The forty Sixth Wrisco Winternationals presented by Lucas Oil wrapped up a five night run on Saturday night, February 12th at the East Bay Raceway Park. In a somewhat crazy race interrupted by rain and featuring some remarkably changing track conditions , the two dominant drivers of the week, Devin Moran and Brandon Sheppard would engage in an interesting battle with Moran prevailing for the week high top prize of fifteen thousand dollars for his fifty lap win.
Despite no chance of rain until the overnight, that precipitation that was falling from the skies, as wisely noted by tv announcer Bob Dillner, that started just before 9 pm and both delayed the start of the main event and also caused a yellow flag break after twenty eight laps were complete, favored Moran is several ways and was key to his getting the win.
Sixty nine drivers signed in to race in the East Bay finale with the usual format of six heats, three B Features and the main event as the Strawberry Dashes went by the wayside this year except for opening night. Overton and Ashton Winger were quickest in their two qualifying groups with Overton quickest overall. But despite starting on the pole for the main event, Overton would again fade back and would remain winless for the East Bay portion of the Lucas Oil action.
The track was very wet on this night and took some extra packing before qualifying would begin. The vintage race cars that have done the track packing all week were really covered in mud on this night but would be rewarded as they were allowed to have an eight lap demonstration race following qualifying. Interestingly though, just as with the Modifieds, on the night that the track was its wettest, it was also the only night that the track would eventually take rubber. The hammer down conditions early would also see some different drivers win qualifiers with Colten Burdette and Tanner English take heat race wins for the first time this year. Tim McCreadie had to run a B Feature on this night to get into the show and some top notch drivers like Brian Shirley and Dennis Erb failed to make the main.
The preliminary events got over too soon though, so after a quick to that point show, we had to wait twenty minutes for the tv to come on so that we could all watch the feature, whether at the track or at home in the easy chair.
However, during this break more and more fans in the stands were anxiously peering at their devises, of which I have none. However, I was soon to learn that the radar looked grim with rain on the way quickly and just minutes later, the first rain drops started to fall. Suddenly, track and Lucas officials were set into high gear as the ten minute horn went off and everyone was rushing to get the cars on the track.
Scrambling so much that even the four wide salute was by passed, the feature race took the green with twenty seven starters scheduled for fifty laps. Overton, from the pole, would lead the first two laps before Sheppard, moving quickly to the cushion, blew past him to take over the top spot. Sheppard was flying and he put considerable distance on the field. He caught the back of the pack soon and while they mostly ran the low side, he would occasionally have a bad lap and lose some ground on the rough cushion.
Even as he extended his lead to a full straightaway, there was a dandy battle going on for second with Tyler Erb, Moran, Overton and a cushion pounding Kyle Bronson running in a tight pack. The rain started picking up in intensity and the cars started pushing up the track with the yellow called for with twenty eight laps complete, wiping out a full straightaway lead for Sheppard. It took a few minutes for the drivers to dry out the track with the sprinkles still falling and its amazing how fast the crowd can turn on you. Previously, everyone was lauding the great week of racing being put on by East Bay and the Lucas Series but just delay the restart for a few minutes, even as the rain let up and the crowd was screaming for the scalps of the officials as their impatience was severe.
Finally, the green reappeared with Sheppard retaking the lead and Bronson up to second with Moran close behind. They only made five more laps before the yellow came back out for a spin.
The key point of the race would be this restart as Moran, on the outside of row two, would be past Bronson and beside Sheppard immediately. He would later claim that the sprinkles help give the lower groove traction and he was able to shot from third into first when he beat Sheppard to turn one. From my vantage point in the grandstands, I thought Moran jumped the start and was too forward when they reached the firing zone. So did Sheppard after the race. However, either I was wrong along with the others who believed the same thing, or Lucas officials didn't see it or they chose to not call it. In any event, Moran was now the leader and when Sheppard stuck the nose of his car into the mud in turn four and lost a bunch of spots, the race was over. To add insult to injury, Sheppard later tagged a spinning Garrett Alberson and was done for the night.
A couple more yellows would slow the action but things had changed as the track started to take on rubber and everyone was hugging the low line the last fifteen or so laps. Moran was not challenged as he drove home for the win with Tyler Erb getting his best finish of the week. The "Magic Man", Florida's own Mark Whitener, had a fine run for third ahead of English and an obviously frustrated Overton. Sprinkles would fall periodically but none so hard to threaten the rest of the race or the post race activities.
The crowd was a gigantic one again on Saturday and it will be interesting to find out if they broke the all time Winternationals record but it is a foregone conclusion that the week long totals will be record breakers. Many hope that the big crowds seen so far for many of the Florida shows are a potender for the rest of the racing season.
As we wrap up the East Bay portion, thanks should go out to Al Varnadore and his entire staff who do a tremendous amount of work for this event which is clearly a highlight of the entire Florida experience. Hopefully the big crowds are just a taste of what they will get for their regular season events which will start before too long.
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