BY Terry Young
With all of the visions of grandeur and lollipops of the 2004 Winternationals behind us, 117 cars invaded the always lightning fast East Bay raceway Park for Night #1 of the 2005 NARA Winternationals this evening.
The night would begin early as the cars rolled onto the track in the early afternoon for qualifying and Don O'Neal emerged with the fast timehonors with a lap of 14.850.
Heat races were lined up with the top 4 in each heat inverted and only 2the top 2 finishers in each transferring to the A-Main event.
First heat honors went to O'Neal and Brady Smith, heat two transfers would go to Timmy McCreadie and Dennis Erb, Heat three Jackie Boggs and Dennis Erb, Heat four to Terry English and Steve Hillard, Heat Five to Shane Clanton and Scott james, Heat Six to Rick Eckert and Rod Conley, Heat Seven to Jason Montgomery and Matt Miller, Heat Eight to Steve Shaver and Jimmy Mars and the final heat Nine to Davey Johnson and Darrel Lanigan.
There were 4 consi's with only the winner advancing and those final transfer positions were taken by Earl Pearson in Consi One, Shannon Babb in Consi Two, Anthony Rushing in Consi Three and Shane Tankersly in Consi Four.
R.J. Conley and John Gill were added to the A as 2004 NARA provisionals with Billy Moyer and Dan Schlieper added as R.A.C.E. provisionals. As it was explained to me, tonight and tomorrows events 2004 N.A.R.A. points were/will be used to determine the N.A.R.A. provisionals, beginning Wednesday night the 2005 to date N.A.R.A. point standings will be used to determine the N.A.R.A. provisionals who are added to the field. As for the R.A.C.E. provisionals, as I understand it, tonights R.A.C.E. provisionals were determined by taking the best finishes from the 2004 World 100, DREAM, Topless 100 and Show Me events and those provisionals were handed to Schlieper and Moyer on that basis. If I understood correctly, tomorrow night the R.A.C.E. provisionals will be awarded off of 2005 Winternationals Point Standings.
The feature action was fast and furious as would be expected from any show at East Bay and the track stayed surprisingly tacky with O'Neal utilizing the softest compound available from Hoosier to take Night 1's $5,000.00 paycheck. O'Neal was masterful in his drive for the win and reminiscent of days of old when he dominated the Speedweeks action several years back.
Lucas Oil NARA 2005 Winternationals Night #1 A-Main Finish: 1) Don O'Neal $5,000.00 2) Steve Francis $3,000.00 3) Terry English $2,000.00 4) Steve Shaver $1,500.00 5) Rick Eckert $1,000.00 6) Jimmy Mars $800.00 7) Darrell Lanigan $750.00 8) Dennis Erb, Jr. $700.00 9) Scott James $650.00 10) Billy Moyer $600.00 11) Shannon Babb $550.00 12) Rod Conley $500.00 13) Brady Smith $500.00 14) Matt Miller $500.00 15) Anthony Rushing $500.00 16) John Gill $500.00 17) Earl Pearson, Jr. $500.00 18) Shane Tankersley $500.00 19) R.J. Conley $500.00 20) Shane Clanton $500.00 21) Tim McCreadie $500.00 22) Davey Johnson $500.00 23) Steve Hillard $500.00 24) Jackie Boggs $500.00 25) Jason Montgomery $500.00 26) Dan Schlieper $500.00
Winternationals action will continue tomorrow with Night #2 of the 2005 N.A.R.A. Winternationals getting underway at 2:45 for hot laps. The A-Main event will again be a 30 lap affair with $5,000.00 awaiting the lucky winner!
With all of the visions of grandeur and lollipops of the 2004 Winternationals behind us, 117 cars invaded the always lightning fast East Bay raceway Park for Night #1 of the 2005 NARA Winternationals this evening.
The night would begin early as the cars rolled onto the track in the early afternoon for qualifying and Don O'Neal emerged with the fast timehonors with a lap of 14.850.
Heat races were lined up with the top 4 in each heat inverted and only 2the top 2 finishers in each transferring to the A-Main event.
First heat honors went to O'Neal and Brady Smith, heat two transfers would go to Timmy McCreadie and Dennis Erb, Heat three Jackie Boggs and Dennis Erb, Heat four to Terry English and Steve Hillard, Heat Five to Shane Clanton and Scott james, Heat Six to Rick Eckert and Rod Conley, Heat Seven to Jason Montgomery and Matt Miller, Heat Eight to Steve Shaver and Jimmy Mars and the final heat Nine to Davey Johnson and Darrel Lanigan.
There were 4 consi's with only the winner advancing and those final transfer positions were taken by Earl Pearson in Consi One, Shannon Babb in Consi Two, Anthony Rushing in Consi Three and Shane Tankersly in Consi Four.
R.J. Conley and John Gill were added to the A as 2004 NARA provisionals with Billy Moyer and Dan Schlieper added as R.A.C.E. provisionals. As it was explained to me, tonight and tomorrows events 2004 N.A.R.A. points were/will be used to determine the N.A.R.A. provisionals, beginning Wednesday night the 2005 to date N.A.R.A. point standings will be used to determine the N.A.R.A. provisionals who are added to the field. As for the R.A.C.E. provisionals, as I understand it, tonights R.A.C.E. provisionals were determined by taking the best finishes from the 2004 World 100, DREAM, Topless 100 and Show Me events and those provisionals were handed to Schlieper and Moyer on that basis. If I understood correctly, tomorrow night the R.A.C.E. provisionals will be awarded off of 2005 Winternationals Point Standings.
The feature action was fast and furious as would be expected from any show at East Bay and the track stayed surprisingly tacky with O'Neal utilizing the softest compound available from Hoosier to take Night 1's $5,000.00 paycheck. O'Neal was masterful in his drive for the win and reminiscent of days of old when he dominated the Speedweeks action several years back.
Lucas Oil NARA 2005 Winternationals Night #1 A-Main Finish: 1) Don O'Neal $5,000.00 2) Steve Francis $3,000.00 3) Terry English $2,000.00 4) Steve Shaver $1,500.00 5) Rick Eckert $1,000.00 6) Jimmy Mars $800.00 7) Darrell Lanigan $750.00 8) Dennis Erb, Jr. $700.00 9) Scott James $650.00 10) Billy Moyer $600.00 11) Shannon Babb $550.00 12) Rod Conley $500.00 13) Brady Smith $500.00 14) Matt Miller $500.00 15) Anthony Rushing $500.00 16) John Gill $500.00 17) Earl Pearson, Jr. $500.00 18) Shane Tankersley $500.00 19) R.J. Conley $500.00 20) Shane Clanton $500.00 21) Tim McCreadie $500.00 22) Davey Johnson $500.00 23) Steve Hillard $500.00 24) Jackie Boggs $500.00 25) Jason Montgomery $500.00 26) Dan Schlieper $500.00
Winternationals action will continue tomorrow with Night #2 of the 2005 N.A.R.A. Winternationals getting underway at 2:45 for hot laps. The A-Main event will again be a 30 lap affair with $5,000.00 awaiting the lucky winner!
