| Wayne Anderson Grabs Ocala Super Late Model Win | By Dave Westerman
 Clouds, rain, and cool temperatures weren't enough to put a damper on opening night 2003 at Ocala Speedway as a big field of cars and a great crowd of fans outlasted mother nature Friday night.
On a day which saw late morning temperatures in the low 80's fall to the upper 50's by mid afternoon, along with persistent rain showers, Ocala Speedway management refused to pull the plug early and the wet stuff had subsided by 6PM to allow track drying efforts to begin.
Although fans had to wait until almost 9:30 for racing to begin, they would certainly be rewarded for their patience with some incredible racing.
Despite the "green" nature of the race track, Patrick "Doughboy" Williams hit the asphalt running to click off a lap of 15.164 to set the Midway Transmissions fast time in the Steven A. Bagen & Associates Super Late Models followed closely by Wayne Anderson who tripped the clock at 15.201.
Luck of the draw found the top two qualifiers on the front row for the 50-lap feature with Anderson on the pole and Williams outside of him.
After two aborted starts, Anderson and Williams raced side-by-side for the first lap until Anderson was able to forge ahead.
This race would be an effort in frustration as many top drivers suffered problems including track champion Robbie Smith, who dropped out on lap ten, Mike Bresnahan, who left the track just shy of the halfway mark while running fourth and Rich Pratt, who made a long pit stop around lap ten and lost several laps. Pratt eventually wound up 14th.
Eight caution flags would be needed in this one, mostly for minor incidents.
The only major altercation came on lap 43 as Tim Shull spun after being passed by leader Anderson. Second running Williams had to get hard on the brakes while Bob Hughes ran up and over the car of Fain Skinner, ending a good run for the young Lake City driver. Williams gave up his second position to pit for some quick repairs moving Brock Oglesby to second spot.
Anderson would lead this one all the way while 15-year-old Oglesby scored yet another second place finish. E.J. Wise battled back from some early race handling problems to checker third ahead of Tom Hasselmayer and Robert Yoho who both had good solid runs. Louis Beldock, Williams, Gig Smith, Hughes, and Roger Shinholser rounded out the top ten.
Anderson thanked his crew for giving him an awesome race car, thanked Ocala Speedway management for toughing out the weather and for the improvements made to the facility, and thanked the fans for hanging in there waiting for the rain to end.
Anderson also indicated he'll be back for the Sunbelt Super Late Model Series 125 at Ocala next week. Anderson is the Sunbelt point leader by virtue of his victory in the Pete Orr Memorial race at New Smyrna in January.
Tampa's Rick Hall pretty much dominated the WIND-FM Modified 20-lapper as he led all the way to take the checker over fellow Tampa driver Johnny Newsome.
Only three caution flags were needed in this one, all for minor incidents, as Hall was easily able to pull out to a sizeable lead each time.
Newcomer Jamie Tinkham did a fantastic job holding off a hard-charging Chris Faddling at the line for third while David Baxley battled back from two on-track incidents to complete the top five.
Citra's Doug Levesque finally got the bugs worked out of his new car and took the victory in the Diamond H Air & Heat Sportsman division.
Patrick Mennenga took the lead on the drop of the green only to see action slowed by a four-car tangle involving Jim Higginbotham, Charles Kopach, Michael Jordan, and Kathy Ray.
Once the track was cleared, Mennenga continued to set the pace until Levesque was able to charge around him on lap eight. Once in front, Levesque would not be denied as he took the win over Mennenga and Robbie Cooper. Bob Masciarelli came from 15th on the starting grid to take fourth while Doc Batson was fifth.
Following his win, Levesque indicated his car was for sale as he's working on a new Super Late Model.
Citrus County Speedway Co-Promoter Jimmy Wear led the first two laps of the Mini-Stock feature, but it was Rick Sirmans who clearly had the faster car as he slipped by for the lead on lap three and looked to have this one in the bag.
Looks can be deceiving though, as Sirmans' car lost power coming out of turn four on lap 14 to bring out one of only two caution flags in the race.
Wear reclaimed the frontrunner spot and was able to hold off young Chris Hooker at the line for the win.
Third and fourth running Jeff Stalnaker, Sr. and Larry Goolsby both spun in turn four coming down to take the checker allowing Glen Ervin to slip by for third spot. Goolsby recovered for fourth with Wayne Wells fifth.
Wear, who has been part of a management team that has made many improvents to Citrus County Speedway, complimented the Ocala management group on the improvements made to the facility and said he is looking forward to working hand-in-hand with Ocala Speedway in an effort to bring top-notch short track racing to fans in North Central Florida.
Fans certainly got their money's worth, as usual, with the K Country Street Stocks.
Donnie Pitts grabbed the early lead but spun on lap four creating a big melee that saw Mike Fiddia head for the infield minus a rear wheel.
When the race resumed, Hangover 100 winner Mark Mitchell was in the lead but had a hard charging Tommy Roberts to deal with. Roberts zipped by on lap seven but could never shake Mitchell, who stayed on his bumper the rest of the distance. Two more cautions, when Dot Kelley hit the backstretch wall and for a Jimmy Wagner spin, allowed Mitchell the opportunity to try an inside pass, but each time Roberts was up to the challenge as he led Mitchell to the stripe.
