From Larry Jewett
Tampa, FL — East Bay Raceway Park hosted the season finale for the Top Gun Sprint Series and the results were similar to the track’s weekly show last week. Danny Martin notched the 25-lap main to get his eighth series win of the year.
Martin inherited the point when early race leader Tyler Godwin spun on lap 4. Martin, who started fourth, was never headed in his quest for the win. The race started with a series of yellow flags before getting things rolling. Stephen Darvalics was chasing Martin until the car slowed on lap 13. Shawn Murray, racing with a nose wing damaged during the four-wide salute, picked up second and would never relinquish it.
Sport Allen rallied from an early race spin to gather third, ahead of Jimmy Ballew and Travis Bliemiester. Godwin had rallied back to third at the finish, but failed to meet the minimum weight in tech.
Rocky Sullivan, Murray and Martin won heat races. Sullivan brought out the red flag in the feature for a flip in turn one on the seventh lap.
Tim George came into the night with a 14-point lead over 2009 series champion Ryan Partin. George finished seventh, two spots ahead of Partin in ninth to claim the series title. George had won the 2010 East Bay championship last week.
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. Rocky Sullivan, 2. Rich Anderson, 3. Sport Allen, 4. Terry Witherspoon, 5. Kurt Taylor, 6. Danny Jones, 7. Bruce Durden, 8. Tyler Godwin.
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. Shawn Murray, 2. Jimmy Ballew, 3. Darren Orth, 4. Jason Webster, 5. Travis Bliemeister, 6. Andrew Griffin, 7. Ashlyn Durden, 8. Gene Lasker.
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. Danny Martin, 2. Shawn Kreidler, 3. Tim George, 4. Stephen Darvalics, 5. Ryan Partin, 6. Kerry Gilbert, 7. Troy Knowles, 8. Kyle Welchance.
A-Main (25 Laps): 1. Danny Martin, 2. Shawn Murray, 3. Sport Allen, 4. Jimmy Ballew, 5. Travis Bliemeister, 6. Kerry Gilbert, 7. Tim George, 8. Terry Witherspoon, 9. Ryan Partin, 10. Kyle Welchance, 11. Rich Alexander, 12. Stephen Darvalics, 13. Jason Webster, 14. Ashlyn Durden, 15. Troy Knowles, 16. Rocky Sullivan, 17. Gene Lasker, 18. Andrew Griffin, 19. Shawn Kreidler, 20. Kurt Taylor, 21. Darren Orth, 22. Danny Jones, 23. Bruce Durden, 24. Tyler Godwin.