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Martin takes dramatic ASCS win at East Bay
SCOTT LOCKWOOD
Florida Short Track Report.com
GIBSONTON - Over the last year, it seemed as if Kenny Adams would make
East Bay Raceway
Park his own personal playground when the ASCS 360 sprint cars would visit
the 1/3 mile
track. He had won three of his last five starts there, and for 24 and 3/4 laps it
looked as
if the story would have ending.
But Danny Martin Jr. Had other ideas.
Adams started the 25 lap feature event from the outside of the front row, and
beat
polesitter Greg Leonard into the first turn to take the early lead. Adams and
Leonard
quickly began pulling away from the rest of the pack until the caution came out
when Friday
night's winner at Ocala Bryn Gohn and Gene Lasker got together in the first
turn. Lasker,
who had a nasty wreck the night before, slammed hard into the wall and
flipped several
times, coming to a rest on his side. Although he was briefly knocked
unconscious in the
impact, Lasker was able to get out of his car with the help of the East Bay
safety crew and
walk away from the scene. Gohn was also finished for the evening.
On the restart, Adams and Leonard again pulled away from the field, and
within a few laps
found themselves in lapped traffic. Right as he was about to complete the
12th lap, Leonard
came real high off turn 4 and slapped the wall with his right rear wheel. It was
obvious
Leonard was in trouble, as he limped very slowly through the south end of the
track. As he
came off turn 2, the wheel came off the car and he came to a rest against the
back stretch
wall, bringing out the caution and ending the night for Leonard, who at the time
appeared to
be the only driver that had anything for Adams.
Leonard's accident moved Martin up into third behind Michael Miller, who had
been running
a strong race up to that point. Adams got away again on the restart, and
Martin eventually
got by Miller for the second spot. A caution for Tyler Godwin's hard crash in
turn 2
brought out the caution again with seven laps to go.
Adams began inching away from Martin again on the restart, but a couple of
slower machines
helped Martin gain a little bit of ground back. On lap 23, the leaders were
clear of the
traffic and Martin was right on Adams' tail. Martin tried diving low in turn 1 on
lap 24,
but couldn't make the pass stick. On the final lap, Martin got a run off the
second corner,
but Adams appeared to have the low line covered going into three. But Martin
steered his
car just to the outside, pinning Adams down low and drew even in turn 4. With
smoke
billowing from his right rear tire, Martin cleared Adams coming off the final
corner and
held on to take the win.
"We set our car up loose in the beginning because we knew we'd get better as
the track
took on more rubber," Martin said. "We were absolute junk in the beginning,
but the car
really came on there in the end. Kenny Adams is one of my idols, and he's
taught me so much
about racing. To beat him like this is incredible."
Adams finished second, with Matt Tiffany, whose car was seriously damaged
when he and
Frank Beck III both flipped in the same accident at the start of their heat race,
finishing
third. 2007 ASCS Rebel Region champion T.J. Winegardner, who started 19th
in the 20 car
field, drove an incredible race to come home in fourth, with Miller rounding out
the top
five.
In earlier action, 18 year-old Samantha Taylor became the first woman to win a
360 race at
East Bay when she took the win in her heat race. Godwin won his heat after
Tiffany and
Beck's accident eliminated most of the field and all cars running at the finish
advanced to
the feature. Leonard also won a heat race. Kurt Carlson won the B-main
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