TAMPA, FL….2/19/11…..”The harder and higher I ran on the track, the better it was for me,” said a beaming Daryl Pittman, in his victory interview with Larry Jewett after winning a non-stop 40-lap race and becoming the 11th different winner of the 13th King of 360’s which climaxed with the 10th Annual $10,500 Ronald Laney Memorial Saturday night at East Bay Raceway Park.

Wearing his new crown, holding his daughter Taylor and his lighted scepter, Pittman posed beside his six-foot trophy and told the crowd, “My owner Mike Heffner never came to Florida, but he loves big trophies and I can’t wait until he sees this one.”

TheHeffner Race Products (HRP) Maxim powered by a Rider engine was the class of the 20-car field. After starting fourth when the top six in points for the week were locked in, but subject to redraw, the Number 27 started behind Danny Smith, Terry McCarl and Mark Smith “One of the main parts of our group is Jimmy Pasquariello’s Auto Shop from back home in Pittsboro, Indiana, we also have www.Lelands.com for help. Our helpers this week were Shawn and Rhino and they and they were outstanding.”

“There was a point in the race that I thought I heard something behind me, plus I was getting tired of running third behind Danny Smith and Terry McCarl so I thought I better get going and it turns out that was on lap 24 and I made an outside move on Danny in turn two to get to second. Two laps later I got by McCarl for the lead. Nobody thought the race would go non-stop, so with my set-up working so well it played out perfect for me. I had no idea I won by 6.050 seconds over McCarl,” revealed the winner Pittman.

Smith from Chillicothe, Ohio, set at fast pace from his pole position and had a two second lead over McCarl early. His Maxim was in command for the first 15 laps, but then McCarl began to close. However, five laps later, Pittman replaced McCarl to pressure Smith and got the job done on lap 25 with an outside move in turn two. By lap 26, McCarl slipped into second, dropping Smith to third.

By lap 28, Cap Henry set up Smith and went by to claim fourth spot. As second, third and fourth were slicing through lapped traffic, Pittman drove away, building a straight-away lead over McCarl. As the laps counted down to the checkered on lap 40, Pittman never looked back and drove away to capture the King’s crown.

McCarl nailed second in his own Burch powered Eagle. He explained further, “I can’t thank Mark Burch enough for loaning me a truck and trailer, a motor and tires to help me start my own team. After my health issues with my arm and my leg, I think I was in pretty good shape to finish this non-stop race even though my car was a little tight. My local sponsors here include Frubob, the Natural Fruit Float, Hungry Howies Pizza and Subs, Morgan Strawberries, C&B Muchrooms, Kazbor’s Grill and BubbaQue’s.” The crew fine tuned the car before the feature by changing shocks, tires, wing placement and torsion bars.

Cap Henry ran second here last year in a 410 race, and now he has a third place finish to his credit with his Stanton Mopar 360. Sponsorship comes from Lucas, Penske shocks and TNT Graphics. The 20-year old driver admitted, “I didn’t put enough tearoffs on and had to use my sleeve to clean my visor. Fuzz Lyons is my crew chief and my Dad “Kit” is my biggest helper. We left this new Maxim pretty much the same since hot laps. After I started sixth, I got a good jump early and I got by Danny Smith for third on lap 28.

Smith was a solid fourth at the finish in his Maxim with a J&D engine and Thursday night’s winner Michael Dupuy was fifth. Rouncing out the top ten it was Mark Smith, David Gravel, Tim Shaffer, Sam Hafertepe and Pat Cannon.

With the top six in points locked in, the balance of the 38 cars were lined up by points, staggered and straight up. David Gravel and Ryan Grubaugh earned a starting spot in the A-Main by finishing in the top two spots in their heats. Pat Cannon, Michael Dupuy, Russ Hall, Tom Winegardner

Thanks, Jean Lynch for East Bay Raceway Park

STATS – KING OF THE 360 SPRINTS – EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK – SATURDAY, 2/19/11

Top 6 in Points are Locked into A Main – 1)Terry McCarl 2)Danny Smith 3)Daryn Pittman 4)Cap Henry 5)Mark Smith 6)Tim Shaffer

1st Heat – 1)David Gravel 2)Ryan Grubaugh 3)Aaron Berryhill 4)Bronson Maeshen 5)Thomas Kennedy 6)Sport Allen 7)RJ Johnson 8)Tony Norem

2nd Heat – 1)Pat Cannon 2)Michael Dupuy 3)Robbie Smith 4)Greg Wilson 5)Brad Greer 6)Tony Agin 7)Lance Hester 8)A.J. Maddox DNS

3rd Heat – 1)Russ Hall 2)T.J. Winegardner 3)Sam Hafertepe 4)Klint Angelette 5)Arbery Black 6)Carl Zaniboni 7)Lou Kennedy

4th Heat – 1)Jessica Zemken 2)Chad Layton 3)Dave Franck 4)Timmy Thrash 5)Jim Porter 6)Ryan Moore 7)Michael Miller

1st B – Main (Top 3 go to back of A inside row) – 1)Greg Wilson 2)Aaron Berryhill 3)Robbie Smith 4)Bronson Maeshen 5)Thomas Kennedy 6)Sport Allen 7)Brad Greer 8)RJ Johnson 9)Tony Agin 10)Tony Norem 11)Lance Hester 12)A.J. Maddox DNS

2nd B – Main (Top 3 go to back of A outside row) – 1)Dave Franck 2)Sam Hafertepe 3)Timmy Thrash 4)Klint Angelette 5)Jim Porter 6)Arbery Black 7)Carl Zaniboni 8)Ryan Moore DNS 9)Lou Kennedy DNS 10)Michael Miller DNS

A – Main (40 Laps) – 1)Daryn Pittman 2)Terry McCarl 3)Cap Henry 4)Danny Smith 5)Michael Dupuy 6)Mark Smith 7)David Gravel 8)Tim Shaffer 9)Sam Hafertepe 10)Pat Cannon 11)Jessica Zemken 12)Russ Hall 13)Greg Wilson 14)T.J. Winegardner 15)Ryan Grubaugh 16)Robbie Smith 17)Chad Layton 18)Dave Franck 19)Timmy Thrash 20)Aaron Berryhill