DeCaire Sizzles! at Frigid CFWSCA Opener

CFWSCA Kicks Off Season Opening Night at Columbia Motorsports Park

Treacherous wind conditions and frigid temperatures didn’t stop Central Florida’s Premier ?Wingless? Sprint Touring Series from making the trek up the I-75 North corridor on Saturday, March 8th to open their season at Columbia Motorsports Park in Lake City, Florida. 13 fire-breathing CFWSCA sprint cars kept the fans from freezing and displayed their fierce style of side by side driving finesse in the 30 lap ?Caution Free? show with Tampa?s, Troy ?Game Over? DeCaire in George Rudolph?s ?Purple Pursuer? coming home the victor.

CFWSCA partnered with Columbia Motorsports Park to put on both pre and post race activities for the fans. For the kids, heat race winner’s DeCaire and Dakotah Stephens headed up the bicycle give-away during intermission. Both young guns did some slick tricks on the pink and blue bicycles that were given to 2 lucky kids in the grandstands. 6 year old Seth Hyderman was the winner of the boys bicycle and 7 year old Cecilia Dasky was thrilled that she took home the pink bike because it matched the ?Pink Princess? blanket she was wrapped in for the chilly night.

Mike Koss, driver of the #37 Sprint Car, added a new twist to Columbia’s post-race show when he laid down some blistering hot laps in the Gray and Red ?Koss Racing? Indy Racing League (IRL) Pro-Series car. The Lake City fans roared with cheers when Mike performed tire-smoking, full length, front stretch burn outs. Young race fans, like Caleb Moulton of Ft. Wright, had the opportunity to met Mike and sit in his Indy Race Car.

Although Troy DeCaire and Dakotah Stephens were the heat race winners, the pre-race pill pull inverted the top 8 starting cars. Front row cars, Mike Koss, #37, and Charlie Ladner, #39, led the field to take the green flag for the 30 lap ?Dukes Roofing? feature event. No sooner than the green had dropped it looked as though caution may fly when the #2 of Buddy Sizemore, performed a 360 spin in turn 1. Sizemore skillfully kept his car headed in the right direction and regained racing speed swiftly with no delay in the action on the track.

Hot shoe Tommy Nichols, #55 showed his strength and charged to an early lead on the field. Other driver’s were jockeying side by side throughout the pack, sometimes three wide to establish their bid for positions. All the while, Troy DeCaire #68, #87 Brian Gingras, #48 Jimmy Alvis and the #79 of Dakotah Stephens were aggressively picking off cars in an effort to run down the leader. Lap #6 showed a changing of the guard up front when a determined DeCaire took over the top position. DeCaire was able to stretch out his lead while the action on the track continued between Nichols and Gingras for second. Battling lap after lap, nerf bar to nerf bar and nose to tail to determine the 2nd place position, Nichols held his ground until lap 18 when Gingras claimed the position and starting closing the gap between himself and the DeCaire. Gingras caught the leader but both drivers had to jockey with lap traffic and Gingras bid fell just short of a challenge for the win. DeCaire took the checkers with Gingras on his tail and Tommy Nichols a short 1/2 turn later. Rounding out the top 5 for the night were the #39 of Charlie Ladner and the solo Ford powered #79 of Dakotah Stephens.

CFWSCA Sprint Feature Results: 1. #68 Troy DeCaire, 2. #87 Brian Gingras, 3. #55 Tommy Nichols, 4. #39 Charlie Ladner, 5. #79 Dakotah Stephens, 6. #3 Dennis Misuraca (2007 CFWSCA Defending Champion), 7. #48 Jim Alvis, 8. #21 Little Jimmy Alvis, 9. #37 Mike Koss, 10. #59 Danny Statton, 11. #159 Jimmy Kissinger, 12. #2 Buddy Sizemore, 13. #21m Darren Miller.

Heat 1 Finish - 1. DeCaire, 2. Gingras, 3. Alvis, 4. Ladner, 5. Miller, 6. Kissinger

Heat 2 Finish - 1. Stephens , 2. Misuraca, 3. Nichols, 4. Koss, 5. Little Jimmy Alvis, 6. Sizemore, 7. Statton

Race Report provided by Cindy Stephens

Previous posts indicate “21 plus” cars were “pre-entered” and would be there racing…

13 cars…:frowning:

People that “create” these posts should be extremely careful not to attempt to deceive the fans, even by “accident”, or creative writing…

It seems that sprint cars are in a real struggle right now, pulled so many different directions. I hope some strong, quality leadership emerges. I want the sprints to suceed!

TBARA seems to have the car count edge.