Round three of the Winter Nationals at East Bay Raceway Park for the UMP Modifieds and Top Gun Sprints was contested on a blustery and cool Friday night January 28th and Seth Geary provided a stunning upset as he won the Modified feature over a sixty plus car field while Danny Martin Jr. prevailed for the second straight night in the Sprints.
Geary's win was a profound one in that Friday night was the first night he had entered the series as work commitments kept him away from the track on both Wednesday and Thursday night. Not only that, he was the last car to roll into the pits and barely made it through tech before the cut off was enforced and if he had missed that event, he would not have been allowed to time and starting at the back of a heat race would have been a huge mountain to climb. As it was, he was quickest qualifier for his group, won a heat and then redrew sixth for what turned out to be a chaotic and taxing thirty lap feature race.
Right from the beginning of the evening, there seemed to be an ominous tone to the events. There have been many different greeting signs for race track entrances seen over the years and most are pretty standard. However, they don't mess around here at East Bay as the main welcome sign right as you enter the parking says this, "Enter At Your Own Risk"! And after navigating the junk and garbage strewn road into the grounds, it does give one some pause.
The weather forecast wasn't much help either as the headline for Gibsonton for Friday was, "Wind Chill Advisory." This is not what you want to see when you are on vacation and it is supposed to be warm. And it will only get worse as the forecast for Saturday night is for a "Freeze Warning." Cover your strawberries for sure, which by the way were for sale at the concession stand for the first time on Friday as the famed strawberry shortcake is one of the most famous of sidelines here at East Bay from Smokey's patch just down the road in Brandon.
Drivers seemed to be on edge Friday as it would be the last night to earn points before Saturday night's finale, and many appeared to be tired racing and getting roughed by the same drivers and there would be no "turn the other cheek" on this night. Many were also on edge about some of the officiating with mufflers left laying on the track during racing action and no penalties levied and rumors swirled through the pits about "tire cooking" and the announcement that there would probably be no tires sent in to check for legality.
Last night's feature winner Victor Lee was crashed in hot laps but he would later make a nice comeback and have a very representative night. Tyler Nicely would be quick qualifier for the second time this week and be the only driver in the sixteen second bracket. He would then complete the nightly ritual by redrawing a "two" which inverted just the front row drivers and would guarantee that once again, all six heats would be won off the front row, thus making it a clean sweep for all three nights.
Top Gun Sprints would bring twenty eight cars to the track on this night and would need a B Feature to complete their grid for the main event. Their feature would be first and it was a rocky one with six yellows and the first tip over of the week all part of their show.
Frank Beck would lead the first two laps of the Top Gun feature before being overtaken by Garrett Green. Green would lead through the longest period of nonstop racing until he was passed with a power move by Martin Jr on lap seven. Once again, much like last night, the slow cars would drop to the lower lane while the faster cars raced around the middle to top of the track, almost like a two lane highway with dividing barriers. The slower cars did a nice job of staying out of the way while the faster cars raced past them n the express lane.
Shane Butler would over take Green for second and while he tried to close the gap on the leader, Martin Jr was always able to maintain a relatively comfortable edge. One late yellow set a four lap sprint to the finish but there would be no late challenges as Martin Jr would take the win over Butler and Green. There were only seven cars on the lead lap at the finish and a considerable number that didn't see the checkered for a variety of reasons, mostly mechanical.
By the time the Modifieds saw the track for the main event, the track was a rubbered up mess. With a narrow and very fast rubber lane, a lot of drivers that wanted to get to the front right away and discretion no longer the better part of valor, it was a formula for a yellow flag plagued wreck fest and that is exactly what we saw. This patience testing event, while it had some compelling racing for bits and pieces, was more often than not a frustrating, fourteen yellow flag marathon that tested the patience of drivers, fans and officials alike. If we could have kept the race under the green, it might have been good and the brief bits of intense racing we saw were good, but much to much time was spent circling under the yellow and watching the wrecker crew at work.
Nicely redrew the pole and it looked like for once he was finally going to get the win that had eluded him so far this week. He would lead the first ten laps of the event but he was clearly not handling like he would have liked as his tight car pushed in the corners and he was in a defensive mode right from the strart.
Despite the rubbered up track, drivers were pushing extremely hard and certainly not afraid to lean on each other. Brian Shaw came up to challenge and he was not afraid to move up to the second lane and time after time, he challenged Nicely for the lead. Shaw was pushing extremely hard and a couple of times he pulled sliders on Nicely, but each time Tyler was able to cross him over and retain the lead.
Meanwhile, the flagman was already experiencing tennis elbow and he was displayed the yellow seven times in the first ten laps. Geary had started sixth and was quietly moving his way into the top three as he seemed to be one of the few that was not squealing his tires and looked and sounded smooth on the track.
Following that lap ten yellow, things got very wild for the lead as Shaw once again challenged Nicely and this followed with Geary making the move of the race as he split the leaders and dove into the top spot with a spectacular move. And once in front, he would lead the rest of the thirty laps.
He certainly earned the win though, as he would have to endure seven more yellows, each followed by a double file restart that was fraught with danger but each time successfully navigated by Geary. His Longhorn chassis handled magnificently and he would lead Nicely home for the win.
Once again Victor Lee drove the same kind of race as he did in his win earlier, as he kept his car clean, rode the low side of the track smoothly avoiding trouble and making passed when it was appropriate. It paid off with a strong third place finish ahead of Chris Wilson and Lucas Lee.
Drivers are going to have to go into a more conservative mode for Saturday night's feature I would guess or they won't have any tires or cars left in the seventy five lapper and this thirty lapper tonight saw everyone race at a frantic pace that I don't think can be maintained for a longer duration. Barely half the field was left running at the finish and there will be an incredible amount of work necessary on Saturday by the crews to get some of the cars back on the track for the finale.
Once again, it was a long night which hasn't been the norm for this event in previous years. Racing didn't start until almost an hour after the advertised time, primarily it seems to me because they just haven't allocated enough time for time trials before the scheduled starting time. And all the yellow flags in the two mains led to a Midnight finish on a night when the wind was gusting to a NorEaster by the end.
Saturday night's finale will see the heat races lined up by points earned over the week so we will see if that can help speed things along on a night that promises to be brutally cold by Florida standards. Remember, for those out of the area and those from town that are wimps, the action is shown live on Flo .
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