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ASCS Opens Season with East Bay Triple
February 24, 2010 by eastbay
Hockett Set to Defend Ronald Laney Memorial Win
Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (February 23, 2010) – The American Sprint Car Series lifts the lid
on an action-packed 2010 season of approximately 200 events with this weekend’s ASCS Rebel
action at East Bay Raceway Park’s 34th Annual Winter Nationals. The three-night stand in
Tampa, FL, concludes with Saturday’s $10,000-to-win Ninth Annual Ronald Laney Memorial on
Saturday night.
And, set to defend his crown in the season opener, is Warsaw, Missouri’s Jesse Hockett, who
became the ninth different winner of East Bay’s “Kings” portion of the Winter Nationals by
storming to victory lane last year.
Fresh off a Mexico honeymoon, Hockett enters this season with a new, yet familiar look. Back to
the familiar No. 75, this year’s VKCC Motorsports entry will sport a black and blue scheme
reminiscent of earlier renditions of the popular team.
While Hockett returns to the familiar No. 75 in his bid for the 2010 Lucas Oil Sprint Car crown, he
hopes to ride a new engine/chassis combination to victory lane this weekend with a Don Ott
powerplant bolted into an A.R.T. chassis.
Hockett will face a sturdy field of challengers that includes Hooks, TX, ace Gary Wright, the only
driver to top the East Bay event on more than one occasion. Wright, a four-time Lucas Oil Sprint
Car National champion, topped the inaugural Kings event in 1999 before adding a second win in
2007.
Other past event winners include 2008 Lucas Oil Sprint Car champion Jason Johnson (2008),
Terry McCarl (2006), Chad Kemenah (2005), Sport Allen (2003), Jason Sides (2002), Jeff
Shepard (2001) and Ronald Laney (2000).
After last year’s East Bay opening night was rained out, Sarasota, Florida’s Danny Martin, Jr.,
topped the Friday night preliminary before chasing Hockett, Jason Sides and Gene Lasker to the
stripe in the Saturday night finale.
That strong opening weekend performance launched a championship drive by “The Hammer”, as
Martin, Jr., went on to become the third ASCS Rebel Region champion in as many years,
outdistancing Jacksonville, Florida’s Matt Kurtz for the crown by 68 markers.
All three nights of competition at East Bay Raceway Park are slated to go green at approximately
7:15 p.m. A Wednesday night practice session will precede the weekend triple.
Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park is located off I-75 Exit 250, then two miles west, then 1.2 miles
north on US 41, then right 1.3 miles on Old US 41 to Burts Road. For more information, contact
the track at 813-677-7223.
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