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Lasker, Hill take East Bay feature wins
SCOTT LOCKWOOD
Florida Short Track Report.com
GIBSONTON - Less than 24 hours before taking to the track at East Bay with
his limited
sprint car, Gene Lasker was lucky to escape serious injury when another car
landed on top of
his during an accident in the ASCS race at Ocala Speedway.
Despite walking around the pits with a serious limp, Lasker and his team were
still able
to get his limited sprint ready for action Saturday, and their hard work paid off
early when
Lasker easily won his heat race. Tim George took the victory in the other heat
race.
In the 15-lap feature, Lasker started on the outside of the front row and
proceeded to run
and hide from the rest of the field. With Lasker and George holding court at
the front of
the field, the real story was the drive of Greg Leonard. Leaonard started dead
last and
just five laps into the race had already passed 10 cars. Leonard might have
had the fastest
car on the track at the end of the race, but he could only get to third as Lasker
led from
green to checkers to take the win. George was second.
"This one is for my guys...they were in the shop at 10 this morning even
though they
weren't sure if I was going to be able to race tonight," Lasker said. "We've had
some motor
problems with this car, and they had to rebuild this car basically from nothing
to get it
here tonight. Between that and having to rebuild our other car from nothing
too today, it's
made for a real long day. I wouldn't be here without them."
In the 15-lap street stock feature, Danny Hill started third and found himself
side-by-side with polesetter Buck Woodhouse as the field completed the first
lap. Hill
nosed ahead coming out of turn 2 on the next lap and would never seriously
be challenged
again for the lead. The real fight on the track was for second place, with Dave
Floyd and
Woodhouse trading paint all over the race track. With just a couple of laps
left, Woodhouse
cut down a tire directly in front of Floyd, and the ensuing contact send
Wodhouse into the
wall in turn 3. On the restart, Hill pulled away for the win, with Floyd holding off
Charlie Paris Jr. for the second spot. Floyd, Woodhouse and Hill won the heat
race events.
The Outlaw 4's feature looked as if it was going to be a shootout between Jim
Coursen and
Shane Burrows, who earlier in the evening was presented with his awards for
winning the
third annual Florida Short Track Report.com state rookie driver of the year
award. The two
were battling hard for the lead when a caution bunched up the field with five
laps to go.
On the restart, third place runner Jerry Bruce rocketed around both Burrows
and Coursen on
the high side in turn 1 to take the lead, and would quickly pull away on his way
to the win.
Cousrsen came home second, with Maverick Varnadore, who had spun along
with his brother
Travis earlier in the race, rallying to finish third and Burrows winding up fourth.
Travis
Varnadore and Burrows took wins in the heat races.
The night ended with the 4-cylender bomber feature. D.B. Hogwaller started in
the second
spot and jumped out to the early lead. George Christiensen, who fell back
early, came on
strong at about the halfway point of the race. He and Hogwaller put on a great
battle for
the lead, with Christiensen getting the advantage on lap 10. Collin Kruse, who
crashed
during his heat race, put on a feverish rally in the late stages of the race to get
by
Hogwaller for second. Christiensen and Kever Raulerson won the heat races.
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