by Jean Lynch
TAMPA, Fla. -- “This is awesome! It’s an experience of a lifetime,” said Chad Kinder as he struggled in victory lane to remove the quick release pin and get his steering wheel off so he could climb out of his car to celebrate the biggest win of his seven-year racing career.
The Newton, Ill., driver had just won the 5th Annual Ramada Inn on Tampa Bay Open Wheel Modified Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park worth $8,000.
“My guys have thrown everything they had at this car all week,” revealed Kinder who’s team brought a brand new Lightning chassis to East Bay, “and they made it a winner!” Tire wear was a concern but the team chose three 3A Hoosiers and it worked for the 75-lap grind. Much credit was given to major sponsors – McClane Motors and Advanced Technologies while associate sponsors included Weber Farms, The Medicine Shoppe, Daybreak Landscaping, R.A. Sparks, Real Wheels, Mullins Race Engines, Hoosier, Billstein and Afco.
Finishing third overall in UMP National Points in 2003, Kinder is also a Flora and Mt. Vernon Speedway regular, travels some and has 118 wins over the past seven years. After starting fourth, he drove a steady race behind race-long leader Dan Hamstra, who earned the pole position by being high point man for the series.
Multiple yellows had kept the 26-car field tight for the first 25 laps. A long all green flag run from lap 17 through 42 showed Hamstra washing up a bit in the turns just before the fuel stop on lap 43. One restart later, Kinder was able to get under Hamstra in turn four and he led from lap 46 to the end despite many challenges from Jeff Leka. Jimmy Owens, who had played the alphabet soup game successfully all night, got as high as second by lap 60, but a flat tire sent him to the pits and he was one lap down when he returned to the track.
Kinder continued to hold up under the pressure of Leka and Joey Jensen (up from 16th starting spot), while Mike Wedelstadt and Buzzie Reutimann were there to rank in the top five at the end. Rick Arms, Randy Hall and Bill Howard all completed the distance, while one lap down, it was Owens, Jeff Matthews completing the top ten.
The top 12 in points accumulated in two preliminary nights, of the 96 participants in this kick-off event to East Bay Raceway Parks’ 28th Anniversary year, were locked in to the A-Main. The remaining 12 spots came from the B-Main plus two provisionals, one for the farthest tow – Don Gumke from Jamestown ND (1961 miles) and one for the highest finishing East Bay driver – Buzzie Reutimann.
It was the Jimmy Owens show for most of the night, as the defending champion thrilled the crowd with his drive from the back of the E, D, C, B and A-Mains. Owens was stranded enroute to East Bay with transmission problems in his hauler and missed Thursday’s preliminary night. After being involved in an accident in Friday night’s race, he ranked 95th in overall points, thus starting him last in the E-Main and setting the stage for his climb to an A-Main starting position.
In the E-Main, once Owens switched to the outside he made fast work of getting to a transfer position, finishing behind Don Kiger. The 12-lap D-Main pole-sitter Aaron Perritt won with 22nd starter Owens squeeking out Scott Sugg at the finish by six inches for second, the final transfer spot. However, John Demoss scratched from the C-Main allowing Sugg to move up, also.
Fifteen laps of C-Main racing saw Brent Glastetter lead lap one, then David Schmauss grabbed the top spot on a lap-two restart. But, engine woes forced Schmauss to the infield go-kart track on round three, handing the point to Reutimann, who led until the two-to-go sign by flagman Julian Mullis inspired Owens to go outside and move from third to first on lap 14. From there, Owens and Reutimann went to the back of the B-Main.
Kevin Weaver led the initial lap of the 20-lap B-Main before Brady Short took charge and led to the end over Weaver, Dave Hess, Joey Jensen and Richard Hedrick. Sixth through 12th advanced to the A-Main and that group included Jason Lakey, Jeff Matthews, Paul Wilmoth, Owens, Wedelstadt, Bill Howard and Joe Fowler.
The Goodson Strawberry Farms Dash went to Dave Graves over Bill Arnold.
RESULTS
E–MAIN (2 qualify, 10 laps): 1)01K – Don Kiger 2)20 – Jimmy Owens 3)11B – Jason Ball 4)33L – Richard Logan 5)3X – David Boerner 6)13 – Kevyn Terry 7)15W – Ralph Withem 8)26 – Chris Butler 9)6M – Terry McClintock 10)4S – Thomas Sigler 11)17E – JE Stalder.
