A race report by Tom Bowman
First round to determine order in the Round Robin
Qualifying - 30 sec run
1- Tom Bowman 3.55 laps
2- Jeff Crabtree 3.54
3- Tim Keevin 3.50
4- Mark Smith 3.42
5- Ray Etheridge 3.41+
6- Rodney Tankerd 3.41
7- Bubba Milholen 3.32
8- Dan Mueller 3.31
9- Joey Cassiba 3.26
10- Robby Whiteed 3.20
11- Ronnie Jamerson 3.19
12- Dale White 3.09
13- Jerry Holley 3.08
Next race determines the mains placement.
Round Robin - 2.5 minutes
1- Tom Bowman 72.03 laps
2- Jeff Crabtree 70.21
3- Bubba Milholen 69.43
4- Ray Etheridge 69.29
5- Mark Smith 68.28
6- Tim Keevin 67.53
7- Joey Cassiba 66.41
8- Dan Mueller 63.09
9- Rodney Tankerd 63.01
10- Robby Whiteed 53.64
11- Jerry Holley 52.22
12- Dale White 52.15
13- Ronnie Jamerson 49.20
Snow was in the forecast, and after the flakes started falling early in the day...memories went back to Mark's notorious Snowzilla race of February last year.
The schedule was shuffled a bit to run the B Main first, to allow Joey Cassiba to get back on the road to North Carolina. The race saw quite a few of our veteran racers to come out of woodwork and join in the fun again.
Ray Etheridge was back from college for his first race in a year and half, Jerry Holley was back from travelling around the world for his work, and Rodney Tankerd was surprisingly back as well. Not sure what he was
doing, but it was very good to see him back running with MASCAR. Rodney set a quick pace in the C Main, with Robby hanging with him. Ronnie had some issues but pulled up to run
with Robby, but Rodney stayed out front and won the main with 78 laps. Ronnie and Robby were back two laps at the finish in a snow shortened heats of only 3 minutes. The B Main started very fast as both Tim and
Joey laid down 22's to start, with Mark and Dan at 20. As the heats went by Tim kept up the pressure and pulled away with a 4 lap lead at the end and a 85 lap total. Joey and Mark battled side by side for much of
the race, with Joey getting the edge by sections at the end. The A Main drivers were about the same speed as the B Main, with Ray leading the way with a 22 while Tom and Jeff were back a lap. Bubba was starting
off badly with only a 19 on the yellow power lane. Ray and Jeff both logged 22's on the power lanes in the second segment, Tom was back a lap on his second gutter, Bubba picked it up a bit on Blue at 20. The third
segment went down with Jeff and Ray matching each other with 22's again, Tom back a lap and overdriving on Green, Bubba was really in deep kimchi on Red with a 17. The last segment saw Tom finally get a 22, Ray
and Jeff with 21's, Bubba finishing with a 20 on Green. The final tally had Ray lead Jeff by a quarter of a lap, Tim picked up third from the B Main by sections over Tom. Joey took fifth by sections of race host Mark Smith.
This was the first race on this track in over a year, and brought out some strange sights...Tom ran a Southern Sportsman style NASCAR body, wanting to barge through traffic on the narrow Tomy sections...Mark ran
an old school Bat-Jet Ford GT MASCAR Edition with a 14 tooth pinion, also with the idea of not banging wheels with the open wheel style "Fray bodies". We will get another go on this track May 7th with our BeachJets.
Meanwhile just a two week break until Ronnie's Modified race on January 22nd.
BeachJet Overall Results - 3 minute Mains
1- Ray Etheridge 87.11
2- Jeff Crabtree 86.49
3- Tim Keevin 86.32
4- Tom Bowman 86.06
5- Joey Cassiba 81.57
6- Mark Smith 81.08
7- Rodney Tankerd 78.09
8- Dan Mueller 77.30
9- Ronnie Jamerson 76.62
10- Bubba Milholen 76.52
11- Robby Whiteed 76.02
12- Dale White 72.29
13- Jerry Holley 68.08
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