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Lasker Clinches Limited Sprint Championship at East Bay
SCOTT LOCKWOOD
floridashorttrackreport.com
GIBSONTON - The ASCS sprint cars weren’t the only thing happening at East Bay
Raceway Park Saturday night, as those in attendance not only saw a fantastic main
event but also witnessed a track championship celebration as well as several
milestone wins.
Gene Lasker has shown all season long that he was the driver to beat in the
Limited Sprint class. He showed it would be no different on this night as he roared
to a victory in his heat race. Tim George, a former track champion in the division,
also won a heat race.
The last time the Limited Sprints ran at East Bay, Jimmy Balew rolled his car and
destroyed his top wing. Thanks to the help of Lasker, who allowed Balew to borrow
a spare wing, Ballew was able to return to competition and would start the 15-lap
feature on the pole. However, it would be outside polesitter Rich Alexander who
would jump out into the lead at the start and lead the first few laps. Unfortunately
for Alexander, his car lost power while leading and came to a stop in turn 4,
prematurely ending his night and handing the lead over to Balew..
While Balew was enjoying the clean air up front, Lasker and veteran racer Greg
Leonard were putting on a show coming up through the field. About halfway
through the feature, Lasker moved into second place and quickly closed on
Ballew. While those two fought for the lead, Leonard was able to get into third and
quickly made it a three car battle for the top spot.
This terrific battle continued until the caution came out on lap 12 when Craig
Reynolds spun in turn 3 and was collected by Paulie Milum. The accident
eliminated both cars but set the stage for a fantastic finish. On the restart,
Leonard got by both Lasker and Balew with an outside pass in turn 2. However,
this was short lived as the yellow immediately flew again for Samantha Taylor’s
stalled car in turn 1.
On the final restart, Lasker tried to dive underneath Leonard for second in turn 1,
but made contact which sent both cars into a spin. Miraculously, both cars stayed
under power and the yellow never came out. From there it was clear sailing for
Balew, who went on to capture his first career win in a sprint car.
“Man this is way too exciting,” a jubilant Balew said in victory lane. “I just wish my
dad could have been here because he’s worked on my race cars for two years and
we’ve been unable to win. But he did call in the setup, and as you can tell, it
worked.”
Leonard rebounded from the tiff with Lasker to finish second - passing Rick Byerrly
on turn 3 of the final lap. Mike Steinruck barely held off Lasker for fourth. With his
fifth place finish, Lasker wrapped up the title and celebrated by doing a series of
donuts in the infield.
“We were really dicing it up out there tonight,“ Lasker said of his battle with
Leonard and Balew. “I had more fun tonight than I’ve ever had in this class, having
someone like that running that high side with me. That lap would have been crazy
if I could have made it stick!”
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a track championship here,” Lasker continued.
“I’m really enjoying winning this championship and Rick Kendall. He’s already
bought me a brand new car for next season, so we’ll be back here running for the
points again. These guys just loves these limited sprints.”
In the Street Stocks, Charlie Paris Jr. took advantage of a mistake by Matthew
Grissom and went on to win his 10th feature race of the season. His win total tops
all drivers in all classes at the track this year. Danny Hill got around Tim Dowling
for second on the final lap. Paris also won a heat race, as did Grissom and Buck
Woodhouse.
Roberto Morfin looked to have the 4-cylnder bomber feature in hand, leading all
but the last few feet of the race. Jerimie Ellis, who started deep in the field, ran
down Morfin from over a second back in the last couple of laps and captured the
win coming out of the final turn and holding on by less than a car length. Collin
Kruse was third. Laramee and Frank Miller took the heat races.
The Florida Mini Sprint feature saw a brand new winner pull into victory lane, with
14 year-old Amanda Ferguson taking the lead at the start and going wire-to-wire
for the win. Pennsylvania driver Jim Young finished second, while Jessie Teed
came home third.
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