From Jim Hanks
Wisconsin Dells, Wisc. – Bobby East turned in a splendid drive to capture his first MustSeeRacing Biobased-USA Xtreme Sprint Series victory on Saturday night at Dells Raceway Park, while Troy DeCaire clinched the inaugural series title with a strong runner-up drive in the 50-lap feature.
East, aboard the Terry Klatt Ford-powered sprinter, battled early with leader Tim Cox and used a dazzling move in traffic to take the lead just before the midway point. East then managed to hold off the field, with DeCaire chasing him to the finish.
Jason Blonde surged in the late going to take third from Cox in the waning laps, but simply ran out of time to challenge the leaders. Fourth was Cox, with Ryan Litt rounding out the top five.
“It’s really exciting to win my first winged race, I’ve been hoping to do this for a long time,” said an excited East in victory lane. “I have to hand it to my crew chief, Evan Evard, and my dad (Bob East), because they gave me a car that just kept getting better all night long.
“I kept moving my wing back as the race went along, and the car kept getting faster. This was a new experience for me, but I’m hoping to have the opportunity to do more of this winged racing in the future.”
DeCaire came into the feature race with a 23-point lead on Jeff Bloom in the championship standings, and admitted that he played it somewhat conservative. After spending much of the season with car owner Mike Blake, DeCaire and Blake parted ways in recent days with DeCaire landing in the Tony Swanson-owned sprinter for tonight’s finale.
“I just wanted to keep all four wheels on the thing and park it on the straightaway after the race,” said the Tampa, Florida driver. “We’ve had a good season, and I’m glad the pressure of racing for the title is over. It probably hasn’t sunk in yet, but it’s been a good experience to relocate to the Midwest from Florida and race with these guys. I’ve learned a lot and I hope to build on the experience for next year.”
Blake, who teamed with Toledo, Ohio driver Dave Baumgardner for tonight’s race, saw his car establish a new track record of 11.358-seconds in qualifying, and clinched the car owner’s title.
The second five in tonight’s race consisted of Jason Cox, Travis Miniea, Jimmy McCune, Jeff Bloom, and Mike Ling.
Bloom’s finish was good enough to clinch the runner-up spot in series points, while McCune settled for third in the final standings.
Feature finish…
1. 1. Bobby East
2. 2 Troy DeCaire
3. 3 Jason Blonde
4. 4 Tim Cox
5. 5 Ryan Litt
6. 6 Jason Cox
7. 7 Travis Miniea
8. 8 Jimmy McCune
9. 9 Jeff Bloom
10 10 Mike Ling
11. 11 Dave Baumgardner
12. 12 Jerry Caryer
13. 13 Hank Lower
14. 14 Bill Tyler
15. 15 Mike Larrison
16. 16 Kevin Feeney
17. 17 John Witter
18. 18 Danny Schlafer
19. 19 David Gough
20. 20 Ron Kohler