East Bay Monday and Tuesday High Limit Results and Stories

Kyle Larson won the first feature (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com) 2/12 and 2/13/24

East Bay Raceway
Gibsonton, FL

High Limit Series

56 cars

Cars were split into two 28-car groups with the top 40 qualifying for heats.  The rest went to the Non-Qualifier to race for the back of a heat.

Brad Sweet (12th car out in his group) set quick time in the first group and overall at 12.550 seconds on the 1/3-mile oval.  Justin Peck (19th car out) was second quick, followed by Kyle Larson (23rd), Corey Day (18th) and Parker Price-Miller (4th).  Anthony Macri (26th car out) was quickest in the second group, followed by Sam Hafertepe Jr. (18th), Cole Macedo (19th), Zeb Wise (11th) and Ryan Timms (6th).  TJ Greve did not get a time in.

Non-Qualifier (started): 1. Chris Martin 44 (2) 2. Bryan Gossel 6G (4) 3. Andy Pake 64 (1) 4. Christopher Thram 24T (6) / 5. Liam Martin 9m (8) 6. Lance Moss 23 (11) 7. Austyn Gossel 16G (3) 8. Reese Nowotarski 10x (5) 9. Ryan Turner 15 (13) 10. Brendan Mullen 11m (9) 11. Steve Diamond Jr. 9D (12) 12. Gage Pulkrabek G5 (10) 13. Steven Kisamore 77K (15) 14. Danny Smith (14) 15. Cap Henry 2MD (7) DNS – TJ Greve 24x

The 8-lapper took the top four to the tail of the four heat races.  Henry stopped and retired on lap two.  Martin led the distance.  Thram found his way around A. Gossel and Nowotarski on lap one to grab the final transfer.

Heat one (started): 1. Larson 57 (1) 2. Price-Miller 9P (2) 3. Sweet 49 (4) 4. Spencer Bayston 5 (3) 5. Jacob Allen 1a (5) / 6. Tim Shaffer 49x (6) 7. Mark Smith 43m (7) 8. Aaron Reutzel 87 (9) 9. Danny Sams III 24D (10) 10. C. Martin (11) 11. Wayne Johnson 2c (8)

8-lap heats saw the fastest timer start fourth, with everyone else straight up.  Heat winners and the fastest qualifier, if they made the top five qualified for the Dash.  The top five went to the A.  Reutzel was penalized a row for being late to staging.  Larson took off at the green and won handily.  Price-Miller held off Sweet for second.

Heat two (started): 1. Tanner Thorson 88 (2) 2. Day 14 (1) 3. Peck 13 (4) 4. Kevin Newton 16TH (3) 5. Austin McCarl 88x (5) / 6. Chris Windom 55 (7) 7. Dylan Norris 17 (6) 8. Riley Goodno 22 (8) 9. Devon Borden 45 (10) 10. Davie Franek 28F (9) 11. B. Gossel (11)

Thorson led a mostly single-file event wire to wire.

Heat three (started): 1. Macedo 16T (1) 2. Timms 5T (2) 3. Macri 39m (4) 4. Cory Eliason 8 (6) 5. Danny Dietrich 48 (3) / 6. Kasey Kahne 9 (5) 7. Sterling Cling 34 (10) 8. Conner Morrell 28m (8) 9. Ryan Harrison 97UK (9) 10. Pake (11) 11. Eric Riggins Jr. 47R (7)

Macedo led the distance.  He was driving Newton’s backup car.  Pake spun on lap two bringing the only caution.  Nothing changed in the order after lap one.

Heat four (started): 1. Rico Abreu 24 (2) 2. Wise 26 (1) 3. Hafertepe Jr. 15H (4) 4. Tyler Courtney 7BC (3) 5. Dominic Scelzi 83 (6) / 6. Brent Marks 19 (5) 7. Keith Sheffer Jr. 10SR (10) 8. Dale Howard 47 (9) 9. Brenham Crouch 1 (7) 10. Thram 24T (11) 11. Ben Brown 7B (8)

Abreu dominated this one.  Scelzi held off Marks for the final transfer.  He’s filling in for James McFadden who has visa issues.

Rain started when the C main was staging.  The event was picked up and completed on Tuesday (2/13).

2/12 completion on 2/13…

C main (started): 1. C. Martin (1) 2. Franek (3) / 3. Pake (2) 4. Thram (4) 5. Johnson (5) 6. Brown (8) 7. Moss (10) 8. L. Martin (9) 9. B. Gossel (7) 10. Mullen (14) 11. Riggins Jr. (6) 12. Nowotarski (12) 13. Turner (13) 14. Greve (19) 15. A. Gossel (11) 16. D. Smith (18) 17. Diamond (15) 18. Pulkrabek (16) 19. Kisamore (17) DNS – Henry

The 10-lapper took the top two to the back of the B.  C. Martin led early, but Franek got by him with a slider in four on lap two.  C. Martin came back low in turn two with two to go to take the win.

