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Roby Helm
TAMPA, Fla. (February 19) - Doug Horton of Bruceton Mills, WV drove the locally owned Adams Used Auto Parts Warrior to victory on Thursday night in the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series 40-lap feature race at East Bay Raceway Park. Horton took the lead on the opening lap after starting on the outside of row one, and never looked back to lead wire-to-wire.
"I've got to thank Sanford Goddard at Warrior Race Cars for building a great race car, and my car owner Ken Nosbisch with his experience at the this race track, for the win tonight," Horton said. "We came down here in December and missed the show, but everyone pulled together, worked hard, and we got it figured out."
Steve Mathis of Plant City, FL finished second in the Mathis Farms Rayburn and Rick Rickman of Columbus, MS in the Rickman Trucking Mastersbilt took the third spot. Keith Nosbisch of Valrico, FL drove the Miller Lite Rocket to a fourth-place finish, and Jason Wilson of Margaret, AL rounded out the top five in the Tommy Pope Construction Warrior.
Wilson was awarded the Race Car Engineering Fifth-Place Award when the Cardinal Paint and Body Warrior of apparent fifth-place finisher David Schmauss of Tampa, FL was found light at the scales during the post-race weigh-in. Wilson was the Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Race and moved on top of the RoY point standings, and fifth overall in the National points chase.
Eric Cooley of Fulton, MS took the sixth spot in the 78 Towing and Recovery Victory Circle, and Derrick Rainey of Powder Springs, GA took a provisional, started 24th, and charged to a seventh-place finish in the Hays Family Racing/Barto Enterprises Warrior to earn the Mechanix Wear Hard Charger of the Race Award.
Jeff Fields of Aragon, GA won the Race Car Engineering Eighth-Place Award in the Summerville Junkyard Mastersbilt, and Larry Boutwell of Baker, FL won the Maximum Signs Ninth-Place Award in the McLeod Construction Rocket. Jeff Mathews of Dover, FL in the Night Hawk Towing Rocket rounded out the top ten.
Two-time NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National Champion David Gentry of Lewisburg, TN was the McLeod Construction Fast Qualifier among the 44 entrants with a lap around the 1/3-mile clay oval in 16.503 seconds driving the Eades Farms Warrior. That earned Gentry the pole position for the feature race.
When the green flag fell to start the race, Horton took the lead from Gentry in turn two, and brought Mathis with him up into the second spot, with Gentry settling into the third position, followed by Rickman and Nosbisch. Gentry ran into problems on lap 12 when he spun in turn two. Horton led Mathis, Rickman, Shanon Buckingham of Morristown, TN, and Nosbisch down for the restart.
Buckingham was put ahead of Nosbisch for the restart, as Nosbisch was penalized for jumping a lap 11 restart. When the field went green, point leader Brad Hall of Knoxville, TN was on the move driving a Rocket chassis powered by a steel-head GM Performance 602 engine. Hall has made headlines after winning the season opener, and finished second in round two.
Hall has become the ultimate economy racer having success with a two-year-old $3,000 engine with the original sealing bolts in it, and towing it ten hours to Tampa, FL on an open trailer. Hall didn't qualify well, or run well in his heat race. His car came to life in the B-main to earn the 22nd starting spot for the main event for his new sponsor Pilot Oil.
By lap 13, Hall had used the outside groove to advance up to the tenth spot. Gentry brought out the caution flag on lap 13 with a cut tire, and on lap 14, Chris McElhenney of Lake, MS spun the G&M Trucking GRT in turn four while running ninth to bring out the fourth caution flag of the race.
Horton led Mathis, Rickman, Buckingham in the Rusty Wallace Toyota Bloomquist, Nosbisch, Schmauss, Wilson, Cooley, Hall, and Boutwell down for the restart. After the field went green, Hall's charge and the mystic of his 602 engine ended when it overheated coming down the front straightaway, and he coasted to a stop in turn two.
That earned Hall the Dominator Race Products Hard Luck Award, but despite being credited with the 22nd finishing position, Hall hung on to the NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series National point lead with a 14-point margin over Boutwell. Rainey and Cooley are tied for third.
Hall said he had an aluminum-head 604 engine in the back of his ten-year-old cube van as a backup to put in the car for the rest of the week, but he wished it was a 602.
