2)John Whittington 3)Dan Hamstra 4)Jason Fitzgerald 5)Dave Hess Jr. 6)Rick Arms 7)Chad Kinder 8)Kelly Shryock 9)Randy Hall 10)Jason Lakey 11)Craig Thatcher 12)Jeff Leka 13)Lee Hobbs 14)Brady Short 15)Brad Rohloff 16)Jeff Matthew 17)Richard Hedrick 18)Denny Swartz 19)Julie McDermid 20)Kevin Weaver 21)Bill Davis 22)Rob Fuqua 23)Ricky Hensley 24)Brent Glastetter 25)Jimmy Owens 26)Caley Emerson.
