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McCarl Cruises to East Bay Win
By SCOTT LOCKWOOD
Florida Short Track Report.com
GIBSONTON - After the first night of the 360 Sprint Car Winternationals at
East Bay Raceway Park, it looked as if everyone was going to spend the rest
of the weekend chasing Malabar’s Kenny Adams. As fans walked into the
track for Friday night’s events, they were not only greeted by cool
temperatures but a hot Adams, who would be gunning for his fourth
consecutive East Bay feature win and was sitting on top of the speed chart
after the hot laps session.
There were seven heat races on the card, and the drivers wasted no time
getting into some serious racing action in the first race as front row starters
Donald Droud Jr. and Coleman Gulick spent the first several laps going side
by side for the lead. Droud eventually got ahead of Gulick and sped away for
the win. Gary Wright also got around Gulick in the closing laps to take second.
Brian Smith cruised to an easy win in the second heat, with Eric Baldaccini and
Brandon’s Brian Maddox rounding out the podium. Tim Crawley held off
Wayne Johnson to win the third heat, with Josh Weller placing third.
Adams led the field to the green in the fourth race, and nearly everyone in
attendance knew before the race began that this race was going to be a battle
for second. Adams began lapping cars after just six laps enroute to the win,
with Jason Johnson taking second and World of Outlaws driver Terry McCarl
taking third.
Travis Rilat took the win in the fifth heat, followed closely by Matt Tiffany of
Daytona Beach and Terry Gray. Joey Saldana, another World of Outlaws
driver using the Winternationals as a tune-up, won the sixth race over Zack
Chapel and fellow WoO driver Darrin Pittman.
Three B-Main events would determine the final six starters for the main event,
with only the top two finishers from each race advancing. Pittman easily won
the first race, with Ryan Bickett claiming the other transfer spot. WoO driver
Jason Sides took the second B-Main, with Josh Weller also advancing. Local
East Bay hotshoe Greg Leonard of Apollo Beach took the final race, with
Danny Smith getting the final transfer spot and starting shotgun in the A-main.
The racing wasn’t over for those who didn’t make the A-Main, with the 10-lap
Strawberry Dash serving as a consolation race. Pinellas Park’s Sport Allen,
making his first appearance in a 360 car for the first time since last year’s
Winternationals, took the lead on the first lap and went on to win. Sarasota’s
Danny Martin Jr. was second, with Michael Parent third.
Adams, who won Friday night from the 9th starting spot, would begin his for a
4-peat from the 10th spot. As Wright led the field to the green, Adams lost
four spots immediately and would never recover and finish 14th - a
disappointing ending to a night that began with so much promise for the
“Malabar Missile.”
As the field completed the first lap, Gray tangled with anther car at the end of
the main straightaway and flipped, destroying the car’s wings and ending his
night. On the restart, Wright briefly pulled away, but McCarl was quickly on the
move. By the lap 6, McCarl had worked his way up to second and found
himself leading the race a lap later. From there, it was a battle for second
place as the reigning King of the 360’s champion masterfully worked his way
through traffic on his way to the feature win. Johnson finished second, with
Jason Johnson, Wright, Wayne Johnson and Travis Rilat rounding out the top
five.
The 360 Sprint portion of the Winternationals comes to a close Saturday night
at East Bay, with the racing action getting underway at 7.
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