D–MAIN (2 qualify, 12 laps): 1)P28 – Aaron Perritt 2)20 – Jimmy Owens 3)69 – Scott Sugg 4)28A – Bill Arnold 5)12A – Tom Moore 6)01K – Don Kiger 7)11C – Adam Colley 8)R1 – Dan Wheeler 9)11E – Ed Roley 10)18MC – David McWilliams 11)64 – Alan Arnold 12)6V – Vic Vandergrift 13)88 – Tom Webster 14)12K – Ken Myracle 15)4DK – Jason Nordhougen 16)1K – Ken Riddle 17)12M – Jason Miller 18)83C – Brian Taft 19)14 – Gary Barrow 20)44 – Joe Turner 21)32B – Robby Barris 22)CV7 – Chris Veech.
C–MAIN (2 qualify, 15 laps): 1)20 – Jimmy Owens 2)00 – Buzzie Reutimann 3)555 – Ryan Ruter 4)17S – Scott Duval 5)15 – Roger Crouse 6)01B – John Bradley 7)S8 – Chris Stotts 8)2* - Don Gumke 9)22T – Bill Thomas 10)11W – Wess Weinman 11)P28 – Aaron Perritt 12)29 – Jeff LeBaube 13)69 – Scott Sugg 14)4 – Jason Lowe 15)1M – Julie McDermid 16)00G – Greg Reutimann 17)47C – Carlton Jackson 18)25 – Charles Patrick 19)121 – Caley Emerson 20)105 – David Schmauss 21)18G – Brent Glastetter 22)2B – Mike Null DNS) 79D – John DeMoss.
B–MAIN (12 qualify, 20 laps): 1)36X – Brady Short 2)B12 – Kevin Weaver 3)44H – Dave Hess, Jr. 4)21JR – Joey Jensen 5)0X – Richard Hedrick 6)J16 – Jason Lakey 7)33M – Jeff Matthews 8)H6 – Paul Wilmoth 9)20 Jimmy Owens 10)77X – Mike Wedelstadt 11)3 – Bill Howard 12)19 – Joe Fowler 13)1P – Bob Pohlman 14)00 – Buzzie Reutimann 15)707 – Corey Conley 16)A – Dave Groves 17)3F – Rob Fuqua 18)03H – Rick Hensley 19)00S – Stanley Donahoo 20)21C – Chris Brown 21)71D – Bill Davis 22)0H – Lee Hobbs.
GOODSON FARMS STRAWBERRY DASH (8 laps): 1)A – Dave Groves 2)28A – Bill Arnold 3)01K – Don Kiger 4)2B – Mike Null 5)25 – Charles Patrick 6)88 – Tom Webster 7)0H – Lee Hobbs 8)R1 – Dan Wheeler 9)S8 – Chris Stotts DNS 10)79D – John Demoss 11)121 – Caley Emerson.
A–MAIN (75 laps): 1)22S – Chad Kinder – 75 laps; 2)3L – Jeff Leka – 75; 3)21JR – Joey Jensen – 75; 4)77X – Mike Weidlestadt – 75; 5)00 – Buzzie Reutimann – 75; 6)4X – Rick Arms – 75; 7)10H – Randy Hall – 75; 8)3 – Bill Howard – 75; 9)20 – Jimmy Owens – 74; 10)33M – Jeff Mathews – 74; 11)03 – Brad Rohloff – 74; 12)36X – Brady Short – 72; 13)21S – Denny Swartz – 72; 14)0X – Richard Hedrick – 70; 15)22B – Matt Boknecht – 70; 16)23H – Dan Hamstra – 66; 17)44H – Dave Hess, Jr. – 59; 18)22F – Jason Fitzgerald – 46; 19)33S – Kelly Shryock – 45; 20)2* - Don Gumke – 39; 21)J16 – Jason Lakey – 16; 22)91 – Craig Thatcher – 15; 23)H6 – Paul Wilmoth – 13; 24)B12 – Kevin Weaver – 13; 25)19 – Joe Fowler – 3; 26)5W – John Whittington – 0.
Provisional starters: Don Gumke for farthest tow (Jamestown, N.D., 1,961 miles); Buzzie Reutimann for being highest finishing East Bay driver.