Dash (started): 1. Larson (2) 2. Sweet (3) 3. Thorson (1) 4. Macedo (4) 5. Abreu (6) 6. Peck (7) 7. Hafertepe Jr. (5) 8. Macri (8)

The 7-lapper set up the first four rows of the feature.  Larson led throughout, and Sweet used the low side of four to move into second, getting by Thorson.

B main (started): 1. Shaffer (1) 2. Marks (4) 3. Kahne (2) 4. Windom (3) / 5. M. Smith (5) 6. Cling (6) 7. Howard (11) 8. Sams III (12) 9. Crouch (15) 10. Goodno (10) 11. Morrell (9) 12. Borden (14) 13. Reutzel (8) 14. Norris (7) 15. Harrison (13) 16. C. Martin (16) 17. Franek (17) DNS – Sheffer Jr.

The 12-lapper transferred the top four to the feature.  Shaffer led wire to wire.  Kahne was second early, ahead of Marks, Reutzel and M. Smith.  M. Smith used the low side of turn two to get by Reutzel, who spun two laps later, bringing caution.  Windom used the restart to get by M. Smith.  Marks took second from Kahhe at the halfway point.

A main (started): 1. Larson (1) 2. Macedo (4) 3. Thorson (3) 4. Sweet (2) 5. Macri (8) 6. Day (11) 7. Abreu (5) 8. Marks (22) 9. Hafertepe Jr. (7) 10. Bayston (13) 11. Wise (12) 12. Scelzi (20) 13. Courtney (16) 14. Price-Miller (9) 15. Timms (10) 16. Dietrich (18) 17. Crouch (25, prov.) 18. Shaffer (21) 19. Eliason (14) 20. Kahne (23) 21. Allen (17) 22. McCarl (19) 23. Windom (24) 24. Newton (15) 25. Peck (6) 26. Morrell (26, prov.)


The 25-lapper began with Wise spinning before a lap could be completed.  Larson led the first lap over a surging Peck, Macedo, Thorson and Sweet.  Windom spun with one lap in the books (steering issues) and Newton changed a left rear tire in the work area.  Thorson worked by Macedo for third on the restart.  Larson was into lapped traffic by lap eight.  Peck was trying to run down Larson on lap nine when he made contact with Windom’s lapped car and broke his front end, ending his winning bid.  Larson chose the outside on the double-file restart and continued to lead over Thorson, Macedo, Macri and Sweet.  Abreu entered the top five briefly, as he and Sweet went back and fourth.  Larson was lapping cars again on lap 15.  Thorson slowly reeled him in and showed his nose with six to go.  Larson took off from there and took the win.  Macedo made a late run at Thorson for second and snuck between his car and the frontstretch wall beating Thorson to the line by a tenth of a second.  Marks was the hard-charger.

Good bye East Bay (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com) 2/13 scheduled program

58 cars

Larson, Macedo, Thorson and Sweet were locked into the heat races, and a shot at the Dash (if they finished in the top five of the heat).

Two 27-car groups were split in qualifying.  Wise (26th car out to time) set quick time in the first group and overall at 12.229 seconds.  Marks (9th) was second quick, followed by Courtney (11th), Scelzi (14th) and Kahne (12th).  Bayston (5th car out) was fastest in the second group, followed by Hafertepe (4th), McCarl (1st), Sams III (12th) and Allen (10th).  Ben Brown did not get a time in.  Chad Kemenah’s 2002 mark of 11.638 seconds will go down in history as East Bay’s track record.

Non-qualifier (started): 1. Franek (5) 2. Greve (1) 3. B. Gossel (2) 4. L. Martin (4) / 5. Pulkrabek (7) 6. Johnson (6) 7. Pake (3) 8. Jason Blonde 10BR (9) 9. Turner (10) 10. Kisamore (8) DNS – M. Smith, D. Smith, Diamond Jr., Brown

The 8-lapper took four to the back of each heat.  Pake spun on the first lap.  Greve led early, but Franek put a slider on him in turn four on lap three to take the win.

Heat one (started): 1. Courtney (2) 2. Wise (1) 3. Kahne (3) 4. Larson (4) 5. Riggins Jr. (5) / 6. Howard (7) 7. Cling (6) 8. C. Martin (9) 9. Thram (10) 10. Mullen (11) 11. Franek (12) 12. Harrison (8)

8-lap heats saw the top five make the feature.  The heat winner, and either the locked in car from Monday’s program (starting fourth) or the quickest qualifier to transfer made the Dash.  Not much movement here in the race.  Riggins held off Howard for the final transfer.

Heat two (started): 1. Marks (1) 2. Scelzi (2) 3. Abreu (3) 4. Timms (6) 5. Morrell (10) / 6. Thorson (4) 7. Dietrich (7) 8. Crouch (9) 9. Eliason (5) 10. Adyn Schmidt 12s (11) 11. Sheffer Jr. (8) 12. Greve (12)

Marks led the distance over Scelzi.  Abreu used the low side to get by Thorson for third on lap two.  Timms followed him by on lap four.  Morrell was the story of the race, coming from row five to pass Thorson with two to go to grab the transfer and rob Thorson of the Dash, and sending Scelzi.

