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Sprint Car Night Results

Chuck Corder

The deck was stacked against Johnny Gilbertson.

His long days led to longer nights at his Central Florida home getting his winged sprint car ready for Friday at Five Flags Speedway.

Once, Gilbertson reached Pensacola his problems continued with a backup car that a teammate drove.

Gilbertson, though, erased all the nightmares with a wire-to-wire victory in the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association winged sprints 30-lap feature.

The race, which featured a pair of cautions, was wrapped up in 16 minutes, 34 seconds. That is moving.

"We almost didn't come," the 35 year old said. "We near about pulled the plug because it was raining so bad down there and we heard there was a 70 percent up here tonight.

I'm glad we came."

It certainly was the understatement of the night.

Gilbertson held on, impressively, when it looked like he was destined to surrender his lead late in the race.

Sprints legend Dave Steele was providing serious pressure, but with five laps to go he lost a cylinder and finished a disappointing 11th out of the 17-car field.

It was just what Gilbertson, a three-time dirt winged sprint champion, needed to coast home for his first pavement victory.

"I thought I was a sitting duck," Gilbertson admitted. "I was so nervous. I feel like racing against (Steele) means you've beat the best. I would've liked the opportunity, but trust me that day will come."

He'll enjoy this day for a while.

Gilbertson started on the pole after fast qualifier Todd Fayard set the field with a dice roll that netted a eight-car invert.

None of the sprints broke 14 seconds, as they had done last March when Brian Gingras set the track record of 13.885 seconds.

Fayard came the closest, though, turning a 14.077-second lap.

The concession stands were not a popular place when the winged sprint cars torched the half-mile asphalt oval.

Gilbertson built a sizable lead from the outset until the first caution came out with 10 laps complete.

Steele turned on the afterburners, and was on the bumper of Shane Butler for second.

Gilbertson still led, but it was not comfortable any longer.

Butler started second and eventually finished second, but that wasn't before he had a couple good looks at the lead.

Butler, the defending TBARA champion and current points leader this season, also continued to have some wonderful passing sequences with Steele for the second spot.

"I think we had (Gilbertson) passed," Butler said. "I could see him working his tires pretty hard. I have a first and second this season. I have no complaints."

The overflowing crowd had nothing to whine about either.

Winged Sprints 30-Lap Feature Results -- 1. Johnny Gilbertson, 2. Shane Butler, 3. Keith Butler, 4. Troy DeCaire, 5.Todd Fayard, 6. Mark Gimmler, 7. Stan Butler, 8. Johnny Gilbert, 9. Carl Zaniboni, 10. Ed Lee, 11. Dave Steele, 12. Larry Brazil, 13. D.J. Hoelzle, 14. Francis Crowder, 15. Charles Lander, 16. Robbie Hackett, 17. Gary Gimmler

Sportsmen

Steve Buttrick readily confesses he doesn't do much to his No. 33 sportsmen.

It's easy to see why.

Buttrick, the defending track series champion, won for the fourth time this season.

The Cantonment driver started on the pole after Brannon Fowler set an eight-car invert for the 19-car field.

"If Brannon cannot roll an eight, we might have a different finish up here," Buttrick joked. "I didn't mean to get into him over there in the corner."

Fowler finished third to maintain his lead in the points race after several series contenders had lots of trouble.

Jim Pokrant was one of those. He finished 11th and was on pit row late in the race because of a wreck he sustained with Marty White.

Sportsmen 20-Lap Feature Results -- 1. Steve Buttrick, 2. Stevie Mercer, 3. Brannon Fowler, 4. Chris Nielsen, 5. Jimmy Goodwin, 6. Tina Davidson, 7. Scott Barbaric, 8. Gary Robinson, 9. Michael Couture, 10. Daniel Fleming, 11. Jim Pokrant, 12. Randy Thompson, 13. Marty White, 14 Justin Babb, 15. Wayne Burkett

Bombers

Curtis Faircloth proved Friday he can win from anywhere on the track.

The series points leader jumped the opening green flag and was pushed to the tail end of the 15-car field.

That didn't stop him from maneuvering back up front and claim his sixth victory of the season.

"I don't know what happen at the start of race," Faircloth said. "I thought I saw everybody go, and they put me in the back for whatever reason. But we didn't let that stop us."

What did stop Faircloth, though, came in post-race technical inspection when another driver put in a $1,000 claim on Faircloth's motor.

Faircloth refused to surrender it and received an immediate disqualification for the evening, forfeiting the victory.

That pushed Brandon Burks to the win, Gary Goodwin to second and Tracy Soles to third.

Faircloth and Burks put on a great show for the last half of the race after the first 10 laps were bogged down by caution. Burks led for a number of laps before finally yielding to Faircloth on the final restart.

Burks was great in the middle of turn Nos. 3 and 4 while Faircloth was picture-perfect on the straightaways.

"Well that was fun," said Burks, who sits second in points. "I thought we were gonna win one, but Curtis has such a fast car. To get where he's at, though, it's amazing."

Bombers 20-Lap Feature Results -- 1. Brandon Burks, 2. Gary Goodwin, 3. Tracy Soles, 4. Sam Mellema, 5. Robert Balkum, 6. Courtney Rodrigues, 7. James Beal III, 8. Kenny Bullard, 9. Leonard Craig Jr., 10. Gary Burkett, 11. Thom Crosslin, 12. Brandin Sidner, 13. Hunter Ward, 14. Kenny Williams, DQ. Curtis Faircloth

 

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