TAMPA, Fla. -- “This is awesome! It’s an experience of a lifetime,” said Chad Kinder as he struggled in victory lane to remove the quick release pin and get his steering wheel off so he could climb out of his car to celebrate the biggest win of his seven-year racing career.
The Newton, Ill., driver had just won the 5th Annual Ramada Inn on Tampa Bay Open Wheel Modified Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park worth $8,000.
“My guys have thrown everything they had at this car all week,” revealed Kinder who’s team brought a brand new Lightning chassis to East Bay, “and they made it a winner!” Tire wear was a concern but the team chose three 3A Hoosiers and it worked for the 75-lap grind. Much credit was given to major sponsors – McClane Motors and Advanced Technologies while associate sponsors included Weber Farms, The Medicine Shoppe, Daybreak Landscaping, R.A. Sparks, Real Wheels, Mullins Race Engines, Hoosier, Billstein and Afco.
Finishing third overall in UMP National Points in 2003, Kinder is also a Flora and Mt. Vernon Speedway regular, travels some and has 118 wins over the past seven years. After starting fourth, he drove a steady race behind race-long leader Dan Hamstra, who earned the pole position by being high point man for the series.
Multiple yellows had kept the 26-car field tight for the first 25 laps. A long all green flag run from lap 17 through 42 showed Hamstra washing up a bit in the turns just before the fuel stop on lap 43. One restart later, Kinder was able to get under Hamstra in turn four and he led from lap 46 to the end despite many challenges from Jeff Leka. Jimmy Owens, who had played the alphabet soup game successfully all night, got as high as second by lap 60, but a flat tire sent him to the pits and he was one lap down when he returned to the track.
Kinder continued to hold up under the pressure of Leka and Joey Jensen (up from 16th starting spot), while Mike Wedelstadt and Buzzie Reutimann were there to rank in the top five at the end. Rick Arms, Randy Hall and Bill Howard all completed the distance, while one lap down, it was Owens, Jeff Matthews completing the top ten.
The top 12 in points accumulated in two preliminary nights, of the 96 participants in this kick-off event to East Bay Raceway Parks’ 28th Anniversary year, were locked in to the A-Main. The remaining 12 spots came from the B-Main plus two provisionals, one for the farthest tow – Don Gumke from Jamestown ND (1961 miles) and one for the highest finishing East Bay driver – Buzzie Reutimann.
It was the Jimmy Owens show for most of the night, as the defending champion thrilled the crowd with his drive from the back of the E, D, C, B and A-Mains. Owens was stranded enroute to East Bay with transmission problems in his hauler and missed Thursday’s preliminary night. After being involved in an accident in Friday night’s race, he ranked 95th in overall points, thus starting him last in the E-Main and setting the stage for his climb to an A-Main starting position.
In the E-Main, once Owens switched to the outside he made fast work of getting to a transfer position, finishing behind Don Kiger. The 12-lap D-Main pole-sitter Aaron Perritt won with 22nd starter Owens squeeking out Scott Sugg at the finish by six inches for second, the final transfer spot. However, John Demoss scratched from the C-Main allowing Sugg to move up, also.
Fifteen laps of C-Main racing saw Brent Glastetter lead lap one, then David Schmauss grabbed the top spot on a lap-two restart. But, engine woes forced Schmauss to the infield go-kart track on round three, handing the point to Reutimann, who led until the two-to-go sign by flagman Julian Mullis inspired Owens to go outside and move from third to first on lap 14. From there, Owens and Reutimann went to the back of the B-Main.
Kevin Weaver led the initial lap of the 20-lap B-Main before Brady Short took charge and led to the end over Weaver, Dave Hess, Joey Jensen and Richard Hedrick. Sixth through 12th advanced to the A-Main and that group included Jason Lakey, Jeff Matthews, Paul Wilmoth, Owens, Wedelstadt, Bill Howard and Joe Fowler.
The Goodson Strawberry Farms Dash went to Dave Graves over Bill Arnold.
RESULTS
E–MAIN (2 qualify, 10 laps): 1)01K – Don Kiger 2)20 – Jimmy Owens 3)11B – Jason Ball 4)33L – Richard Logan 5)3X – David Boerner 6)13 – Kevyn Terry 7)15W – Ralph Withem 8)26 – Chris Butler 9)6M – Terry McClintock 10)4S – Thomas Sigler 11)17E – JE Stalder.
