Rebel Region Friday East Bay results 2009-01-30

Martin Masters ASCS Rebels in Friday Opener at East Bay

TAMPA, Fla. (January 30, 2009) -- Just one week ago, Sarasota's Danny Martin, Jr., didn't have any concrete plans to compete in this weekend's 33rd Annual Winter Nationals at East Bay Raceway Park.

A last minute decision to piece things together paid off though. In fact, it paid off to the tune of a wire-to-wire win in the season-opening 25-lap feature event for the American Sprint Car Series Rebel Region atop East Bay's 1/3-mile clay oval.

And, more importantly, it locked Martin into Saturday night's Eighth Annual Ronald Laney Memorial feature event, which is now slated to pay $12,500 to the winner.

"We're wanting to race a lot this year, but the funds are running awfully low right now," the 22-year-old commented afterward. "A win tomorrow night would help out a bunch."

Lady Luck was on Martin's side throughout the night, as he jumped into the redraw after gaining an extra position in his heat race following the disqualification of Brock Mayes, who lost a muffler.

Martin then drew the pole position for the 25-lap feature event, gunned into the lead at the outset and led all the way to capture his fourth career ASCS Regional win aboard the Martin Structures No. 00, commenting that, "I'm just glad to be here, a week ago we didn't think we were gonna be able to run this one."

Martin fought off several bids from four-time Lucas Oil ASCS National champion Gary Wright along the way, as Wright settled for runner-up honors in his debut aboard the Lubbock Wrecker Service No. 9x entry.

Gene Lasker climbed from eighth to snare the show position, with Tony Bruce, Jr., taking the fourth and final lock-in position to Saturday's Ronald Laney Memorial.

Travis Rilat raced from 14th to round out the top five, with Jason Sides, Lou Kennedy, Jr., Greg Leonard, Cale Conley and Terry Gray completing the top ten.

Tyler Godwin, Sides, R.J. Johnson, Kennedy and Jesse Hockett topped heat race action for the 47-car field, with Matt Tiffany, Rilat, Gray and Godwin winning the "B" Mains. Tiffany was the first to exit the "A" Main when he encountered engine problems, while Hockett surrendered the third position prior to the midway point with mechanical woes.

American Sprint Car Series Rebel Region Friday Night Results from East Bay Raceway Park's 33rd Annual Winter Nationals:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 4c-Tyler Godwin, 2. 3c-Cale Conley, 3. 02-Gene Lasker, 4. 93-Bob Schaeffer, 5. 2b-Frank Beck III, 6. 26s-Marshall Skinner, 7. 15-Keith Butler, 8. 0-Glenn Styres, 9. 2T-Todd Fayard, 10. 4m-Michael Miller.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 7s-Jason Sides, 2. 18T-Tony Bruce, Jr., 3. 29-Travis Rilat, 4. 10-Terry Gray, 5. 94-Danny Wood, 6. 88x-Shane Kreidler, 7. 29g-Gavin Thomas, 8. 15s-Rocky Sullivan, 9. 6w-Brad Wickham. DNS: 20-Frank Carlsson.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 88J-R.J. Johnson, 2. 19T-Matt Tiffany, 3. 00m-Danny Martin, Jr., 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar, 5. 25-Michael Parent, 6. 79-Dakotah Stephens, 7. 42-Paulie Milum, 8. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 9. 6b-Brock Mayes (Disqualified -- Lost Muffler).

Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 2. 3-Greg Leonard, 3. 21T-T.J. Luedke, 4. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 5. 45-Bryan Grove, 6. 92-Matt Kurtz, 7. 21a-Amanda Ferguson, 8. 83-Bob Auld. DNS: 11T-T.J. Winegardner.

Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 13-Jesse Hockett, 2. 9x-Gary Wright, 3. 3x-Brian Maddox, 4. 00r-Wayne Reutimann, Jr., 5. 18b-Shane Butler, 6. 28FM-Shane Poirier, 7. 6s-Mike Schroeder, 8. 67-Brian Thomas, 9. 121-Aubrey Black.

First "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 19T-Matt Tiffany, 2. 93-Bob Schaeffer, 3. 79-Dakotah Stephens, 4. 25-Michael Parent, 5. 0-Glenn Styres, 6. 121-Aubrey Black, 7. 21T-T.J. Luedke, 8. 15-Keith Butler, 9. 2T-Todd Fayard.

Second "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 29-Travis Rilat, 2. 00r-Wayne Reutimann, Jr., 3. 45-Bryan Grove, 4. 29g-Gavin Thomas, 5. 92-Matt Kurtz, 6. 6w-Brad Wickham, 7. 94-Danny Wood. DNS: 4m-Michael Miller, 20-Frank Carlsson.

Third "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 10-Terry Gray, 2. 26s-Marshall Skinner, 3. 2b-Frank Beck III, 4. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 5. 67-Brian Thomas, 6. 21a-Amanda Ferguson, 7. 42-Paulie Milum. DNS: 18b-Shane Butler, 11T-T.J. Winegardner.

Fourth "B" Feature (12 Laps): 1. 4c-Tyler Godwin, 2. 6b-Brock Mayes, 3. 28FM-Steve Poirier, 4. 6s-Mike Schroeder, 5. 88x-Shane Kreidler, 6. 17b-Ryan Bickett, 7. 15s-Rocky Sullivan. DNS: 83-Bob Auld.

"A" Feature (25 Laps): 1. 00m-Danny Martin, Jr., 2. 9x-Gary Wright, 3. 02-Gene Lasker, 4. 18T-Tony Bruce, Jr., 5. 29-Travis Rilat, 6. 7s-Jason Sides, 7. 21k-Lou Kennedy, Jr., 8. 3-Greg Leonard, 9. 3c-Cale Conley, 10. 10-Terry Gray, 11. 6b-Brock Mayes, 12. 26s-Marshall Skinner, 13. 9jr-Derek Hagar, 14. 00r-Wayne Reutimann, Jr., 15. 3x-Brian Maddox, 16. 93-Bob Schaeffer, 17. 88J-R.J. Johnson, 18. 4c-Tyler Godwin, 19. 13-Jesse Hockett, 20. 19T-Matt Tiffany.

ASCS Rebel Region Points (Top Ten): 1. Danny Martin, Jr. 75, 2. Gary Wright 73, 3. Gene Lasker 72, 4. Tony Bruce, Jr. 71, 5. Travis Rilat 70, 6. Jason Sides 69, 7. Lou Kennedy, Jr. 68, 8. Greg Leonard 67, 9. Cale Conley 66, 10. Terry Gray 65.

-credit: ascs