 17 of the finest Lightning (mini) sprint drivers
converged onto the 1/4 mile clay oval they call "The Bullring of Ocala Micro
Speedway" Saturday night to try their hand at lady luck for the Easter 500. A
few guys and gals made the long haul back from Oglethorpe Speedway up in Pooler
Ga. where they had raced the previous night. The Moss Motorsports Team of Eddie
Moss Jr #8 , Rhea Lynn Moss #23 and up and coming driver #88 Morgan Blanchard
made their presence known. Then the Todd's Tomatoes Racing of Dirk Miller #11x
and David Hall #1x pulled in after the 6 hour trip to take their wings off for
the first time. Regulars with the Triple X Southern States Lightning Sprints
Series was points leader Sheldon Kinser Jr #2jr, Rob Feeney #13 , Darrin Davis
#92, Scott Krueger #81, all on the fence checking out track prep. John Crowder
also brought his two cars all in the hopes of the take home guaranteed $500.00
that was put up tonight by The SK Expedited Lab Services of Ocala.
When
the call was given for hot laps around the Bullring it was as if a pack of young
kids going were going after the Easter Bunny for chocolate, Round two of hot
laps was followed up by qualifying . 17 cars took the green and the fastest this
night was the Kustom Racing Products, Southern Outlaw Motorsports, Hostile
Contact #92 entry of Darrin Davis from Jacksonville, 2nd quick was the #34
machine of Pete Smith. Rob Feeney turned in 3rd quickest of the night. This set
the field for the heats, with 17 cars , 3 heats and the fastest cars to the rear
of their heat.
Heat 1 had the 30x of Monty Klein and x59 Austin Jackson
starting on the front row followed by #2 Mark Rider and #8 Eddie Moss Jr and
final row of #81 Scott Krueger and #92 of Darrin Davis. When the green flag fell
it was AJ #x59 Austin Jackson to a quick lead but the #2 of Rider on the huggy
pole moved to the inside of Jackson on lap 2 to lead laps 2&3. However
Double D Darrin Davis had his #92 hooked up on the high side letting the big dog
eat as he past every car up on the cushion and over take the lead on lap 4 and
never to looked back . It was 92 ,8,2,x59,81,30x.
Heat 2 had the #14 car
of Scott Barberis on the pole, outside pole of Robert Boseman, inside row 2 1x
of Davis Hall and outside teammate Dirk Miller in the 11x, in the rear were #5
Steve Crabtree and Too Quick Pete Smith #34. Boseman jumped out front for the
first 3 circuits then Crabtree drove up from the back to take the lead in 4. Lap
8 the red was thrown for the #7 car of Boseman as he ran over the right rear of
the #11x then slammed into the back stretch barrier and turned over his ride.
Boseman suffered a minor burn and slight concussion as was observed at a nearby
hospital. He since has been release and he is doing OK considering what
happened. Right now he seems to be more concerned about putting his ride back
together. Crabtree went on to win followed by 34 of Pete Smith, 11x of Dirk
Miller, 1x David Hall and the 14 of Barberis.
Heat 3 Team Moss
Motorsports was on the front row with Morgan Blanchard on the pole and
teammate/girlfriend RheaLynn Moss on the outside. 2nd row inside #30 of John
Crowder and 2jr of Kinser Jr, at the rear was Feeney. Moss had an early lead
until she got loose off of turn 2 handing the lead to Crowder. Hard charging
Kinser Jr worked his way to second but couldn't find a way by Crowder who took
the checkers followed by Kinser Jr , Feeney, R Moss and Blanchard.
It was
intermission and Easter egg hunt time before the SK Easter 500. After the kids
collected all the eggs now was the question who was going to collect the coins
that was up for grabs in the 30 lap Triple X Southern States Lightning Sprint
Series feature. On the pole after the average was done from qualifying and heat
races was Darrin Davis and Feeney on the outside. When the green flag unfurled
Davis jumped to a quick lead over Feeney, Crowder, Rider, Kinser Jr, Moss Jr,
Smith. Davis making his hard charge to the checkers as he began to stretch his
lead, building it up to a full straight away. After a few quick cautions Davis
continued his march to the checkers as if he was portraying Sherman marching
through Atlanta. Behind him however was some of the best racing to date. Feeney,
Crowder, Moss Jr, Kinser Jr, Mark Rider all battling for the #2 spot. High, low,
middle every inch of the track being used. Then look back about 1/2 a
straightaway you saw Hall, Smith, Miller, R Moss in their own battle. Racing all
over the 1/4 mile Bullring of Ocala Micro Speedway. As laps clicked off Davis
seemed to be on a rail as if he could start counting his chickens before they
hatched. Everything on this night was all going his way until lap 12. The fuel
gremlin showed up again as Davis slowed off of 4. Seems as if this issue had
raised his ugly head again. Davis's comment afterwards was " 1 minute your the
windshield the next minute your the bug. We had 'em covered, just wasn't meant
to be."
