| |
TBARA rocks ccmp
6-16-07
Scott Lockwood
PUNTA GORDA - Not even a three hour rain delay, three failed attempts to start
the race and a slew of lapped traffic could slow down Shane Butler on his way to
claming the victory in front of a good crowd at Charlotte County Motorsports Park
Saturday night.
Butler his night in grand fashion, winning his heat race from the pole position.
Tommy Nichols won the first heat, while Scott Adema, who cut his teeth racing open
wheel modifieds at CCMP, won his heat race by the length of a straightaway.
As the TBARA cars lined up for what would be the start of their feature event, it
was obvious from the beginning it was going to be crazy night. When the green
flag waived, the cars of Joey Aguilera and Ben Fritz tangled on the backstretch,
sending Fritz spinning into the infield and into a tire barrier, ending his race before
it ever really began. After climbing from his wounded machine, Fritz ran towards
the track, showing his displeasure with Aguilera.
After the safety crew cleaned up the Fritz accident, Butler led the field down for
another restart, only to see it thwarted when the cars of Wendy Mathis and Brian
Gingras touched just past the start/finish lines, sending Gingras into a brush with
the wall and forcing him out of the race with a broken axle.
The third time proved to be a charm, as Butler roared into the lead on the start.
Mathis, who started fifth, dropped all the way to twelfth on the opening lap and
pulled her car into the infield on the next lap, with the damage from the contact with
Gingras making her car undrivable. By the end of lap 10, Butler had already built
nearly a straightaway lead and was lapping the slower cars in the field.
As Butler started picking off back markers, Adema fought his way back into second
place and began to close on Butler. For the entire second half of the race, Adema
would keep closing, and got within a few car lengths of Butler when the leader ran
into a pack of cars that were all fighting for position with7 laps to go. Over the last
couple of laps, Butler settled in behind the lapped car of Aguilera, while Adema
couldn’t get past the already lapped machine of Michael Smith. Butler took the
checkered flag as lightning from the earlier storm flashed in the distance - a fitting
ending for Butler, who was “lightning” quick all evening.
“Man I’ll tell you, I don’t even know where to start,” an excited Butler said in victory
lane. “I just want to thank everybody who helps me out on this car. This one‘s for
you dad…happy father‘s day!”
In another thrilling feature race at CCMP, Stewart Vandeever claimed the win in the
Sportsman 35-lapper. Taking the lead on the fifth lap, Vandeever set sail and
looked like he was going to cruise to an easy win. Then the caution came out
around the halfway point of the race, allowing Dale Dean to close up on his bumper.
Vandeever and Dale put on a great show for the rest of the race, with Dale trying
everything to get by Vandeever. A couple of times, Dale would get a fender along
the outside, only to see Vandeever pull out slightly coming out of the corners. With
five laps left, Dale looked as if he was going to use the “chrome horn” on
Vandeever, getting him completely sideways coming out of the fourth turn.
Two laps later, Dale finally got along side going down the main straightaway, only
to get loose going into the first turn and watching any chance of winning slip away.
For Vandeever, it was a win driving a brand new race car on his first night back at
CCMP after a long absence. He celebrated by doing doughnuts and doing a polish
victory lap for the fans who waited out the 2-plus hour rain delay.
In other action, Larry Ballard Jr. won the 20 lap Truck Series feature; Chris Lucas
went from last to first in just over a lap to claim the Pro 4’s 20 lapper, and Ryan
Miser took advantage of a five-car pileup that took out some of the main
contenders and won the 35 lap Florida Suncoast Outlaw Street Stocks feature.
|
|
|
|
|