Heat three (started): 1. Bayston (1) 2. Allen (3) 3. McCarl (2) 4. Peck (7) 5. Macedo (4) / 6. Shaffer (10) 7. Reutzel (6) 8. Borden (5) 9. Goodno (8) 10. Nowotarski (9) 11. B. Gossel (12) 12. Newton (11)

Bayston led wire to wire.  Allen got by McCarl for second don lap two.  Peck moved from row four to pass Macedo the final transfer on lap three and Reutzel for fourth a lap later.  Macedo came back by Reutzel to gain the final transfer on lap seven.

Heat four (started): 1. Sweet (4) 2. Day (3) 3. Windom (8) 4. Sams III (2) 5. Macri (5) / 6. Price-Miller (9) 7. Hafertepe Jr. (1) 8. L. Martin (12) 9. Norris (6) 10. Moss (10) 11. A. Gossel (7) 12. Henry (11)

Sams led Sweet, Day Hafertepe and Norris early.  Windom went from sixth to fourth on lap two before Henry spun.  Henry flipped on the restart.  He was unhurt.  Once back underway, Macri passed Hafertepe for the fifth and final transfer.  Up front, Sweet took the lead from Sams.  Day also got by on lap five.

C main (started): 1. Mullen (1) 2. Moss (4) / 3. Nowotarski (2) 4. B. Gossel (5) 5. Turner (12) 6. Schmidt (3) 7. Sheffer Jr. (6)  8. Pulkrabek (8) 9. Pake (10) 10. Kisamore (13) 11. A. Gossel (7) 12. Blonde (11) 13. Johnson (9) DNS  - Franek, Harrison, Newton, Greve, Henry, M. Smith, D. Smith, Diamond Jr., Brown

The 10-lapper took the top two to the b.  Mullen dominated this one.  The lone caution came out for a stopped A. Gossel on lap two.  Moss used the restart to get by Nowotarski for the final transfer.

Dash (started): 1. Sweet (1) 2. Courtney (4) 3. Scelzi (2) 4. Bayston (3) 5. Larson (5) 6. Day (7) 7. Marks (6) 8. Macedo (8)

The 7-lapper set up the first four rows of the feature.  Sweet led throughout.  Courtney shot by Bayston for third on lap two, and then passed Scelzi for second.

B main (started): 1. Thorson (1) 2. Reutzel (4) 3. Price-Miller (6) 4. Howard (3) / 5. Hafertepe Jr. (2) 6. Dietrich (7) 7. Shaffer (8) 8. C. Martin (9) 9. Borden (10) 10. Mullen (17) 11. Crouch (11) 12. L. Martin (12) 13. Eliason (15) 14. Norris (16) 15. Goodno (14) 16. Moss (18) 17. Cling (5) 18. Thram (13)

The 12-lapper took the top four to the A.  Howard led early from row two, with Thorson and Reutzel in tow.  Price-Miller went form sixth to fourth to grab the final transfer from Hafertepe on lap two.  Thorson used the high side to gain the lead from Howard on lap four.  Reutzel went low to get by Howard for second with two to go.  Price-Miller would relegate him to fourth.  Hafetepe made a late charge but that fell through.

A main (started): 1. Courtney (2) 2. Day (6) 3. Sweet (1) 4. Wise (9) 5. Marks (7) 6. Price-Miller (23) 7. Windom (14) 8. Bayston (4) 9. Allen (10) 10. Timms (16) 11. Thorson (21) 12. Peck (15) 13. Scelzi (3) 14. Kahne (11) 15. Macri (20) 16. McCarl (12) 17. Abreu (13) 18. Eliason (26, prov.) 19. Crouch (25, prov.) 20. Morrell (19) 21. Sams III (17) 22. Macedo (8) 23. Howard (24) 24. Riggins Jr. (18) 25. Reutzel (22) 26. Larson (5)


The 30-lapper got off to an awkward start when Courtney spun and kept it going.  He continued, but Peck and Morrell were collected.  Larson also had a flat left rear from the incident.  Sams went to the work area.  Sweet led Courtney, Bayston and Day back to green and entered lapped traffic on lap six.  Courtney dogged him and used the low side to pass for the lead on lap seven.  Day was quickly in the mix as well, getting by Sweet on lap eight, but a circuit later, Courtney led a surging Wise and Sweet.  Day came back on lap 12 to claim second from Wise before Larson spun, bringing another caution.  Courtney chose the inside line on the double-file restart ahead of Day, Wise, Sweet, Bayston and Marks.  Abreu shot around the cushion to move up in fourth.  On lap 17, Kahne and Larson got together and spun, bringing another caution.  Wise restarted third and got by Day for second.  Sweet regained fourth.  Abreu battled back with Sweet in a good duel. Sams and Kahne contacted for another yellow with ten to go.  Scelzi also visited the work area.  Courtney led Wise, Day, Abreu, Sweet and Marks back to green.  Day quickly took second dand pressured the leader.  Sweet took over fourth for good on lap 22.  A final caution came for a spun Macri with two to go.  Courtney would hold them off ofr the win.  Sweet got by Wise.  Abreu flipped in turn four after the leaders took the checkers.  Eliason was collected.  Price-Miller was the hard-charger.