IT'S TIME TO RACE!!

May 28, 2007 Jett Wins Warm Up For Powell Memorial By BJ Cavin If the crowd in the grandstands at Ocala Speedway was looking for a sign of what was to come, then nature provided it in the form of a rainbow that arched from turn 3 to outside of turn 1 during heat races. And the passing showers that provided the rainbow and occasionally dampened the track failed to delay things long enough to cause much of a problem. Even a power failure during hot laps failed to slow things down as the track crew manned flags when the signal lights and sound system would not work. Once the power was restored and the showers had dissipated, everyone began their holiday weekend with a bang. Josh Hughes found himself sitting on the pole as the V8 Pure Stocks came out for their feature race, but on lap 2 Dave Alexanderson discovered that the turn 4 wall doesn't take prisoners. He hit the wall almost head on, and while his #17 race car did not survive, he managed to walk away unscathed. When racing resumed it was James Erickson who proved that he had the car to beat, coming up from deep in the field to take a commanding lead that he would never relinquish. Erickson got the win, followed by Brent Cooper and James Sullivan for second and third places. The 4 Cylinder Stock feature began with several fast cars challenging pole sitter Carl Born, but in the end no one was able to pass him for the lead. Rick Kuhn battled to second place and raced Born hard for the lead, but had to settle for second place, while Mike Taylor fought off a hard charging Justyn Elwood to finish third. Three cars failed to make it to the starting grid for the Thunder Stock feature, with Lori Holbrook and Chris Oliveri losing their rides during the V8 Pure Stock race. Josh Brown ended up on the pole and led the race from green to checkers to get the win, followed by Jason Henry for second place and Joe Markham in third place. A good field of Late Model cars were on hand as several drivers took the opportunity to gain seat time before the Powell Memorial 125 race scheduled for June 8th. PHOTO GALLERY FROM PAST POWELL MEMORIAL RACE Tim Shull won the pole and led the field to the green flag, but Scott Grosenbacher sped past before the first lap was over. Shull spun out two laps later to bring out the first caution, and after the restart Rich Pratt moved into contention from back in the pack, challenging the leaders and making a statement in his new race car. But Pratt would later become involved in an altercation and spin out, and race leader Grosenbacher would suffer the same fate. Kurt Jett assumed the lead and held it to the finish, followed by Daniel Webster for second place and Keith Zavrel in third place. Pete Close had to begin the Street stock feature race in the rear because of his win the previous week, but by lap 4 he had passed almost the entire field and was challenging Stalnaker for the lead. Those two cars then ran an amazing 10 laps side by side, with Stalnaker hold the inside while Close took the high line. Once the dust settled it was Pete Close who finally wrangled the lead away and took the win, while Stalnaker settled for second place and Mike Wilson finished third. The defending Sportsman Division champion, William Edwards, earned the pole to begin their 20 lap feature race. He faced some tough challenges from Tim Shull and others, but in the end he held on to win the race. Rick Bass fought his way to a second place finish and Jim Higginbotham passed John Mamph after a late race restart to take home the third place trophy. The night was topped off by a Tire Race where the drivers had to negotiate the track with a tire balanced on the hood of their race car. The object was to go as fast as possible but keep the tire in place because if you lose the tire, you lose the race. Larry Welter Sr. stepped up and led two other family members to the finish for the win, with Don Welter second and Aaron Welter third. John Layard was the only other driver to finish with his tire still in place. while Brent Cooper, Norm Brown, and Eric Gellman, all lost their tires and had to exit the race. Next week the Street Stock will run a 50 lap, $1000 to win feature race, as the Open Wheel Modifieds return after three weeks of rest. Also returning after time off will be the Figure 8 cars who will wrap up the night, and another Street Car Challenge will be run during intermission. Results from Ocala Speedway for Friday, 5/25/07. V8 Pure Stock 1- 66 James Erickson 2- 97 Brent Cooper 3- 14 James Sullivan 4- 18 Josh Hughes 5- 28 Don Welter 6- 96 Bruce Pernitza 7- 3K Jessie Corbett 8- 17 Dave Alexanderson DNS- 57 Matt Schell 4 Cylinder Stock 1- 06 Carl Born 2- 46 Rick Kuhn 3- 43 Mike Taylor 4- 17 Justyn Elwood 5- 02 John Layard 6- 20 Kenny Maddox 7- 23 John Hagans 8- 57 Jerry Taylor Thunder Stock 1- 67 Josh Brown 2- 96 Jason Henry 3- 18 Joe Markham 4- 07 Scott Anderson 5- 79 Wade Brown DNS- 3K Chris Oliveri DNS- 23 Tony Sinquefield DNS- 17 Lori Holbrook Late Model 1- 9 Kurt Jett 2- 3 Daniel Webster 3- 47 Keith Zavrel 4- 11 Cody Pitts 5- 0 Troy Robinson 6- 54 Kevin Bryant 7- 0 Rich Pratt 8- 70 Jeremy Gerstner 9- 27 Kyle Maynard 10- 8 Tim Shull 11- 23 Edward Allen 12- 09 Scott Grosenbacher 13- 44 Tony Altiere DNS- 77 James Powell Street Stock 1- 86 Pete Close Jr. 2- 8 Jeff Stalnaker Sr. 3- 44 Mike Wilson 4- 81 Don Woosley 5- 39 Rick Bass 6- 4 David Foster 7- 48 Neal Durbin 8- 3X Mark Trexler 9- 09 Carl Carr Sportsman 1- 08 William Edwards 2- 39 Rick Bass 3- 76 Jim Higginbotham 4- 8 John Mamph 5- 3 Harold Barup 6- 61 Eric Sauers 7- 11 Harold Edwards 8- 8 Tim Shull 9- 17 Jason Holbrook 10- 23 Greg Young Tire Race 1- 85 Larry Welter Sr. 2- 28 Don Welter 3- 82 Aaron Welter 4- 02 John Layard 5- 53 Eric Gellman 6- 97 Brent Cooper 7- 67 Norm Brown Next Week: 50 lap, $1000 to win, Street Stock Race Open Wheel Modified feature Figure 8 Race Have an opinion on this story? 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