Defending champion Doug Webster and Kyle Maynard came from deep in the starting field to finish third and fourth while Michael Rosa had a good run for fifth.
Fans who stayed past midnight were treated to the best race of the evening courtesy of the Four Cylinder Stocks.
This was a wild one as John Naber put his mini-truck out front at the drop of the green only to be challenged at one point or another by no less than eight other drivers for the lead.
Joey Durbin, who started next to last in the 23 car field, methodically worked his way to the front and took the lead on lap twelve. Durbin was on cruise control from that point as the focus now was on the fight for second, taken on the last lap by Tom Ellis who just nipped Naber at the line. Vic Chabra, the new driver of the "Flying Tomato" Volkswagen, was fourth just in front of 2002 champ Ric Fort.
The Richard Petty Driving Experience was also on hand with two cars giving several lucky race fans a free "ride" around the speedway, including several who won the rides in a contest sponsored by the Ocala-area SunTrust Banks.
OCALA SPEEDWAY RESULTS FOR 3/7/03:
STEVEN A. BAGEN SUPER LATE MODEL (50 Laps):
1) Wayne Anderson #84
2) Brock Oglesby #88
3) E.J. Wise #7
4) Tom Hasselmayer #113
5) Robert Yoho #00
6) Louis Beldock #05
7) Patrick Williams #57
8) Gig Smith #23B
9) Bob Hughes #13
10) Roger Shinholser #26
11) Lee McCullough #H20
12) Mark Emberson #30
13) Tim Shull #8
14) Rich Pratt #0P
15) Fain Skinner #1
16) Dave Schwendemann #23Y
17) Mike Bresnahan #3
18) Troy Robinson #0R
19) Robbie Smith #01
WIND-FM MODIFIEDS (20 Laps):
1) Rick Hall #15
2) Johnny Newsome #31
3) Jamie Tinkham #98
4) Chris Faddling #29
5) David Baxley #64
6) Jeremy Gerstner #70
7) John Foerg #1
8) Robert Gulvin, Jr., #33
9) Paul Combast #90
10) Ivedent Lloyd, Jr., #57
DIAMOND H AIR & HEAT SPORTSMAN (20 Laps):
1) Doug Levesque #27
2) Patrick Mennenga #16
3) Robbie Cooper #98
4) Bob Masciarelli #72
5) Doc Batson #B4
6) Frank Buchanan #07
7) Charles Hornbeak #67
8) Kathy Ray #1
9) Charles Kopach #53
10) Tom Posavec #01
11) Michael Jordan #7
12) Big John Smith #31
13) Jim Higginbotham #76
14) Roger Damron #76R - DNS
15) Tom Carter #86 - DNS
16) Ray Reavis #40 - DNS
17) Wally Schneider #57 - DNS
K COUNTRY STREET STOCKS (Cut to 16 laps by time limit):
1) Tommy Roberts #44
2) Mark Mitchell #71
3) Doug Webster #72
4) Kyle Maynard #07
5) Michael Rosa #76
6) Chuck Stewart #8-Ball
7) Estle Morrow #II
8) Don Teague #2X
9) Moose Alderman #7
10) Bob Taylor #66
11) Jamie Dunn #24
12) David Chastain #11
13) Krystal Batson #B4
14) Rick Hart #13
15) Gordon Cade #21X
16) Donnie Pitts #57
17) Sid Mosbrucker #62
18) Jimmy Wagner #81
19) Roger Bayles #33
20) Tom Fralish #1
21) Don Maynard #15
22) Ken Asbell #89
23) Dorothy Kelly #38
24) Bobby Carter #99
25) Mike Fiddia #41
26) Marc Rotundo #43X
27) Benny Collen #43 - DNS
FOUR CYLINDER STOCKS (20 Laps):
1) Joey Durbin #38
2) Tom Ellis #31
3) John Naber #3Y
4) Vic Chabra #39
5) Ric Fort #2
6) Dan Sanderson #7
7) Justin Durbin #34
8) Harold Barup #3B
9) Terry Dunbar #72
10) Harry Drier #61
11) Rick Kuhn #47
12) Joel Byall #40
13) Randy Futch #9-11
14) Charles Mishow #57
15) Chris Noce #99
16) Michael Stalnaker #8
17) Jeff Pittsley #20
18) Mike Muroski #611
19) Clark Pittsley #64
20) Billy Collins #66
21) Robert Antis #5
22) Kurtis Mitchell #00
23) Brooke Driggers #25
MINI STOCKS (20 Laps):
1) Jimmy Wear #13
2) Chris Hooker #1X
3) Glen Ervin #0
4) Larry Goolsby #27
5) Wayne Wells #23
6) Jeff Stalnaker, Sr. #10
7) Marlon Durbin #46
8) Jamie White #21
9) Joey Brinson #26
10) Rick Sirmans #05
11) Jeff Stalnaker, Jr. #8
12) William Stalnaker #59
13) Tim McPhail #7
14) Jake Garver #10R
15) A.J. Schrier #98
16) Greg Young #95 - DNS
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