Styres is Crowned “King of 360’s” in Ronald Laney Memorial!

From Lonnie Wheatley

TAMPA, Fla. (February 25, 2012) – Ontario, Canada’s Glenn Styres scored a resounding upset victory by reaching victory lane in Saturday night’s 40-lap 11th Annual Ronald Laney Memorial to put the caps on the 14th Annual “King of the 360’s” Nationals at East Bay Raceway Park.

And, the triumph came in dramatic fashion, as the Ohsweken Speedway track owner charged past Ohio’s Darren Long in the final corner to take the checkered flag and the $10,000 triumph after starting 18th aboard the Arrow Express/Rochester Knighthhawks No. 0 on the final night of East Bay’s 36th Annual Winter Nationals.

Working his way up to third by the final ten rounds, the four-time Southern Ontario Sprints champion shot past both Long and race leader Terry McCarl on a lap 35 restart. But, Long returned the favor on a restart with just three laps to go by racing into the lead.

Long opened up an advantage of several car-lengths, but Styres was on the charge as the white flag flew. And, when Long pushed the slightest big exiting turn four with the checkered flag in sight, Styres ducked to the bottom of the track and snuck by on the inside to steal the victory.

While Styres bided his time in the early rounds, Shane Stewart paced the initial 27 circuits from the pole position after winning both the Thursday and Friday night preliminary features. McCarl challenged for the point on a pair of earlier occasions before racing by on the high side of turns one and two on a lap 28 restart to take command.

McCarl’s lead was short-lived however, as his right rear gave way moments after a lap 35 restart, opening the door for the stirring Styres and Long duel to the stripe.

While Styres became the 12th different winner of the “King of the 360’s” Nationals with the dramatic victory, Long settled for runner-up honors. After running second until a cut right rear tire after 18 laps sent him to the tail, Tim Crawley raced back through the field to claim the show position.

Danny Martin, Jr., advanced from 14th to fourth, with 19th-starter Hud Horton rounding out the top five. Lou Kennedy, Jr., was sixth, with McCarl, Stewart, Jason Sides and Terry Gray completing the top ten.

Jason Johnson, Brad Greer, Thomas Kennedy and Gray won Saturday night’s heat races, with Todd Fayard and Robbie Smith winning the “B” Mains.

East Bay Winter Nationals “King of the 360’s” Ronald Laney Memorial Saturday Results:

Locked into Feature by virtue of most accumulated points through Thursday and Friday preliminaries:

3g-Shane Stewart, 24c-Tim Crawley, 24T-Terry McCarl, 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 7-Darren Long, 7s-Jason Sides.

Heat Races (Top 2 from Each Advance to “A” Main; Balance to Twin “B” Mains):

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 2. 45-Chuck Hebing, 3. 13-Todd Fayard, 4. 40-Caleb Helms, 5. 10x-Jeff Cook, 6. 2-Dustin Morgan, 7. 32m-Derek Hastings, 8. 52-Mark Broughman.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 3b-Brad Greer, 2. 00-Danny Martin, Jr., 3. 80-Morgan Turpen, 4. 3a-A.J. Maddox, 5. 94-Derek Hagar, 6. 20-Frank Carlsson, 7. 38-Tony Agin, 8. 19-Klint Angelette.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 20k-Thomas Kennedy, 2. 66-Alex Shanks, 3. 6s-Robbie Smith, 4. 8x-Chris Williams, 5. 4m-Michael Miller, 6. F37-Kyle Moffit, 7. 67-Brian Thomas, 8. J1-Mike Tharpe.

Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 10-Terry Gray, 2. 3-Blake Feese, 3. 2m-Dallas Hewitt, 4. 0-Glenn Styres, 5. 28h-Hud Horton, 6. 38x-Ryan Moore, 7. 01-Mikey Kruchka, 8. 422-Etienne Girard.

“B” Mains (Top 3 from Each Transfer to “A” Main):

First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 13-Todd Fayard, 2. 4m-Michael Miller, 3. 28h-Hud Horton, 4. 80-Morgan Turpen, 5. 2-Dustin Morgan, 6. 67-Brian Thomas, 7. 422-Etienne Girard, 8. F37-Kyle Moffit, 9. 52-Mark Broughman, 10. 3a-A.J. Maddox, 11. 40-Caleb Helms. DNS: 38-Tony Agin.

Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 6s-Robbie Smith, 2. 0-Glenn Styres, 3. 8x-Chris Williams, 4. 94-Derek Hagar, 5. 38x-Ryan Moore, 6. 32m-Derek Hastings, 7. J1-Mike Tharpe, 8. 2m-Dallas Hewitt, 9. 01-Mikey Kruchka, 10. 10x-Jeff Cook, 11. 20-Frank Carlsson. DNS: 19-Klint Angelette.

Ronald Laney Memorial “A” Main

“A” Feature (40 Laps): 1. 0-Glenn Styres, 2. 7-Darren Long, 3. 24c-Tim Crawley, 4. 00-Danny Martin, Jr., 5. 28h-Hud Horton, 6. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 7. 24T-Terry McCarl, 8. 3g-Shane Stewart, 9. 7s-Jason Sides, 10. 10-Terry Gray, 11. 3b-Brad Greer, 12. 6s-Robbie Smith, 13. 20k-Thomas Kennedy, 14. 4m-Michael Miller, 15. 3-Blake Feese, 16. 41-Jason Johnson, 17. 13-Todd Fayard, 18. 45-Chuck Hebing, 19. 66-Alex Shanks, 20. 8x-Chris Williams.

Lap Leaders: Shane Stewart 1-27, Terry McCarl 28-34, Glenn Styres 35-37, Darren Long 38-39, Styres 40.

Videos courtesy of Alan Holland