Feeney, Crowder and the rest of the field all of the sudden where
not battling for 2nd anymore but instead being the winner of the first annual
Easter 500. Crowder was all over the 13 of Feeney relentlessly on the press to
get by, Rider, Kinser Jr, and the 34 of Pete Smith along with the 8 of Eddie
Moss Jr in one hell'va battle, like a pack of hounds on a fresh track for first
place. Feeney not wanting to give up the bottom pushed up off of 4 and Crowder
jumped on the opportunity followed by Rider, but Feeney was able to slam the
door shut on Rider. Rider out of shape and on the brakes had the train drive
right on by. Kinser Jr. now running 3rd notice the track was starting to come to
him, as it began to glazed over and take rubber, drove by Feeney. Dirk Miller,
his first time out without a wing found himself running 3rd now, but then he
slipped up and Moss Jr got by. At the end it was Sheldon Kinser Jr victorious,
John Crowder 2nd, 3rd went to Rob Feeney, 4th Eddie Moss Jr and Mark Rider
rounding out the top 5. With a few victory doughnuts for the crowd Kinser, the
one armed bandit (for tonight anyway), looked completely worn out as he
extracted himself for the car, to say, "man I am worn the hell out" (driving
tonight with a bandaged left hand). "this was a great victory, we had nothing
for the rocket ship, (92) Darrin had us covered tonight but when I saw him fall
out and the track starting to blacken up I just said, "Kinser, Time to Cowboy
up!!" Man all these guys are just great to race with. John (Crowder) gave me an
inch and I took a mile yet we never touched.This is Non-Wing racing sprint car
racing at it's best, brings everybody so close together".
That was quite
evident tonight as the racing was so close and no one got lapped in 30 laps. The
Southern States Lightning Sprint Series would like to thank Scott Krueger with
SK Expedited Lab Services of Ocala for the big payout tonight and Southern
Outlaw Motorsports for quick time money and feature winner trophy. Thanks to
Bill and Lori Cleary for a place to race and believing in the SSLS. With that in
mind stay tune for maybe a few Friday night races in the near future. In closing
it was a good night of racing , some new faces and hope everyone enjoyed
themselves. Hope we can continue to grow and bring Lightning and Mini Sprint
racing to a whole new level, WITH and WITHOUT the wing. Would be good to
showcase both at the same track and the same night. till next time
..
"Sit tall in the saddle, Hold your head up high
Keep your eyes
fixed where the trail meets the sky
And live like you ain't afraid to
die
And don't be scared, just enjoy your ride"
Chris
LeDoux
Results 4/23/11 OMS
Qualifying
92 Darrin
Davis 16.236
13 Rob Feeney 16.488
34 Pete Smith 16.707
81 Scott Krueger
16.726
2Jr Sheldon Kinser Jr. 16.789
5 Steve Crabtree 16.914
8 Eddie
Moss Jr. 16.944
30 John Crowder 17.028
11x Dirk Miller 17.471
2 Mark
Rider 17.540
23 RaeLynn Moss 17.573
1x David Hall 17.634
x59 Austin
Jackson 17.675
88 Morgan Blanchard 17.753
7 Robert Bozeman 17.760
30x
Monty Klein 17.769
14 Scott Barberis 18.237
HEAT 1
Finish Name
Car # Start
1 Darrin Davis 92 6
2 Eddie Moss Jr. 8 4
3 Mark Rider 2
3
4 Austin Jackson x59 2
5 Scott Krueger 81 5
6 Monty Klein 30x
1
HEAT 2
1 Steve Crabtree 5 5
2 Pete Smith 34 6
3 David Hall 11x
4
4 Dirk Miller 1x 3
5 Scott Barberis 14 1
6 Robert Boseman 7
2
HEAT 3
1 John Crowder 30 3
2 Sheldon Kinser Jr 2Jr
4
3 Rob Feeney 13 5
4 ReaLynn Moss 23 2
5 Morgan Blanchard 88
1
FEATURE
1 Sheldon Kinser Jr 2Jr 4
2 John Crowder 30 8
3 Rob
Feeney 13 2
4 Eddie Moss Jr. 8 7
5 Mark Rider 2 11
6 Dirk Miller 1x
9
7 Austin Jackson x59 14
8 David Hall 11x 10
9 ReaLynn Moss 23
12
10 Pete Smith 34 3
11 Monty Klein 30x 15
12 Morgan Blanchard 88
14
13 Scott Barberis 14 16
14 Darrin Davis 92 1
15 Steve Crabtree 5
6
16 Scott Krueger 81 5
17 Robert Boseman 7 DNS
For More
Information on the Southern States Sprint Series head over to http://sssprints.com
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