D–MAIN (2 qualify, 12 laps): 1)P28 – Aaron Perritt 2)20 – Jimmy Owens 3)69 – Scott Sugg 4)28A – Bill Arnold 5)12A – Tom Moore 6)01K – Don Kiger 7)11C – Adam Colley 8)R1 – Dan Wheeler 9)11E – Ed Roley 10)18MC – David McWilliams 11)64 – Alan Arnold 12)6V – Vic Vandergrift 13)88 – Tom Webster 14)12K – Ken Myracle 15)4DK – Jason Nordhougen 16)1K – Ken Riddle 17)12M – Jason Miller 18)83C – Brian Taft 19)14 – Gary Barrow 20)44 – Joe Turner 21)32B – Robby Barris 22)CV7 – Chris Veech.
C–MAIN (2 qualify, 15 laps): 1)20 – Jimmy Owens 2)00 – Buzzie Reutimann 3)555 – Ryan Ruter 4)17S – Scott Duval 5)15 – Roger Crouse 6)01B – John Bradley 7)S8 – Chris Stotts 8)2* - Don Gumke 9)22T – Bill Thomas 10)11W – Wess Weinman 11)P28 – Aaron Perritt 12)29 – Jeff LeBaube 13)69 – Scott Sugg 14)4 – Jason Lowe 15)1M – Julie McDermid 16)00G – Greg Reutimann 17)47C – Carlton Jackson 18)25 – Charles Patrick 19)121 – Caley Emerson 20)105 – David Schmauss 21)18G – Brent Glastetter 22)2B – Mike Null DNS) 79D – John DeMoss.
B–MAIN (12 qualify, 20 laps): 1)36X – Brady Short 2)B12 – Kevin Weaver 3)44H – Dave Hess, Jr. 4)21JR – Joey Jensen 5)0X – Richard Hedrick 6)J16 – Jason Lakey 7)33M – Jeff Matthews 8)H6 – Paul Wilmoth 9)20 Jimmy Owens 10)77X – Mike Wedelstadt 11)3 – Bill Howard 12)19 – Joe Fowler 13)1P – Bob Pohlman 14)00 – Buzzie Reutimann 15)707 – Corey Conley 16)A – Dave Groves 17)3F – Rob Fuqua 18)03H – Rick Hensley 19)00S – Stanley Donahoo 20)21C – Chris Brown 21)71D – Bill Davis 22)0H – Lee Hobbs.
GOODSON FARMS STRAWBERRY DASH (8 laps): 1)A – Dave Groves 2)28A – Bill Arnold 3)01K – Don Kiger 4)2B – Mike Null 5)25 – Charles Patrick 6)88 – Tom Webster 7)0H – Lee Hobbs 8)R1 – Dan Wheeler 9)S8 – Chris Stotts DNS 10)79D – John Demoss 11)121 – Caley Emerson.
A–MAIN (75 laps): 1)22S – Chad Kinder – 75 laps; 2)3L – Jeff Leka – 75; 3)21JR – Joey Jensen – 75; 4)77X – Mike Weidlestadt – 75; 5)00 – Buzzie Reutimann – 75; 6)4X – Rick Arms – 75; 7)10H – Randy Hall – 75; 8)3 – Bill Howard – 75; 9)20 – Jimmy Owens – 74; 10)33M – Jeff Mathews – 74; 11)03 – Brad Rohloff – 74; 12)36X – Brady Short – 72; 13)21S – Denny Swartz – 72; 14)0X – Richard Hedrick – 70; 15)22B – Matt Boknecht – 70; 16)23H – Dan Hamstra – 66; 17)44H – Dave Hess, Jr. – 59; 18)22F – Jason Fitzgerald – 46; 19)33S – Kelly Shryock – 45; 20)2* - Don Gumke – 39; 21)J16 – Jason Lakey – 16; 22)91 – Craig Thatcher – 15; 23)H6 – Paul Wilmoth – 13; 24)B12 – Kevin Weaver – 13; 25)19 – Joe Fowler – 3; 26)5W – John Whittington – 0.
Provisional starters: Don Gumke for farthest tow (Jamestown, N.D., 1,961 miles); Buzzie Reutimann for being highest finishing East Bay driver.