Also running into problems during the caution period for Hall was Buckingham, who gave up the fourth spot, and went to the pit area. That shuffled the top ten running order for the restart, as Horton led Mathis, Rickman, Nosbisch, Schmauss, Wilson, Cooley, Boutwell, David Pollen Jr. of Tampa, FL in the B&D Trucking Rocket, and Hunter Peacock of Macon, GA in Nasworthy Mechanical Bullet down for the restart.
By the halfway point, nothing much had changed in the top eight, as Horton had opened up a full straightaway lead over Mathis. Peacock passed Pollen to move up to the ninth spot, and brought Phillip Cobb of Riverview, FL with him up into the tenth spot in the Coastal Trucking GRT. Rainey had dusted off a groove on the outside and was closing in on the top ten.
The only that slowed Horton down during the second half of the race were a pair of single car spins on lap 27 and 34 that brought out the caution flag. After each restart, Horton was able to pull out to big lead over Mathis. Rainey charged up to the eighth spot by lap 30, and Mathews climbed into the top ten in the closing laps of the race.
In preliminary action on Thursday night, the four eight-lap heat races were won by Wilson, Buckingham, Peacock, and Schmauss. The two 12-lap B-Main races were won by Josh Peacock of Dover, FL in the Fribob Fruit Floats Warrior, and Bryan Bernhardt of Clearwater, FL in the B&B Precision Mowing Rocket.
The NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series returns to action at East Bay Raceway Park on Friday night with another 40-lap $2,500-to-win main event, and again on Saturday night for a 50-lap $3,000-to-win show.
OFFICIAL RESULTS OF ROUND 3 AT EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK IN TAMPA, FL ON 2/19/09:
POS STRT CAR # DRIVER HOMETOWN LAPS $ WON
1. 2 11 Doug Horton Bruceton Mills, WV 40 $2,500
2. 4 95 Steve Mathis Plant City, FL 40 $1,250
3. 3 86 Rick Rickman Columbus, MS 40 $850
4. 5 102 Keith Nosbisch Valrico, FL 40 $700
5. 7 22 Jason Wilson (R) Margaret, AL 40 $650
6. 12 33c Eric Cooley Fulton, MS 40 $550
7. 24 87 Derrick Rainey Powder Springs, GA 40 $500
8. 13 16 Jeff Fields Aragon, GA 40 $450
9. 16 58 Larry Boutwell Baker, FL 40 $400
10. 15 33 Jeff Mathews Dover, FL 40 $375
11. 14 88 David Pollen Jr. Tampa, FL 40 $350
12. 20 B69 Bryan Bernhardt Clearwater, FL 40 $300
13. 9 12 Hunter Peacock Macon, GA 40 $280
14. 17 49 Jeremy Hines Seymour, IN 40 $260
15. 18 32 Phillip Cobb Riverview, FL 40 $250
16. 6 28 Chris McElhenney Lake, MS 40 $240
17. 23 38c Chip Brindle Chatsworth, GA 27 $320
18. 11 8s Steve Miller Tampa, FL 26 $200
19. 21 11x Steven Roberts Sylvester, GA 26 $200
20. 1 2 David Gentry Lewisburg, TN 18 $300
21. 8 50 Shanon Buckingham Morristown, TN 13 $200
22. 22 47 Brad Hall Knoxville, TN 13 $200
23. 19 21p Josh Peacock Dover, FL 7 $200
24. 10 105 David Schmauss Tampa, FL 40 $200(DQ-LT)
ENTRIES: 44
McLEOD CONSTRUCTION FAST QUALIFIER: Gentry, 16.503 Seconds
PROVISIONALS: Brindle and Rainey
LEAD CHANGES: None
LAP LEADER: Horton, 1-40
DOMINATOR RACE PRODUCTS HARD LUCK AWARD: Hall
MECHANIX WEAR HARD CHARGER: Rainey (started 24th and finished 7th)
SUNOCO RACE FUELS ROOKIE OF THE RACE: Wilson
RACE CAR ENGINEERING 5TH-PLACE AWARD: Wilson
RACE CAR ENGINEERING 8TH-PLACE AWARD: Fields
MAXIMUM SIGNS 9TH-PLACE AWARD: Boutwell
CAUTIONS: 8
TIME OF THE RACE: 32 Minutes and 1.103 Seconds
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