Steve Gainey Wins Southern Sportsman at Desoto!
Richard Elkins Jr. Takes Championship!

It was a gorgeous day at Desoto Super Speedway, as the Southern Sportsman Series rolled into town to close out their season with a 50 lap event. 2006 Champion Steve Gainey used his familiarity with the track in Bradenton to have a great evening, and show why he was the reigning champion. Gainey set the fast qualifying time in the Fred’s Garage entry, with a lap of 16.235 seconds. Michael Soukup, in the 1-800-RADIATOR entry was just a tick slower at 16.237 seconds, while Ronnie Heard Jr. turned a lap of 16.304 seconds in the J&S Palms entry to hold down the 3rd fastest time.

After the top qualifiers cleared tech. inspection, the draw for inversion turned up a 3, putting Ronnie Heard on the pole position, with Soukup on the outside of row 1. The second row was filled by Gainey and Joey Catarelli in the Eagles Nest Racing Entry.
Row 3 was filled by Mark Peterson and Bart Weatherford, followed by Richard Elkins, Jeff Padilla, Duane Best, and Ray Cuzzone filling out the top ten starting positions.

After several laps behind the pace truck to bring the racecars up to racing temperature, it was time to get serious. As the field came to flagman Derrek Molloy’s green flag, Heard got a good run off turn 4 and powered to the lead. Soukup got caught on the outside with nowhere to go and slipped back to 4th spot, while Gainey and Catarelli raced to catch the leader. By lap 3, Gainey had caught Heard, and managed to take the lead. Catarelli spent the next 27 laps trying to get around Heard, while heard spent the same amount of time running a clean and consistent line, not giving Catarelli the opening he was looking for. The leaders were encountering lapped cars by lap 13, and at times the racing in the lead pack was extremely chancy while working lapped traffic.

The first caution came out on lap 31 for an incident between Mark Peterson and Bart Weatherford, spinning in turn 3. The field was reset with Gainey holding onto the lead, followed by Heard, Catarelli, Soukup, and Elkins in the top 5 spots. Elkins was making steady progress toward the front in his quest to clinch the series Championship.

The field came to green, but it was short lived, as Ray Cuzzone spun in turn 1, once again bringing the field under caution. The next attempt at a restart fared no better, as Peterson and Brian Lowe made contact on the front straight, with Lowe hitting the wall.

Once more the field came to the green flag for a restart, and this tme it was good. Catarelli and heard were really putting on a show of great racing and sportsmanship, racing side by side for several laps, with Catarelli finally making the pass for second position. It appeared that Gainey was going to cruise to an easy win, but Catarelli had other plans. With two laps to go, Catarelli had caught Gainey, and was trying to pass for the win. Gainey and Catarelli had the fans on there feet as Catarelli went to the highside, and raced Gainey for the win. Gainey, being the veteran racer that he is, wasn’t rattled, and raced his line, not giving an inch. At the finish, it was Gainey taking the win by ½ car length over Catarelli. Heard finished right behind for a strong third place finish, with Soukup in 4th, and Elkins in fifth.

By virtue of his fifth place finish, Elkins captured the season Championship by les than 40 points. Catarelli grabbed rookie of the year honors with strong runs all season.

Congratulations to all the Southern Sportsman Series competitiors for a great season, and to Elkins and Catarelli for their championships.!!

1 79x Steve Gainey
2 15 Joey Catarelli
3 0 Ron Heard
4 45 Michael Soukup
5 55 Richard Elkins
6 1 Bart Weatherford
7 73 Mark Peterson
8 97 Ray Cuzzone
9 3 Duane Best
10 12R Rikk McMehan
11 19 T.C McElyea
12 211 Jeff Padilla
13 99 Charles Ramsey
14 57x Brian Lowe